EM>District 9 'horrific'?
I read Mike Ely's review of District 9 with some surprise, having enjoyed the film a few days earlier. Is its portrayal of Nigerian gangsters "horrific"? Definitely over the top, as is the scene where white scientists hold down central character Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) and try to cut out his heart with a circular saw while he is still conscious and mobile.
Doesn't that suggest "over the top" is a deliberate technique of the director?
Alongside the exaggeration, constant movement and guest appearance of a Transformer is a mundane realism, provided in the racism of the social service bureaucrats issuing eviction notices to the aliens. When Copley finds an alien who can read, and who challenges the legality of the notice, he switches tack and threatens to take away the alien's child if he doesn't sign.
After Copley has had a change of heart (following a change of DNA), he admits to the alien that the camp they were being relocated to was worse, and smaller (with hints of extermination), "really a concentration camp".
Even lower key than the mundane realism are the unasked questions: Why is the military a wing of MNU, a private corporation, rather than of the government? Why is his Black assistant in prison after blowing the whistle on corporate biological experiments on aliens?
This isn't a simple film, and it can be viewed in various ways. But I suggest its predominant effect is to make people think about xenophobia, which I see as positive.
Greg Adamson
Melbourne [Abridged.]
Racism and alcoholism
Duncan Roden's piece (Australia's not racist — as long as you 'fit in', GLW #809) suffers from a serious disconnection from reality.
Although Duncan quotes from a NSW study showing extraordinary rates of suffering and victim of crime status amongst Aboriginal people, he fails to note that the same study identifies that the vast majority of these people were victims of other Aboriginal people who were under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.
Duncan states "The NT intervention perpetuates myths of welfare dependency and drug and alcohol abuse". This implies that he thinks that the stats are wrong, or mythical.
I thought that socialists were scientific, and proud of their ability to understand reality and base their analysis on facts.
In my experience, many Aboriginal people have been complaining about the detrimental impacts of welfare dependency and drug and alcohol abuse on their families and communities for 30 years or more.
Over 50% of Aboriginal people of workforce age are welfare recipients. Over 80% of Aboriginal people appearing before the courts are committing offences when under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
These figures are far in excess of those applying to the general population. They are not mythical, and the results of these situations are catastrophic for many Aboriginal people, their families and communities.
Bob Durnan
Health service development officer,
Western Aranda Health Aboriginal Corporation, Hermannsburg NT [Abridged]
The road to Copenhagen…?
The government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is a joke. Whether it's Labor's ridiculous 5% target, or the Liberals' smoke and mirrors scheme, neither will drive the transition towards meaningful carbon emission cuts, meaningful amounts of renewable energy generation or a sustainable green economy.
If Australia, a rich industrialised country, can not take the lead by reducing emissions by a significant figure — such as 40% by 2020 — by developing green industries and exporting sustainable technologies, then how can we seriously expect the developing world to make this transition?
If we fail to act on climate change in a meaningful way, because of the conservative politics which the Labor and Liberal parties are peddling, then we risk slowing the global movement to reduce emissions, particularly at crucial global negotiating meetings like the one coming up in Copenhagen.
Climate Change is deadly serious, if we get this wrong and pass climatic tipping points, there is no second chance. We need serious action from our leaders, though both major parties do not seem capable of providing this.
Richard Bergin
Kensington, SA