Keywords: French Revolution
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INTERNATIONAL
The Cold War not only divided Berlin. It divided human rights into two politicised and hostile camps. Socialist nations championed social and economic rights over the civil and political rights prioritised by capitalist nations. Twenty years ago this month, the UN World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna rejected this demarcation and declared that human rights were indivisible, complementary and interdependent.
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AUSTRALIA
You wouldn't find Tuol Sleng if you didn't know where to look. The genocide museum is embedded in the inner suburbs of Phnom Penh, an innocuous, decrepit school building. Each cell contains an iron bed with metal manacles still attached, and a grainy image of the last prisoner found rotting in each room.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Tim Kroenert
- 13 December 2012
5 Comments
Valjean betrays a priest who has been kind to him, and the persistence of that man's mercy despite this betrayal sets the tone for Valjean's journey. The compassion and generosity to which he aspires contrasts with the Old Testament sternness of Javert, who is both driven and tortured by a dedication to divinely ordered justice.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Alex McPhee-Browne
- 19 January 2012
1 Comment
The Renaissance embodied a revolution not only in form, but in content. Bellini's Madonna and Child is enlivened by a zesty piece of human theatre: the baby Jesus, anxious to be on his way, raises one leg in a gesture of defiance, a perfect half-scowl etched onto his tiny features.
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AUSTRALIA
- Ben Coleridge
- 13 March 2011
6 Comments
Political and social ideas are a means of conceptualising people's inner urgings and desires. Does the movement towards political change in the Middle East constitute an 'absolute moment' which forecasts the realisation of democratic governments across the Arab world?
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RELIGION
- Henri Boulad
- 08 March 2011
2 Comments
It is an absurd confrontation. On one side, a man with empty hands; on the other, a well organised force equipped with batons, helmets and shields. I can still see the young man, like a lion, throw himself against the wall of shields, face tensed, eyes flashing, heart steeled.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Kent Rosenthal
- 18 January 2010
9 Comments
In 2006 while living in Haiti I wrote about the plight
of human trafficking victims. But the same issue of justice doesn't
enter the picture when talking about an earthquake. What light could I shed on the enormity of suffering and destruction with my slight contribution?
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RELIGION
- Frank O'Shea
- 05 June 2009
24 Comments
After a lifetime in schools run by
religious orders, I am appalled to think abuse against children in institutions in Ireland was 'endemic'. I try to persuade myself that 'Brendan', the saintliest man I ever knew, cancels out the bad eggs.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Andrew Hamilton
- 12 December 2007
Vinnies founder Frederic Ozanam kept a single-minded focus on the faces of the poor in 19th century France, while at the same time playing the role that churches and church organisations need to play in political life.
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RELIGION
- Scott Stephens
- 27 February 2007
3 Comments
I must confess to growing bored very quickly when I hear that our real problem today is the erosion of spirituality, of belief in a deeper dimension of life, and the consequent rampant materialism. From a properly Christian perspective, the problem today is not materialism, but religion itself.
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AUSTRALIA
- Michael Danby
- 30 October 2006
5 Comments
Today, Hungary is a country as free as Australia. But 50 years ago—on 23 October 1956—Hungarian students rebelled and issued a manifesto demanding free elections. The Soviets reacted ruthlessly.
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AUSTRALIA
- James Massola
- 24 July 2006
Lebanon is a state founded upon division. The fighting in the south of Lebanon is nothing new. Today, Hezbollah and Israel are joined in battle. The Middle East could be a very different place by the time this fight is finished.
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