Culture

  • Think of Silver

    Expensive spoons, some wereborn with; also the worditself sliding as smoothly off the tongue.Then all the substitutes cheap but preciousreflected in eyeshine at Xmas toys, tinselsparklers, stars. But hard glitter of mint-new silver dollarswere

  • Police Greys

    Heads low, grass-cropping idleunder the olive treesundressed of reins, saddle, bridleinoffensive as sheep, yet these were the flesh-tearing hoovesunder which we fell; the fused halvesof the mounted-monster man-horse, ancientoppressor raised tall

  • Radioathon to support 'radio without borders'

    Melbourne's progressive community radio station 3CR is deeply committed to fighting injustice. It broadcasts the voices of groups and individuals who rarely have a voice in mainstream media. Most recently, 3CR has given extensive air-time to struggle

  • John Q exposes holes in the 'safety net'

    John QDirected by Nick CassavetesWith Denzel Washington, Anne Heche, Robert Duvall and James WoodsAt major cinemas REVIEW BY MARTHA GRUELLE John Q is a drama about a man's love for his child and his desperate attempt to save the boy. But the

  • Breaking the peace (M1)

    Hey you, stop beating meyou can't scare me to be silentyou may blame the refugeesyou, you can't see the realenemy, behind the wallwhere the refugees sing,singing softlyjerking tearsblame them, beat the silencetheir sown up lipstheir ripped up

  • Age bans cartoon critical of Israel

    ABC TV's Media Watch on May 6 revealed that the Melbourne Age refused to publish a cartoon drawn by Michael Leunig that was critical of Israel's war against the Palestinians. The first panel of the cartoon shows a Jewish

  • Ozomatli: activism with a Latin groove

    Embrace the ChaosOzomatliInterscope Records REVIEWED BY MARGARET ALLUM& CHUCK STEMKE Ozomatli's new album, Embrace the Chaos, has a different feel to the Los Angeles-based band's self-titled debut album. But it is still full of the joy of life

  • The rise and fall of the Pankhursts

    The rise and fall of the Pankhursts The Pankhursts By Martin Pugh Allen Lane, Penguin Press, 2001 537 pages, $49.95 (hb) REVIEW BY PHIL SHANNON What foul crimes did this family commit? Emmeline and her daughters — Christabel,

  • Chaplin: 'A lyric clown with a conscience'

    Chaplin: His Life and ArtBy David RobinsonPenguin, 2001892 pages, $33 (pb) REVIEW BY PHIL SHANNON It would have been Charlie Chaplin's greatest performance. "I'd have turned up in my tramp outfit — baggy pants, bowler hat and cane — and when

  • White Strayia Policy

    What are we to do with the refugeeswhen we have racists to appease?What we needed was a specific resolutionbut had to make do with the Pacific solution.Just across from the Long White Cloudin the land of the John White Howardlived a people who once