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Campus Protest that Failed to Read the Room

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  June  18, 2014: Jerry Seinfeld managed to fill the Qudos Bank Arena on Sunday night, but the  Students for Palestine encampment at Sydney University has been reduced to a tiny rump as a crackdown on the protest continues.  A few students and their assorted supporters remain in a restricted area. The protest that once swamped a broad expanse of the iconic lawn is now reduced to a small cluster of less than 20 tents. Graduates are now able to celebrate with a happy snap in front of the Quadrangle rather than contend with unwashed activists in their tents spreading Hamas propaganda. In an encouraging development, The University has tweaked its Diversity & Inclusion Policy to include a requirement that preening lefties cannot occupy the Quad lawn. Patches of dead grass mark where the tents were pitched in a performative act of protest but most were never actually occupied. The Sydney University Al-Quds Brigade waiting for new recruits. Plenty of spare camp chairs and solar power on t
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From Gaza to Broadway: A USyd Production

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“ And I went down to the demonstration ,  To get my fair share of abuse ” In the late 1960s, when Mick Jagger and Keith Richards composed the immortal classic “ You Can’t Always Get What You Want ,” there were many more options for participating in a lively protest than those that exist today: Paris 1968; the anti-Vietnam War marches, moratoriums and sit-ins; the Stonewell riots, etc. Just think of the excitement of being a witness to those era-defining events, either as a participant or as a bystander! With that in mind, I recently decided to head up Broadway to the University of Sydney Campus one rainy Friday to experience the Gaza encampment, one that is generating a slew of headlines and media coverage. I was looking forward to perhaps engaging with some of those history-making bright-eyed young idealists maintaining a selfless vigil for the poor suffering Palestinians through rain, hail or shine. Walking up from the Footbridge, I passed the Great Hall where the 2024 Scienc
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The Day Australia said NO

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  Malcolm had been bashing back the Kaurna Country Blewitt Springs Syrah for the best part of the afternoon as the sun beat down on his hatless head. As the 6pm close of voting approached, he was engaged in a conversation with Teal MP Allegra Spender by the seawall at his Harborside mansion, and became overcome with a generosity of spirit. No doubt as inspired by the heart as by his alcoholic intake, Malcolm made an offer to entertain some of her ‘Wentworth for the Voice’ volunteers at his Voice Referendum Day party. Allegra texted a couple of select booths, which happened to include mine at St Matthias on Oxford St. It’s a long story. After attending a ghastly Politics in the Pub event put on by Allegra at the Imperial Hotel, Paddington, they got my mobile number and I somehow got signed up for ‘Wentworth for the Voice’ . This did not involve much, and I decided to play along for some fun. At one stage a kid showed up at my house on an eBike with a YES poster and some stickers fo
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