Yes Dear, I’ll help you overthrow the military-industrial complex just as soon as I get this passionfruit sponge out of the oven
Environment, Health, Language, Sexual politics - - Posted on March, 6 at 8:48 pm by Helen
These women and kids are all here under duress, and I’m not even sure about the dog.
If you’re a member of an industry group and you’re being interviewed by the local rag (the Maribyrnong Mail) about protests by local residents involving your industry, you’d want to have the best possible shot at winning people over to your cause, wouldn’t you? Local truck driver and fossil Paul Robinson did a marvellous job in the latest edition, managing to insult more than half of the local population. Genius!
(My bold):
A showdown is looming between the Maribyrnong Truck Action Group and truck drivers challenging the group’s decision to use women and children in its protest a fortnight ago.
Because of course all those women were protesting because the men had told them to… excuse me?
Does anyone think it’s a little strange that the journo reports that as straight-out fact, without any “he claimed” or “alleged” or other qualification?
About 150 protesters, including men, women and children, brought morning peak-hour traffic to a standstill for about half an hour from 8 am on Wednesday…They were demonstrating against increased truck traffic expected on Yarraville’s already congested roads when bay dredging works are complete.
…”The majority of the industry is very hostile towards [MTAG president] Peter Knight because he used women and children. That’s unprofessional…”
Got that? Men are the rational actors in the protest; women are mindless automatons who are used by, that is, brought along as props by, the real (male) protesters.
In the case of children, it’s possible that some people bring children who don’t understand the issues. It appears, though, that some children understand perfectly well. But Robinson lumps the “women and children” together as subjects to be “used” by the real protesters, that is, the men.
Could it be that the women present had read and heard some of the readily available information and had independently come to the conclusion that going to the protest was a good idea? Could it even be that some women had persuaded their menfolk to come along? Stand back as Paul Robinson’s brain explodes.
If nothing else, I suppose it shows consistency. A group that’s calling for the right of truck drivers to use residential streets forever, because that’s how they did it back before WWII, could only be expected to have strange ideas about the autonomy of sheilas women.
Crossposted at the Balcony
Posted in Environment, Health, Language, Sexual politics |
March 6th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Labor Governments allow this to happen,they are not in favour of residents groups anywhere,see Sydney,protests over expansion get the little pinky producers in government…. unable to recognise ..home is more than a mortgage,interest rates council and water and electricity bills,its supposed to be where people live.The State Government of Victoria is so much like N.S.W. its impossible to see anything but its demise.The effrontery of this expenditure on an a International company whilst lockdowns by credit and interest rates is unbelievable expenditure arrogance.It may also be that the Victorian Government is on the side of truckers for some reasons to even redevelop their housing,the protestors housing.
March 7th, 2008 at 11:57 am
It may also be that the Victorian Government is on the side of “truckers” You must be joking, Phil.
The trucks use the roads they are allotted by the authorities (speaking as a retired LPG and fuel tanker driver)and pay thousands per vehicle.
The use of children (and dogs)is a stunt as I don’t believe the kids in the picture would give a hoot about the issue.
Drivers would love to have big wide roads to access the terminals with no cars to contend with.
As we seem to be going USian with terms like “truckers” etc
Y’all have a great day, and don’t harrass the drivers trying to earn an honest quid….get stuck into the pollies.
Robbo.
March 7th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
From the field of anthropology comes this [in]famous example of sexism from a noted writer commenting on an event at the village he was studying:
“The next morning the whole tribe took to the canoes and paddled westwards leaving behind the women and children”.
March 7th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
That’s unprofessional …? I didn’t realise, as obviously you didn’t, Helen, that protests these days are professional affairs. It must mean that the women and children aren’t being paid for protesting. It couldn’t be that they are sick to death of having big trucks rumbling past their houses all day, every day … could it?
March 7th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Robbo, it’s the kiddies who have nowhere to ride their freakin’ bikes, and given what a sunny part of my own childhood said hooning about the ‘burb was, of course they’re “interested”. Interest in both the usual and legal-standing sense.
I’d like to know more about the specifics before judging the substance of the issue, but Helen’s right about women (and even kids, but especially adult women) making themselves heard about things which concern them.
March 7th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I’m writing as a woman and the mother of one of the children there - in fact, my child got me interested in the issue.
‘The use of children (and dogs)is a stunt as I don’t believe the kids in the picture would give a hoot about the issue.’
Well, I doubt the dogs have an informed opinion, but children are in fact perfectly capable of thinking about what’s going on in the world beyond their backyard and how it affects the world they will inherit. My child cares about the environment and about Port Philip Bay and that’s why he was there - the protest was also about the dredging. He came away feeling angry about the trucks, too, and that was without a word from me or my husband. It’s because he listened to what was said and made up his mind. He’s eight, but he has a brain. He uses it to think about things beyond video games (though he does think about them too). I call that professional of him, actually. Because the ‘job’ of children is to learn about their world and how to operate in it, in all kinds of ways - and to think about how they want to operate in it and the kind of world they want.
March 7th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
I doubt that that an eight year old makes up his (or her) mind by what they read or hear apart from what is spoken about in house.I travelled those streets for the past 30 odd years and saw the properties sold to “newcomers” who now want things changed to suit them. All I was after is for people to get off the anti truck bandwagon and let the blokes who are trying to earn a quid get on with there work.
As far as dredging the bay it has been going on for a hundred years or more so get used to it.
Robbo
March 7th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
My eight-year-old’s best friend at school is just as vehemently on the other side of the dredging issue, much to his (single) mother’s embarassment. She’s an ALP voter and he also worshipped John Howard. Of course kids soak up what they hear and see at home, but some of them then make up their own minds, based on a variety of sources.
We used to live next door to a truck driver (who we got along with very well) and I’ve heard that point of view and I understand it - and do have some sympathy for it. But truck traffic has increased considerably in the area in those 30 years you mention and there are guidelines about truck traffic in the area that are being regularly broken. And the dredging is going to increase the traffic even more considerably.
You can’t tell me that the kind of large-scale dredging that is happening now has been happening for 100 years. I’m not going to ‘get over’ environmental vandalism in the name of economic growth, when NOBODY is sure of what the long-lasting effects will be. There are alternatives to dredging the bay - like using existing deep water ports just outside Melbourne.
March 7th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Good post Helen. I assume Paul Robinson used the term “use women and children” as this is what he does.
I doubt that that an eight year old makes up his (or her) mind by what they read or hear apart from what is spoken about in house.
So what? Kids still have the right to voice their concerns. Since when are we handing out protest rights depending on where people get their opinion from? Do I have to subscribe to a trucker magazine now before I am allowed to protest against their noise and air pollution?
As far as dredging the bay it has been going on for a hundred years or more so get used to it.
What a classic, the dumping of toxins in our rivers and oceans has been going on for a hundred years, we best continue that as well. Hunting tigers and lions, a favorite past time for centuries, can’t stop that now, can we. Drink driving, popular since the invention of cars, don’t end the tradition. Domestic violence, its been around forever, we better get used to it.
Robbo, based on your argument we’d still be living in caves.
March 8th, 2008 at 12:03 am
.I travelled those streets for the past 30 odd years and saw the properties sold to “newcomers” who now want things changed to suit them.
What you conveniently leave out there, Robbo, is that the number of trucks has increased exponentially in that 30 years, especially since the Kennett era. Would you call Marge and Jack, who have been living near the corner of Francis and one of the side streets, for 50 or so years blow-ins? We’re middle aged parents and have been living in the same house in Yarraville for 15 years now. In this society that doesn’t exactly constitute a blow-in.
In any case, that is a red herring. Yarraville / seddon are residential areas with houses and schools and as such must be made safe for people to live and breathe in. When you started truck driving Robbo, this wasn’t recognised, but now it is.
Diverting the truck traffic through the freeways, city link and a dedicated diversion to the docklands would benefit the truckies as much as it would the residents. Win-win. A rail link might not benefit the truck lobby as much, but it would still benefit the city as a whole, hugely.
March 8th, 2008 at 9:03 am
Senor Moment # 9: Couldn’t have said it better.
Also, the State government is always bending over backwards to appease the motoring and transport lobbies. If the population don’t also love them, well, boo-hoo.
March 8th, 2008 at 10:13 am
OK OK I’ll pull my head in. I didn’t realise truckies (not truckers,Juan) were such a lot of law breaking enviromental vandals.
As an ex truck driver I am not too good on the typing so I’ll bid you all sayonara but will probably continue to look in occasionally….
Robbo
March 8th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Oh, boohoo, John Robertson. Nobody has said any such thing about the truckies. People can be hardworking folks just trying to make a living and still be causing harm to others around them indirectly.
Just because this wasn’t a widely discussed public health issue when the truckies started driving these routes doesn’t mean that both the public and the truckies can’t become better informed about the public health issues now. Industry groups who make no allowances for genuine public interest in the byproducts of their industry deserve to be regarded as ridiculous relics.