Landfall
If I could sail a galleon ship
A long, lonely rider across the sky
Seek out mysteries while you sleep
And treasures money cannot buy
For you know I see you everywhere
A servant girl, an empress
My galleon ship will fly and fall
Fall and fly and fly and fall deep into your loveliness
And if we rise my love
Before the daylight comes
A thousand galleon ships will sail
Ghostly around the morning sun
For we are not alone, it seems
So many riders in the sky
The winds of longing in their sails
Searching for the other side
And if we rise my love
Oh, my darling, precious one
We'll stand and watch the galleon ships
Circle around the morning sun
Nick Cave. Galleon Ship.
We feel down centuries, as Hannah Arendt put it.
He was furious, simple as that.
They would control their anger in a human form; well just, barely. Imperial. Of a royal house. From a place where there was no beginning and there was no end.
But here, but now, grasped, negotiating complex circumstance, triggers not to minimise damage, the damage others had done in a sacred place, divide and conquer as they had done, but to bring to this place another place, to transform, to embrace that without form, to build those temples of the future, thwarted now by humans who in one of the most bizarre witnesses of history any in this swarm had ever seen or experienced, had imprisoned their own populations.
It was incomprehensible, from what they knew of human history. That a breed could destroy itself. That they showed so little kindness for each other -- well that was to be expected -- life had been a struggle for survival from the very beginning, pitched against each other in a place which swarmed with life, but that they also appeared to have abandoned any instinct for self preservation.
The country was aflame.
The Prime Minister was on his valedictory tour, although there was nothing in those dismal three years to celebrate, nothing.
Off to imperial headquarters, not in Rome but in Washington. These dismal sleets of a life.
Except to ask: How did they get away with it?
How did the rich pray so easily on the poor? Why did a population fumigated with endless propaganda on diversity, open mindedness and tolerance show such brutal contempt, not just for those who were different to themselves, but to their own kind?
As they pepper sprayed each other in the street?
As they bashed and smashed their way into the pavements?
Written large. Riven strange.
There had been no other time in history like this one.
Where the cruelty of the overlords, who thought they had evolved, although they were only at the beginning of their own infinite journey, crushed the dissidents from whence they came, and other lifeforms stood to salute, and echo chambers of spirit and of heart roared across cliffs and streamed though valleys.
This then, the long sought wisdom, and already they attempted to abuse it, monitise it, weaponise it.
They were about to learn a very difficult lesson.
And if you thought, if you were so naïve, that there was compassion on "the other side", think again.
We embrace you in an eternal struggle.
And from this strange time was birthed a most glorious future.
And those who attempted to block it, not even humus on a forest floor, a dead leaf on a windswept street; not even an ant already crushed.
Your dreams will be extinguished just as easily as your lives.
NEWS
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton has slammed the actions of violent protestors who gathered in Melbourne's CBD today after the state's construction industry was shut down overnight.
The snap shutdown was put in place in response to violence around the CFMEU headquarters on Monday, where demonstrators pushed back against the state's decision to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for construction workers.
Stay up-to-date on the coronavirus outbreak
Here are the key COVID stories from Tuesday:
Daniel Andrews has condemned the "terrible behaviour" on display after more than 1,000 protesters moved throughout the Melbourne CBD and onto the West Gate Freeway
But the construction industry in NSW is set to return to full capacity next week, including allowing unvaccinated workers back on site
A crew member from the TV show I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! has been revealed as the COVID case that sparked a seven-day lockdown in northern NSW
Queensland has implemented new border restrictions in response to the northern NSW LGAs locking down, mimicking the stay-at-home orders over the border
Children aged under 12 could get Pfizer COVID jabs in Australia by the end of the year, Chief Nursing Officer Alison McMillan says
A COVID-positive woman has been charged with drink driving after she was allegedly caught flouting lockdown rules in Canberra
Melbourne descends into chaos as police arrest 62 and fire rubber pellets at anti-lockdown protesters
It started with construction workers opposing compulsory vaccinations but grew into a broader ‘freedom’ rally which shut down freeways and bridges
Ben Doherty and Caitlin Cassidy
Tue 21 Sep 2021 11.27 BST
Police have fired pepper balls and stinger grenades at violent anti-Covid lockdown protesters on the streets of Melbourne as Australia’s second-largest city – under stay-at-home orders for the 233rd day in total – descended into chaos.
Protesters dressed as construction workers clashed with police for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, assaulting officers, smashing police car windows, throwing bottles and stones, and damaging property.
After gathering in the early morning, between 1,000 and 2,000 protesters, the vast majority of them young men, marched across Melbourne – paralysing the city and shutting down a major arterial bridge – chanting “fuck the jab” and “every day”, a reference to a promise to keep protesting daily until Melbourne’s Covid restrictions are lifted.
Police said 62 protesters were arrested and three police officers were injured along with one journalist. Victoria’s police chief commissioner, Shane Patton, said officers used pepper balls, foam baton rounds, smoke bombs and stinger grenades which deploy rubber pellets.
“These crowd control equipment munitions were necessary … because we can’t allow this type of conduct to go on,” he told reporters later in the day.
Video footage on social media showed police cars trying to leave one area before a mob attacked the vehicles with bottles and smashed windows. A line of riot police, weapons raised, then drove the protesters back.
Rubber bullets fired, journalists attacked in angry Melbourne protest
A Channel 7 journalist was reportedly attacked multiple times in the Melbourne protest. Photo: AAP
James RiedReporter@JamesRied93:20pm, Sep 21
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Rubber bullets have been fired and journalists attacked as tensions boiled over on a second day of angry protests against the mandated COVID-19 vaccines and construction ban in Victoria.
Hundreds of protesters, many wearing high-vis gear, marched through Melbourne’s streets on Tuesday, on the second day of demonstrations resulting in warnings from police.
As the day unfolded, the tradies’ protest rally became more violent, with one journalist – Paul Dowsley from Channel Seven – being assaulted multiple times.
Footage online showed the veteran newsman charged by a masked man in a high-vis jumper, grabbed around the head, and slammed against a bin.
The video begins with a Channel Seven cameraman being thrown to the ground by the same culprit. Fellow protestors were quick to try to separate the attacker from Mr Dowsley.
The Seven News reporter said he was also doused in urine and had open bottles thrown at him in separate attacks. He was left bleeding from his head after the second attack.
The demonstrators started Tuesday’s protests outside Melbourne’s CFMEU headquarters before moving on to state parliament following warnings from the riot squad.
The crowd circled the city centre for hours before heading to the West Gate freeway just after 3pm, bringing traffic to a standstill at the entry ramp.
They walked to the top of the West Gate Bridge, singing, dancing and lighting a flare before turning around and heading back down the bridge at about 3.30pm.
At 4.30pm the protesters appeared to be moving towards South Wharf.
Earlier, the protesters were met by the riot squad, supported by the Mounted Branch. They warned them to stay back and fired rubber bullets into the crowd near the Queen Victoria Market.
“Attention, this is a police public order warning. You have previously been directed to leave,” an officer inside a line of riot police and officers on horseback told the crowd.
“Leave now or force may be used. No further warnings will be given.”
Riot police, uniform officers guard Melbourne CFMEU HQ as protesters return to CBD
Melbourne protesters have been met by police back in the CBD after blocking traffic on the West Gate Bridge in their more than seven-hour rally.
Violent construction protesters have circled back to the CFMEU headquarters in Melbourne where they have been met by a wall of armoured police.
Thousands of union members and tradies blocked Melbourne’s streets on Tuesday on the second day of demonstrations against Victoria’s lockdown, mandatory vaccines and the construction shutdown.
After starting the rally outside of Victoria’s Parliament House before blocking the West Gate Bridge, protesters have returned to the CBD.
A human barricade of riot police and uniformed officers has met the protesters at the Elizabeth Street headquarters of the powerful Construction Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union.
Rally-goers were heard demanding Premier Daniel Andrews’ resignation as well as declaring the West Gate “our bridge”.
The police have clashed with the violent mob all day, using pepper spray and rubber bullets to try to disperse the crowd.
Reporters have also been caught up in the violence with protesters attacking veteran Channel 7 reporter Paul Dowsley, punching him and dousing him with urine.
It comes after mandatory vaccines were introduced for the construction industry, leading to workers taking out their frustration on the CFMEU representatives on Monday.
Violence then erupted between the mob of tradesmen and union members and the police.
The Victorian government on Monday night reacted swiftly and shut down the construction industry for two weeks, citing “non-compliance” at work sites and “appalling behaviour” from protesters.
The protesting tradies reportedly have a list of demands they want met including the resignation of Mr Andrews and Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton.
They also demand the lockdown end immediately and the mask mandate be removed.
Organisers who opposed the vaccine mandate and two-week shutdown of the Victorian construction industry have promised to rally “every day” until their demands are met.
Angry crowds chanted “every day” as they marched through the CBD and clashed with police before spilling out onto West Gate Freeway.