#LetThemStay: : Visual Representations of Protests and Community Mobilization for Asylum Seekers in Australia

This article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC). Users may reproduce, disseminate, display, or adapt this article for non-commercial purposes, provided the author is properly cited. See https:/creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.The indefinite mandatory detention on the mainland and in offshore processing centers of asylum seekers applying for protection in Australia is particularly controversial due to the government’s notoriously harsh policy. In response, large-scale public protests have been staged across the country in recent years to register popular dissent and convey concerns to decision-makers. However, dominant media representations of protests have historically been largely negative, often cast as ineffectual at best, and at worst, violent clashes that alienate the broader population from the cause in question. This paper outlines a visual analysis of media representations of protests that took place in February 2016 against the proposed deportation of 267 asylum seekers from the Australian mainland as part of the #LetThemStay campaign. Through the analysis of four photographs from a range of media outlets, we found that depicting peaceful protests methods and community mobilization complicated dominant understandings of protests and protesters. Indeed, #LetThemStay demonstrated the political power of compassionate solidarity between participants afforded the privilege of safe residency and citizenship, and those forcibly absent who are denied such rights. As such, the paper highlights the impact of peaceful protesting, while also recognizing its limitations in changing Australia’s punitive asylum seeker policies.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Agricultural Management and Climatic Change Are the Major Drivers of Biodiversity Change in the UK

Action to reduce anthropogenic impact on the environment and species within it will be most effective when targeted towards activities that have the greatest impact on biodiversity. To do this effectively we need to better understand the relative importance of different activities and how they drive changes in species’ populations. Here, we present a novel, flexible framework that reviews evidence for the relative importance of these drivers of change and uses it to explain recent alterations in species’ populations. We review drivers of change across four hundred species sampled from a broad range of taxonomic groups in the UK. We found that species’ population change (~1970–2012) has been most strongly impacted by intensive management of agricultural land and by climatic change. The impact of the former was primarily deleterious, whereas the impact of climatic change to date has been more mixed. Findings were similar across the three major taxonomic groups assessed (insects, vascular plants and vertebrates). In general, the way a habitat was managed had a greater impact than changes in its extent, which accords with the relatively small changes in the areas occupied by different habitats during our study period, compared to substantial changes in habitat management. Of the drivers classified as conservation measures, low-intensity management of agricultural land and habitat creation had the greatest impact. Our framework could be used to assess the relative importance of drivers at a range of scales to better inform our policy and management decisions. Furthermore, by scoring the quality of evidence, this framework helps us identify research gaps and needs

'The whole reflected world shuddering' : active aesthetics and contemporary Australian poetry

Relation and change are fundamental to an active aesthetics. Where relation signals vital continuity and connection, change suggests a break – or a series of thresholds and swerves, borders that must be crossed or redrawn to enable renewal. The poems in this anthology are about movement, not a movement. In early 21st century Australia, poetry in all its forms continues as a primary art of transformation in language. Poetry’s work is ontological. It fathoms how to be and how to relate – to people, ecologies, concepts, and creatures. Poetry’s work is also epistemological: it navigates prolific terrains of what is known, what remains unknowable, and how we actively undertake knowing

#LetThemStay: Visual representations of protests and community mobilization for asylum seekers in Australia

The indefinite mandatory detention on the mainland and in offshore processing centers of asylum seekers applying for protection in Australia is particularly controversial due to the government’s notoriously harsh policy. In response, large-scale public protests have been staged across the country in recent years to register popular dissent and convey concerns to decision-makers. However, dominant media representations of protests have historically been largely negative, often cast as ineffectual at best, and at worst, violent clashes that alienate the broader population from the cause in question. This paper outlines a visual analysis of media representations of protests that took place in February 2016 against the proposed deportation of 267 asylum seekers from the Australian mainland as part of the #LetThemStay campaign. Through the analysis of four photographs from a range of media outlets, we found that depicting peaceful protests methods and community mobilization complicated dominant understandings of protests and protesters. Indeed, #LetThemStay demonstrated the political power of compassionate solidarity between participants afforded the privilege of safe residency and citizenship, and those forcibly absent who are denied such rights. As such, the paper highlights the impact of peaceful protesting, while also recognizing its limitations in changing Australia’s punitive asylum seeker policies.</p

A Prospective study of the efficacy of routine decontamination for gastrointestinal endoscopes and the risk factors for failure

Background: Patient-ready endoscopes were monitored over an 80-week period to determine the efficacy of decontamination procedures in a busy endoscopy center. Decontamination failure was related to patient and procedural parameters. Methods: Samples from patient-ready endoscopes were cultured aerobically and anaerobically and subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and HIV. PCR to detect coliforms from 109 culture negative washes was used as a surrogate marker for biofilm in endoscopes. PCR was used to detect the presence of Helicobactor pylori in endoscopes used on infected patients. Procedural information such as biopsy retrieval, endoscope number, diagnosis, attending personnel, and decontamination system procedures was collected. Results: Gastroscopes (n = 1376) and colonoscopes (n = 987) were equally contaminated (1.8% vs 1.9%, respectively) with low numbers of organisms commonly isolated from the nasopharynx and/or feces. Only 1 wash contained viral nucleic acid (HCV). There was a significant correlation (P < .001) between the number of times a patient-ready endoscope was contaminated and its frequency of use. Colonoscopes used on patients with gastrointestinal disease were significantly more likely to remain contaminated through the decontamination process (P < .05). All other patient, staff, and decontamination system parameters remained not statistically significant. Coliform DNA was detected in 40% of culture-negative washes collected from patient-ready endoscopes, suggesting the presence of biofilm. No H pylori DNA was detected. Conclusion: Recommended decontamination procedures do not entirely eliminate persistence of low numbers of organisms on a few endoscopes, but this is unlikely to cause serious consequences in patients. Bacterial biofilm is difficult to remove and may explain this low-level persistence.7 page(s