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Author: Bronwyn Lay

  • AUSTRALIA

    Why coal is not good for humanity

    • Bronwyn Lay
    • 21 October 2014
    19 Comments

    The French social scientist Bruno Latour referred to the 'uniquely Australian strategy of voluntary sleepwalking towards catastrophe'. His view conflicts with that of our prime minister, who said last week that coal is good for humanity. Abbott's thinking forgets that humanity lives within the earth's critical zone, a home that's not looking so good for humanity.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Bushfires demand response-ability

    • Bronwyn Lay
    • 23 October 2013
    5 Comments

    Human land practices and increasing temperatures alter the earth, and are influenced by politics, law, philosophy and economics. In Lisbon, Western philosophy sought to sever God from nature; now we pretend that the fusion of humans and nature doesn't exist. The term natural disaster shouldn't be trusted. It is superstitious to think humans and nature aren't locked in a reciprocal relationship with political and ethical responsibility.

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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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  • AUSTRALIA

    The dark heart of a European Christmas

    • Bronwyn Lay
    • 12 December 2011
    3 Comments

    The EU was a panacea for Europe's nationalist and imperial history. All hope was pinned on the euro as the saviour able to transcend internal differences. As Christmas approaches, the air feels fragile. Winter will be frugal. Death and disintegration are constantly on the European mind.

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  • RELIGION

    Silence for Norway's dead

    • Bronwyn Lay
    • 28 July 2011
    8 Comments

    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.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    France shows Australia how to protest

    • Bronwyn Lay
    • 26 October 2010
    6 Comments

    In Australia a mass strike is unimaginable. The bureaucratic hoops required before a strike can be considered a legal 'protected action' are Kafkaesque. Therefore strikes have become small, localised and limited to issues of contractual entitlements.

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  • EUREKA STREET/ READER'S FEAST AWARD

    The mingled yarn

    • Bronwyn Lay
    • 21 July 2010
    2 Comments

    My granddad was a fourth generation white Australian who worked with sheep. I used to tell the story that he was a small town racist who disliked Blacks, Catholics and Jews. The punch line was that his daughter married a Fijian, his son married a Jew and my dad married a Catholic.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Forgiving genocide

    • Bronwyn Lay
    • 14 May 2010
    3 Comments

    During the massacre Rurangwa's grandmother was murdered mid-prayer, various family members called to god for help, while the killers, fellow parishioners of the local church, struck their machetes until faith fell with precious bodies into a pile.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Best of 2009: Fatal firestorm's distant witness

    • Bronwyn Lay
    • 05 January 2010

    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. February 2009

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  • ENVIRONMENT

    Michelangelo and my kids will haunt me

    • Bronwyn Lay
    • 23 November 2009
    14 Comments

      As Copenhagen looms on the horizon like a giant apocalyptic festival, I can’t get Michelangelo and my kids out of my mind. The image of the Pietá, the mother holding her dead son, keeps appearing.

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  • ENVIRONMENT

    Layman's guide to the climate debate

    • Bronwyn Lay
    • 21 September 2009
    16 Comments

    There is no opting out of the scientific debate. It has to be followed and understood by the layman because power seems to be setting up shop at its heart. The possibility of 'all being rooned' cannot be the sole motivation to live ethically on the earth.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Exploding pig flu

    • Bronwyn Lay
    • 27 May 2009
    8 Comments

    As Australia deals with its own incursion of H1N1, a strange event on a Geneva-bound train reminds us that this virus is in human hands. Meanwhile the manufacture of a vaccine for the virus raises doubts about medical ethics and equity.

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