Between the Covers :: Refugees by Jane McAdam & Fiona Chong

...what of the naysayers?!

The full title of this book is 'Refugess - Why Seeking Asylum is Legal and Australia's Policies are Not'. It's a title that admirably and not uncontroversially asserts a position. Never mind that this position, on the illegality of Australia's current asylum seeker policy, is based on international law, it was always going to stir debate if not controversy.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'Refugees'. The book comprehensively and systematically lays out the current state of the legal and ethical debate on this issue. Having read widely on the topic before I came to this publication, I was happy to learn new information and have themes clarified and elaborated on. This is one of the great strengths of Refugees.

As you might already have guessed I am broadly sympathetic to the arguments put forward in this book. I am definitely part of their audience. And that is where my concerns begin...

'Refugees' strikes me as perhaps teetering on becoming a limited success. I have no doubt that many people sympathetic to the plight of global asylum seekers will read it with gusto, nodding their heads at each page. These people are an important demographic of reader. But what of the naysayers?

In becoming a successful book I wonder if 'Refugees' will miss it's audience and consequently the opportunity to truly influence people. It strikes me that the readership McAdam and Chong are truly aiming for are people that take their political and social cues from the evening news and tabloid newspapers. When the phrase 'three word slogan' was bandied around at the last election it was lambasted as a base form of propagandising, but it was also an effective tool for communicating to a large portion of the Australian public. These are the people that 'Refugees' will struggle to reach.

This book needs a twitter account and a social media strategy. It wants to condense it's message and entice people between it's pages, lure you in with it's own hook, because as it stands the stark yellow cover may repel more than it attracts.

Personally I can't recommend 'Refugees - Why Seeking Asylum is Legal and Australia's Policies are Not' highly enough. I think all Australians should read it and clear themselves on the misunderstandings on who asylum seekers really are and what are our duties as a country.

But if you're reading this you probably already know all that...

Listen to my interview with Jane McAdam on 'Refugees' 

For the past twelve months I have been a producer and presenter on 'Final Draft', 2SER 107.3FM's flagship literature program. Between the Covers is my attempt to share some of this wonderful world of books and writing...

Join me on Twitter @rightzblock

Between the Covers :: 'Half World' by Scott O'Connor

"...fear of an ephemeral 'enemy' forced people to commit atrocities against unsuspecting innocents, and the rights of the unsuspecting few were considered ancillary to the purported greater good..."

Half World is the second novel by Scott O'Connor. It's the story of Henry March, a burnt out CIA analyst, turned rogue torturer & pseudo-pharmacologist. Or perhaps it's the fictionalized tale of secret CIA mind control experiments, conducted throughout the fifties and sixties, known MKUltra.



Henry's journey into the underworld is perhaps best understood as a sort of parallel narrative to societies own 'progress' and increasing reliance on soporifics; I mean Dick Ashbie, our hero for the second half of the novel is hooked on the exact same drugs Henry pioneered in the fight against the 'red scare'.


Through both Henry and Dick we are privy to the destructive force of secrets and fear. Both men are compelled to face an external threat they never truly understand and do so at the personal cost of all they hold dear. The notion of duty and honour may figure in a more patriotic review but I can;t help but focus on the classical tragedy of both men's need to serve.

Half World is easy to read as a work of fiction, harder perhaps to countenance as a piece of speculative history. Do we need to believe that a version of this story actually happened to make it compelling?

It's enough to know that fear of an ephemeral 'enemy' forced people to commit atrocities against unsuspecting innocents. That the rights of the unsuspecting few were considered ancillary to the purported 'greater good'. That at some point the horrifying effects these drugs can have on human was discovered and we still embraced them. Anyone else feel it's a lesson worth revisiting?!

The narrative is strong and told in a style reminiscent of Don DeLillio with lashings of almost Kilgore Trout-esque surreal moments as the plot teeters while Dick finds his benzo legs.

Half World relies on your ability to fathom that the unbelievable happens. It is convenient, perhaps too-much so in some of it's encounters but by then you are already immersed and you're on a gripping ride that resonates with our own progressively more fucked-up world...

For the past twelve months I have been a producer and presenter on 'Final Draft', 2SER 107.3FM's flagship literature program. Between the Covers is my attempt to share some of this wonderful world of books and writing...

Join me on Twitter @rightzblock