Robert Manne has for many years been associated with anti-communism and a trenchant opposition to the Left in Australia. This has led to a tendency among leftists to dismiss him as just another apologist for rampant capitalism. The truth, as always, is more complex. In fact Manne has been a consistent liberal, believing in the… Read more »
culture & reviews
Kick the Tin: A survivor of the stolen generation kicks back
If you want to understand what it’s like to be a member of the stolen generation, read Kick the Tin by Doris Kartinyeri, a member of the Ngarrindjeri nation. Not that we can ever truly know. As her sister, Dr Doreen Kartinyeri, says in her introduction: “Only those who have been taken from their families… Read more »
Living Out Loud: Loud, Proud and Effective!
While reading Living Out Loud: A History of Gay and Lesbian Activism in Australia, an item on the TV news caught my attention — the Gay Games are coming to Sydney in 2002! The Chief Executive of the Board predicted more participants than the Olympics and Gay Games profits boosted through queer visitors booking out… Read more »
Jack Davis: Indigenous leader & playwright
Jack Davis, poet, playwright, actor and Aboriginal activist, died on 17 March at the age of 83. He leaves an extraordinary legacy. Born in 1917, Jack lived for a period at the Moore River Native Settlement and the Brookton Aboriginal Reserve. As a young man, Jack laboured as a stockman and an itinerant worker. His… Read more »
Review of Getting Equal: A history of Australian feminism
Review — Marilyn Lake, Getting Equal: A history of Australian feminism, Allen & Unwin, 1999. 316 pages. ISBN 1 86508 137 X Feminism is arguably one of the most powerful, the most energy-charged and the most radical of the ideas thrown up in the modern age. It has the potential to challenge the very foundations… Read more »
For Pat Parker and radical dykes everywhere!
I know this didn’t happen just this year, but the other day, I found out that Dykes on Bikes, the traditional leaders of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade changed to The Women’s Motorcycle Contingent. I wonder how much more the queer movement is going to allow itself to be co-opted into capitalist America… Read more »
Crisis and Leadership: A time-tested blueprint for today’s leaders
In the 1960s, when I was a teenager in the United States, it seemed like a day didn’t go by without a city boiling over in protest. The Civil Rights movement had erupted out of the South, and African Americans’ struggle for basic democratic rights had spread across the country. Conscription for the Vietnam War… Read more »
Rape ain’t natural! Misogyny masquerading as science
I have a confession to make. I haven’t read this book all the way through. After reading, on page 103, that a women’s waist size is related to her ability to detect the risk of rape, my scepticism began to distract me. But it was the assertion that those who connect rape with patriarchy is… Read more »
The Times We’ve Been Through : Music for the Times We’re Going Through
Ever found yourself singing along to a catchy tune and then blushing with embarrassment when the actual reactionary meaning of the lyrics dawns upon you? I confess, I have! There’s no danger of that when you listen to the new Peter Hicks CD. The Times We’ve Been Through, is full of catchy tunes guaranteed to… Read more »
The Whole Woman: Germaine Greer Demolishes “Post Feminism”
A friend of mine has a clever T-shirt which reads “I’ll be a post-feminist in post-patriarchy.” Germaine Greer’s new book, The Whole Woman, is a book version of the T-shirt. Greer wrote the book she said she’d never write. The Whole Woman is a sequel to The Female Eunuch, one of several books which inspired… Read more »
