Jihadist Politics

The 2014 Council Elections.
Residents will be relieved to learn that there seem to
be no local issues in this election around which
candidates can engage their opponents and mobilise
their supporters.
All candidates are dedicated to responsible land
development – after meaningful consultation with
residents and stakeholders. All are fiercely
independent and unallied with any political party.
Efficiency and economy are saluted on all sides.
Traffic management is a certainty whoever wins, and
will be arranged to harmonise all existing and future
means of terrestial locomotion.
In short, a sure and certain expectation of almost
perfect bliss awaits the city from any and all possible
election outcomes on xx October.
There is however, one fly in the ointment - or at least
a fly high-diving into the ointment pot - and that is the
right Honourable Mr Michael Atkinson MP, Speaker
of the House of Assembly in the 53rd Parliament of
South Australia.
In a series of aspersions, Mr Atkinson has associated
members of the Facebook site “Save St Clair
Recreation Reserve” with jihadists - and if this was
not enough – as supporters of Soviet invasion. He has
in one case warned a constituent that leaflets would be
sent out to 273 residents of Ukranian extraction
naming her as a Russian fellow traveller in the
Donbass.
I should point out that over the last 4 years the
worthy Member has experienced all three life events
rated by health researchers as the most stressful. It
would be hard hearted in these circumstances to
attribute malicious afforthought to Mr Atkinson's
aspersions, whatever position one took on the
'Woodville Spring' which swept the leader of the Save
St Clair group to the position of Mayor in the last
council elections.The Atkinson Dilemma.
Two general views have been expressed by Facebook
readers. Some see the former Attorney General as a
laughing stock, while some others see his comments
as serious and therefore best ignored.
Hindmarsh Issues, as the journal of record for the
ward, requires something more 'thoughtful' as an
explanation, and in the interest of public debate I put
forward the following explanation.
Firstly, the Ombudsman's investigation of the St Clair
affair, by exposing the nature of Mr Atkinson's
involvement in the Council at that time, dealt a far
more effective blow to his political activities than
many suspect, and it is this expose which motivates
him in his attacks on the group. What one could
imagine from the Ombudsman's findings is the lone
figure of Mr Atkinson, at the centre generating the
talking points adopted by those elected representatives
who depend to a greater or lesser degree on the
patronage of Mr Atkinson for their positions on
Council Subcommittees and so on.
Secondly, this arrangement of 'democracy' from
above, while it may mirror the methods established in
the union base of Mr Atkinsons faction, the SDA,
nevertheless is made necessary by the absence of
popular involvement, not only in the ALP in
Hindmarsh, but in the withering away of most union
committees, community groups and forums. Mr
Atkinson must substitute himself, and his council
representatives, for the grass roots support now sitting
at home in front of the TV/computer or the hotel slot
machines.
Thirdly, the claim he made - to organise electoral
support around issues such as the Ukraine civil war-
does not therefore indicate an actual belief on his part
that council elections ought to be fought around
extraneous issues from the other side of the world, but
rather the realisation that in these small exile
communities, there remains the only grass roots
organisations left effective for his electoral purposes.
That is, the only freedom allowed him is to be
opportunist.