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Vol 19 No 3

16 February 2009


 

  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Loving Australia's hard and soft faces

    • Toby Davidson
    • 27 February 2009
    1 Comment

    Sixteen Indigenous authors contribute stories of creation, love and yearning for place. Their country is one whose ancient landscape and traditions of custodianship were violently disrupted well before the 2009 fires.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Nicolaides free, but writers' persecution persists

    • Arnold Zable
    • 27 February 2009
    8 Comments

    Harry Nicolaides should never have been jailed, and his release is a cause for celebration and relief. Yet it leaves many unanswered questions about the reason for his imprisonment, and highlights the plight of many other persecuted writers.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Degrees of guilt in Nicolaides' Thai insult case

    • Tim Kroenert
    • 26 February 2009
    2 Comments

    We received an email from an acquaintance of Harry Nicolaides, a journalist and Eureka Street contributor. Harry had been arrested in Bangkok: 'Publish his story. He is in a bad condition. Please help.' We acted immediately.

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  • RELIGION

    Obama's challenge to the Church

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 26 February 2009
    22 Comments

    The standard by which the most vocal Catholic Bishops judged Obama was his position on abortion, same sex marriages, and on the use of embryos for research. Obama has done the churches a favour by stealing their clothing.

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  • MEDIA

    The true history of religion on Radio National

    • Paul Collins
    • 25 February 2009
    29 Comments

    The public response to the axing of The Religion Report and other specialist programs late last year by ABC Radio National management was astonishing. But the response of the ABC was abysmal. It is time to tell the whole story.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Against the waning of bushfire grief

    • Gillian Bouras
    • 25 February 2009
    3 Comments

    My brother, who has been working with the SES, tells me of the eerie silence in the burnt-out bush: there are no birds. He also tells me of quirks of fate: some chooks had a miraculous escape, as did their owners, who later collected 40 eggs.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Westgate sister

    • Margaret McCarthy
    • 24 February 2009
    9 Comments

    But there are times .. as I pass through half-life .. when I want to fly up where you are .. drift as far as the geometric pattern cuttings of the docks .. where the Yarra Yarra and the Maribyrnong meet

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  • MEDIA

    The language of fire

    • Philip Harvey
    • 24 February 2009
    10 Comments

    Melbourne had the strange experience of reading and listening to bushfire reports for five days while neither seeing nor smelling smoke. When the mind has no sensory leads to interpret, words become critical.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Corruption may undermine Khmer Rouge justice

    • Sebastian Strangio
    • 23 February 2009
    1 Comment

    It was a momentous event: a senior leader of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime standing trial in a court of law. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia has set itself a mandate that goes far beyond rendering impartial verdicts.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Coalition lone dreamers fuel Rudd dictatorship

    • Michael Mullins
    • 23 February 2009
    3 Comments

    The largely ignored United Nations World Day of Social Justice, and the task of the crumbling Federal Opposition, are not entirely unrelated. For both, holding governments accountable is the name of the game, or perhaps dream.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Living with Australia's beauty and terror

    • Tony Smith
    • 20 February 2009

    In contrast to tabloid television coverage of fires, Lohrey's writing explains much of our relationship to the bush. Like plaques in town halls honouring fallen soldiers, the task of rebuilding devastated communities is embedded in the national psyche.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    US halts orphans from Vietnam

    • Sarah Nichols
    • 20 February 2009
    42 Comments

    Donation agreements between USA adoption service providers and Vietnamese orphanages are private and negotiable. Some orphanage directors admitted there was a strong financial incentive to maximise the number of children available for adoption.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Weddings, addictions and embarassing afflictions

    • Tim Kroenert
    • 19 February 2009
    5 Comments

    Idiopathic hyperhydrosis is an unpleasant affliction, and discussion of such does not constitute polite conversation. Kym's affliction is more debilitating: she's an addict, home from rehab to help celebrate her sister's nuptials.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Why we forgot the Apology

    • Myrna Tonkinson
    • 19 February 2009
    9 Comments

    The muted recognition of the anniversary of the National Apology was partly due to the bushfires in Victoria, which continue, understandably, to monopolise attention and emotion. But the momentous event of February 2008 has not been followed up by significant developments in Indigenous affairs.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Muslim Turkey's Christian heritage

    • Jeanne Conte
    • 18 February 2009
    2 Comments

    The vast majority of Turkey's citizens are Muslim, yet they preserve and share their cultural history with the nation's Christians. Many Christian sites are revered by Muslims as well.

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  • ECONOMICS

    The crash of the can market

    • Julian Butler
    • 18 February 2009
    6 Comments

    Some of the soup van's clients collect cans to sell to a scrap dealer. The work supplements their welfare income and provides a sense of fulfillment. Since the global market crash business has been slow: 'China doesn't want aluminium now.'

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Ash Wednesday 1983

    • Marlene Marburg and Grant Fraser
    • 17 February 2009
    2 Comments

    flame .. Might ignite the instant .. And go wildly on the palsy of the wind .. So that a shock of parrots thunders forth .. Spewing slipstreams of fire .. A vomitus of barbary sparks .. So that our lungs are cooped with ash

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  • EDUCATION

    Higher education's dirty little secret

    • Andrew McGowan
    • 17 February 2009
    5 Comments

    A recent report into higher education is caught between discontent and fatalism about what prevents universities from doing better for students from the margins. The system's biggest failure may lie in what the report didn't ask.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Fatal firestorm's distant witness

    • Bronwyn Lay
    • 16 February 2009
    8 Comments

    A year ago, on the day of the National Apology, the emotion was palpable over the seas. But it was hard not being there, standing on the same dirt as your fellow countrymen. It is similarly difficult to be away from home during a time of natural disaster.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    No winners in St Mary's standoff

    • Michael Mullins
    • 16 February 2009
    41 Comments

    At a time of falling and ageing church congregations, St Mary's is one of Australia's most vibrant and deeply engaged Catholic parishes. It is a haven for many who do not feel welcome in other Catholic congregations. Sadly it is positioning itself outside of communion with the Catholic Church.

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