Vol 22 No 8

23 April 2012

EUREKA STREET TV

Religious fundamentalism is a two way street
- Peter Kirkwood
- 04 May 2012
'The Anders Breivik example shows us that extremism is not one way ... We really need to think deeply about some of our prejudices.' Australian Muslim academic Mehmet Ozalp sees the case of Norwegian mass-murderer Breivik as highlighting the urgent need for interreligious and cross-cultural dialogue.
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EUREKA STREET TV

Religious fundamentalism is a two way street
- Peter Kirkwood
- 04 May 2012
6 Comments
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RELIGION

Pope's equivocal view of social justice
- Andrew Hamilton
- 04 May 2012
27 Comments
In his reflections on society and aspects of human life, Pope Benedict privileges charity. If any planning or struggle for a just society is to be effective it will depend on people's good will and generosity in the implementation. The Pope also says 'yes' to social justice. But his 'yes' is normally a 'yes, but ...'.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Traversing grief on the Camino
- Tim Kroenert
- 03 May 2012
5 Comments
Irishman Jack's cynicism has its roots in his hurt and betrayal over the clergy sex abuse scandal within his country. Snide American Sarah's abrasive personality masks numerous hurts. The most extraordinary aspect of religious pilgrimages is the ordinary humanity of the pilgrims themselves.
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AUSTRALIA

Erasure of an Aboriginal temple
- Patti Miller
- 03 May 2012
21 Comments
For thousands of years there was a temple on the banks of the Macquarie. A long avenue of trees carved with serpents, lightning, meteors and hieroglyphs led to a walled space where a giant human figure made of earth reclined. It was as important as the Acropolis or the temple of Horus. But it no longer exists.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

The politics of suicide
- Gillian Bouras
- 02 May 2012
14 Comments
Albert Camus said suicide was the one serious philosophical problem in that it poses the question as to whether life is worth living. Some suicides are a private solution to anger and despair, but others, such as suicide bombings and the recent suicide of retired pharmacist Dimitris Christoulas, are both public and coercive.
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CARTOON

Priorities of the Press Gang
- Fiona Katauskas
- 02 May 2012
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AUSTRALIA

Christine Milne's chance to scupper an Abbott Senate
- John Warhurst
- 02 May 2012
25 Comments
To prevent Tony Abbott from having total control of the Senate after the next election, the Greens need to attract votes from otherwise non-Labor voters rather than the easier task of picking up disappointed Labor defectors. The 15 per cent of Coalition-leaning Greens is generally forgotten altogether.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Train gaze
- Various
- 01 May 2012
1 Comment
Her deep eyes glance up from the page  without perceiving me, the hidden camera trained  on her by my unbroken gaze.
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AUSTRALIA

A tale of two refugee movement speeches
- Kerry Murphy
- 01 May 2012
23 Comments
Tony Abbott did not mention the term 'human rights' in his 3000 word speech to the Institute of Public Affairs on Friday. 'Illegal' appeared 11 times and 'asylum' once. In February, Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees gave a 3000 word speech to the Lowy Institute. A search of that speech finds 'human rights' five times, 'asylum' 21 times and no use of 'illegal'.
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AUSTRALIA

Rupert Murdoch an example for older Australians
- Michael Mullins
- 30 April 2012
20 Comments
There is a lot not to admire about the business practices of Rupert Murdoch, but he stands tall as an elder who is able to maintain his stature in the face of great challenge. The Federal Government's new aged care blueprint has the potential to ensure that more Australians will retain their dignity in old age.
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AUSTRALIA

To catch a despot
- Binoy Kampmark
- 30 April 2012
4 Comments
Former Liberian president Charles Taylor's conviction by an international criminal court for crimes against humanity is the first conviction of a head of state since World War II. It does little to change the fact that it remains notoriously difficult to bring heads of state to trial for grave crimes.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Letter from a lost soldier
- Brian Matthews
- 27 April 2012
5 Comments
'I wish this war was finished for I am fed up. My dear Ann, you and the children try to be as cheery as you can. I feel all buggered up but I shall just have to carry on the best way I can ... we are on another front now and it is actually hell ...' Whatever ambiguous solace Annie could derive from Alex's letter, it was soon lost.
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EDUCATION

Schools confront the globalisation of superficiality
- Greg O'Kelly
- 27 April 2012
20 Comments
In 2010, Kevin Rudd asked Fr Adolfo Nicolas SJ, the international leader of the Jesuits, what he believed to be the major challenges facing western society. Nicolas replied 'the globalisation of superficiality'. Educating for depth and discernment is one of the biggest challenges facing teachers today.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Separating art from war in Iran
- William Gourlay
- 26 April 2012
3 Comments
Sabre rattling, both by the Iranian leadership and by Western politicians and pundits, dominates the headlines and steers public discourse about Iran. A recent film, and a current art exhibition, remind us of the country's 'rich and ancient culture that has been hidden under the heavy dust of politics'.
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INTERNATIONAL

Dismembering the dead in Japan and Afghanistan
- Walter Hamilton
- 26 April 2012
7 Comments
The publication of photographs of American soldiers posing with the body parts of dead Afghani insurgents has provoked a lively exchange of opinion in the media. Just as in Afghanistan, American and Australian soldiers fighting the Japanese saw themselves pitted against an opponent who acted by a different — inhuman — set of rules.
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CARTOON

Gillard's Slipper misfire
- Fiona Katauskas
- 26 April 2012
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Getting personal with Anzac Day
- Philip Harvey
- 25 April 2012
16 Comments
Should I even be saying all this to people I have never met? What do I say? How far do I go? My paternal grandfather, Edgar, was not only an Anzac but among those who landed nearly 100 years ago at the Turkish cove. Even among my family his experiences are still largely passed over in silence.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Profound silence of a conscientious objector
- Brian Doyle
- 25 April 2012
8 Comments
I remember the day my older brother came back from the navy. He was 20. I was 11. He slouched in his chair, weary and dismissive and friendly. I wanted to say something amusing to make him see me but no words came. So I asked him if he wanted a sandwich. Sandwiches were a way of talking in our family.
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RELIGION

Nuns bucked by papal bulls
- Andrew Hamilton
- 24 April 2012
65 Comments
Tensions between enterprising women religious and church authorities go back a long way. Last week's Vatican action against women religious in the US raises the same questions about respect and process as did the dismissal of Bishop Morris in Toowoomba. But its potential consequences are much larger.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Poets in wartime
- Various
- 24 April 2012
2 Comments
O for a day without comrades bloody fallen, lovers in guttural grief, shrieking, sobbing, and mothers in stoic dignity, mantillas drawn tight, our heroic flame, corralled colts brazenly waiting, cruelly snuffed. Have we learned nothing my friend?
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RELIGION

Imagining nationalism through Anzac suffering
- Benedict Coleridge
- 23 April 2012
10 Comments
Political theorist Isaiah Berlin argued that nationalism manifests most strongly in communities that have suffered some wound. In a period of unparalleled wealth, in which most Australians are far removed from war, Anzac Day is a way of instructing ourselves about the place of suffering in Australia's history.
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AUSTRALIA

Unlocking the culture of clergy sex abuse
- Michael Mullins
- 23 April 2012
27 Comments
Victoria's parliamentary committee has much it could learn from Ireland's Murphy Report into clerical sex abuse, which identified the 'don't ask, don't tell' culture under which bishops did not talk about it even among themselves and were unaware of how widespread the problem was.
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Vol 22 No 8