Queen Elizabeth: "Many of the people least well able to withstand the adverse effects of Climate Change live in the Commonwealth"

The Queen's speech at the opening of Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), in Port of Spain, 27th November 2009

This diamond anniversary year is an important time for the Commonwealth to look back – and, more importantly, look forward. In doing so, I believe we can be pleased with how far the Commonwealth has come in its 60 years, and yet how true it has remained to its origins. But this does not mean we should become complacent or rest on past successes. Like any good organization we must continue to pay close attention to the things that give it distinctive character.

In my view one of the core strengths of the Commonwealth lies in the commitment to common goals and values. Our shared pledge to “the pursuit of peace, liberty and progress” that my father helped to enshrine in the London Declaration in 1949 means as much today as it did then. We cherish freedom, democracy and development as dearly as ever.

But the Commonwealth’s strength lies as much in people as it does in values. Few other global organizations can boast the same rich diversity of humankind and yet also such a commonality of spirit.

The Commonwealth can be proud of the fact that in each of its six decades, it has shaped the international response to emerging global challenges.

And on this, the eve of the UN Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change, the Commonwealth has an opportunity to lead once more. The threat to our environment is not a new concern. But it is now a global challenge which will continue to affect the security and stability of millions for years to come. Many of those affected are among the most vulnerable, and many of the people least well able to withstand the adverse effects of Climate Change live in the Commonwealth.

A second area of opportunity for the Commonwealth is nurturing its young people. As with environmental challenges, this area is not new; but while the Commonwealth may rightly celebrate reaching its 60th anniversary, the future of this association lies with the one billion who are under 25 years of age. The Commonwealth must show that it is relevant to and supportive of our young people who need to be convinced that the Commonwealth can help them to realize their ambitions.

For small island states, the buffeting of the economic storms of the last twelve months has provided a stern test; and great resourcefulness has been shown in order to meet the challenge. As an organization the Commonwealth must remain dedicated to building resilience among its smaller members.

But it is not enough to look within the boundaries of the Commonwealth. In a world where political, economic and environmental problems and opportunities cross continents, the Commonwealth will also need to prove its relevance beyond its own borders and develop a truly global perspective.

The motto of Trinidad and Tobago says: ‘Together we aspire, together we achieve’. There could be no better description of the Commonwealth’s ethos and no better guideline for achieving this CHOGM’s stated goal of a more equitable and sustainable future.

I hope the leaders here present – informed by the Commonwealth Youth Forum, the People’s Forum and the Business Forum held earlier this week – can map out the route for another sixty years of success.

And with these challenges in mind I am delighted to declare open this twentieth meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government.

Is Kevin Rudd a closeted Monarchist?

The Australian Monarchist League's National Conference on 7th and 8th November in Sydney.

Kevin Rudd had sent a message to the Conference, which is full of surprises. See for yourself:
" I congratulate the Australian Monarchist League for its achievements over the last 17 years."

Well, well, Prime Minister, that includes the defeat of the republicans in 1999. Did you forget?

By the way, neither Liberal Party leader Malcolm Turnbull nor the leader of the NSW Liberal Party Barry O'Farrell bothered to send messages. Kevin Rudd must be a closeted Monarchist.

Royal Australian Navy Commander honoured by His Majesty, The King of Tonga

Commander Peter Thompson, RAN, is honoured by His Majesty, The King of Tonga, George Tupou V, by being appointed as an Officer of the Royal Military Order of Saint George, whilst HMAS Tobruk was in the capital city of the Kingdom of Tonga, Nuku 'alofa on Operation Samoa Assist.


Commander Peter Thompson, RAN (middle) and His Excellency, Dr Bruce Hunt, The Australian High Commissioner to the Kingdom of Tonga (left), talk with His Majesty, The King of Tonga, George Tupou V, in the King's Villa after the ceremony.

Presidents come with high costs

Remember the popular republican complaint, a Monarchy would cost the taxpayer tooooooo much money? Republicans give the impression, a president would be cheaper, certainly "more cost efficient".

Wait a minute, why not make a reality check?

The newly installed EU president, Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, will start his new office on 1st January 2010. And he starts the job with a healthy budget. The Daily Telegraph has this to say about what the EU taxpayers have to shoulder:

"Herman Van Rompuy, the EU's new President, will be paid over £320,000 [$580,000] a year. The EU president will only pay a 24 per cent rate of tax and his personal annual travel budget will be £4 million [$7.22 million].

"He will have a staff of 60 people - a cabinet of 22, ten body guards and 28 support staff. His total office budget will be £22.3 million [$40.27 million]."

Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton

A new palace for the president
"A state of the art building is already under construction, at a cost to the taxpayer of £280 million [$505,6 million], to house the new president of Council.

"Named the Résidence Palace, after an existing Art Deco building, the new edifice has been designed to be the most impressive in Brussels and will be the venue for European Union summits after 2013. It has a floor space of 29,000 sq metres.

"The new figure is president of the European Council, the quarterly summits of heads of state and government that are the EU's highest political body.

"Under the Lisbon Treaty, the European Council becomes a fully fledged European institution rather than a political meeting, with origins in informal fireside chats between EU's founding six countries.

"The new President is charged with "driving forward" European Council decisions, which will in future be both politically and legally binding on all EU member states."

The EU shows how to appoint a mate as president
Republicans must love the way the EU got its first president. 27 politicians sat together and agreed to appoint one man out of their midst to be the head boy. No parliament involved, no election, not even any kind of consultation with the peoples he is supposed to represent.

And to make things worse, the population of all but one of the 27 member states were not even asked if they wanted a president. Gosh, aren't republics so democratic?

A day to celebrate the Queen – and us

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee on the throne is still more than 26 months away, but Australian republicans are already getting hot and bothered about the way, Australia should - or in their case: should not! - celebrate this important day. To make their opposition to any celebration clear, David Donovan, spokesman for a republican splinter group, has ”strongly objected” any move “to reserve a day in 2012 to mark the Queen's milestone”. It goes without saying that the discussion was brought to Australia by a Murdoch newspaper.

With their raging and ungraceful behaviour, republicans are giving the impression of being very joyless people,.grumpy and dissatisfied with their world, denying other people a joyful time and celebrate. Nobody will force them to shout: “God save the Queen!”, but why deprive other people of a public holiday and them having fun? The Queen has been Australian head of state for nearly 58 years and her Diamond Jubilee will be celebrated by the Australians, of whom, many have seen her on at least one of her 15 tours of this continent.A public holiday for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee is a dignified way to celebrate the event. Just the right way for her – and for us.

Miller’s tales, not fairy, but calculated

What utter nonsense! In his autobiography New Zealand born “entertainment mogul” Harry M. Miller claimed, Prince Charles, “the heir to the throne told a 1977 dinner party in Sydney that he did not understand ‘why Australia bothered with us – we really are yesterday's news’”. And – according to Mr. Miller - the Prince went on: “What he was saying was that Australia should be a republic and it was really bull**** to be kow-towing to the British monarchy.” The British Daily Express published this outrageous “bull****”, which, of course, The Age and other media republished downunder.

What none of the media mentioned was the source of this complete idiocy: In 1978, Harry Miller started a ticketing company called Computicket, which went into receivership within six months. On 30 April 1982, Miller was found guilty of fraud which lead to the collapse of the company, and he served ten months in prison at Long Bay and Cessnock Correctional Centres.

A convicted fraudster is hardly the best source for an event that should have happened 32 years ago. Why should Prince Charles make such a remark? And why to Mr. Miller? It seems, all Mr. Miller is interested in, is money. Therefore these ridiculous claims are the best promotion for his “autobiography”, which Philip Benwell, The Australian Monarchist League’s National Chairman, said “is not the truth, but fiction, that sells books and newspapers”.

Of course attacks on members of our Royal Family are as easy as profitable. Not only sex sells (Mr Miller also claims in his book, Confessions Of A Not-So-Secret Agent, that Prince Charles bedded a string of local girls during his visit – including the daughter of a prominent Australian politician.) , but smear campaigns do as well. Everybody knows, that the heir to the throne cannot defend himself.

A Clarence House spokesman said last night: “We do not comment on private conversations that may or may not have happened but these words do not ring true at all as having been said by The Prince. They do not in any way reflect His Royal Highness’s views on Australia.”

Mr. Miller must have learned a lot while in custody. He certainly did not come out of jail as a reformed criminal.

Where did the eggs end up? The Age missed the target

When it comes to the Australian Royal Family, The Age follows strictly a journalist’s credo: “Only bad news is good news.”
While the Melbourne newspaper had so far ignored the Canadian tour of Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall, which started on 2nd November, one incident in Montréal made headlines in the republican mouthpiece. “Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, have been met with eggs and shouts of 'Majesty go home' from scores of anti-royalty protesters blocking the entrance to a Canadian military armoury.” Two paragraphs on the “scores” turned out to be “200 demonstrators” (Montréal has 1.8 million inhabitants) “bearing billboards urging Montreal and Quebec to break away from the British Commonwealth”.

So it was not just an anti-Charles & Camilla protest, but a separatist incident. Not uncommon in Quebec, where two referenda were held, with a vocal minority ignoring two democratic decisions. Does sound familiar, doesn't it? Australians know this attitude, that a defeated minority keeps ignoring the result of a referendum.

A Canadian paper had a different report: The Edmonton Journal speaks of “150 slogan-chanting Quebec nationalists who tried to block the front doors to the Black Watch armory in downtown Montréal.” And contrary to The Age, the royal couple have not been met with eggs, but “[protesters] began to throw eggs at the front doors of the armory” before [!] the royal arrival. Nothing of the following was reported by The Age: “Prince Charles arrived wearing his Black Watch ceremonial uniform, and the reserve regiment's band greeted him by playing the regimental quick march, Highland Laddie.

"In his speech, Charles drew mild laughter with his remark about the 'little local disturbance' outdoors, then spoke warmly in English and French about his affection for the Canadian Black Watch.
"The royals were also to meet recent veterans of Afghanistan before returning to Ottawa in the evening.”

The royal couple had landed in Montréal, where they were greeted by Quebec's Lt.-Gov. Pierre Duchesne before hopping into a black Towncar heading downtown in a 15 vehicle convoy.

"Welcome to Montreal" and "Welcome to Quebec" the crowd shouted as the Prince and Duchess were greeted by Quebec’s Premier Jean Charest on the downtown street.

Of course The Age ignored all the other items of Prince Charles’ visit to Quebec: At Montréal's nature museum, the Biodome, chosen as a site in keeping with the conservancy theme of the trip and Prince Charles's ecological campaign, about 60 royalty fans, most of them French, mingled with police, a quartet of protesters who sang and a young woman in a seal suit.

Mayor Gerald Tremblay greeted the prince at the entrance. Prince Charles stopped to chat with one fan who came with her husband and her two dogs. "He said 'Vous avez de beaux chiens’," said Bernadette Kosko.

Another 50 supporters waited for two hours inside. A few sang Happy Birthday, while most looked thrilled to have shaken hands with a prince.

Charles also met with Ouranos, a Montreal-based network of 250 experts on regional climatology whose mandate is to help society adapt to climate change.

When it comes to The Age’s policy, a couple of eggs thrown at an entrance door are more important than Prince Charles’ ambitious environmental fight. Poor Age and poor Melburnians who rely on such a newspaper. It came as no surprise that The Age chose the most unflattering photo. As usual.


Italian summary
11/11/2009 Montreal - Il Principe Carlo d'Inghilterra e la moglie Camilla sono stati contestati a Montreal, in Canada, davanti a una caserma, dove Carlo, arrivato con indosso la divisa del Black Watch per consegnare una bandiera al Reggimento di cui l'erede al trono britannico è comandante, era atteso, da circa 200 manifestanti che lo hanno accolto al grido di slogan come "Maestà, tornatene a casa" e "Viva il Quebec libero". Le contestazione, che è stata fatta passare per antimonarchica ma era invece di carattere separatista, è stata organizzata dalla 'Rete di resistenza del Quebec', un gruppo nazionalista che rivendica il rispetto della tradizione storica della provincia francofona del Canada rifiutando la passata colonizzazione britannica.

"There is also no political will to revisit the issue"

My fellow bloggers of The Monarchist reflect on the Australian referendum's 10th anniversary.

The Monarchist is always worth reading, but this article has my special sympathy.

"... republicans know they don’t have a model that they know can win. They know that a president chosen by politicians is a vote loser. But they seem unwilling to commit to a president chosen by popular vote. Why? Because such a change would be even more radical than the 1999 proposal – and would probably go down to a substantial defeat after being subjected to the white heat of a referendum campaign. Direct election is apparently popular now – but other referenda proposals have had high levels of support that evaporated in the lead-up to a vote. This conundrum ties the republicans up in knots."

The Monarchists won the Australian referendum in 1999

... even if republicans will never admit that fact. It must be a very frustrating exercise to propagandise for a republican regime for Australia and not get any closer to the fulfilment of toppling the Queen of Australia. On the 10th anniversary of the referendum The Age continues its bombardment against the Monarchy by insulting all those who voted No: “The Age has long believed that … becoming a republic will be a crucial mark of Australia's adulthood. Sadly, the past decade has witnessed a national retreat into childhood.”

Ten years of constant propaganda for “a” republic by the united Fairfax & Murdoch media, by the ABC and other TV stations and what is the result: Opinion polls show no more republican sentiment than in 1999. A more democratic attitude of the mighty media owners and their servants would suggest to accept the outcome of a democratic vote and live with it, but this is not what they do. They increase their attacks on the Australian Constitution and the institution of the Monarchy.

Today Monarchists all over Australia celebrate the outcome of the 1999 referendum and they have all reason doing so. Their opponents run around like headless chooks, contemplating new plebiscites and referenda, hoping for politicians to come to their rescue and give them “a” republic. Haven’t they noticed that relying on politicians is the most unreliable way to get results - and another reason to keep the Monarch who is above politics.

The Age even had the chutzpah to return to “the enthusiastic endorsement of republicanism at last year's 2020 Summit”, without mentioning that the summitteers were all handpicked and no Monarchist was considered worthy to take part in this show exercise. Is the republicans' aim to exclude all those who oppose their sailing into the rough sea of a politicians’ republic from speaking out for Queen and Monarchy? Fortunately we will not know, in which way republicans might exclude Monarchists from the Australian agora, because there is no likelihood that they will win a referendum.

All the contemplation on plebiscites (The Age: "A two-part plebiscite that asks the threshold question - should Australia become a republic - and then offers voters a choice of republican models could cheaply and conveniently be held at the time of the next federal election.") does not take into account that plebiscites do NOT change the constitution. What will republicans do, should they win the suggested plebiscites, but lose the referendum? Ignore the referendum? Return to square one? Repeat the referendum until the result pleases the The Age and the people behind the media? Or will they finally accept a democratic result and live with it?

Open questions, which The Age's editorialist did not bother to ask, even less dare to answer.

Tony Ab-bott ser-ved the Queen of Aus-tralia.

SBS censorship

First the positve: SBS – Special Broadcasting System – provides an extraordinary access to news programmes from all over the world and has services in 64 languages. That is certainly a record and thanks to SBS millions of migrants in Australia can watch and listen to news from many countries in the world.

However, the republican virus has infected SBS. Or at least the editing of news journals sometimes gives the impression that could lead to such a conclusion.

The French journal “France 2” of 3rd November 2009, which was broadcast on 4th November in Australia was cut short. Not extensively, it was just three minutes shorter than the journal the French audience could watch. But these three minutes were a report on the French royalists and the second in line to the throne, Prince Jean de France. Anchorman David Pujadas had announced a report on “Les Royalistes français d’aujourd’hui” (Today's French Royalists) and a few pictures of Prince Jean scrolled on the screen, giving the audience an impression of what was to come.

But not for the Australian spectators. SBS deprived them of this report. Since the journal was not longer than usual it is up to everyone’s guess, why SBS deleted the report on “Les Royalistes du 21eme sciecle”, as it was titled on France 2’s website. Fortunately the news is available on the French website for a couple of days. Click on the 20 heures button of "mardi 3" and scroll down to the second last item of the content list.

France & Iran: "Being a Monarchist is not a crime!"

A Fourth Iranian Monarchist Sentenced to Death
Davood Fardbacheh Mir-Ardabili, born in 1973, is charged with being a member of the Iran Monarchy Association. He was arrested on May 4th that is to say before the demonstrations following the elections in June, which didn’t prevent a judgment by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran in charge of the repression of the events.

Davood Fardbachech Mir-Ardabil has not been allowed to be defended by a lawyer nor insure his defense by himself.

The International Monarchist Conference (IMC) is protesting once more against these arbitrary lawsuits. The Iranian regime has just marked a new stage in abject behavior. It is no longer only a matter of iniquitous cases but actual judiciary assassination.

Arash Rahmanpour

The name of Davood Fardbacheh Mir-Ardabili has just been added to the name of three other monarchist activists sentenced to death by hanging, journalist Mohammad-Reza Ali-Zamani (37 years old), Hamed Rouhinejad (24 years old) and the young Arash Rahmanpour (only 20 years old).

We demand the release of Iranian political prisoners!

Sign the petition: www.freezamani.org

Join the demonstration of November 3rd, 2009 at 7.00 pm, place d’Iéna in Paris, near the Iranian Embassy (Metro Iéna).

Sylvain ROUSSILLON
General Secretary of the International Monarchist Conference
Spokesperson of the Free Zamani Action Group
http://internationale.monarchiste.com

Queen Elizabeth II met Her Victorian Premier at Balmoral



The Queen of Australia received the Premier of Victoria in an audience at Balmoral Castle. On 5th October 2009 John Brumby informed Her Majesty on the Victorian bushfires in February 2009. He expressed his wishes, that Queen Elizabeth II may return to Australia in 2010.

1st October 1949, a sad day for China

I was about to send the Chinese Communist embassy a letter of condolences, to regret the fact that 60 years ago a "people's republic" was proclaimed. A lamentable event indeed. But the real damage was done, when a republic was proclaimed on 1st January 1912. This “Republic of China”, which will celebrate its revolution on 10th October ("Double Tenth" of 1911) still exists, although its territory is nowadays restricted to the Island of Taiwan and some offshore islets.

For a Monarchist who has no love lost for this form of state, they are both undesirable. However, there are significant differences between the Republic of China and the people’s republic of China. While the once all-mighty Kuomintang on Taiwan gave up its iron grip on the population and paved the way to a multiparty democracy (it lost power in 2000 to an opposition party) Mainland China is still a one-party-dicatorship under an oligarchic Communist Party.

A Chinese Monarchist
When the Chinese Emperor was forced to abdicate far from every Chinese cheered the new republic. The great Chinese scholar Liang Qichao yearned for the return of the Emperor system after the abdication of Pu-Yi in 1912. Both this, and his urging for media freedom in China, "made him an unpopular figure both with Dr. Sat Yun Sen and the emerging Communist Party". Chris Devonshire-Ellis writes in his blog: "However, notable scholars of the day much admired him, including Lin Yutang, who called Liang 'the greatest personality in the history of Chinese journalism,' and Joseph Levenson who described him as 'a brilliant scholar, journalist, and political figure.'”

China's Imperial Flag was lowered in 1912

What about a Chinese Monarchy?
Daniel Bell, US professor of political theory at Tsinghua University in Beijing, gave an interesting look into his students’ thinking:

"One of my graduate students told me that she was dismayed by the uncritical coverage of the inauguration [of US president Obama], the kind of love-fest for a political leader that could only make the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party envious. We discussed, only half-jokingly, the possibility that China should adopt some form of constitutional monarchy, so that the public could project its emotions on a symbolic leader while evaluating the de facto political leader’s performance more rationally."

Who would be Emperor?
The Mad Monarchist from Texas found the right words describing the tragic end of Emperor Pu-Yi, who reigned as the Emperor Hsuan-tung and later as Emperor Kang The:

"Despite the best efforts of the communists the idea of the last Emperor as a villain never really took hold. Most today probably view him as a tragic figure but I take a more nostalgic view. It often seems that the world as a whole missed the significance of the fall of the Chinese Empire; an imperial system which lasted from the time of the ancient Greeks until the 20th Century. His life marked the end of an era and the start of a long period of suffering and terror for China. It also marked the end of China as a society based on the moral principles of Confucius.

"It is debated as to who would be the heir of the last Emperor today. In his book, Pu-Yi wrote that he designated his cousin, Prince Yu-Yan as his successor. He died in 1997 and if his line is accepted the heir to the Dragon Throne today would be his son Prince Hengzheng, aka Yuan Yuan."

Chinese Monarchists are starting to get organised. Here's a new website of the Imperial Qing Restoration Organization.

And the Mad Monarchist had his own thoughts on 1st October 60 Years of Red Chinese Tyranny.

Malta's republican "parliamentary coup"

"The 1974 parliamentary coup which transformed Malta from monarchy to republic was another first. Should this be on the candidates list for National Day? It remains memorable for the way it was done more than for its effect. Had anybody started a debate or called a referendum on whether Malta should shed it last remaining shreds of Monarchy a majority would have been found. The PN Opposition would have been outmanoeuvred, too embarrassed to defend a British Queen. Blessed by consensus, the transition may have eluded notice. Instead the new republican constitution, (little more than an amended version of the earlier one) was forced upon the country under threat by the government to seize absolute power on the pretext that Article 6 of the constitution which mere said that the constitution was supreme was not itself entrenched requiring a two thirds majority for its amendment."

"The constitutional amendments including the stopping of this loophole were agreed to by the opposition under apparent duress. No revolution took place on December 13th. There was no break in legal continuity and the Government was allowed its two thirds majority. Instead of consensus granting ownership of the change to all parties, we had coercion and we still have resentment."

Harry Vassallo in Malta: a babe in arms , 23rd September 2009

The Queen will meet Her Victorian Premier in October

On 5th October Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, will receive Her Victorian Premier at Buckingham Palace. Acting Premier, Attorney-General Rob Hulls, could not hide his pride. On Channel 7 he said: “I think it’s a coup for the Premier. I don’t think there has been too many premiers that had a personal audience with the, er, with the Queen.” It must have been difficult to say the Q-word, because he mumbled it and needed two attempts to say it. But he managed, he really managed well to announce that Victorian Premier John Brumby will meet the Sovereign on 5th October.

Channel 9 had this to say: “This is the first time an Australian Premier has been invited to a rare audience with the Queen. Buckingham Palace has contacted the government to request he visit her while in the U.K. next week.

“The Queen has taken great interest in the Black Saturday bush fires.

“She received daily updates throughout February and March and made a personal donation to the bush fire appeal.”

Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, was equally praised. Channel 7: “Princess Anne won fans visiting Melbourne for the National Day of Mourning.” And the Victorian Environment Minister Gavin Jennings added: “They were chuffed that in fact she was there. It made quite a big difference at that time of adversity.”

Even The Age printed a short notice on the forthcoming royal audience for the Victorian Premier.

Royal Wedding in Athens

"This week the happiness of two young royal children attracted more the attention of many Greeks than the unsolved conflict of Cyprus. Accompanied by the enthusiastic joy of his compatriots young King Constantine II led his 18 year old bride, Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, to their wedding in Athens." This is how the German weekly DIE ZEIT began its report on the colourful celebrations in the Greek capital on 18th September 1964, to this day 45 years ago.


More still photos on this joyous day can be see on the website Greek Wedding.

The US magazine Time knew this about the Royal Wedding:
"Weddings are, so to speak, expensive propositions. In Athens, Finance Minister Constantine Mitsotakis announced that the marriage of Greece's King Constantine, 24, to Denmark's Princess Anne-Marie, 18, cost the treasury $303,000, including $183,300 spent on wedding gifts. However, an issue of 2,000,000 commemorative 30-drachma pieces will net a profit of $1,063,000, leaving the wily Greeks with $760,000 to play around with, or possibly use as a dowry for Crown Princess Irene."

The Age's research unveils Prince Charles' secret

Paola Totaro, The Age’s Europe correspondent, was the lead story of extra, the paper’s quarterly newsletter, published last Saturday. Since 2008 she enjoys the “job from heaven” and “her reporting successes soon included … Prince Charles (the Man Who Would be, er, King …)”. This is probably the most positive reference the heir to the throne could get in Fairfax Media.

The journalist’s portrait has more to tell about her encounter with the Prince of Wales: “It was via the [Foreign Press Associaten in London] that she met Prince Charles, speaking at an award night. This confirmed what Totaro’s research had shown – even while many lampooned him, he’s been warning about climate change for 20 years.”

Wow, what extraordinary piece of investigative journalism do we get here! The Age’s correspondent found out what everybody, who paid just a little respect to Prince Charles, could know. But the Fairfax journalists were too busy “lampooning him”.

$611.99

Call me naive, but I always thought writers cannot be bought. Journalists may come at a price. I consider it a possibility that you can ask a journalist to write a biased report, and you may get, what you wanted if the price was right. But I find it hard to believe, that you could demand from a writer to fabricate an essay with a fixed tendency. Well, obviously republicans can. And the pric(z)e is the extraordinary sum of $611.99.

In case you wanted to participate in the “Republican Short Story Competition” your entry was “required to portray an Australian republican future in a positive light”.

Brave new world, where criticism will only be allowed if you followed part two of the rules and “demonstrate the absurdity of a hereditary monarch as the Australian Head of State in twenty-first century Australian society”.

And to participate in this “republican fiction” you had to pay the entry fee of $11.99 (incl GST). “Entry fees are to be paid by money order or cheque to Australian Republican Movement.” Boy, they must be desperate for some dollars more.

Ohe iam satis!

Libya lost her Monarchy 40 years ago - and got Qaddafi instead

“For every Monarchy overthrown, the sky becomes less brilliant, because it loses a star.” It was Anatole France, first winner of the Nobel prize for literature 1921, who wrote this remark. It is certainly true, when we commemorate the 40th anniversary of the overthrowing of the Libyan Monarchy and the seizure of power of Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi. He used King Idris’ absence to declare a Libyan Arab Republic on 1st September 1969, a republic that has changed its name constantly during the past 40 years. Today its master pleases to call his construction “the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya”.

King Idris I, (Arabic: إدريس الأول‎) born Sayyid Muhammad Idris bin Sayyid Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi (12th March 1889 – 25th May 1983) was the reigning King of Libya from 1951 to 1969 and was also the Chief of the Senussi Muslim order.

In 1911, Italy conquered Cyrenaica in the brief Italo-Ottoman War. In 1920 Sayyid Muhammad Idris bin Sayyid Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi was recognized by the British under the new title of Emir of Cyrenaica, a position also confirmed by the Italians. Two years later he was named Emir of neighboring Tripolitania. Idris' efforts to gain the country's independence were suppressed by the Italians, and he was driven into exile in the late 1920s. After struggling for liberation through the 1930s, Idris fought with General Bernard Montgomery and his army and they defeated the Italian and German troops in Libya in 1943.

The Italian colony was dismembered in a British and a French occupation zone. Tripolitania and Cyrenaica belonged to the British zone, Fessan was French. After the Peace of Paris in 1947 the country became a trust territory of the UN. The occupation zones persisted. In 1949 the UN decided to grant Cyrenaica independence under the Senussi-Order and its Emir Mohammed Idris as-Senussi.

From Benghazi, Idris led the team negotiating with the United Kingdom and the United Nations over independence, which was achieved on 24th December 1951. Idris was proclaimed the King of Libya. The flag of the Senussi Emirate was black with silvery half-moon and star in the middle. After Libya gained her independence, she introduced a national flag that was that of the Cyrenaica, however completed by a red stripe above the black and broad middle stripe and by a green stripe below. The three stripes represented the three parts of the country: Fessan, Cyrenaica und Tripolitania.

Following independence Libya faced a number of problems. There were no colleges in the country and just sixteen college graduates. Also the country had just three lawyers with not a single Libyan physician, engineer, surveyor or pharmacist in the Kingdom. It was also estimated that only 250,000 Libyans were literate and that 10% of the population was blind, with eye diseases such as trachoma widespread. In light of these Britain provided a number of civil servants to staff the government.

In April 1955 oil exploration started in the kingdom with its first oil fields being discovered in 1959. The first exports began in 1963 with the discovery of oil helping to transform the Libyan economy.
On April 25, 1963 the federal system of government was abolished and in line with this the name of the country was changed to the Kingdom of Libya to reflect the constitutional changes.

King Idris maintained close relations with the West in spite of increasing tensions between the US, UK, and the Arab world. In 1969, King Idris I had decided to abdicate in favor of his nephew on 2nd September. A coup led by Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi (and with murky support from the Italian government of the day) overthrew the King's government on 1st September, while the King was receiving medical treatment in Turkey. The King's nephew and Crown Prince, Sayyid Hassan as-Senussi, was placed under house arrest, along with most of the rest of the Royal Family. King Idris was placed on trial in absentia in the "Libyan People's Court" and sentenced to death in November 1971.

In 1984 Qaddafi released the Royal Family from house arrest and tossed them onto the street. The family lived for a period in a cabin on a public beach. Crown Prince Sayyid Hassan, suffering from poor health, was allowed to travel with most of the family to London for medical treatment, where they settled. The Crown Prince died in 1992, and was succeeded by his son, Prince Sayyid Muhammad bin Sayyid Hasan ar-Rida al-Mahdi as-Senussi.

Today's Libyan Royal Family
Prince Muhammad, the de jure King of Libya, has been active in Libyan exile circles, participating in an anti-Qaddafi rally in London in 2005, when he joined hundreds of Libyan opposition members in London to push for Qaddafi's ouster - their first conference in exile to tell the world, they said, there is an alternative to Qaddafi that is not Islamic extremism, but the Constitutional Monarchy.

Prince Muhammad has made Libyan democracy his public cause and has not renounced the throne. When in December 2007 Qaddafi put up his tent in Paris he was not left alone. From London came the claimant of the Libyan throne and reminded the French and the Libyan dictator that there is an alternative to the North African clown, as Taki calls him. The French newspaper Le Figaro had an extensive interview with Prince Mohammed as-Senoussi. Although he and his supporters were forbidden by the French police to stage a demonstration against Qaddafi, his presence in the Paris was enough to upset Qaddafi and his host Sarkozy.


Muammar al-Qaddafi as a tourist in the Louvre, Paris

Qaddafis' Monarchy
In August 2008, Qaddafi appeared in public wearing a regal crown and carrying a scepter, for the formal signing ceremony of a reconciliation pact with Italy. In tow was his son, Seif al Islam, designated as his dynastic successor to rule the republic or kingdom. All of this followed a meeting in which 200 tribal leaders conferred the title of “King of Kings” upon the once anti-monarchist revolutionary.

The Age's History lessons

It is reassuring to notice that sometimes a reader manages to correct a few of The Age's errors, caused by the ignorance of the journalists in charge. Of course I do not accuse them of a biased film review, when it is sheer stupidity.

Middle Park resident Robert H.’s letter to the editor was published today:

History lesson
WHEN I go to see The Young Victoria I hope to find that the filmmakers have achieved better historical accuracy than is implied in Jim Schembri's review (The Age, 27/8). King William was not Victoria's ''father'' but her uncle.
Prince Albert was not ''Belgian'' but German. To say that Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent, tried ''thwarting her, if only for her own good'' sanitises a malodorous episode: the Duchess, bitter that her husband's death prevented her from becoming queen, set out, in league with the evil Sir John Conroy, to promote herself as the obvious choice for regent should William die before Victoria reached 18. There is some evidence that the Duchess' first move, as regent, would have been to have Victoria declared insane, a la George III.

One may wonder why the editor chose the headline "History lesson" when it is so obvious that none of the editorial staff either had any or are interested in receiving any history lessons.

If you want to read the rather shallow review by Jim Schembri, click here. The Age kept the faulty piece of journalism online and changed only the most obvious mistake (King William IV being Victoria's father instead of being her uncle, but Prince Albert remains “her long-distance Belgian suitor”).

The mistake was not corrected in today's edition of the Entertainment Guide, where on page 5 it is still claimed that Victoria took "over from her father, King William". Never trust anything you read in The Age.

Crown Prince Tupouto'a Lavaka of Tonga has been visiting Australia

ADF reported on a Royal visit:
His Royal Highness Crown Prince Tupouto'a Lavaka of Tonga and his Chief of Defence Services visited the ARMY ABORIGINAL COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (AACAP) in Mapoon, Queensland today (27th August) to view the works being conducted by ten Tongan Defence Personnel who are attached as part of the AACAP Contingent.

Lieutenant Chris Thompson (right) shows His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince of Tonga Tupouto'a Lavaka (left) and Brigadier Jeff Sengelman (centre) around a vertical construction site at the AACAP in Mapoon, QLD.

His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince of Tonga Tupouto'a Lavaka and Chief of Tongan Defence Services Brigadier Tau'aika Uta'atu, with Engineering Trainees and their Australian Army Mentors at the AACAP in Mapoon, Queensland.

AACAP has offered the opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the Army and the Tongan Defence Service (TDS) through positive international engagement. The TDS has contributed 10 tradesmen (including carpenters, plumbers and electricians) to work alongside Army tradesman to complete the AACAP vertical construction task: involving the completion of three houses for community members.

Nelson quits politics

Yesterday Brendan Nelson announced he will quit politics at the end of the month. And with his departure from Parliament, the former leader of the opposition receives the nice media comments that were denied him, when he was doing a fine job: The Age: “Nelson too good a bloke for hard truths of politics”:

“Dr Nelson, defence minister at the time, was to those soldiers and just about everyone who got to meet him in his numerous public roles, a good bloke.
"He was personable, intelligent and worked hard at getting on top of the detail required in a high-profile career.”

He never received such positive comments after he was elected against all odds in November 2007 as Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Australian Opposition. The media would have preferred the republican Malcolm Turnbull over the Monarchist Brendan Nelson and they were very upset that their forecast was proven wrong.

Nelson as the “darling of the [Liberal] party’s left” (The Age, 26th August 2009) was vehemently despised by the republican and Liberal politician (and "wannabe" MP) Greg Barns:

“Brendan Nelson on the other hand is shallow, has swung to the Right simply because it is opportune to do so, and is a leader of whom Minchin and Abbott approve. Nelson believes in only one thing – himself. His career is a testament to that fact. He is a Faustian character.”

The leader of the opposition
When Nelson was elected leader of the opposition, the The Sydney Morning Herald wrote: "Dr Nelson defeated Mr Turnbull, the former environment minister, by 45 votes to 42 in the ballot.
"But the closeness of the result immediately raised speculation both inside and outside the party that the matter was far from settled and Mr Turnbull would bide his time before making another attempt."

Nelson was doomed when he announced on 1st December 2007 as a newspaper headline put it: I won't support republic: Nelson

“Dr Nelson said today that like his predecessor as Liberal leader, John Howard, he did not support moving to a republic.

"’I think the current arrangements in Australia, as we've seen over the last week or so, serve our nation very well,’ he told ABC television.”

From then on he had no chance to win over the media, but I won’t bother you with too many quotations.

They had their field day in September 2008, when their republican darling Malcolm Turnbull finally managed to get Nelson's job.

The Daily Telegraph: "Mr Turnbull becomes the first republican to lead the Liberal Party but the appointment could create a split amongst conservatives.

"He said, after defeating incumbent Brendan Nelson by a vote of 45 to 41, that he would not push the republican issue until the Queen, who is more popular in Australia than the monarchy itself, was gone from the throne.

"Mr Turnbull chaired the Australian Republican Movement from 1993 to 2000 and led the failed 1999 campaign to make Australia a republic in a referendum."

And as we now know, Turnbull tried to join the Australian Labor Party, after the failed attempt to bring down the Monarchy. A logical step, considering that the ALP has a fiercely republican platform. What a pity he didn’t make it into the ALP’s rank and file, because whatever Turnbull gets involved with is bound to fail. His republican stunt was rebutted by the Australian people and the cursed Liberal Party will be crushed with Malcolm as their candidate for prime ministership.

And there goes Brendan Nelson, a really nice chap, as everybody says today, oh well, may be excluding Greg Barns who seems to hate him with a passion.

“Prince Harry should become King of Australia”

At least J Marc Schmidt has a new approach to the Monarchy in Australia. Where Monarchists and republicans struggle on either keeping or changing the status quo, he suggests “Prince Harry should become an Australian citizen and become our first king.”

“We don't want another dark-suited, distant bureaucrat who won't listen to us once elected. We have plenty of those. We want something else, but what? In 1999, many supported the idea of a popularly elected president, a leader chosen by and representing the people rather than the government.”

Marc is not in the least worried that so far His Royal Highness has been on Australian soil for a comparatively short period:

“Our king must be Australian. It is a simple matter to give Prince Harry Australian citizenship. Of course he will have to acquaint himself with Australian culture and history. That should be no problem for an Eton-educated prince, who has also already spent some time living and working on a farm in Australia."

Proclaiming Prince Harry King of Australia would not be a big thing, Marc has a simple solution:

“We don't even need a referendum to make this change. Our constitution requires that our heads of state be the 'heirs and successors of Queen Victoria', and Prince Harry already is.”

People like Monarchies

“Republicans argue that the people alone should choose their head of state, that monarchies are unfair. I disagree. Choice is overrated. In America in 2004, for example, the choice was limited to George Bush and John Kerry, and in 2008 it was limited to Barack Obama and John McCain. Monarchies use a far older, wiser, and fairer arbitrator than any election: Fate.

Anyway, people like monarchies. We humans are drawn to certain ways of organising our society, and try as we might, we can't shake our biological heritage. Is there any other reason why the marriage of Mary Donaldson to a Danish prince, and their visit, made the front pages of newspapers and magazines all across the country?"

The idea of a resident Australian Monarch is not new and has some support, especially from Melbourne theologian David Schütz.

May be the republicans should add a question to their proposed plebiscite catalogue. At The Senate hearing on a (non-binding and unconstitutional) “plebiscite for an Australian Republic Bill 2008” Klass Woldring and others held the position "that at some point in the process, multiple questions were required to get more information from the public to then enable the referendum question to be specific:
It is particularly in a plebiscite that the public mood can be gauged reasonably accurately and comprehensively but the Government need to ask multiple questions. This is extremely important especially because Section 128 of the Constitution has proven to be such a major obstacle in the way of having constitutional referendums passed in Australia.This single question does not provide opportunity for making these points and yet they are important when it comes to formulating Referendum questions."

However, I doubt that republicans are broadminded enough to include the question: “Do you favour a resident Monarch?"

Nor will the Australian Monarchists raise the question, because they are not interested in splitting the Monarchist vote.

But does this stop us contemplating King Henry I of Australia?

If you want a reply, write to our Royal Family

This week ACM’s Convenor David Flint pointed out that it was easier and quicker to receive a reply to a letter sent to a member of our Royal Family than to get a response from an Australian politician.

That reflects my own experience. On 25th June I wrote to Her Majesty’s Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, to ask him for the transcript of a speech he held. I received an automated reply:

Contact your Prime Minister
---------------------------
Thank you for your message to the Prime Minister.

Below is a copy of your comments to the Prime Minister for your records.

If you have supplied a postal address, a reply may be sent to you via Australia Post. Your message may also be forwarded to other Federal Ministers for their consideration.

This is an automatically generated email. Please do not reply to this email as this address is not monitored.

I am still waiting for the requested manuscript.

But Mr. Rudd is probably far too much engaged in giving new speeches or his ghost writers are too busy formulating new heartbreaking appeals to “the working families” of Australia to hand out one that he held in June. We are all looking forward to the collection of Rudd’s first term in office speeches. That will certainly be a big volume.

Australian Landcare to receive no reply from Aussie pollies
But then look what happened to Rob Youl. You may not have heard from him, but he is one of those Australians who cares about the environment. He chairs a small community group centred in Melbourne and dedicated to helping spread the Australian Landcare philosophy. From his experience he can confirm Royalty’s rapid response to correspondence.

Rob told the RadicalRoyalist: “We have just released a book called Landcare: Local action, global progress. I have sent copies accompanied by considered letters to numerous Australian politicians, ambassadors and senior public servants. I can’t recall any acknowledgements, not even a quick thanks. Knowing Prince Charles’ interest in practical programs involving people I also sent him a copy. I included notes on the excellent Landcare groups around Timbertop (Mansfield, Victoria), where he spent several months as a Geelong Grammar student in 1966. His secretary replied immediately, making it obvious the Prince was well aware of my cause and background.”

Benet Northcote’s letter.

It is clear that the problem is that if you want something from an Australian “public figure” it is better to address your letter to The Queen of Australia or Prince Charles, Australia’s future King, and then you will get a reply in your letter box in no time.

Saving (for) Australia

Poor Australia! The country's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan must have cost billions of dollars! And what's worse, the federal government is on a shopping tour to get new ships, submarines and fighter jets (hopefully not made in the USA, but that’s a different topic), which will cost $20 billion.

With all these expenditures on the horizon, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) must save money. How? The answer the ADF found is as simple as it is ridiculous: By cancelling the traditional beating the retreat ceremony at the Royal Military College in Duntroon:

"Defence wishes to advise this year’s Beating the Retreat Ceremonies at the Royal Military College has been cancelled. These ceremonies were scheduled to be conducted on the evenings of Thursday 24 September and Friday 25 September 2009 at the Royal Military College, Duntroon."

That will save the extraodinary sum of $0.000083 billion, which brings the necessary sum down to $ 19,999,917,000. The ADF claims the Queen's Birthday parade could cost about $24,500 (or to remain in the billion region: $0.0000245 billion. But every time you read fresh articles, the figure seems to go up. Spin doctors must work overtime to calculate the cost to calm down the public's anger.

However, the Queen's Birthday parade was cancelled this year anyway because of a swine flu outbreak, but it will be back on again next year, assured the ADF. The retreat is an adaptation of military tradition going back to the 16th century and is the festive parade for the cadets the Royal Military College in Duntroon, something they show pride in. The retreat ceremony could be revived next year, depending on the budget, a press release promised. Past retreat ceremonies have involved 200 cadets, bands, field guns and firework, and were watched by many thousands of spectators.

Monarchists replace republican flag in Lisbon

The Portugal News online reported that a Monarchist action group climbed to the town hall’s veranda and replaced the municipal flag with the Royal flag.

‘Armada 31 Movement’ did this at midnight, but what would such an action be without a video on YouTube?

So everybody can watch the Monarchist guerilla action in the centre of Lisbon:

The swap took place under the veil of night, in the early hours of Monday morning, 10th August, and was only detected when the first town hall employees arrived. Meanwhile the municipal flag, which bears the city’s coat of arms, has disappeared.

Armada 31 Movement has already admitted to being responsible for the swap and said it was “much simpler than anyone could imagine”, entailing a handful of people, a three-metre ladder, and “some caution”, due to the amount of policing in the area.

The group described the incident as an “act of ideological guerrilla warfare” that intended to “reinstate monarchic legality”. They also claimed it was the first celebration of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the republic, which will occur on October 5th, 2010.

A friend wrote me that that the employees refused to take down the flag. Good people!

The Portuguese republicans are heading for disrupted centenary celebrations, it seems.

"Viva la revolution"

The headline “Viva la revolution” is not mine, heaven forbid, but The Sunday Age chose this title (without an exclamation mark) for a letter to the editor. It is possible that The Sunday Age just wanted to show their wide range of tolerance, when they printed a letter sent in by “Joseph Toscano, spokesperson, Anarchist Media Institute”. And although anarchist Jo swaggered about the “revolutionary impact” of the World Wide Web and “the throes of a revolution that will lead to the democratisation of every aspect of our lives”, I cannot find "Viva la revolution" in his letter, and I doubt he had chosen the headline.

I am afraid I must blame the editor of The Sunday Age for the mistaken headline. It is wrong for various reasons, but first of all, because it is a mix of several languages. “Viva” is Spanish, but “la revolution” is French. Or you could say “la” is Spanish and French, but “revolution" could be English. A clever combination of three world languages? Oh no, you overestimate the subtlety of The Sunday Age.

It is more likely that it is pure ignorance that led to this headline. Like in the republic question the media don’t know, where they want us to got to. They could have chosen “Vive la revolution!” (with an exclamation mark), which would have been the French grammatical form of the Subjonctif, which is used, when a wish should be expressed, like: ”We wish that the revolution lives!”. The Sunday Age may very well think that, I can’t possibly comment.

The French Subjonctif has an equivalent in Spanish, the subjuntivo, which also expresses wishful thinking, but the English/French word “revolution” has a different spelling in Spanish: "revolución".

The Sunday Age did not bother about these minor language problems. Which poses the question, why The Sunday Age wishes to have a revolution/revolución? Certainly, the anarchist spokesperson would not mind having one, neither a French nor a Spanish/Cuban/Venezuelan etc., but the owners of a weekly publication that is interested in generating money (among other things by charging for access to online content) would be appalled should the profit decline. Republican or revolutionary rhetoric aside, journalists, editors and shareholders want cash first, a republic second.

We could put the language tawdriness aside and just say: God save the Queen! That is easy and simple and cannot be confused with other languages. And it is in a language that even journalists of The Sunday Age should master.

Show Trials in Iran against Monarchists

The mullah regime in Iran hits back at its opponents. Among them are the Iranian Monarchists who are put on trial. At least some media report on the prosecution of Monarchists.

The Christian Science Monitor:
Inside the wood-paneled court, haggard-looking defendants – some of whom have been kept for nearly two months – sat on leather-backed armchairs listening to the charges read out. One of them, Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani, was described as a member of an exiled monarchist group and recounted, according to a government-owned channel that broadcast only images of the defendants, how he was “taught to make bombs” and identify bases of the ideological Basiji militia for targeting. According to the commentary on Press TV, he admitted to receiving funding and training from Israel and the US in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan province.

Sympathizers and relatives protested outside the court before security forces violently dispersed them. Three family members of defendant Ali Tajer-Nia, a member of the reformist Mosharekat party, were arrested, according to eyewitnesses.

Iran has executed 115 people in the past two months according to Amnesty International in what the human rights group called an “alarming spike.”


New York Times:
As in last weekend’s session, prosecutors began Saturday by reading a long, wide-ranging list of accusations that seemed to implicate any Western organization with an interest in Iran — including media organizations, rights groups and research institutes — in a vast, seditious plot.

The other defendants on trial Saturday included two prominent political analysts, Ahmad Zeidabadi and Bijan Khajehpour, as well as people the government said were members of a monarchist group and a terrorist group and who were accused of planning bombings.

One defendant accused of planning bombings at the time of the elections, Muhammad-Reza Ali-Zamani, testified that he had met a number of foreigners. They included an American intelligence official in Iraqi Kurdistan known as “Frank” who he said had given him money, a phone and other assistance.

Khaleej Times:
At a mass trial last Saturday more than 100 reformists, including a former vice-president and several other prominent figures, were charged with offences that included acting against national security by fomenting post-election unrest.

Among those charged, IRNA said, were also supporters of Iran’s toppled former royalty who were charged with being ‘mohareb’ or someone who wages war against God, a crime punishable by death in Iran.

‘Monarchist Mohammadreza Alizamani admitted to the charge and said he acted against the system,’ IRNA reported.

Greedy Fairfax Media

Here we go again. Fairfax Media will try to follow Murdoch's example: Fairfax, News to charge for online

Why pay for propaganda?

More Money for Murdoch

According to the BBC, Rupert Murdoch claimed to be dissatisfied with the revenues from the sale of digital delivery of newspaper content.

Therefore he intends to charge for all his news websites.

The reaction in the www-community was nearly an unanimous: "No, no, never!"

I think, Rupert Murdoch's demand for more money should be considered with more sympathy. Let all those who are interested in his republican propaganda pay for it. Those who are not interested in being indoctrinated will avoid his websites.

There are plenty of opportunities to get free information on the internet - free of charge and free of republican ideology.

German firm threatens to sack workers involved in Iran demonstrations

Old ghosts haunt the Germans: Civil unrest is verboten. And business dealings take the preference and should not be disturbed. There's nothing particular German in this attitude, other countries follow the same rules, but in this case, a German company was caught red handed.

A German company in Iran threatened its employees with the sack, should they participate in demonstrations against the mullah’s regime in Tehran. According to a Deutsche Welle report, on 21st July the German company Knauf sent out a letter to its three subsidiaries operating in Iran. The document is addressed "to all employees of Knauf Iran, Knauf Gatch and Iran Gatch," threatening that if anyone from the company "gets caught demonstrating against the current government, he or she will be immediately dismissed".

The letter is signed by Isabel Knauf, a member of the founding family of the Bavaria-based construction materials company. She's on the supervisory board of Knauf's operations in Iran.

Iranians living in Germany have bombarded the company with threatening calls and e-mails, company spokesman Jörg Schanow said last Friday. Schanow confirmed the letter was sent but he called the wording of the document very "unfortunate."

Knauf "strictly apolitical"?
In the letter, Isabel Knauf justified the threat to dismiss staff by saying that Knauf was "strictly apolitical" and reminded "all employees that they are not only representing their private opinion when being politically active, but that their actions could fall back negatively on our Knauf companies in Iran."

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, however, there may be concrete reason behind Knauf's decision to send out the controversial letter. The newspaper says that a senior German-Iranian employee of the company had been arrested during earlier demonstrations. It says the Tehran authorities told Knauf that their executive would only be released if it forced its employees to refrain from any involvement in the pro-opposition protests.

Strange as it may look, the policy of Knauf resembles very much to the behaviour of German companies during the late Shahanshah’s reign.

In Januar 1973 Deutsche Bank, Daimler-Benz, Telefunken, Hoechst, Bayer, BASF and other companies had joined hands for a congratulating message to His Imperial Majesty. They all praised “His Majesty Shahanshah Aryamehr” for having intiated the White Revolution on 26th January 1963.


This full page advertisment was published in the Tehran based German language weekly “Die Post” on 22nd January 1973. Der Iranian-German weekly has long gone as has the devotion of German companies for the Monarchy.

What remained is the odd wish to please the present dictatorial regime and prevent their employees from seeking a freer regime. No hope for the Germans to support Monarchists at this stage. Only after the return onto the peacock throne will the German be pleased to serve His Imperial Majesty Shahanshah Reza II.

The Windsor Hotel, Melbourne

In the 1880s, the top end of Collins and Spring streets formed an elegant and fashionable residential part of Melbourne.

It does not happen very often that I agree with Guy Rundle, but in his latest opinion piece in The Sunday Age he hit the right tone: “… Melbourne is still recognisably a historic city, with layers and textures, laneways and lifeways that give it a global brand, and a source of future value. It does not reside in any one building, but in the mix.” He is worried about the latest plans to demolish Lonsdale House, “one of the city’s best remaining 1930’s art deco buildings” and plans of a “makeover” of the Windsor Hotel that would ruin the whole ensemble opposite Parliament House.

Present view of The Windsor Hotel.

The plans that were published last week include a 25-storey glass tower for additional guest and meeting rooms plus health and leisure facilities. The Windsor tower would be 92 metres high, despite a height control of 23 metres under the existing planning overlay for the area. A new corner building will replace the 1960s north wing addition. This corner building is certainly not a beauty, but by far better than the proposed concrete glass box (see photos) described by one commentator as "a block of swiss cheese".

The existing corner building was erected in the 1960s.

The planned 25-storey glass tower would be 92 metres high with the proposed "block of swiss cheese" concrete and glass box to the right of The Windsor Hotel.

Architect Bill Corker, of Denton Corker Marshall, represents the company that is responsible for the Melbourne Museum (... complete with its own ski jump in yellow) and the Westin and Adelphi hotels.

The Westin Hotel in particular reveals that Denton Corker Marshall have no history of sympathetic development, blocking (very controversially) the vista between the Town Hall and St Paul's Cathederal.

The developers are confident their plans will be approved and have been discussing the project with Planning Minister Justin Madden’s department since November. Bill Corker said department officials had shown good body language in meetings and he had a good “vibe” about its success. Corker said the height of the tower was irrelevant in light of its good design.

It does not come as a surprise that architect guru Norman Day defended the planned monstrosity in an Age article. He threatened: “Architects Denton Corker Marshall’s plans for the Windsor provide a measure of the way the hotel should develop, but they got further, suggesting a prototype for developing any part of Melbourne where significant heritage issues apply.” Isn't is scary to think this might be the prototype for Melbourne's future?

The original Windsor building could be “recovered, re-instated to its original role as a major piece of urban stage scenery” (Norman Day), but there is less and less left of the original Melbourne flair. The new glass boxes may be to the united architects guild’s delight, but ordinary Melburnians or tourists will hardly rejoice of what is to be seen. Melbourne’s distinctive look disappears and is replaced by what planners all over the world approve. The new buildings will neither add something to the city’s appeal not will the stand for very long. The demolition men will be delighted to knock them down in a couple of decades.

We are in urgent need of the greatest critic of modern architecture, Australia’s future King. Prince Charles told Royal Institute of British Architects as recently as on 12th May 2009: "Few people dare to speak out ... for the very good reason that if they do they find themselves abused and insulted, accused of being old-fashioned, out of touch, reactionary, anti-progress, even anti-science - as if it was some kind of unholy blasphemy to question the state of our surroundings, of our natural environment, our food security, our climate and our own human identity and meaning. Little wonder, then, that most people shy away from pointing out that the Emperor isn't actually wearing very many clothes any more."

I wonder what Guy Rundle would make of an ally like Prince Charles. At least the marxist could not claim that the Prince of Wales of being a non-resident and therefore having no right to speak up. After all according to The Age, "Guy Rundle is an Australian writer living in England.” He may be close to Prince Charles in more than one way.

The proposed changes are just ugly and would bring no improvement to the city. These plans, especially the glass box next to the Windsor, are totally unacceptable. We should call in the Prince of Wales as the White Knight who rescues Melbourne City from the devastating grip of the united front of politicians, planners and architects.