By Sonia Nair. A corpus of 27 highly eclectic accounts that expound upon the themes of migration, dispossession, racial oppression, hybrid identities and the fluid concept of home, Joyful Strains: Making Australia Home chronicles the incredibly important migrant experiences that have come to underline the fabric of Australia’s multicultural society. As editors Kent MacCarter and […]
By Sam Ryan. Almost 70 years ago Albert Camus wrote that “goodwill can cause almost as much damage as ill-will if it is not enlightened” – a sentiment it seems that could well apply to the Australian government’s approach to Indigenous affairs. Reading A Decision to Discriminate: Aboriginal Disempowerment in the Northern Territory, published by Concerned […]
By Jessica Szwarcbord. In the beginning of the post-9/11 era it seemed that no one could stop the United States from aggressively retaliating in any way it wished. A freight train blasting through a new landscape, sculpted by the uncertainty and terror of the catastrophic plane-into-building event that has become a ‘where-were-you-when?’ moment in all […]
By Sam Ryan. This review is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. “Sometimes there’s nothing better than a good rant” is how The Wheeler Centre sums up its weekly Lunchbox/Soapbox sessions. Refugee law is not an easy thing to “rant” about to a lay audience, especially in 20 minutes while providing […]
By Sonia Nair. This review is part of our December 2012 and January 2013 focus on Asylum Seekers. Sydney filmmaker Robin de Crespigny never intended to write a political book. But in a time when asylum seekers are the equivalent of a bipartisan punching bag and the terms “boat people”, “illegals” and “queue jumpers” have come to […]
Reviews by Sonia Nair and Jessica Szwarcbord. Multiculturalism and euthanasia are two hotly debated topics, and the subjects of our two reviews this week – Tim Soutphommasane’s book Don’t Go Back To Where You Came From, and the recent, fiery Intelligence Squared Debate on the question of euthanasia. Book: Do’t Go Back To Where You Came […]
By Sam Ryan I hadn’t planned to buy a copy of The No-Nonsense Guide to Human Rights when I attended the book’s launch at the Melbourne Writers Festival in September. The launch barely touched on the book, but the speeches, discussing a similar range of human rights issues, somehow inspired me to do so. My […]
By Vaughn Rogers The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (the Declaration) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 13 September 2007. Australia, along with the United States, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, opposed the Declaration at the time of its adoption, but Australia subsequently endorsed it in April 2009. […]
By Hanne Watkins. Alex sat clutching his favourite spoon, which had a rocket printed on its chubby handle and small side fins to complete the effect. We were soon having great fun as I guided the cereal into his mouth with the kind of zooming noises fathers are convinced will encourage good coordination. It was […]
By Sam Ryan. This piece is part of our September focus on Women’s Rights. See all of this month’s articles here. As a male who supports women’s rights, I’ve wondered at times whether I’d be classified as a feminist. I support the cause, but it’s not my fight, right? Clementine Ford’s Wheeler Centre Lunchtime/Soapbox speech, ‘We’re […]
This exhibition is part of our September theme, which focuses on women’s rights. Through May – July this year the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre in Casula NSW hosted a ground breaking visual arts exhibition that was the outcome of their national initiative, the Australian Muslim Women’s Art Project. The Australian Women’s Art Project was an […]
By Sonia Nair Dwelling in a seemingly idyllic Sudanese village, Obinna is an 11-year-old boy who lives a life not far removed from that of any other 11-year-old. He gets bullied by the bigger boys in his class, he does not get along with his older brother Akot and he wants to be a doctor […]