Politics: The End Of A Year.

I’ve spent most of this week hideously drunk on brandy and stuffed full of Christmas pudding, so I’m in no mood to write about anything topical or relevant. Instead, I’ll cop out and count down the top 4 – hey, space is limited - stories of 2004:

4. Chechens Take Russians Hostage, Spaniards Are Murdered.

The tyranny of distance that Australia lives with is also a favour. It means we’re removed from much of the madness of the world, where history has dictated that so many countries, regions and peoples must kill each other in the name of their faith, be it religious, ideological, or both. For all the hullabaloo made about it, we haven't had to worry about terrorism much. The one time it happened, it happened in overseas, in Bali.

Indeed. But every time we saw footage of those Russian schoolchildren, permanently scarred emotionally more than physically, or those Spanish trains disintegrated, we couldn’t help but wonder if one day we’ll have to deal with the madness of the world on our own turf.

3. The US Elections

No election has been more closely covered and scrutinised by the media than the John Kerry Vs. George W. Bush battle. In hindsight, it seems laughable to think Kerry ever had a chance. George W. Bush was a brutal, stupid, hyper-Christian thug – how many times was it written, said or sung? – but nothing was going to sway the American people. Despite the deaths of soldiers, the deaths of civilians, problems with intelligence, national lies and international deceit, Bush had it in the bag.

2. The Australian Election

When we cast our collective vote on October 9^th, we gave John Howard a handshake and a pat on the back. We told him that he can lie, cheat, steal and lie some more, as long as he beefs up our wallets now and then. We gave him permission to degrade our health system. We delivered him carte blanche to ensure thousands of Australians will never be able to afford to attend university. We spoke loudly, as a nation, and said that we were fine with the way things were, and nothing needs to change. And the Labor party sat idly by, twiddling their thumbs, humming delightful Benny Goodman tunes.

1. The Redfern Riots

No one should have been surprised when the streets of Redfern were filled with anger, frustration and terrible violence. The fires and madness of that warm February night came as a result of a boy killed in incredibly dubious circumstances. But it wasn’t just that. With every bottle hurled, The Block was raging against all the institutions responsible for fucking up the Aboriginal people for the last 200 years. Every vicious slur thrown at the Redfern police force represented an answer to the systematic abuse of Australia’s Indigenous community. When the train station began to burn, it was a response to decades of genuinely disgusting treatment of Aboriginal people by police and government, who continue to receive official sanction to murder black people and steal their children.

It wasn't that articulate, of course - pure anger and frustration rarely is.

The Redfern riots were a very bad thing. But they were also a wake up call to an Australia that still refuses to recognise just how ugly things really are, and how much uglier things are going to get.

(Originally published in The Brag in the Fear & Loathing column).