Violence

• Ecuador’s security forces recently conducted a raid on the Mexican embassy in the country’s capital city, Quito.
• Against the backdrop of rampant narco-terrorism and escalating regional tensions, concerns have been raised about Ecuador’s respect for these fundamental principles.
• The police raid on April 5 has drawn widespread criticism targeting Ecuador’s president, Daniel Noboa.
• The country’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, condemned what it called the “despicable authoritarian” raid which is declared to be in violation of international law.

A political raid

• To an extent the raid on the Mexican embassy is bound up with the Ecuadorian government’s aggressive approach to the country’s problems with drugs and gang violence.
• Noboa’s initially high approval ratings have been falling thanks to the public perception that his hardline policies have done little to address the issue.
• But Noboa’s referendum appears to serve a dual political purpose.

Sovereignty and security

• So the raid on the Mexican embassy has raised doubts in many people’s minds as to whether a government with apparently scant regard for international law can be trusted not to abuse its new security laws.
• The importance of Mexico’s relationship with Ecuador is central to addressing the mobility crisis in the region.
• To protect people’s security in the region, diplomatic collaboration between countries such as Ecuador and Mexico is vital.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• Bruce Pascoe is best known for his natural history, Dark Emu, which argues that systems of pre-colonial food production and land management in Australia have been dramatically understated.
• At last count, the book had sold at least 360,000 copies of the original edition – and many more in the form of adaptations, translations, children’s and overseas editions.
• Since the publication of Dark Emu in 2014, Pascoe has had to endure extraordinary public scrutiny, as well as vehement attacks on his personal and professional reputation.

• In light of the last ten years, Black Duck: A Year at Yumburra is a healing and necessary book.
• The farm is a deliberate project designed to test, extend and materialise some of the ideas put forward in Dark Emu.
• The meaning of Yumburra, Pascoe tells us, is Black Duck, the “supreme spiritual being of Yuin country”.

Six seasons on the farm

• Through more than 60 subtitled journal entries, accompanied by numerous photographs and sketches, Pascoe charts the activities of his days.
• These include labouring chores on the farm, visits paid and received (both there and interstate), thoughts, visions and experiments with food and agriculture, and memories and reflections on relationships reaching far back into childhood.
• Pascoe describes life on the farm as solitary at times, but also active.
• Daily farm work includes clearing watercourses or fixing tools and machinery, and at these times his friendships with the nonhuman are forged in both subtle and overt ways.

• Despite their vigilance, the Spur-winged Plover loses a lot of chicks to eagles and foxes […] Their calls are ever-present on the farm.
• If the horses gallop, an eagle passes, a dingo wakes or a car arrives, you hear about it instantly.
• You can’t make friend with Birran Durran Durran because everything is a threat in its opinion.
• Despite their vigilance, the Spur-winged Plover loses a lot of chicks to eagles and foxes […] Their calls are ever-present on the farm.

• There is a sense of time moving on through the seasons.
• Yumburra, too, was affected by that event, leading one of the farm workers to rename a whole section of the farm “Apocalypse Valley” in the aftermath.
• “The unbridled pleasure I used to take in the forest, waters and shores is now tinged with sadness and dread.”

A true storyteller

• The author is respectfully light on detail on these matters, but the reader is left in no doubt about their deep importance to him.
• Pascoe’s authorial style sometimes comes across as a touch too lackadaisical and larrikin-esque, drifting as if unmoored.
• And yet, he’s a true storyteller – and no sooner have you hesitated, than he reels you in again, and has you marvelling with him at the grandchildren’s handstands and cartwheels on the paddle board on the river, or at the cunning of the dingo pair who’ve taken out a young Buru (kangaroo) by gripping him by the ears and drowning him.
• I assume it was the same animal because she made a great point of making sure I was watching her expertise.
• It might be a romantic thought or a wish for longevity of a friend but, whatever the case, I enjoy the personality.“

• Sometimes Pascoe quotes from her journal entries, discrete and beautifully rendered observations of wildlife on her own nearby property.
• But as I was reading, I found myself wondering how else Lyn contributed to the book, and on what terms.

Connection to culture and Country

• For anyone with lingering doubts about Pascoe’s commitment and connection to Country, this book will set them straight.
• It is a quiet, funny, warm and insistent call to return to and care for Country.

Julienne van Loon has been a recipient of funding from Creative Australia, Creative Victoria and ArtsWA.

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• According to the Complaint, Evolv describes itself as a “leader in Artificial Intelligence (“AI”)-based weapons detection for security screening.
• or his Law Clerk and Client Relations Manager, Yael Nathanson of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 332-239-2660.
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• Coming together under the “Fund Our Schools” banner, the rally organized by the Toronto & York Region Labour Council coincides with the vote on the 2024-2025 school budget at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) headquarters at 5050 Yonge Street.
• Drawing attention to the real cause of the crisis in the schools, the Fund Our Schools campaign.
• It highlights that since 2018, inflation-adjusted funding had been cut by well over $1200 per student by the Conservative Government.
• These stories revealed a myriad of issues in schools, from lack of support for students with special needs, violence, and overwork.