Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

"One argument made in favour of the West Papuans is a simple one, although it may not be a 100% correct: How can Australia send its soldiers to the other side of the world to free Iraqis from a brutal regime when West Papuans, so close to Australia, suffer still in their cry for freedom?" Darryl Mason

"Tomorrow, Solomon Islanders go to the poll. I hope they get a good government, they deserve it, but after only a short stay there I can’t help wondering if this is even possible, let alone probable..." Betty Birskys

"The first rays of the dawning sun began to flood the eastern window of the upstairs bedroom at Kirribilli House spreading a magnificent kaleidoscope of colour above the bed on the opposite wall and highlighting in gold the manacles which hung from the bedhead. Little Johnnie had, of course, been out for his morning walk and his presence in the room carried the stale smell of protective services officers and liniment." From Chapter 2 of the Chronicles of Nadir, as told from the grave by Tom Lewis.

"The federalist idea came naturally to the Dutch because their own state had had from the beginning a more or less federalist organisation through the so-called ‘Unie van Utrecht’. Dutch political history of the nineteenth century revolves partly around the attempt to regain this ‘federalist’ set up after the centralising policies of King William I. If a ‘federalism’ of sorts seemed a natural set up for such a tiny country as the Netherlands, this should hold a fortiori for an independent vast archipelago state as Indonesia." Arie brand

"At 20, I charged into scribbling for student newspapers and radio, and had minor battles with all manner of senior academics, Queensland politicians of any stripe and most memorable of all, a very rough, evil and well-connected lad who was, and remains a member of the Israeli army. He threatened me with a defamation writ for my coverage in Semper Floreat of his bullyboy antics at a Student Council meeting. I wasn't a student at the U of Q at the time, but at the then Institute of Technology, where a notable campus figure was the well-known Bryan Law, who probably still strongly disapproves of my behaviour." Peter Woodforde

Webdiary GM David Roffey provides our monthly report on site statistics, finances, registrations and Margo.

"Though about two thirds of the pre-Second World European population of Indonesia was of mixed ancestry, only a minority of those were regarded as true Indo-Europeans. These were in the first place people of whom one of the parents (generally the mother) was fully Indonesian. They were, if they had been officially recognised by their European parent, classified as Europeans. This was not in all respects an advantage. For one thing, they were not allowed to own land, a right that colonial legislation had reserved for truly indigenous Indonesians (land exploiting companies got around this through long term leases)." Arie Brand

"Fascism can be defeated by rational argument (that’s why fascists hate intellectuals), by genuine democracy (that’s why they despise civil libertarians), by legal principle (that’s why they criticise independent judges), and by international conventions (that’s why they fulminate about the United Nations). They claim they are defending our way of life, or our civilisation, even while they are undermining its fundamental principles. All civilisations have tried to raise people above fascism, but the fight has to be had over and over again." Alison Broinowski