Best Of 2011

03 January 2012

MEDIA

Best of 2011: Bolt beyond the pale
- Binoy Kampmark
- 13 January 2012
6 Comments
The Federal Court found that fair-skinned Aboriginal people were likely to have been 'offended, insulted, humiliated or intimidated' by Bolt's articles. Bolt lamented the passing of free speech in Australia. But free speech cuts both ways, and no freedom is absolute. Published 29 September 2011
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RELIGION

Best of 2011: Silence for Norway's dead
- Bronwyn Lay
- 13 January 2012
1 Comment
On a quiet Sunday night 25 years ago Julian Knight committed Australia's first urban massacre on the street outside my home. The next morning, strangers — made mute — stood and met the silence of the dead. It is powerful to watch the Norwegian people meet the silence of their dead. Published 27 July 2011
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Best of 2011: Rescuing JFK
- P. S. Cottier
- 12 January 2012
'Kennedy was a cold warrior, but Johnson took it to the next level. He had the same my-balls-are-bigger-than-yours complex as Dubya.' The narrator journeys into the past in order to produce a kinder America. One that may not throw itself into Vietnam with such lust. Published 16 November 2011
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RELIGION

Best of 2011: Trust at stake in Toowoomba
- Andrew Hamilton
- 12 January 2012
10 Comments
The treatment of Bishop Bill Morris risks further blurring the image of the Church. The story told of a good man who encouraged his church, who was resolute in dealing with sexual abuse, but was removed in an untransparent process, will confirm many in their distrust of the Church. Published 15 May 2011
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CARTOON

Best of 2011: Gillard's dire straits
- Fiona Katauskas
- 11 January 2012
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MEDIA

Best of 2011: Consumers rule in Murdoch's evil empire
- Catherine Marshall
- 11 January 2012
2 Comments
The public was quick to claim ignorance and condemn the theft of private information by News of the World. But ignorance is no longer an excuse, especially in these post-Princess Diana years where the role of the paparazzi, traitorous friends and dodgy journalists is well-known. Published 21 July 2011
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AUSTRALIA

Best of 2011: To remember September 11 is to pray
- Brian Doyle
- 11 January 2012
1 Comment
To remember the roaring courage of the people who rushed to help, or the people who used their last minutes on earth to call their families and say I love you I love you I will you forever, is to pray for them and us and even the poor silly murderers, themselves just lanky frightened children. Published 8 September 2011
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AUSTRALIA

Best of 2011: Revelations of a detention centre spy
- Lyn Bender
- 10 January 2012
9 Comments
Employed at the centre as a psychologist, I witnessed riots, hunger strikes, attempted suicides and severe depression. I realised I had a profound ethical dilemma: in being compliant to the administration, I was unable to ensure my duty of care towards these people. So I became a mole. Published 27 September 2011
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Best of 2011: Greek crisis viewed from the corner store
- Gillian Bouras
- 10 January 2012
2 Comments
Panayiotis runs the mini-market he inherited from his father. I have known father and son for 30 years. 'How do you see things at this stage of the krisi?' I ask him, for I'm always asking people what they think of Greece's financial crisis. 'What crisis?' he grins. 'Greece has got a crisis; Greeks haven't.' Published 14 June 2011
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AUSTRALIA

Best of 2011: The reluctant Australian citizen
- Fatima Measham
- 09 January 2012
7 Comments
2001: Two planes slammed into the World Trade Centre. A Pakistani refugee self-immolated in front of the Australian Parliament. Asylum seekers were accused of throwing children overboard. These events had nothing to do with me, but I absorbed them. I am brown-skinned. I have an Arabic name. Published 4 September 2011
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AUSTRALIA

Best of 2011: Australian politics could use a dash of vitriol
- Edwina Byrne
- 09 January 2012
3 Comments
The speeches of the Tea Party movement, for all their faults, are notable for their vivid symbolism and appeal to values. When was the last time you heard an Australian politician invent their own intelligible metaphor? Published 20 January 2011
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EDUCATION

Best of 2011: Germaine Greer's Catholic education
- Gregory Day
- 06 January 2012
3 Comments
In trying to convince my atheist goddaughter to embrace her Catholic schooling, I found an unlikely role model. I'd never thought of Greer as a chip off the old block of a convent education. Now I realised that that's exactly what she was. Published 22 February 2011
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AUSTRALIA

Best of 2011: Thousands of men and no groping
- Trish Madigan
- 06 January 2012
3 Comments
One website proudly proclaimed that Egypt's protests were a safe space for women. In fact women were on the frontline. They were part of a long history of women who have struggled for recognition of their human rights in Egypt. Published 15 February 2011
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Best of 2011: Songs of England at war
- Philip Harvey
- 05 January 2012
1 Comment
Gallipolli was a disaster and a relatively minor conflict, but it is upon such 'minor' conflicts that Empires are built. These songs go to the heart of a contradictory dilemma: the love of country on the one hand and the ugly extremes of patriotism on the other. Published 23 February 2011
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RELIGION

Best of 2011: Gillard's Malaysia solution stumble
- Frank Brennan
- 05 January 2012
2 Comments
The Malaysia solution has hit a snag called the High Court of Australia. The Government is now in very stormy waters, because the rule of law and the separation of powers do not readily yield to the sound bites of populist sentiment and the fear tactics of politicians. Published 8 August 2011
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AUSTRALIA

Best of 2011: The murder of Osama Bin Laden
- Moira Rayner
- 04 January 2012
6 Comments
Barack Obama has committed his people to a legal and ethical mistake which will be a continuing obstacle to the West's integrity in its pursuit of freedom, democracy, internationally recognised standards of justice and human rights, and lasting peace. Published 3 May 2011
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Best of 2011: Breast sandwich
- Mary Manning
- 04 January 2012
2 Comments
'I'm Shareena,' she says. 'I'm your radiographer for today. For your breast screen.' An old man looks away from the waiting room television when he hears the word breast. His eyes linger over my sensible tailored shirt and I wonder if I have left a button undone. Published 19 April 2011
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CARTOON

Best of 2011: Labor's sinking feeling
- Fiona Katauskas
- 04 January 2012
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Best of 2011: Religion's homophobic scratch and sniff
- Barry Gittins
- 03 January 2012
1 Comment
Vile denunciations and allegations waft across the vast expanse of space and time. Flatulent Dutch ovens of bigotry aloft fly, as adult, equal love's tagged 'sin', not raft to finding solace, as surely as the Made seeks the Maker's consoling deeps. Published 21 November 2011
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AUSTRALIA

Best of 2011: Why I support gay marriage
- Kristina Keneally
- 03 January 2012
30 Comments
It gives me no relish to be at odds with my Church. But it also gives me no joy to see people who are created in God's image unable to fully express their humanity, or live with the rights and dignity that heterosexual people are afforded. Published 25 September 2011
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Best Of 2011