Culture

  • A million miles from socialism

    Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a CivilisationBy Stephen KotkinUniversity of California Press, 1997, 639 pp., $38.95 (pb) Review by Phil Shannon Steel by name, steel by nature — perhaps this sums up Stalinism with its iron rule by Stalin (the

  • Comedy survival skills

    Comedy survival skills MELBOURNE — Often the best humour comes from cultures that have been oppressed and persecuted. Laughter is a means of survival, of striking back at the oppressor, and a way of mocking those who adopt the ways of the

  • A recipe for dispelling the political blues

    CANBERRA — Around 80 people wanting to invest in socially critical humour snapped up the latest portfolio offer in Hinze cartoon stock at a launch of Heinrich Hinze's newest cartoon float on October 13 at Tilley's in Lyneham.

  • Homage to Dita Indah Sari

    Homage to Dita Indah Sari Democracy is not true democracy until everyone listens and heeds even the smallest voice. The voice of money is a false power that moves this world.Money talks — but its conversation is drained from the hearts and

  • Vince Jones dedicates performance to Dita Sari

    Vince Jones dedicates performance to Dita SariSYDNEY — "This song is for an amazing Indonesian woman named Dita Sari. Thanks for being political tonight. Keep holding up those placards." This was how Australian jazz icon Vince

  • Stories from Australia's unfinished land war

    Stories from Australia's unfinished land war details = Frontier: Stories from White Australia's Forgotten WarCD-ROMABC through Dataworks Educational Software$49.95Frontier, shown recently on the ABC, is a documentary of

  • Che: an extraordinary revolutionary

    Che Guevara: A Revolutionary LifeBy Jon Lee AndersonBantam Press, 1997807 pp., $49.95 (hb) Review by Roberto Jorquera On October 9, millions throughout the world commemorated the 30th anniversary of the assassination of Comandante Ernesto Guevara,

  • Feeling good about struggle

    detail = Sprout Wings and FlyBy John McCutcheonRounder Records, 1997 detail = Nothing to LoseBy John McCutcheonRounder Records, 1995 Review by Alex Bainbridge John McCutcheon is a progressive songwriter with an enduring ability to make

  • The making of a socialist 'saint'

    Lenin Lives! The Lenin Cult in Soviet RussiaBy Nina TumarkinHarvard University Press, 1997337 pp., $31.95 (pb) Review by Phil Shannon Cults come in all shapes and sizes. The Elvis cult is tacky but harmless. The Princess Diana cult is schmalzy

  • The story of three Chinese migrants

    Foreign MoonDirected by Zhang ZemingStarring Vicky Chen Hsiao-hsuen, Harrison Liu and Chen DamingOpens nationally at Dendy Cinemas on October 23 Review by Eva Cheng According to an old Chinese saying, the moon in foreign countries is

  • Eddie's Country

    Eddie's Country Eddie, where are you?Are you walkabout out westwith your brother the snake;shedding scales on the rockswhere your blood runs to the sea? Oh Eddie, where can you be?Are you dancing with spiritsin gleaming desert sands?Are

  • On the box

    Actively Radical TV — Sydney community television's progressive current affairs producers tackle the hard issues from the activist's point of view. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Thursday, 10pm and Saturday, 7pm. Access News — Melbourne