Vol 18 No 9

28 April 2008

ARTS AND CULTURE

German author wed lucidity to mystery
- Peter Steele
- 09 May 2008
1 Comment
W. G. Sebald wrote as somebody evolving a new sensory capacity or a new vein of intellectual attention. The Emergence of Memory offers five interviews with him and four essays about him, which show that while he considered life to be 'a grave affair', he also knew sources of joy.
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AUSTRALIA

Conflicting narratives converge on Israel anniversary
- Philip Mendes
- 09 May 2008
25 Comments
Israel's 60th anniversary next week will be an occasion for celebration by Jews throughout the world. The formation of Israel in 1948 gave Jews renewed hope, but Palestinians remember it as a time of mourning. These conflicting narratives are reflected within the Australian context.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Making money for the Nazis
- Tim Kroenert
- 08 May 2008
The Jews forced to work on Operation Bernhard, producing counterfeit currency for the Nazis, lived in relative luxury compared with others in concentration camps. This presents a daily ethical dilemma to the characters of The Counterfeiters.
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RELIGION

Fresh insights in old books
- Andrew Hamilton
- 08 May 2008
8 Comments
Literary festivals introduce us to new writing. They rarely celebrate the old, for nothing is older than an old book. The works of St Augustine challenge our instinctive assumption that new wisdom supersedes old wisdom.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Baptism by fire
- Brett McBean
- 07 May 2008
3 Comments
You're in a forest somewhere, lying facedown in a box. With a jolt, the box starts to move; a gradual ascent, like a roller coaster beginning its climb to the top of the rise. You feel as though you haven't really lived your life, merely viewed it like a movie on fast-forward.
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AUSTRALIA

Trade partnerships no ticket out of poverty
- Dan Read
- 07 May 2008
Economic Partnership Agreements aim to remove barriers of trade, create sustainable development and contribute to poverty eradication in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. However, many fear they will lead to the devastation of their respective markets.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

The message reads dry bones
- Helen Hagemann
- 06 May 2008
1 Comment
You hear the river cry in the darkness.. It takes a breath over trickling stones.. over endless white cracks.
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AUSTRALIA

Mining the heartache of lead contamination
- Margaret Rice
- 06 May 2008
3 Comments
Mt Isa in Queensland is currently experiencing 'lead-alert'. Lead absorption in mining towns affects children the most. Inevitably, the families who are better off will move, leaving the most vulnerable to stay and live with the problem.
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AUSTRALIA

Rough diamonds can hurt people
- Michael Mullins
- 05 May 2008
4 Comments
The WA Liberal Party has shown that it is more worried about the damage its 'rough diamond' leader might cause to its electibility than the hurt to the human beings involved in the recently-revealed inappropriate behaviour incident.
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AUSTRALIA

Waking up from the housing nightmare
- Colin Long
- 05 May 2008
5 Comments
It is not just Joe and Jo Suburbia that have a lot riding on real estate. Taking the heat out of house price inflation is extremely difficult, because the whole system is based on the expansion of credit and consumption that house price inflation allows.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Modern feminist dialogue wears ladylike veneer
- Frances Devlin-Glass
- 02 May 2008
It will be difficult for bookshops to house The Mystery of Rosa Morland, as its genre is a wonderful hybrid of crime fiction and poetry. The verse novel represents a very modern feminist take on sexual and actual violence within marriage.
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AUSTRALIA

Arab disunity on road from Damascus
- Shahram Akbarzadeh
- 02 May 2008
1 Comment
Saudi Arabia and Egypt snubbed the Damascus Summit. They left it in no position to deal with either the political stalemate in Lebanon, or ongoing sectarian violence in Iraq. Aside from political demarcations, the Arab world is suffering from a growing rift between the ruling regimes and the people.
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AUSTRALIA

Maintaining the rage against WorkChoices
- Tim Battin
- 01 May 2008
11 Comments
There are worrying signs that the Labor Government will interpret the grass-roots campaign against WorkChoices in the most conservative light possible. Catholic social thought defies any policy that results in a shift of power to the already powerful.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Fat-free finale for loyal 'losers'
- Tim Kroenert
- 01 May 2008
It's ironic that a television show purportedly celebrating weight loss should keep thousands of viewers pinned to their sofas and their television sets. Nonetheless 2008 may go down in history as the year The Biggest Loser redeemed itself.
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RELIGION

Indigenous summiteers put dreams into practice
- Frank Brennan
- 30 April 2008
7 Comments
The abuse of children in remote communities has been the catalyst for revising romantic notion of land rights and self-determination. 2020 summiteers were allowed to dream and strategise about closing gaps while wondering how best to recognise the enduring rights of indigenous Australians.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Desalination devastation
- Margaret Simons
- 30 April 2008
5 Comments
The Murray is a harnessed beast. Its flow is regulated by locks and weirs. The engineering feats to which we are wedded seem not so much a testimony to our power as to our continued foreignness. From Eureka Street, June 1991.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Tossed salad state of mind
- Various
- 29 April 2008
4 Comments
he was diverted.. from the impending roast.. and wiping red wine.. from his generous lips.. he mouthed sweet nothings.. in retaliation.
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AUSTRALIA

Big Brother cameras inhibit teacher performance
- Gillian Bouras
- 28 April 2008
6 Comments
The proposed performance-related pay structure for teachers, whereby short videos will be made of teachers in the classroom, seems geared towards extroverts. Individuals with a more flamboyant style will likely be deemed the better performers.
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RELIGION

Pope visit holds mirror up to 'grappling' US Catholics
- Binoy Kampmark
- 28 April 2008
2 Comments
Did the Pope's first visit to the US usher in any significant changes for the Church in that country? Benedict acknowledged that child abuse was a problem that had to be confronted, but would not divorce it from the broader assault on community values.
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AUSTRALIA

Anzac a 'politically pliable' legend
- Tom Cranitch
- 28 April 2008
16 Comments
With Anzac Day over, and the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign just under a decade away, it's time to re-examine, re-frame, and hopefully tame the Anzac legend. You don't need to be an expert to understand that 'Anzac' has a stranglehold over Australian public life.
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Vol 18 No 9