Obviously Schapelle Corby has a fight on her hands.

So too, I might add, has the Australian government because people are legitimately saying why are we giving a billion dollars in tsunami aid, and why have 9 of our helicopter pilots giving their lives for a country which so transparently cares little about the humanity of individuals.

- Alan Belford Jones, Today Show, Channel Nine, 30.5.05

There are 155 Australian citizens around the world in prison either serving sentences (some on death row), some awaiting trial, and one in Guantanamo Bay. For weeks we’ve been subjected to the tortured close-ups of a photogenic 27 year-old Queensland woman who was arrested in Indonesia for allegedly smuggling marijuana into the country in her boogie board case.

On Friday, the media circus that was the coverage of Schapelle Corby’s trial in Denpasar reached the proportions of a Melbourne Cup (or perhaps of Steve Waugh grafting his way to an SCG hundred), as Channels Seven and Nine breathlessly awaited the judges’ verdict. Why were cameras allowed into the courtroom anyway? Even the judge in the Michael Jackson trial had the good sense to keep them out.

The media coverage of the Corby case has been disgusting, and has been brilliantly dissected by the ABC’s Media Watch tonight. I’ll add the URL in comments when the program goes online tomorrow.

I have no opinion on Miss Corby’s case. She has been found guilty following due process of the Indonesian legal system and appeals are expected to be lodged. I am, however, appalled at the latest outbreak of xenophobia in Australia that this case has triggered.

Denigration of the Indonesian legal system because it’s not the same as ours. Denigration of the judges’ competence because “they don’t speak English”. Calls to boycott Bali as a tourist resort are ludicrous. Demands for refunds or charitable donations to tsunami relief are simply outrageous, more so when they are given credence on national television by dickheads such as Belford Parrott.

Even more disquieting are the suggestions of a “National Day of Protest” in support of Miss Corby on Sunday July 10 (apparently her 28th birthday). While I have no problem with public protests in support of persons believed to be wrongly convicted, I fear that this “National Day of Protest” could easily turn into a “National Day of Xenophobia”. Editorials in today’s New Strait Times in Malaysia indicate that the damage may already be unfolding.

C-Span has the full 45 minute testimony by George Galloway to the US Senate Committee online now. But it’s worth revisiting the UK election night. First, the declaration of the poll in Bethnall Green and Bow and Galloway’s victory speech, in which he goes on to tip the bucket on the competence of the electorate returning officer. Then, watch what is surely one of the all-time great television interviews - a classic exchange between Galloway and BBC bovver boy Jeremy Paxman. (The BBC Online election blog has a transcript.)

Today’s edition of The Guardian has an item in the book section about the launch of Galloway’s new publishing imprint, called quite appropriately, Friction.

What a week for the Brits! If it wasn’t enough for that rude George Galloway being so impolite to those nice gentlemen from the US senate, we had British troops defiling Iraqi soil by miming a video of a catchy but best-forgotten 1971 hit single.

And then there was Friday’s edition of that well-known English comic book “The Sun“. Well known for their photos of young ladies with no shirts on, the Murdoch Chipwrapper showed off the attractive, muscular features of alleged criminal Saddam Hussein on the front page (and several others inside) clad in his undies.

The US government was horrified, not just at the sight of Saddam’s elderly physique, but because the Poms were stealing their thunder. More about that in a minute. “The Sun”, unswerving in their morality and ethical values, said it all on the front page of Saturday’s edition:

Celebrate the Cup Final with a…
FREE PIZZA!
2 for 1 offer from Domino’s Pizza.

Meanwhile, tucked away at the bottom of the front page was the headline: “Bush to probe Saddam’s pants. President vows: I’ll get to the bottom of it.”

Of course, one of the concerns raised by the White House on Friday was that the photos would have been a breach of the Geneva Convention. Not, of course, anything like those photos of Saddam’s impromptu dental checkup on the day of his capture in December 2003.

But hang on a tic… what exactly did White House operative Trent Duffy say at Friday’s daily Feeding Of The Chooks (otherwise known as the “press briefing“):

These photos were wrong; they’re a clear violation of DOD directives, and possibly Geneva Convention guidelines for the humane treatment of detained individuals.

Geneva Convention guidelines. Sorry mate, in the civilised world we regard the Geneva Conventions as rule, not “guidelines”.

I’ve moved. I’m back. I’m online again. More about the reasons why later.

The world is different.

I’ll be offline for short period while I am moving house. During that time this site won’t be updated by me, although all the dynamically-generated content will carry on regardless. See you hopefully no later than the 19th!

The United Nations’ Department of Public Information has released its second annual list of Ten Stories The World Needs To Know. These should be compulsory topics for media coverage and national debate… and asking the question What Are We Going To Do About Them?

The ten stories for 2005 are:

• Somalia: Steps on a path to fragile peace in a shattered country
• Tragic blind spot in health care for women
• Northern Uganda: A humanitarian crisis that demands sustained focus
• Sierra Leone: Building on a hard-won peace
• Actors for change: The growth of human rights institutions
• Cameroon: Farming in the Dark
• Island after the hurricane: Grenada struggles to recover from devastation
• Behind closed doors: Violence against women
• A viable alternative: curbing illicit drugs through development
• Environment and health: New insights into spread of infectious diseases

(The Ten Stories site links to features on each of these.)

There’s a 90 minute video (Real video) of the launch of the 2005 Ten Stories list as part of May 3’s World Press Freedom Day.

It’s worth noting the inaugural list from 2004.