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The Middle West hiding in the Middle East
There is something wrong with the term “the Middle East”. To come straight to the point, it should really be the Middle West. Of course it won’t escape the reader’s attention that this thought bubble occurs in a moment angst about the relationship between the “West” and “the Middle East”. And in the western public mind, as projected by popular media, danger lurks everywhere. Some dangers (religious fanaticism and terrorism) are sadly all too real – and the victims are all over the world, although it has to be said largely in the Middle West. Other existential dangers are well, fanciful. The “burkini”, or to describe it accurately “modest” or…
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Beginnings Old and New
It might seem odd to start an article about beginnings by talking about the end, but that’s the whole point. Our assumption is that time is linear. The beginnings are behind us, and, inexorably, we will arrive at “the end”. And culturally, much of our story telling encourages us to have the sneaking fear that our collective end will be horrible. The dystopian stories of our future – the amplified dysfunctions of our time are the common fare of movies such as Gattaca, and Elysium. Our accounts of the past also forebode bleak “end times” story as is the case in Agora. The list is endless, but includes movies such as the Planet of the Apes,…
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The Poetry of Langston Hughes
Racism and problems of race relations continue to generate injustice and racial animosity around the world. The problem is not confined to any one people or country, but the case of the United States is better known in the English speaking world. The poetry of Langston Hughes comes from a period in which racism had reached a peak – what is known as the “Jim Crow” era. The United States civil war ended slavery, but it didn’t end racism. Gradually racism took a stronger hold in society and by the early 20th century it gave rise to toxic theories of racial supremacy and scientific racism. A fierce segregation was instituted between…
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Electing the President
There is something fascinating about the “contest” which elects the President of the United States. The 2016 election is no exception. Candidates who weren’t imagined before the election year have come to the fore and with them the discourse and the “contest” has been thrown open. Issues of gender are right on the surface. And the fact that a women has never been elected as President is one of the issues. Gender issues are present in other ways. Women’s bodies and women’s rights have repeatedly surfaced as a political football. Issues of race are prominent, who is allowed to belong – who needs to be locked out. Who can claim…
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Reality
Not seen, Not heard. Not smelt, Not felt. Unspoken. Undone. Unthought. Not known. Not loved. Not no thing. Beloved.
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Agora movie – seeing ourselves through an alien past
The movie Agora (director Alejandro Amenábar) is not history, but perhaps, it rises to allegory. It is well worth watching, despite its ‘interpretative’ approach to history. It is a movie which captures deeper truths about human relationships and its fictionalized past helps us understand the challenges of our conflicted present. The struggles of Agora’s characters are enriched by Dario Marianelli’s haunting film score and the movie’s epic intellectual and scenic setting. Agora takes us to the unfamiliar world of fourth century Alexandria. It is a world being overtaken by change. Certainties of a pagan past are fading as new Christian ways of being emerge. It is a world beset with…
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Universal Declaration of Human Rights 2048
Will the future of human rights look like this? After a century of unimaginable suffering in which hundreds of millions of human beings lived in slave like conditions; wars killed millions; millions more fled – many condemned for generations to squalid “refugee” camps; millions starved; where national democracies collapsed under the weight of sectional interests and armed conflict and the environment was stripped of sustainability for wealth for the few, humanity amended the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and issued the new Universal Declaration of Human Rights 2048 Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, the directly and democratically elected representatives of all humanity, proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS 2048 as a…
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Australia’s refugee intake at historic lows
Update November 2016: Since this post back in 2015, Australia has announced a special humanitarian intake for Syrian refugees. According to information published by the Department of Border Protection, in the 2015-16 year, 17,555 humanitarian visas were issued including almost 3800 to Syrian refugees. In a discussion paper issued for the 2015-16 year, the Department estimates that the 2019 program will be no less than 18,750 places. Meanwhile the global situation for refugees is no better. Such improvements while welcome are insufficient to the need. Australia cannot solve the problem alone. Yet, it is important to continue to ask if we are doing all we reasonably can and should in…
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Racism – a daily reality
Racism is an almost daily news item. For many, its a terrible lived problem. But, many have trouble believing it exists, except perhaps at the the margins of society. If we don’t see the obvious symbols of racism: arm bands, hate flags, white hoods, we may think the problem is no longer there. We have a curious situation where “racism” is almost a taboo word. It is politically incorrect to call racism, well, racist. As a consequence we sometimes see heated debate over whether this or that is an example of racism. A recent example from my own country was the treatment of Adam Goodes on the sporting field. He is a…
