We have an issue with Sudanese gangs – here’s how we can tackle it

By Nelly Yoa, a Sudanese footballer of refugee origins.  His solutions to the gang problem are mainline but unlikely to achieve much.  Africans worldwide are very violent. A more effective solution would be to return whole Sudanese families to their point of embarcation once one of them becomes involved with crime. That would be a strong motivation for Sudanese themselves to monitor their wayward youth and make efforts to rein them in.  And an exception from deporting the whole family could be given if any member of the family were first to incriminate a criminal member

As a South Sudanese man who personally knows and mentors members of youth gangs in and out of prison, I firmly believe we have a major issue among young South Sudanese people in Melbourne.

After watching the horrendous and appalling behaviour committed by my fellow South Sudanese youth in the past few weeks, I am furious – and in total disbelief – to hear our top cop and government officials say there are no Sudanese gangs in Melbourne.

Nobody should ever try and cover up or defend this unacceptable behaviour – to do so is immoral and inexplicable. It is upsetting and completely false.

Keep in mind that some parents of offenders are not aware that their teens are in custody. The reason is because many Sudanese families have more than eight children and many of them are raised by a single parent.

Undeniably, yes, these gangs do exist and neither the police nor the government should say otherwise.

It is a fact that South Sudanese are over­represented in crime statistics and are causing great harm and fear across communities in Melbourne.

I firmly believe young Sudanese people need to adapt and contribute to the Australian way of life immediately.

Yet nothing has been done by the government, Victoria Police or Sudanese community leaders. There's been a lot of talk, but no action.

I call on the government to act swiftly in assisting Sudanese teens to integrate into society.  Melburnians are sick and tired of excuses. We've got to make sure people are held accountable.

Some of these kids have gone too far now. They're a disgrace to themselves, to their families and to their community.

This behaviour has been ongoing for nearly two years. Enough is enough. It makes me ashamed and embarrassed to call myself a Sudanese. It should not be tolerated moving forward into 2018.

I know what these kids are going through – but I also know what it's like to be on the wrong end of their aggression.

I migrated to Melbourne from war-torn South Sudan in 2003, in hope of a better life. Coming to Australia, it was a little bit difficult to integrate due to the culture shock and language barrier. But, eventually, you teach yourself to adapt to the Australian way of living. Not only does it became a lot easier over time, you also learn to contribute and be thankful for this enormous opportunity given to you.

In 2011, I became the victim of a high-profile machete attack in Melbourne after coming to the aid of a stranger. As a good Samaritan, I ended up being a victim and nearly bled to death.

It didn't stop me. After my unsuccessful trial in England with Chelsea Football Club and Queens Park Rangers Football, earlier this year I switched codes to pursue an AFL career. I'm currently training with an AFL team.

I've always remained positive throughout everything I've been through. I've always been determined and driven to succeed.

As a professional athlete and as a person who overcame a lot of adversity throughout my life, I'm using this principle as a torch to guide these troubled youths to a positive, successful life. So let's create a solution that will prevent this from escalating further.

I regularly volunteer at the Melbourne Remand Centre, Melbourne Assessment Prison and Parkville Youth Justice Centre, where I meet with offenders of Sudanese descent. I try to direct them into a positive pathway while they're in custody, and when they get released.

Here are five of my core, constructive solutions that could be implemented to help tackle issues with youth in general, but especially Sudanese youth.

1. Create spaces for young people to express their opinions – and listen to them

Rather than simply acknowledging them as victims or perpetrators of violence, it’s vital to engage youths as social actors, with their own views and their own contributions to make.

2. Enhance the peace-building, knowledge and skills of young people

It’s important to provide young people with the tools they need to become more effective change-makers.

In concrete terms, this means giving them access to the teachers, facilitators, educational programs and networks who can hone their conflict resolution and leadership skills.

Sudanese youth have caused so much havoc across other communities in Melbourne in the past 18 months that other ethics communities have disengaged with them due to fear, harassment and violence.

Peace-building with other communities is paramount to restore trust and faith.

That means reassuring other ethics communities that Sudanese are a great community and will eventually change in years ahead, preventing the recurrence of violence by addressing root causes and effects of conflict through reconciliation, institution building and political, as well as economic, transformation.

Some of the most successful interventions find ways to leverage the things young people are interested in — arts, sports, media, informal learning and personal relationships — to teach peace-building skills.

For instance, youths are more likely to remember conflict management lessons they’ve learned through sports.

3. Build trust between youths, governments and community

Young people tend to view governments as beset by corruption.

Conversely, governments often fail to take into account the views of youths in policymaking, and may have different priorities for peace.

Youth mobilisation in peace-building efforts is more likely to be successful if young people are given the capabilities and opportunities to work with local and national governments.

Activities that promote the legitimisation of youths and foster their representation in local and national policymaking processes are crucial.

4. Promote intergenerational exchange

Youths are deeply influenced by the attitudes of their peers.

But rather than working with youths in isolation, peace-building projects that seek to engage youths should also include parents and elders.

We need to seek more inclusive means for young people to express themselves and interact with the wider-population.

5. Strengthen monitoring and evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation activities need to be undertaken, improved and made routine across all peace-building initiatives which seek to engage youth.

We need to use qualitative evidence and participative approaches in particular to evaluate the impact of youth engagement in conflict resolution.

SOURCE





Victorian gang violence: PM blames Daniel Andrews government

Miranda Devine says:  Red Ted’s government a dangerous virtue-signalling joke which is destroying VicPol. Now we see what happens when you apply left wing, soft-headed criminology theories to the real world

Malcolm Turnbull has blamed the Andrews Labor government for Victoria’s youth crime crisis, after the state’s federal cabinet ministers called for federal intervention following a spree of violent incidents involving African gangs.

Mr Turnbull said the federal government had boosted the capability of the Australian Federal Police, but that ultimately law and order was a state and territory responsibility.

“We are very concerned about the growing gang violence and lawlessness in Victoria and in particular in Melbourne,” the Prime Minister said.

“This is a failure of the Andrews government. It’s very important to understand that community policing is the role of the state government, or the territory government, and ... that’s their responsibility.

“The Australian Federal Police is a small and specialised police force that obviously deals with matters of particular federal responsibility, including terrorism. We also provide a considerable intelligence and technological support to state police forces in respect of gangs.

Mr Turnbull said Victoria Police was a much larger organisation than the AFP, and required political leadership from the Victorian government to do its job.

“What is lacking is the political leadership and the determination on the part of Premier Andrews to ensure the great policemen and women of Victoria have the leadership, the direction, and the confidence of the government to get on with the job and tackle this gang problem on the streets of Melbourne and, indeed, throughout other parts of the state,” he said.

Health Minister Greg Hunt, who is from Victoria, said gang crime in the state was “clearly out of control”.

“We know that African gang crime in some areas in particular is clearly out of control and the failure is not the police, but the Premier,” he said.

Mr Hunt said Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy had a law and order plan.

“The solution is very clear — it’s Matthew Guy’s plan — and that is tough on drug crime, tough on gang crime, call it out for what it is, and tough sentencing laws and giving the police, Victorian police, the resources they need to do the job that they want to do.”

Victorian Police Minister Lisa Neville yesterday defended the Andrews government’s record, saying anyone found guilty of a crime “regardless of their nationality” should expect “to feel the full force of the law”.

She said Victoria Police had referred 18 non-Australian citizens who committed crimes to the federal government for visa cancellation over the past year.

SOURCE





High tide at Fort Denison in Sydney Harbour

You can see that if the sea is rising, it's not rising very much.  More evidence that the alarmist figures put out by the climate bigots are a crock.  Al Gore prophecies rises of several metres



There has in fact been some rise over the 128-year-long tide gauge record. Since 1886 it indicates a long-term rate of sea-level rise of two and a half inches (6.5cm) a century. That's hardly enough to knock anybody off their horse.

But wait! There's more! Here is a plot of the rise:



You can see that the sea level has been plateaued since 1950 -- exactly the time that the climate bigots say global warming began. So NONE of the rise was due to global warming. The small amount of global warming we appear to have had in recent decades did not shift the sea level one iota. Fun!






New literacy teachers recruited as NSW government axes Reading Recovery

A team of 50 literacy and numeracy experts will be recruited to support NSW teachers as the government axes the controversial $50 million Reading Recovery program, which is used in more than 900 schools but was found to be ineffective.

Principals were told in November that the NSW Department of Education would no longer be supporting Reading Recovery, which targets year 1 students who are struggling with literacy. Students undergo a one-on-one intensive program for up to 20 weeks.

In NSW, Reading Recovery is in 60 per cent of schools and at least 14 per cent of year 1 students take part in it.

It is understood principals will still be able to run Reading Recovery from their own budgets but from 2019 the government will redirect the $50 million it spends annually on Reading Recovery to other "evidence based" literacy and numeracy programs.

The government says the new positions are part of the government's $340 million NSW Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, which includes investment in the early education years through to supporting students to reach minimum literacy and numeracy standards in the HSC.

For the first time, year 9 students this year needed to achieve three NAPLAN band 8s in reading, writing and numeracy to pre-qualify for their HSC. If they did not, they will need to sit an online literacy and numeracy test.

The education minister, Rob Stokes, said the 50 new positions would support teachers with face-to-face professional learning in "new approaches to monitoring and supporting" literacy and numeracy from kindergarten to year 10.

The new positions will focus on understanding and diagnosing students literacy and numeracy tests, effective reading in the early years including systemic phonics, writing across the curriculum and number skills and algebraic thinking.

"This investment means that every teacher will have access to evidence-based professional learning to ensure every student has the best opportunity to develop strong literacy and numeracy skills," Mr Stokes said.

"This focus on literacy and numeracy skills is more important than ever in light of evidence that young people today will face a very different future when they finish school."

Despite its widespread use, Reading Recovery – which is also in the US, Canada and Britain – has had its critics and in 2015, influential US literacy academic Louisa Moats told education bureaucrats in Victoria that it was "indefensible" to spend money on the program.

Dr Moats said if she had a child with a learning disability she would refuse to let them take part in a Reading Recovery lesson.  "The instruction is directing their attention away from what they should be paying attention to. It's just not OK, it's harmful."

The federal government is also focused on literacy and numeracy in the early years of primary school, with the education minister Simon Birmingham backing a proposed reading test that would be based on the phonics screening check used in the UK since 2012.

Education ministers discussed the phonics checker at December's Education Council meeting but it is understood no decision on the test's implementation was made.

Mr Stokes has said that he "sees no reason" why it could not be rolled out in NSW but some education academics in Australia and the UK oppose the screening check, which tests 40 words, including 20 pseudo words such as pib, vus, yup and desh and 20 real words.

SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).    For a daily critique of Leftist activities,  see DISSECTING LEFTISM.  To keep up with attacks on free speech see Tongue Tied. Also, don't forget your daily roundup  of pro-environment but anti-Greenie  news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH .  Email me  here