A selection of the past fortnight's politically-relevant entertainment news.
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Visions in Black and White -
Images from Indigenous Australia
Redfern Community Centre, Sydney
Until June 24, 2013.
www.headon.com.au
"Ngurragah," says Barbara McGrady, and smiles. The word, pronounced "nuh-ruh-gah", is one of her favourite utterances. But this committed activist and community photographer won't be using it to describe her latest exhibition, being held as part of Head On, the second largest photography festival in the world.
Drone Warfare: Killing By Remote Control
Medea Benjamin
Verso, 2013
246 pages, $24.95(pb)
鈥淣ever before in the history of warfare,鈥 boasted the Wall Street Journal, 鈥渉ave we been able to distinguish as well between combatants and civilians as we can with drones鈥.
The Obama administration has helped in this claim, writes Medea Benjamin in her book on the 鈥渦nmanned aerial vehicle鈥, by conveniently defining every military-age male in a drone strike zone as a 鈥渃ombatant鈥.
Twenty years ago, Aboriginal Australian Football League player Nicky Winmar famously responded to racist taunting by Collingwood fans by pulling up his jumper and defiantly pointing at his black skin.
鈥淗eartbroken鈥 Aboriginal Sydney Swans star Adam Goodes created another iconic image when he was snapped 鈥 shocked and furious 鈥 pointing at a Collingwood fan.
Goodes was responding to a 13-year-old girl abusing him as an 鈥渁pe鈥. It was only one of two examples of racial abuse directed at Aboriginal Swans players by Collingwood fans during the game that came to light.
Northern Ireland: The Reluctant Peace
Feargal Cochrane
Yale University Press, 2013
368 pp, $38.00
Reginald Maudling, the Tory Home Secretary who oversaw the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre in Northern Ireland, perfectly expressed the British ruling class鈥檚 blend of condescension and indifference towards Ireland when he blurted out to his staff: 鈥淔or God鈥檚 sake bring me a large Scotch 鈥 what a bloody awful country.鈥
As his policies created mayhem on the streets of Ulster, he coined the cute phrase 鈥渁cceptable level of violence鈥 to describe what was going on.
Venezuela and Bolivia have agreed to raise cooperation to a 鈥渉igher level鈥 following Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro鈥檚 visit to Bolivia on May 25.
During bilateral meetings held in Cochabamba, Maduro and Bolivian President Evo Morales signed key accords in food production, industrial development and communications.
鈥淚t鈥檚 necessary to place the strategic map of bilateral cooperation at a higher level, including a more organised one,鈥 said Maduro.
Documentary about the national refugee rights convergence to the Yongah Hill detention centre near Northam in April 2013. Features interviews with Jay Fletcher, Liz Walsh, Ben Solah, Mark Goudkamp and others. See also 91自拍论坛's live blog from the convergence with photos, videos and other reports.
The Obama administration appears to be getting closer and closer to approving the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline. The pipeline aims to transport tar sands oil from Alberta Canada to the United States.
Lynne Stewart, a movement attorney who was jailed for the 鈥渃rime鈥 of being the defense lawyer for alleged terrorist Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, is dying in prison of stage-four cancer.
Her family and supporters, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, are asking that she be granted compassionate release so she can live out her final days outside prison walls.
The warden of Stewart's prison has approved her compassionate release, however the Department of Prisons has so far refused to grant it.
Turkey鈥檚 government, facing a continuing wave of public protest, which began when the authorities brutally repressed a May Day rally at Taksim Square, must end the confrontation with its own people, and release detained trade unionists, the said.
Dr Mona El Farra, Vice President of the Red Crescent Society for the Gaza Strip, answers questions at a forum hosted by on 4 June 2013 and was part of a national tour by Palestine solidarity groups in Australia.
In May 13 mid-term elections for both houses of Congress, and provincial and municipal-level local governments, the control of electoral politics in the Philippines by a small number of powerful, nepotistic families became a big issue.
It was the left-wing Party of the Labouring Masses (PLM) that put the question of political dynasties onto the agenda.
However, not all the PLM鈥檚 impact on the election translated into votes and, due to fraud, not all the votes the PLM received in the ballot box translated to votes in the official tally.
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