Past Programs
Politics - International - 2008
2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003
No Excuse Not To Know
16/11/2008
From within the Jewish Australian community voices of dissent are emerging, people who are challenging the mainstream version of the history of Israel and the current conflict the country is involved in. They speak about how they came to their understanding of history and the friends they have lost as a result.
Israel's official history has been challenged for some time now by Israel's New Historians and one of the latest books challenging Israel's historical narrative has come from Israeli society itself. Avraham Burg's The Holocaust Is Over argues that Israel's use of the holocaust has created a nation with a self image of victimhood, which allows all sorts of atrocities against The Palestinians...
'be it fences, sieges ... curfews, food and water deprivation or unexplained killings. All is permitted because we have been through the Shoah (catastrophe) and you will not tell us how to behave.'
In Australia, where the largest community of holocaust survivors lives, it has been difficult to break through the grip of the belief that Israel is the solution to ending discrimination and persecution of Jews, and must always be defended.
But, this emerging voice among the Australian Jewish community is questioning the dominant story and actively supports Palestinian aspirations for justice and peace in their homeland.
We speak to three Australian Jews who have thoughtfully and courageously spoken out, acted in support of Palestinians and battled their own families and communities to live their lives with integrity and candour.
Speech Is Silver, Silence Is Gold
13/04/2008
Young people in Iraq are living through a dangerous war, resiliently maintaining a sense of humour and optimism. On their blogs they talk of the profound and the mundane; dodging bombs on their way to school and trying to study without any electricity.
March 20, 2008 marked the fifth anniversary of the allied military invasion of Iraq.
May 1, 2008 will mark the fifth anniversary of US President Bush's declaration that the war was over, yet fighting has continued and approximately a million people have been killed. Before the invasion Iraq was a country with high regard for education and moderate views towards women's role in society. Now between 30% and 70% of schools across the country have been closed because of insecurity. Teachers and students have become targets for bombings and kidnappings.
Large percentages of students have chosen to discontinue their studies, or have left Iraq, yet there are those who have chosen to stay and continue. Their commitment to a strong, educated Iraq is what keeps them focused.
Rather than the standard tales of military operations this program is about living through the war and attempting to maintain normality in the face of adversity. Iraqi bloggers HNK and Sunshine and Bassam Sebti, a postgraduate student and former Iraqi correspondent for the Washington Post share their stories with us.
