Best of ‘Hainanese Chicken Club’ Stories by Lachlan Hurse

***Editor’s Note***
The ‘Hainanese Chicken Club’ is a lunchtime social gathering of friends who work in Brisbane City. It is convened by Lachlan Hurse.

And the following are my selection of the stories written by Lachlan Hurse for the club.

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No Free Lunch

It has been suggested that the Ipswich car dealer at the centre of the row in Federal Parliament between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, Mr John Grant wined and dined staff of the Prime Minister at a exclusive Chinese restaurant in Ipswich.
In Federal Parliament tempers flared after it was revealed that John Grant, of John Grant Motors, had given a free ute to Kevin Rudd, complete with paid registration and insurance.

Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull used Question Time to ask Mr Rudd about his dealings with Mr Grant, who sells second-hand cars from premises in Brisbane Street, Ipswich.

Mr Turnbull said: ‘I ask the Prime Minister, does he really expect the Australian public to believe it’s appropriate for a Prime Minister who receives from the taxpayer free of charge: two houses, several cars, chauffeur-driven Comcars and travel on airforce jets, to also receive another free car from a car dealer who is seeking finance from a taxpayer-funded finance company?’

Mr Rudd confirmed he had received a ute from John Grant Motors for use in his Brisbane constituency, but strenuously denied he had acted improperly.

‘I have been advised that neither I or my office has ever spoken with Mr Grant in relation to OzCar,’ he said.

‘Two, neither I nor my office has ever made any representations on his behalf.

‘Three, I have not been aware of any representations on his behalf made by anyone in the government.

‘And four, it is absolutely not true that any of the staff of Prime Minister and Cabinet have ever had free lunches provided by Mr Grant. I vigorously deny the ludicrous suggestion by the Leader of the Opposition that Mr Grant treated my staff to a supposedly sumptuous banquet of Hainanese Chicken.’

An employee at Mr Grant’s Ipswich offices yesterday said his boss was unavailable for comment as he was out to lunch.

I would like to advise readers that John Grant doesn’t just look after the Prime Minister, he is listed on the Queensland Department of Communities website as offering a free five year warranty to all Queensland and interstate Seniors Card and Seniors Business Discount Card holders.

A story from the early days of the Cuban revolution.

You may recall that on December 2, 1956 a group of 82 revolutionaries arrived at Alegría, located at the eastern end of Cuba on the yacht ‘Granma’. They were attacked by the soldiers of the Cuban dictator Batista, and many were captured or killed. Only 15 of them made it to the shelter of the Sierra Maestra mountains. This small group of people, which included Fidel Castro, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, Juan José Pájaro, Camilo Cienfuegos, and Raúl Castro would form the core leadership of the guerrilla army.

In his memoirs Che records: ‘days passed and finally the dispersed fighters were reunited: fifteen poorly armed men with even less ammunition. What sustained them was a common ideal: Cuba. And they were driven by a faith that could move mountains: that of Fidel.

‘In the mountains we ate boiled malanga or yucca, often without salt or lard. We had still not understood the enormous capacity of struggle of the Cuban peasant. In response to the threats, the mistreatment, the burning of homes, and murder, they responded by supporting us with greater enthusiasm, giving us their children as combatants and guides, and letting us use their houses, all as a contribution to the cause.’

‘It was in Palma Mocha where we met a peasant who had the nickname ‘El Chino’, owing to his remarkable oriental eyes. ‘El Chino’ invited us into his humble hut on a particularly cool night and prepared a special dish that had been passed down through the generations, one that he had learnt to cook under the watchful eye of his grandmother. It was a welcome break from our meagre rations; a unusual dish of chicken and rice flavoured with ginger.’

‘After addressing the small band of revolutionaries on the tasks ahead, Fidel thanked ‘El Chino’ for his hospitality and jokingly asked him for the recipe. ‘El Chino’ replied that he would go one better and immediately joined the rebel army, where he quickly was promoted to chief cook. His plentiful quantities of Hoinanese Chicken soon became legendary amongst the revolutionary forces.’

Lachlan Hurse
in a report to the HC Club

Hainanese Chicken and Haiti

“The doctors are taking turns receiving the injured. Five patients were carried in at a time. Most of them suffered physical traumas and wounds that were exposed for a long time. The day is hot and medical conditions are very poor. I scratched my leg a little in an aftershock and now it is infected. You can see what happened to those who were seriously injured. Today I saw a young boy lying in his dad’s arms and gave us a big thumb’s up. But I learnt from doctors that they may need to cut off both of his injured legs because of the poor hygiene conditions”, said Guo.

“Many locals blocked the roads with their own cars and rocks. Also, many stopped their cars near petrol stations trying to fill their tanks. In the capital, food, water and oil are in short supply”, said Guo. “For those survivors whom we have rescued from the rubble of collapsed buildings, their treatment includes dietary supplements organised by nutritional specialists in the rescue team. Vitamin supplements, and healthy foods are being provided”. Guo added, “One nutritious dish that has been surprisingly well received is Hainanese Chicken”.

The value of Hainanese Chicken

Ministry for Dis-coordination

In a surprise move the Premier announced the creation of a new super-ministry to oversee the delivery of the latest in public service reform. ‘The Ministry of Discoordination will ensure that this state will have world’s best practice discoordination’ she said yesterday.

The Premier added, ‘A special review that I commissioned last year found pockets of the public service where there was still some level of integration but we’re determined to get rid of redundant practices. From today I am pleased to announce the creation of the position of Discoordinator-General who will answer to three Ministers overseeing the department. That way we can guarantee a fully discoordinated public sector.’

To assist the development of the Department a special taskforce has been set the task of appointing three deputy Director-Generals and seven Assistant Director-Generals to lead the department. It will report back to the Government, assisted by a number of specialist consultants who will deliver annual reports using state of the art web-enabled mapping software.

‘The software will report against one hundred and eighty-five key performance indicators, each with specified targets that will clearly demonstrate how incredibly busy the government is in discoordinating the state. ‘We’re going to make sure that by 2012 nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing is coordinated,’ the Premier proudly told the media.

When asked how the discoordination was going to be achieved she said that ‘it’s no longer business as usual. It’s not good enough that we settle for mediocre levels of discoordination. This government is going the extra mile. We’re putting in additional measures to prevent inadvertent coordination of infrastructure, particularly transport systems, water pipelines, educational facilities, and health services.’

Meanwhile a group of public servants was seen to be taking a lunch break from their busy schedule, enjoying a tasty dish of Hainanese Chicken.

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Mario Benedetti

Dear Hainanese Chicken lovers and their friends,

I have sadly learned of the news of the death of the great Uruguayan writer Mario Benedetti who died in Montevideo on May 17 at the age of 88. Mario Benedetti holds special significance to Uruguay, he was a outspoken artist who spent considerable time in exile during the military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s. He wrote numerous books of poetry, novels, and essays, examining with great sensitivity the condition of an oppressed Latin America.

Personally, I recall one evening in early May 1985, when Sue and I were visiting Montevideo. It was shortly after the fall of the military government and we queued up at a theatre to see Benedetti read his poetry to the accompaniment of Daniel Viglietti, one of the great figures of the Latin American New Song Movement. The queue stretched around an entire city block, eager to witness the return of the two exiled artists. After a long wait, we finally took our seat in the high balcony overlooking the stage. We were lucky to see a wonderful performance full of warmth and pathos, the years of exile had not dampened Benedetti’s vigour and zest for life.

After the concert we went in search of food, and found cafes heavy with the aroma of sizzling beef on hot grills, full of people drinking red wine and maté. In a darkened street, a short distance from the main plaza, we managed to squeeze into a tiny restaurant where we served a dish of chicken and rice spiced with ginger.

Hope to see you at the Jackpot at 12.15 or shortly after

regards

Lachlan

Pig City

I received a copy of the University of Queensland’s Contact magazine in the post last week .

Inside the front cover is a full page advertisement proclaiming that the University is a proud sponsor of the Queensland Music Festival’s production of Pig City (see pictured).

It also says that “music and education both play a significant role in the changing of political and cultural consciousness so it’s no surprise that UQ played a key part in the formation of great Brisbane bands from the Go-Betweens to Powderfinger.”

On the adjacent page a photo of a beaming Sir Llew Edwards, the university chancellor.

Having been a student at the University of Queensland who studied in the music department, I would like to describe the role that the university played in changing my political and cultural consciousness and a very recent connection with Hoinanese Chicken.

When students at the University of Queensland began to organise against the street march ban in 1977, activists erected a ‘Civil Liberties’ tent in the Great Court. The University sent in security guards to take it down. I was one of the students who set the tent up again and stayed in it overnight to help ensure that it was continuously staffed to make sure that the security guards didn’t repeat their actions.

In the same year that a thousand SEQEB workers were sacked by Bjelke Petersen and plunged the State into crisis, the University of Queensland presented Bjelke Petersen with an honorary doctorate. I was a Masters Student at the time, and felt absolutely no sense of diminishment of the value of a postgraduate degree from the University.

When the National Party gained control of the Student Union and illegally disconnected the power supply to 4ZZZ, students reacted with a series of actions including an occupation of the offices of the Student Union. The university gave permission for the police to come on with sledgehammers to break into the offices to remove the students from their own union building. The police bashed my arm, and the doctor put me in a sling for a few days. Once again the university played a pivotal role in the formation of my political consciousness.

The university later appointed Sir Llew Edwards to the chancellors job. Sir Llew was well qualified, having served as Treasurer in the Joh Bjelke Petersen government during the seventies.

So I have absolutely no sense of irony at the pride that the university feels with its sponsorship of the event.

Nor was any of this lost on the songwriter Tony Kneipp, who wrote and recorded the song ‘Pig City’.

So what’s the connection with Hoinanese Chicken? Well, it just so happened that at our last HC club gathering (a fortnight ago) we were joined by Tony, who was by chance passing by.

Who will be there this week?

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Pat Mackie

Mt Isa

In July La Boite Theatre is staging a musical theatre piece called ‘Red Cap,’ about Pat Mackie who was the leader of the 1964/65 Mount Isa Mines dispute. When I heard about the play I was reminded of another story of my youth, and while it relates to last week’s story, I only learnt much later from my father in 2002.

The Mount Isa miners dispute was a major confrontation of miners with the company, the government, the arbitration system and even the leadership of their own union, the Australian Workers Union, who expelled Pat Mackie from their ranks, against the demands of the strikers, who had a number of grievances against the company, were looking to end contract labour, and work for wages. The government of the day led by the Country-Liberal Party coalition under Premier Nicklin declared a state of emergency, gave extraordinary power to police, and flew in a special squad of police who put a blockade around Mount Isa, to prevent support getting to the miners. The mine closed for four months, and when it reopened miners picketed the gates, virtually closing it for another two months. In a show of complicity, the AWU called on the government to take measures to end the picket. The government complied, putting into force exceptionally harsh legislation allowing police to enter houses without warrant, and to seize banners, pamphlets and other material used to support the strike. Meanwhile the Federal Government was taking measures to have Pat Mackie deported. Nicklin described him as ‘a vicious gangster unfit to mix with decent society.’ However his name became a household word as images of the strikers were frequently broadcast on national television.

Under these circumstances Pat Mackie went south to gain support for the cause.

When he arrived in Melbourne in February 1965 he was met at Essendon aerodrome by supporters, including the Federal ALP member for Yarra, Jim Cairns. At that time my father, David Hurse, a minister of religion in inner city Melbourne was friends with Jim, and shared his views on social reform. When Pat arrived in Melbourne Jim thought that it would be best if Pat stay hidden and asked my father to help – who would think of looking for a radical trade unionist in a Presbyterian church!

My father arranged for Pat Mackie to speak to the congregation of St Luke’s Methodist church in Richmond on February 7, 1965 (I suspect it was all too much for the Presbyterians).

After the service Jim, Dad and Pat went down to Victoria Street in Collingwood, where they ate at the very same Chinese cafe that I mentioned in last week’s story.

Pat returned to Mount Isa shortly after, and managed to avoid arrest sneaking through the cordon that the police had set up, and triumphantly entered a mass meeting of the miners. He had brought with him financial support and told his striking comrades about the tremendous reception that he had down south. He later described to friends a particular night with Jim Cairns, a Chinese cafe, and a chicken dish with a spicy ginger sauce that they had shared.

Pat later declared the strike ‘A triumph of the human spirit’.

Pat Mackie speaks on the Mt Isa Mines dispute

Peter Seeger

17 May 2007

“Guantanamera” [See below to hear Pete Seeger singing this song]

Two weeks ago (May 3rd) the American folk singer Peter Seeger turned 88. And this year there is a campaign to have him nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, with an online petition.

For decades, Seeger has created or popularized many of the peace and justice movement’s greatest anthems “If I Had a Hammer,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,’ ‘Turn, Turn, Turn,’ ‘We Shall Overcome’ and others. He was also responsible for popularising the Cuban song ‘Guantanamera’ in the United States. The song is based on a José Martí poem about a girl from Guantanamo. In the early 1960s Pete Seeger heard Hector Angulo singing the Cuban folk song using Marti’s words based on a traditional melody adapted by bandleader Joseito Fernandez. This was the time of the Cuban missile crisis and the peace activist Seeger decided to adapt it in honor of Marti. He combined Marti’s original Spanish with spoken English and made it into a song for the peace movement.

Born in 1919, Pete Seeger’s role as a leading folksinger and movement activist dates back to 1940, when he and Woody Guthrie helped form the Almanac Singers. During the witch-hunt McCarthy era of the late ’40s and ’50s, Seeger was repeatedly targeted for blacklisting and red-baiting. His performances were cancelled; he was indicted for contempt of Congress. Undaunted, during those years he wrote and co-wrote such songs as ‘If I Had a Hammer’ and ‘Where Have All the Flowers Gone?’ Together with Lee Hayes, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman, he formed the renowned singing group The Weavers in 1950.

On August 18, 1955, Pete was subpoenaed to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) where he refused to name personal and political associations stating it would violate his First Amendment rights…

“I am not going to answer any questions as to my association, my philosophical or religious beliefs or my political beliefs, or how I voted in any election, or any of these private affairs. I think these are very improper questions for any American to be asked, especially under such compulsion as this.”

Seeger’s refusal to testify led to a March 26, 1957 indictment for contempt of Congress; for some years, he had to keep the federal government apprised of where he was going any time he left the Southern District of New York. He was convicted in a jury trial in March 1961, and sentenced to a year in jail, but in May 1962 an appeals court ruled the indictment to be flawed and overturned his conviction.

Pete knit the world together with songs from China, the Soviet Union, Israel, Cuba, South Africa and republican Spain. We learned about the history of this country from his singing of songs from the, revolutionary war, the Farmer-Labor party, anti-slavery movements, IWW, and CIO organizing days.

He hosted television shows in the 1960s, and helped established the environmental organization Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, which he founded in 1966. This organization has worked since then to highlight pollution in the Hudson River and worked to clean it. Pete helps to organise ‘The Great Hudson River Revival’ (aka Clearwater Festival), an annual two-day music festival held on the banks of the Hudson at Croton Point Park.

On March 16, 2007, Pete Seeger performed with his siblings Mike and Peggy and other Seeger family members at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., where he had been employed as a folk song archivist 67 years earlier.

After the concert they went down to a Chinese restaurant that had become a landmark in Washington, since it was established in the late 1940s. It was the place that Pete had discussed his testimony to the HUAC in 1955, with his friends and colleagues, over a plate of Hoinanese Chicken. Pete’s brother Mike said – Pete spiced up the HUAC, I think it was the sauce in that chicken dish’.

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The Haymarket Martyrs

10 May 2007

As we celebrate the Day of the Workers this weekend, I am reminded of a story I heard which irrefutably links the famous Hoinanese Chicken dish with the origins of May Day.

At its convention in Chicago in 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions resolved that “eight hours shall constitute a legal day’s labour from and after May 1, 1886, and that we recommend to labour organizations throughout this jurisdiction that they so direct their laws as to conform to this resolution by the time named.”

On May 1, 1886, Albert Parsons, head of the Chicago Knights of Labor, with his wife Lucy Parsons and two children, led 80,000 people down Michigan Avenue, Chicago, in what is regarded as the first-ever modern May Day Parade, in support of the eight-hour day.

In the next few days they were joined nationwide by 350,000 workers who went on strike at 1,200 factories, including 70,000 in Chicago, 45,000 in New York, 32,000 in Cincinnati, and additional thousands in other cities. Some workers gained shorter hours (eight or nine) with no reduction in pay; others accepted pay cuts with the reduction in hours.

Lucy Parsons was well known not only for her labour activism, but her great culinary skill. Often at the Parson’s family home labour activists would gather to discuss their campaign for the eight hour day and discussed strategies over a meal prepared by Lucy. One of her favourite dishes was one that had come from the Chinese workers on the Californian goldfields, a simple steamed chicken dish, garnished with available spices including a ginger sauce. Her own diary of the time recorded such a meal on May 2, on the eve of yet another demonstration in support of the eight hour day.

On May 3, 1886, August Spies, editor of the Arbeiter-Zeitung (Workers Newspaper), spoke at a meeting of 6,000 workers, and afterwards many of them moved down the street to harass scabs at the McCormick plant in Chicago. The police arrived, opened fire, and killed four people, wounding many more.

At a subsequent rally on May 4 to protest this violence, a bomb exploded at the Haymarket Square. The rally began peacefully under a light rain on the evening of May 4. August Spies spoke to the large crowd while standing in an open wagon on Desplaines Street. According to many witnesses Spies said he was not there to incite anyone. Meanwhile a large number of on-duty police officers watched from nearby. The crowd was so calm that Mayor Carter Harrison, Sr., who had stopped by to watch, walked home early. Some time later the police ordered the rally to disperse and began marching in formation towards the speakers’ wagon. A bomb was thrown at the police line and exploded, killing policeman Mathias J. Degan. The police immediately opened fire. While several of their number besides Degan appear to have been injured by the bomb, most of the casualties seem to have been caused by bullets. About sixty officers were wounded in the riot, as well as an unknown number of civilians. In all, seven policemen and at least four workers were killed in the riot. There is no accurate count of the latter, as those injured were afraid to seek medical attention for injuries, fearing punishment for their part in the riot

Eight people connected directly or indirectly with the rally and its anarchist organisers were charged with Degan’s murder: August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden and Oscar Neebe. After an exhaustive trial where all eight were found guilty and seven sentenced to death, appeals saw two of the men having their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment. Of the remaining five, one (Lingg) suicided on the eve of his execution while the next day, November 11, 1887, Spies, Parsons, Fischer, and Engel were hanged together before a public audience.

Taken to the gallows in white robes and hoods, they sang the Marseillaise, the anthem of the international revolutionary movement. Family members including Lucy Parsons who attempted to see them for the last time were arrested and searched for bombs. None were found. August Spies was widely quoted as having shouted out, “The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today.” Witnesses reported that the condemned did not die when they dropped, but strangled to death slowly, a sight which left the audience visibly shaken.

The American Federation of Labor, meeting in St Louis in December 1888, set May 1, 1890 as the day that American workers should work no more than eight hours. The International Workingmen’s Association (Second International), meeting in Paris in 1889, endorsed the date for international demonstrations, thus starting the international tradition of May Day.

The trial is often referred to by scholars as one of the most serious miscarriages of justice in United States history. Most working people believed that [private detective] Pinkerton agents provoked the incident. On June 26, 1893, Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld signed pardons for Fielden, Neebe, and Schwab after having concluded all eight defendants were innocent. The governor stated that the real reason for the bombing was the city of Chicago’s failure to hold Pinkerton guards responsible for shooting workers. The pardons ended his political career.

The police commander who ordered the dispersal was later convicted of corruption. The bomb thrower was never identified, although some anarchists privately indicated they had later learned his identity but kept quiet to avoid further prosecutions

Lachlan Hurse

Authors note: Some historians might quibble about the Hoinanese Chicken reference

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Jane Austen

15 December 2005

When Lizzie Bennett was invited to dine with Lady Catherine De Bourgh at Rosings, where she found herself seated between Charlotte and Miss De Bourgh and politely listening to Mr Collins commending every dish, she was taken particularly by one dish which presented itself as an oriental novelty, carefully prepared by Lady Catherine’s chef, on instruction from a distant relation of Mr Darcy who had recently returned from an expedition to the Far East.

While Jane Austen doesn’t go into detail, a researcher from the University of London who spent some time in the Jane Austen Archives in Hampshire has suggested that it was in fact, Hoinanese Chicken.

To elaborate on our Jane Austen discussion last week and consider other important world events, the HC club will dine in circumstances befitting the elegance and refinement of this exotic dish, (at the Jackpot for those unacquainted).

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Climate Change

12 January 2006

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute have found that consumption of Hoinanese Chicken has markedly reduced greenhouse emissions, in a report published today in the International Journal of Climate Studies.
In a groundbreaking study conducted at a number of Chinese restaurants in 30 countries, scientists measured greenhouse emissions from the cooking facilities and found that steaming the chicken, rather than frying saves up to 25% of greenhouse emissions per customer. There was also a very slight reduction from residual biochemical activity in the ginger sauce, which adsorbs carbon dioxide and methane up to 20 days post-harvest.

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Bird Flu

2 February 2006

Researchers today announced the development of an effective vaccine against the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus.

Dr Suryaprakash Sambhara, of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and colleagues in Atlanta, Georgia, said it can be made much more quickly than conventional vaccines and enough doses could be produced to protect people at risk.

Their work is likely to ensure that we will enjoy Hoinanese Chicken for many years to come!

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*There’s more*

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The Mexican Olympics

5 October 2006

The announcement yesterday of the death of Australia’s Olympic sprinter Peter Norman, closes another chapter in the history of Hoinanese Chicken.

Norman won a silver medal in the mens 200 metres at the 1968 Mexico Olympics and stood on the podium with Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos as they delivered their “black power” salute against racial discrimination.

Smith himself has described Norman as a humanitarian and a brother, paying tribute to Norman’s decision to wear a pin supporting their cause.

“It was a very courageous stance which he took… his belief in the principle – not necessarily where it was done or how it was done – but that the principle that it was done.

In an interview with the ABC’s Lindy Kerin, John Carlos also paid tribute to the great athlete.

JOHN CARLOS: His role was to show everyone that it’s not a black thing, it’s a human thing. It’s not about colour, it’s not about, you know, wealth or lack of wealth, it’s about having an understanding and love for humanity. You know, it’s two black guys, but it was three human beings up there, total.

LINDY KERIN: And how do you think he’ll be remembered?

JOHN CARLOS: Well, I think he’ll be remembered as a genuine man, a great athlete, and in my camp, a great friend, a great brother.

LINDY KERIN: The last time the three athletes were together was last year, at a ceremony to unveil a statue to commemorate the sporting moment.

JOHN CARLOS: We didn’t get to see each other as much as we would’ve liked, you know, but last year when he came over to the unveiling thing, we had a great time together. We hit the town, and had a few drinks, and hung out in Chinatown. The funny thing is, it’s a little thing really, but we both really enjoyed this chicken dish, they call it Hoinanese Chicken. And we’d make a joke about it, ’cause the first time we had it was in the Athletes Village in Mexico City, just after the medal ceremony. And ever since, whenever we get together, we head out for a Chinese restaurant.

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North Korea

19 October 2006

The introduction of sanctions by the United Nations on North Korea has had a little known consequence on the diet of several million people living on the Korean peninsula.

A defiant North Korea has declared United Nations sanctions imposed after its nuclear test are tantamount to a “declaration of war” and says it is ready for battle.

In its first Government reaction since the UN Security Council imposed the measures, North Korea has warned it will strike with “merciless blows” against any countries that impinge on its sovereignty.

Pyongyang has dismissed the council’s unanimous decision as “immoral behaviour”.

“The DPRK [the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] wants peace but is not afraid of war,” the Foreign Ministry said.

North Korea’s official KCNA agency has quoted an unidentified spokesman saying: “We will watch US movements and take corresponding action”.

The spokesperson added that “Tomorrow we will be distributing war rations to all citizens. Part of the kit will include ingredients for the highly nutritious dish known as Hoinanese Chicken. It is deemed appropriate as the origins of the dish have been traced to a 10th century traditional ceremony that was practiced approximately 200 km north of Pyongyang.”

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Sir Michael Somare

26 October 2006

This week we find, surprisingly, that Hoinanese Chicken is an integral part of Pacific culture.

Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare has continued his strident attack on Australia over travel bans imposed on him after the Julian Moti affair.

Sir Michael used the Pacific Forum to launch a blistering attack on Australia’s “arrogance”, and as it wound up he said he found the continual disregard for his country’s leadership and public service particularly galling.

“We are intelligent people – we are not just people you pluck from the jungle,” Sir Michael said.

“Now that is the kind of impression sometimes we get from your press in Australia, especially.”

In the attack, Sir Michael described Mr Downer as a colonialist.

While he will recall PNG’s High Commissioner to brief him on the justification for Australia’s ban on ministerial contact and the travel restrictions imposed on him, Sir Michael says he will not be retaliating.

“Pacific people, we don’t operate the way some countries do. We usually sort out this sort of problem over a dish of Hoinanese Chicken”

Bloody Sunday

Britain’s prime minister has apologised for the Bloody Sunday killings, after a new official report said British paratroopers shot down unarmed marchers on one of the darkest days in Northern Ireland’s history.

At the end of his 12-year inquiry – the longest and most expensive in British legal history – Lord Saville concluded that the killings of 13 people by members of the Parachute Regiment in Londonderry were unjustified and unjustifiable.

Lord Saville blamed the killings squarely on the British soldiers who had been given an order to shoot the unarmed men during a civil rights march.

Prime minister David Cameron told a hushed audience in the House of Commons that he had never wanted to believe anything bad about Britain, that he never wanted to call into question the behaviour of British soldiers and the army, but he could not defend the indefensible.

“Some members of our armed forces acted wrongly. The government is ultimately responsible for the conduct of the armed forces and for that, on behalf of the government, indeed on behalf of our country, I am deeply sorry,” he said.

The publication of the report was greeted with cheers in Derry, Northern Ireland’s second city, where relatives of those who died joined thousands waiting to see the contents of the 5,000-page report.

Bloody Sunday started off as a peaceful march on January 30, 1972, when between 15,000 and 20,000 people took off on a civil rights demonstration against internment, or imprisonment without trial.

Robert Duddy and his brother Jackie were in the crowd. Jackie Duddy was the first casualty shot by the British Army.

“I do remember the day quite well. I was 14 years old at the time. I spoke to my brother minutes before he was gunned down, and those memories will never leave me,” Mr Duddy said.

“We just spoke about what was happening on the day and that – chit-chat’s all it was. Everybody was happy that day. It was a great atmosphere. Nobody believed what happened was possible.”

Mr Duddy said it was “fantastic” to hear David Cameron’s apology for the shootings.

“Everybody on that day was innocent,” he said.

When asked if he was going to celebrate, Mr Duddy said that he and his family would go out for dinner, to his brothers favourite restaurant – a Chinese restaurant in Derry specialising in Hainanese Chicken.