Culture

  • On the box

    The First Zionist Bunny — In a country where women have long been soldiers and prime ministers, is being a Playboy Channel hostess the ultimate post-feminist success? SBS, Friday, December 14, 10pm. India’s Ladyboys — Follows a group of Hirjas, those who were born hermaphrodites and those who were born men and have since been castrated, who are still considered outsiders in their own country. ABC, Monday, December 17, 12:10am. Cutting Edge: Spying on the Home Front — In a permanent war against a hidden enemy, how far has the government gone in hunting terrorists by watching us? SBS, Monday, December 17, 1.30pm. Energy War — Describes the geopolitical consequences of the dependency on fossil fuels. SBS, Tuesday, December 18, 8.30pm. Crude Impact — Examines the future implications of “peak oil”, the point in time when the amount of petroleum available worldwide begins a steady, inexorable decline. SBS, Tuesday, December 18, 10pm. Summer of Love — San Francisco’s hippy movement was born out of youth who’d grown up with post-WWII affluence but were now dealing with Vietnam, racism, and the threat of nuclear annihilation. SBS, Wednesday December 19, 8.30pm,. Waste Equals Food — In the early ’90s, the US “green” architect William McDonough and German “green” chemist Michael Braungart teamed up to realise the Waste = Food principle in human-made products. SBS, Thursday, December 20, 1.30pm. Days that Changed the World: The Storming of the Bastille — Looks at the infamous date, July 14, 1789: The French revolution which began in Paris with the storming of the Bastille. SBS, Friday, December 21, 2.30pm. Dirty War — Against a geo-political backdrop of war, terrorism, and shifting global alliances, this is the struggle between a group of poisoned Filipino peasants and allegedly one of the largest, and certainly most powerful, polluters on the planet — the US military. SBS, Saturday, December 22, 12.50am. The Butterfly Effect — Terri Janke is a Sydney-based Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property lawyer, whose firm is the only one in the country dealing with the issue of ICIP rights for Indigenous people. ABC, Sunday December 23, 1.30pm.

  • Bridges

    In New South Wales
    bridges tell the tale
    of life’s travail
    for the not so beautiful elite @poetry = The homeless out of work
    share a space of dirt
    beneath your bridges
    under the souls of your feet @poetry = There’s no dreaming here
    romance is out of date
    beauty is the sadness
    of a quintessential fate @poetry = Mums ’n kids share
    8 x 2 tin cans with lids
    and wait for that day of the meek
    but it won’t be this week @poetry = There communards
    sleep by streets
    on a park bench
    where the soup kitchen meets @poetry = Real jobs have gone
    old industries fled
    and the rest of youse
    have left us for dead @poetry = In New South Wales
    histories tell the tale
    of a social elite
    with mud at their feet @poetry = and egos that never skip a beat

  • Bali - beyond the bazaar

    Under the Volcano: the story of Bali
    By Cameron Forbes
    Black Inc., 2007
    286 pages, $32.90 (pb)

  • Pakistan — A Thousand Steps From Freedom

    A thousand steps
    Away from the ballot box
    To vote for freedom

    A thousand steps
    From armed men
    With orders to shoot down
    Anyone who votes for freedom

    A thousand steps
    When you have chains
    On your hands and feet
    To stop you from taking
    A step of a single yard
    Towards freedom

    A thousand steps
    From the grave
    Where you will be buried
    If you take a step
    To vote for freedom

    A thousand steps
    From your dreams
    Where you dream
    That you can vote
    For freedom


    @auth poem = Arif Viqar

  • Save the whales

    Harpoon: Into the Heart of Whaling
    By Andrew Darby
    Allen & Unwin, 2007
    296 pages, $29.95 (pb)

  • Vacating Kirribilli

    John’s gone, he’s gone
    and I’m forlorn.
    The unemployed must cope
    without his scorn.
    Workers smile
    and bosses frown,
    why did the voters
    let them down.
    Eleven long years
    of blood, sweat and tears
    have given way
    to workers’ cheers.
    Bennelong voters
    so it seems
    exceeded all
    my wildest dreams. @auth poem = John Tomlinson

  • On the box

    The Dramatically Black: Djarn Djarns — Frankie Dollar is eleven years old. He is the leader of an Aboriginal traditional dance group, who are young urban blackfellas, with a responsibility to keep their culture alive. SBS, Friday, December 7, 3.30pm. Los Zafiros — Formed in 1962, Los Zafiros were known as Cuba’s answer to The Platters. The members all came from the same Havana neighbourhood, and in Cuba enjoyed a popularity comparable to The Beatles. SBS, Saturday, December 8, 1pm. The Judge and the Fanatic — Many Yemenis have fought with the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan, but when the war ended they returned to Yemen to join the long queues of the unemployed, and many of them found it hard to reintegrate. SBS, Monday, December 10, 2.30pm. Cutting Edge: Cheney’s Law — For three decades US Vice President Dick Cheney conducted a secretive, behind-closed-doors campaign to give the US president virtually unlimited wartime power. SBS, Tuesday, December 11, 8.30pm.

  • Down and out in Tent City

    Down to This: A Year Living with the Homeless
    By Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall
    University of Queensland Press, 2007
    475 pp, $32.95 (pb)

  • On the Box

    21 Up South Africa — 21 Up South Africa offers insights into the social and political changes occurring throughout the country since the fall of Apartheid. SBS, Sunday, December 2, 9.25pm. Gough Whitlam: In His Own Words — Examines Whitlam's