"Settlement here was based on people coming so they could freely practice their religion and other political views. What better place for Womad?" says our Tourism Minister Jane
What if my political views include a belief that I should be able to use a camera to photograph signs such as the one above? Anyway, what is a "long lens camera"? Where is it defined or is it just a loose concept left to the discretion of the "Event Manager" or his/her minions at the gates? Is the EM the new BB now that the Big Brother concept has been trivialised by reality TV?
The sign above (which, in the absence of further and better particulars, I may have breached the EM's rules by photographing) is balderdash since some of the listed items are not forbidden. Alcohol is definitely allowed for paying customers who don't mind drinking out of plastic cups (and I can confirm that the beer and cider are cold) , and glass containers are available for those who are prepared to pay a $10 deposit for a bottle of entry level Fox Creek (to be drunk only from plastic glasses unless you're in the VIP zone, which seems to be modelled on a bikie fortress).
Who is the "Event Manager"? According to the official website the event is
Produced and presented by the WOMADelaide Foundation and managed by Arts Projects Australia and WOMAD Ltd. Presented in association with the Government of South Australia.
Is this doublespeak the price we have to pay to stand in the sun and watch some good musicians (with the VIPs seated under cover at the side of the stage?) ? Does it also enable the EM to wash its hands of any dissent? Would, as a post an a previous posting asked, all the performers agree to appear if their names were to be associated with such restraints ? Are the bannings on long lens cameras etc merely kite flying for Mr Rann to come back and say "well we've had the power for years, nobody has objected, so I'm surprised that there's concern now that, in the interests of public safety, we've decided to enforce it".
I'm not alone in my concern about VIPs. In his column in today's Sunday Mail (not online) Peter Goers ("The People's Voice") really got stuck into the "Festival Freeloaders", as he calls them:
"The chattering class gathered to freeload on the concourse in front of the Convention Centre above the seductive Persian Gardens which pulsated with Arabic wails, brightly lit pagodas and oversstuffed poufs
Here were all the enamalled drunks, fat captains of industry charging the bar like Billy Bunter looking for sticky buns, sybaritic socialists, obese oligarchs and their frizzled face-lifted wives in designer Boho clothers their daughters would laugh at, bombastic bureaucrats and public service poohbahs and the bimbos and himbos.
There were long lizard stares, weak smiles, air kisses and wan greetings. These people know how to put the "hell" into hello. It was a freak show of high society."
I wasn't as up close to the Womad freeloaders as he was to the Festival ones so I can't be as personal, so will pass no further comment.
1 comment:
Our once classless Australia is rapidly turning into a "then & us" society. This sort of thing can be seen at any major sporting contest. I have seen this at the Grand Prix, the Open tennis, the AFL Grand Final et al.
The financial upper crust is paraded by the organisers like human trophies to the best seats --- free seats, too. The next layer is paid for by big business that spends megabucks for its people to be in 'good' seats with access to silver service and Crown lager. The poor people, those that pay their own money to get in, get the poorest seats.
It is all being repeated at the Commonwealth games, starting in Melbourne this week.
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