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Vol 29 No 21

20 October 2019


 

  • FAITH DOING JUSTICE

    Mindful eating in a foodie culture

    • James O'Brien
    • 31 October 2019
    6 Comments

    The rise of the vegan movement challenges us to reflect ethically on food. Writing in the 16th century, Ignatius Loyola prompted his readers to practise reverence in the moment and gratitude for the gifts received when eating. For an age of food and drink on demand, heeding his prompts could help us to balance our inner and outer lives.

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  • RELIGION

    Silence has two faces

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 30 October 2019
    12 Comments

    It may seem paradoxical that one of the most effective ways of imposing silence is by imposing noise. The Romans did it with bread and circuses. More modern totalitarian regimes have done it with military processions and massive rallies. Governments in contemporary democracies do so by controlling what is fed to the media.

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  • CARTOON

    The games they play

    • Fiona Katauskas
    • 30 October 2019

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  • CARTOON

    Rock sook

    • Fiona Katauskas
    • 29 October 2019
    2 Comments

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Chile protests echo Allende's prophecy

    • Ramona Wadi
    • 29 October 2019
    5 Comments

    For the first time in decades, the mass protests have proved the strength of Chile's collective memory. Pinochet's call for oblivion is defeated; this can be seen in how Chileans demonstrated with full awareness of continuity. They have also testified to their unity with the Mapuche people, all protesting as one against neoliberal violence.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Building a dementia tolerant society

    • Jill Sutton
    • 29 October 2019
    10 Comments

    When we are losing our memories, we need more and more people who have learned to love us to help us, not fewer. This means that we need, more than ever, to remain in the community which has known us. How can we learn to accommodate these people whose conversational and independent living skills gradually but surely fade?

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Slaying Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

    • Binoy Kampmark
    • 28 October 2019
    13 Comments

    Here, al-Baghdadi seemed to reprise a previous villainous role: that played by Osama bin Laden, the recognisable face of Al-Qaeda. It was similar in another respect: slaying the symbolic head might provide some form of catharsis, but it would hardly redress the logistic realities on the ground.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Matchbox dreams

    • Jane Downing
    • 28 October 2019
    2 Comments

    The dirt ploughed easily under our bulldozer fists. After rain it was still dust underneath; roadworks were brisk. Kangaroos down from Mt Ainslie pooped in our miniature town, new boulders for the centre of our roundabouts. Around and out — the arteries in the front garden ended in neat driveways bumper to bumper with matchbox cars.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Going carless is still a privilege in Australia

    • Celeste Liddle
    • 28 October 2019
    10 Comments

    A year ago, I made the decision to call a wrecker and get my car crushed into a cube. While realising how much money I was wasting was the tipping point, it was not the sole deciding factor. Firstly, there was the car accident I had nine years ago. Then there was going to Europe and seeing what public transport could be.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Advocacy for people who do bad things

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 28 October 2019
    13 Comments

    If we wish to persuade the public that a group of people is being treated unjustly, we portray them as innocent victims. We represent them as a class and as virtuous in order to change public opinion. Stories of violent behaviour by members of the group, however, reveal the reality that no group is uniformly composed of the virtuous and innocent.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The day my phone turned on me

    • Michele Frankeni
    • 28 October 2019
    3 Comments

    Lately my phone has been leading me down some dark paths. The algorithms have become skewed and it has become a lot more conservative. I cannot pinpoint when the change occurred. Was it that time I clicked on the Australian? But how does that account for the links to sites that laud Steve Bannon and question the Pope?

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  • MEDIA

    Leunig's phone-mum strikes back

    • Kate Moriarty
    • 25 October 2019
    51 Comments

    Hi Leunig. I saw that cartoon you made about me. You know the one. There’s a mum looking at her phone and she doesn’t realise her baby's fallen on the ground and it comes with this twee poem about how the baby wishes his mother loved him more. This is awkward. I remember that day well.

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  • ENVIRONMENT

    Clean ocean win shows it's worth dreaming big

    • Cristy Clark
    • 24 October 2019
    4 Comments

    In a time when bad news stories seem to abound, it is welcome news that someone's audacious plan to tackle a seemingly insurmountable environmental problem is having such success. Of course, Slat's clean-up project is just a drop in the ocean (if you'll excuse the pun) in relation to fixing our global problem with plastic waste.

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  • MEDIA

    Campaigning journos are failing Assange

    • Jeff Sparrow
    • 24 October 2019
    7 Comments

    Assange's latest court appearance coincided with the launch of the Right to Know campaign, backed by the major press organisations in Australia as well as the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance. To its immense credit, the MEAA has consistently defended him. But many prominent Australian journalists have not.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Medevac is about health not migration outcomes

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 23 October 2019
    10 Comments

    The Medevac law was needed because there was no sensible process to arrange for urgent medical treatment for the people we are punishing as a deterrent. The system is working according to the medical practitioners involved in it. It would be a tragedy if the Medevac laws were repealed, just to prove how tough and immovable we are.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Small steps toward better mental health

    • Bree Alexander
    • 23 October 2019
    3 Comments

    There is still a long way to go before Australian society is free of mental health stigmas and adequate services are funded and accessible. This is especially important for Australians who are at the intersections of multiple oppressions. But there has been progress, as a number of recent initiatives illustrate.

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  • CARTOON

    Albo's lament

    • Fiona Katauskas
    • 22 October 2019

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Nazi fable's modern resonance

    • Gillian Bouras
    • 22 October 2019
    9 Comments

    A major part of Martin's so-called patriotism is anti-Semitism, and Martin soon uses the well-worn trope in which the prejudiced person makes an exception of an individual. After declaring that the Jewish race is 'a sore spot', Martin tells Max he has loved him not because of his race but in spite of it.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Horse slaughter and the ethics of animal welfare

    • Moira Rayner
    • 21 October 2019
    15 Comments

    When the ABC published footage of cruel treatment of healthy former racehorses in a Qld abattoir, everyone said they were appalled. This revelation has again brought into the public eye the dirty secret about the business of horse breeding and trading, gambling and associated industries. They are vast, and they are important.

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  • ECONOMICS

    Ways out of the capitalist rabbit hole

    • David James
    • 21 October 2019
    5 Comments

    Recognising that financial systems are a human creation rather than natural systems governed by 'capital flows' would be an important step to conceiving a more robust and equitable system. To ask what kind of society we want and only then work out what we want money to do for us is to put the horse back in front of the cart.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    A day in the lie

    • Damian Balassone
    • 21 October 2019
    4 Comments

    This is yer suit and yer tie. This is yer glimpse of the sky. This is yer walk in the rain. This is yer dash for the train. This is yer train to the city. This is yer town without pity.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Jobs key to reviving flailing economy

    • Joe Zabar
    • 18 October 2019
    3 Comments

    Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's attack on banks for failing to pass on the full rate cut to consumers is a political distraction. There are two clear signals coming out of the latest cut. First, monetary policy is not enough to spark a revival of the economy. Second, it's now all about jobs. Frydenberg and his officials would be wise to heed these signals.

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  • RELIGION

    The gifts of being a priest with a disability

    • Justin Glyn
    • 17 October 2019
    15 Comments

    In some ways to be a priest with a disability is to be at a strange advantage. We tend to think about priesthood as a gift and a calling — and so it is. It is not, however, about merit, of saying 'I am better than you / uniquely gifted'. Instead, it is a call to enter the hurts and joys of other people's lives from a position of weakness, not strength.

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