"Well. It's been pretty much exactly ten years since Australian politicians introduced their self-declared 'draconian' terrorist laws, which makes it pretty much exactly ten years since Buttress O'Kneel produced her damning and inflammatory 'provocation' in response, 'I Wish I Could Be Peaceful'. Packed full of violent beats, aggressive sampling, seditious interview-quoting, and downright subversive media-mash-upping, 'I Wish I Could Be Peaceful' examines the ramifications of the sarcastically-titled 'anti-terror' laws, and finds them severely wanting - all the while playing with the concept of 'inciting violence' (a criminal act, according to the new laws) by taking a whole buncha riot-music and cramming it together into the perfect soundtrack for smashing the state.

Originally released as a knee-jerk EP in September of 2005, it received a fair amount of airplay at the time (on non-commercial radio networks, of course - sedition has never appealed to the corporatocracy), before being expanded and refined in October that year, becoming the full audio-documentary being re-released here.

It may be interesting to note that when these 'draconian' laws were introduced in 2005, they were considered so extreme, even by the people putting them into action, that they came with a so-called 'sunset clause' of ten years. Which means, of course, that a decade later (2015) these laws would be no longer valid... except of course, they still are.

Last year (2014), the Abbott government extended the 'sunset clause' for a whole other decade (as well as drafting a few extras). So, as much as we'd like to say that this audio-documentary was now just a hystorical document of a dark age now long gone, it is unfortunately just as relevant now as it was when it was first made.

Sorry."

Department of Angry Disappointment (Audio-visual Division)
IWML
2015


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"This approach negates the whole purpose of including a sunset clause in legislation, which is to ensure parliamentary debate at a future date on controversial measures that may have been enacted in haste during a period of crisis. Extending the period of the sunset clause during a new security crisis denigrates the legislative process. ... And there is nothing to stop a future government from adopting this tactic again, extending the sunset clauses without providing the opportunity for full review and debate, or worse, simply repealing the sunset clauses (thereby making the legislation permanent) as attorney-general George Brandis originally proposed."

and:

"[T]he control order and preventative detention order regimes and ASIO’s questioning and detention warrant powers have all been recommended for repeal by those whose job it is to oversee the laws. In his 2012 review of the national security laws, the former Independent National Security Legislation Monitor Bret Walker SC recommended the repeal of each of the powers. In the same year, the COAG Review of Counter-Terrorism recommended the repeal of the preventative detention order regime."

Jessie Blackbourn
Inside Story
2014

insidestory.org.au/real-threats-to-the-life-of-the-nation


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ADDITIONAL NOTE REGARDING VISUAL STIMULI:

There were plans to create an accompanying full length movie to go with the audiodocumentary, but it was never completed. Here are the links to the video that was created (including one piece that was never on the original audio album):

INCITING VIOLENCE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSfGnS5Z1vs

COMPLETE THE PICTURE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNCwobOO5Lw

OVEREXCITED:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNtDFzY3XTo

SHADDAP YOUR FACE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXtDW90Phbc

I WISH I COULD BE PEACEFUL:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJhfHewFv4I


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