This article is part of our June theme, which focuses on Indigenous People and their human rights. Read our Editorial for more on this theme. The Ngaanyatjarra lands stretch west some 1,000 kilometers from Alice Springs. They’re some of the remotest lands in the country and are home to 2,000 Aboriginal people spread across ten tiny […]
In May, Read and Rights discussed What is the What by Dave Eggers, a book which explores the human rights abuses in Sudan and the discrimination faced by the Sudanese Diaspora. Sonia Nair spoke to Sophie Tolich from SAIL (Sudanese Australia Integrated Learning) about how they are aiding Sudanese immigrants through literacy and community programs. […]
Samaya Chanthaphavong spoke to Antony Loewenstein, author of The Blogging Revolution about the use of the internet, in particular blogging, as a communicative tool to promote self-representation, democracy and human rights in areas where excessive regimes impose strict censorship over most forms of communication. RN: We know that as part of your book The Blogging Revolution […]
Refugee advocate Julian Burnside AO QC recently opened two exhibitions at RMIT Gallery, Melbourne addressing the ongoing plight of Afghani refugees. The collections express two interlinked, yet distinct understandings of Afghani people. The first exhibition, Unsafe Haven: Hazaras in Afghanistan, depicts the systematic religious and ethnic persecution of Hazara people in light of the Australian […]
Ten to thirty million people have disappeared. It’s the enigma of our time, how people embedded into their families and communities can simply slip away from society’s eye into a nightmare of never ending abuse and exploitation. The trafficking of men, women and children for sexual, domestic and labor exploitation is a problem that […]
On the afternoon of Saturday 21 April, as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, emerging and established comedic talent came together at the Melbourne Town Hall in Deadly Funny, Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander comedy showcase. For just under two hours the audience was entertained by Cy Fahey, Jay Wymarra, Eshua Bolton, Tristan […]
A cacophony of excited murmurs and joyful laughter erupted throughout obscured sections of theatres, diminutive rooms nestled in covert bars and auditoriums packed to the rafters on 22 April as 2012’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival drew to a close. While audiences were left satiated with the broad spectrum of comedy the festival had put on […]
It is a Saturday night at a comedy show. An overweight, beer drinking, crude male takes a dig at his wife. His presence on the stage is domineering and aggressive. The audience is in hysterics; compelled by the group, I manage a laboured self-conscious giggle. I am channel surfing and an ad for channel 7’s […]
One of the most problematic areas of international human rights law is the right to culture. It is ambiguous, yet the right to culture manifests itself in many aspects of each individual’s daily life. The right to culture provides equality to all members of society, allowing them to freely practice their culture. Further, it prevents […]
Could you live on $2 a day? Given a single morning coffee costs around twice that much, it is almost unimaginable for most of us. Yet 1.3 billion people – that’s almost 60 times the population of Australia – currently live in extreme poverty, on less than AUD$2 a day. … as people rise above the […]
Arts Centre Melbourne presented Singing Stories in association with Multiculturalism Australia at the Famous Spiegeltent earlier this month on Saturday 12 April. Featured artists included SistaNative, a Tongan heritage orator and singer; Paulo and Gill, an East Timorese duo taking a fresh look at traditional folk music; Saritah, a South Korean born singer who has […]
This article is part of our April and May theme: the relationship between art and human rights – a topic very close to our hearts. If this interests you, take a look at our “Art” category to the left of this page, or click here for past publications of artwork and reviews. What does theatre have […]
