Culture

  • On the Box

    Vietnam Symphony — In 1965, as the Vietnam War intensified, Vietnamese music students and teachers built an entire campus underground, creating a maze of hidden tunnels, connecting an auditorium and classrooms. SBS, Thursday, October 13, 8.30pm. Message Stick: Wave Hill Concert — A major two part commemoration and celebration of the 40th anniversary of the 1966 Wave Hill Walk Off featuring prominent Aboriginal bands who performed during the three day event. ABC, Friday, October 14, 6pm. Cuban Missile Crisis Declassified — Presents a compilation of authentic historic images, eyewitness accounts from the United States, USSR, Cuba, Germany and the Vatican. SBS, Saturday, October 15, 7.30pm. Ordinary People — Follows One Nation candidate Colene Hughes through two election campaigns in Ipswich as her belief in the party is sorely tested and her idealistic fervour slowly turns to disillusionment. ABC, Monday, October 16, 2.25am. The Dark Side of Democracy — Drawing on more than 40 interviews and thousands of documents, the documentary provides a step-by-step examination of what happened inside the councils of war in the US. SBS, Tuesday, October 17, 8:30pm. How Vietnam Was Lost — In October 1967, in a jungle in Vietnam, a National Liberation Front ambush nearly wiped out a US battalion, prompting some in power to question whether they could win this war. SBS, Tuesday, October 17, 10pm. The Price Of Victory — Chronicles a three-month period in Baghdad seen from the perspective of US soldiers from the 27th Field Artillery Regiment. SBS, Wednesday October 18, 2pm.

  • Call-out to Arab artists

    t'feh...alaykoumraw responses from Arab artistsMori Gallery, Sydney6 September — 4 October 2006 An urgent call-out to Arab artists for raw new works for a quick response exhibition to Israel's invasion of Lebanon and incursion into Gaza.

  • The life and times of a committed ecologist

    David Suzuki: an autobiographyBy David SuzukiAllen & Unwin, 2006416 pages, $29.95 (pb) REVIEW BY FRANCIE CAMPBELL A candid self-portrayal of this leading environmentalist. He begins by revisiting his childhood, revealing the racism and

  • On the box

    The Chaser's War on Everything — Lampoons the world of politics, business, religion, media and culture. ABC, Friday, May 12, 10.05pm. Crunching the Numbers — Follows a woman struggling with the tough economic realities of health care in

  • Pramoedya Ananta Toer: Indonesia's greatest novelist

    Max Lane Scores of activists and young writers, as well as family members, were at the Karet Bivak cemetery in central Jakarta on April 30. Many were crying, tearful. The loss was felt greatly, a burden. But they rallied their spirits to also sing

  • Western terrorists' destruction and murder

    The 20th anniversary edition of Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior by journalist David Robie, who spent ten weeks on the Rainbow Warrior during its last voyage, revisits the shameful story of state terrorism in the service of nuclear violence and colonialism in the Pacific.

  • On the box

    Message Stick: The Healer — Brian Dowd runs an Aboriginal men's healing program called Back on Track, highly regarded for helping turn around the lives of countless Aboriginal men. ABC, Friday May 5, 6pm. The Chaser's War on Everything —

  • A scathing indictment on the risks of nuclear power

    Chernobyl HeartDirected by Maryann De LeoHBO/Cinemax Documentary Films REVIEW BY ANNOLIES TRUMAN If you're short of reasons to oppose nuclear power, Chernobyl Heart will give you a list a mile long based on its sobering portrayal of the human

  • Black struggle for justice

    May 1, 2006 marks the tenth anniversary of the death of Rob Riley, one of Aboriginal Australia's most dynamic and courageous leaders. Aboriginal Studies Press have produced a new book called Rob Riley, An Aboriginal Leader's Quest for Justice, by

  • Racism by any other name

    Live and BecomeWritten and directed by Radu MihailenauWith Yael Abecassis, Roschdy Zem, Moshe Agazai, Mosche Abebe and Sirak M SabahatScreening nationally REVIEW BY KIM BULLIMORE AND LACHLAN MALLOCH Romanian-Franco Jewish writer-director Radu

  • Ben Harper: expressing the anger from the US

    Both Sides of The GunBen HarperVirgin Records REVIEW BY DUNCAN MEERDING "You whip the back of freedom till it bleeds an oil streamAnd you sailed down upon it in your killing machineOld men who send children off to die in vainThey will hear