We are confronting a deep structural crisis in our society. We have confused the idea of democracy with the institutions of political parties and representative democracies. The major parties have become structures representing economic and security elites to which only second rate personalities flock, incapable of navigating the huge challenges we face globally. Meanwhile, the Continue reading »
education
Students have established solidarity encampments at 11 universities in Australia since April 23rd when the first camp was established at the University of Sydney. Many of these students have for the last 7 months been watching a continuous stream of war crimes and their aftermaths on Tiktok and Instagram, uploaded by Gazans enduring horrific conditions. Continue reading »
The increasing number of Grandparents paying private school fees has enabled elite schools to evade Commonwealth parent income tests determining the rate of taxpayer funding that goes to society’s most wealthy and least in need students. Some private schools have acknowledged that many grandparents pay school fees. In effect, this is an admission that they Continue reading »
At last weekend’s Victorian Writers Festival three authors – two of them also bookshop owners and one of them an author and enthusiastic supporter of bookshops – talked about books and the threat to reading. Ann Patchett and her husband own Parnassus Books in Nashville Tennessee. Lauren Groff, another novelist and her husband Clay Kallman, Continue reading »
The Jewish Council of Australia said today the actions some universities are taking in response to anti-war students are a violation of students’ rights and freedoms. Deakin University and the Australian National University (ANU) have indicated they intend to dismantle the student camps. Students across the country are protesting in support of Palestinian people and Continue reading »
Australia’s most severe China knowledge gap is the virtual collapse of University-level advanced Chinese language study, together with the study of Chinese society, politics and culture. This is the major finding of a report, Australia’s China Knowledge Capability, published in 2023 by the Australian Academy of the Humanities. The main program that provided this expertise Continue reading »
The courageous stance of students across the country in defiance of genocide is accompanied by a near total blackout of their voices. Their words are the ones we most need to hear. NEW YORK CITY: I am sitting on a fire escape across the street from Columbia University with three organisers of the Columbia University Continue reading »
Australian university students are setting up encampments in universities across Australia. They are not only calling for an end to the war on Gaza and freedom for Palestinians, they are calling for key changes needed in Australian universities’ relationships with Israel, including divestments in weapons research and development and sales and the cessation of links Continue reading »
The Jewish Council of Australia condemns attacks on students exercising their democratic right to protest. In the last few days we have seen increasing violent attacks on peaceful student Palestine solidarity encampments at universities across the world. At Monash University in Melbourne, a far right vigilante group holding Israeli and Australian flags raided the encampment, Continue reading »
At a time when China is becoming increasingly more important to the Australian economy as well as to our stability and security in the Asia-Pacific, the overall decline in Australia’s China knowledge capability runs counter to our national sovereign interests. The opportunity to congratulate Colin Mackerras on his six-decade long involvement with China is bitter-sweet. Continue reading »