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…

Whilst having been too caught up in other things to express my thoughts here, there have been many issues that have occupied my grey matter. In recent times (days, weeks), there have been a number of reports in the press on two that give me some hope: the Israel-Palestine issue and that of the situation in Australia regarding the lack of respect and recognition afforded First Peoples, particularly in regard to the ‘National Holiday’ on January 26 known as Australia Day. Coverage of the former will most certainly continue, more-so given the change in the US stance on the issue post-Obama’s inau…

The term ‘post race’ has been increasingly bandied about in the lead up to today’s Presidential election in the USA—a google search currently produces 126k hits. Much of the commentary refers to Obama as post race and thus someone white Americans are not afraid of—they are reassured by him as a non‐angry black man. For me, whilst a number of the pieces reflect on the challenges of growing up black in America and express a level of awareness, much of it seems more like a means for getting white America settled and comfortable with racism… One piece refers to Francis Fukuyama…