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Place and identity are fundamental for each of us. They are what our First Peoples had taken from them. In thinking about who I am, I have come to the conclusion that without understanding our First Peoples and their story as told by them I really can't understand myself as an Australian.
In 1521 Ferdinand Magellan arrived in Cebu, put up a cross and claimed the Philippine islands for Spain. The cross and crown interlock. I grew up conditioned to think religion was a gift. When I moved to Australia, I found a timid Church seemingly more preoccupied with conserving power than speaking truth to it.
What does it take to grow in conversation, even and perhaps especially in difficult conversation? Can contemporary Christianity get past the moralism and step into areas of pain? In this final episode for the second season, theologian Fr Timothy Radcliffe discusses questions about Catholic identity, education and democracy.
When the law and the media do their job competently, we can work together to ensure that children are safe and that initiatives such as the national redress scheme deliver truth, justice and healing for all. Once they join a populist movement without regard to the important role they play in ensuring that truth and justice are done, all society is in trouble.
Perhaps we couldn't care less about what happens to an au pair or the person who let her in. But to know that there is rot in the ceiling — embodied in relationships of mutual benefit between those in office and those with money — and still be fine retiring to bed underneath, does not really bode well for anyone.
Fraser Anning's speech was heavily criticised, though few who did so bear credibility. Turnbull, Dutton and Tudge can hardly be taken seriously when they invoke multiculturalism. This is how racism works: it displaces focus from material problems to imagined threats.
Who or what are universities for? Are they meant to form citizens or workers? What happens when universities turn to a more corporate model? Dr Na'ama Carlin reflects on these and other questions. She is a sociologist, writer, and a casual academic, an experience that raises pressing issues about the way universities operate.
Indifference to human life is what made Australia, and it still permeates its approach to crises. As with many things, Indigenous experience provides the lens with which to see things clearly. First Nations people know the fatal measure of our indifference. It manifests in many other areas too.
How do we make sure galleries, libraries, archives and museums are truly inclusive in the stories they tell? Nathan 'Mudyi' Sentance grew up on Darkinjung country in New South Wales. He works to ensure that First Nations stories are being told and controlled by First Nations people.
There are severe limitations in the western ways we tend to think about land. Land is conceived in terms of ownership and property — ideas that are implicated not just in colonial histories, but in extractive industries and concentrations of wealth. In this model, land is a fulcrum of power.
Academic and journalist Antonio Castillo is a close observer of political tensions in Latin America. He joins us today to talk about the rise of evangelical movements in the region. Why did these groups become so popular? What makes them such a political factor? And what does it mean for them to be politically engaged, in a time when people are looking for alternatives?
We can speculate on the reasons for the recent rage against plastic bag bans. We don't like change. We don't like being told what to do. We don't like having to think about alternatives and solutions. But at the heart of it, being mad about this particular inconvenience is about refusing to accept one's part in improving the collective lot. This is the one planet we have. There is no Plan B.