veganarky

I have posted previously about bands/music and have given a bit of thought of late to music that has had an influence on me. This is partly due to the million‐and‐one quizzes abounding on stalkerbook of late, and the release of Supporting Caste by Propaghandi in the last month. I have appreciated their lyrics and tunes for a long time, having the opportunity to see them in Australia in 1996 and in their home town of Winnipeg in 2006 (unfortunately I missed their recent Australian tour as I was in Canada). My anticipation of their new disc was heightened knowing friends…

We all go though life having many experiences that are, to varying degrees, beyond our control. Different political persuasions often have different takes on how we should understand, consider, reflect on and tackle such situations. A lot of rhetoric is thrown around, from many of these perspectives, at contrasting ideas, opinions or ideologies. Radical and leftist perspectives often try to expose and understand the structural basis of the, mostly negative, implications of circumstances that remove ones control over their own lives. Similar can be said of some libertarian perspectives, ev…

Many reactions to the current fires that are burning through forests, mountains and townships in southeast Australia provide illustration of the persistence of not just anthropocentric attitudes in contemporary society. Sadly, they are also ripe with examples of what some may consider bushism’s, the rhetoric of us v them, with them being the environment. Nature positioned as other, an enemy that we must fight against, apparently possesses a pervasive quality that lingers amongst what many hope are changing attitudes—attitudes essential to alter the current path of the often-untold and non-cons…

In an interesting piece, though one still constrained in critical reflection by aspects of the ideological crisis it seeks to (partly) challenge, the current Australian Prime Minister has commented on contemporary politics and economics. The piece, which is published in the forthcoming issue of The Monthly, titled “The Global Financial Crisis” (a first-1500-word preview is available online), and commented on in a piece in the Sydney Morning Herald titled “Time for a new world order: PM” does raise some questions yet fails to see beyond terms most familiar. Much like the National apology Rudd m…