The Arab people’s hunger for the universal values of dignity, justice and freedom is no less potent than that of the Eastern European or South American people, writes Professor Fethi Mansouri, Director of the Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation at Deakin University.
Democracy
When democracy smiles at me, I go to Rio
The biggest general election of 2010 takes place on Sunday when Brazil, the world’s fifth-largest country, elects its new president, congress, governors and state legislatures. Democracy works well in Brazil.
Guy Rundle: The topic is cancer — the 2010 election and the collapse of political legitimacy
A series of cave-ins, ducked battles, and soft options by the people who controlled parties, papers and powers, and a refusal to stand up to the genuinely malign, has brought us to this point.
The new global middle class: they’re not like “us”
Developing countries are developing their own middle classes — but they’re not “liberal, democratic, market-friendly bastions not only of Western-style consumerism but also of political liberty” “we” might like them to be, says Newsweek.
Fighting the Burma genocide
An incredible, in-depth look at the activists attempting to promote democracy in Burma and chronicle the human rights abuses occurring under the junta. Mac McClelland visits the Karen freedom fighters trapped in Thai refugee camps.
Kohler: Why China won’t save the world
China’s economic growth will not be a panacea to the world’s financial woes so long as it remains a largely undemocratic state, says Alan Kohler: it isn’t a consumer society, and the export dollars just aren’t there.
Former communist countries don’t like capitalism
Twenty years ago the Berlin Wall fell and communism in Eastern Europe crashed down with it. Except, capitalism and democracy are less popular now in Russia, Czech Republic and East Germany than they were in 1991. What, greed isn’t good?
Click the vote: politics 2.0
Can an open source government work? An electorate in NSW has $300,000 and an online public vote system for choosing which local programs get funded. Want a new oval? Get voting.
Bill Clinton: How to export democracy
Bill Clinton on the trouble with selling other countries on constitutional democracy: you have to look after the “losers and the loners”.
Fiji’s constitutional coup
Soldiers in newsrooms, judges sacked, constitution in tatters … but life goes on in Fiji.
…and the Gold Walkley for Journalistc Leadership goes to…
John Hartigan!
Governments should prep for the next vaccine scare
Judging by the experiences in the UK and USA, we will be in for some major challenges if a vaccine scare gets traction in Australia, writes Julile Leask.
Mark Davis: The Land of Plenty
Australia’s particular democratic ethos isn’t simply a matter of headline-making achievements. It extends through to the way in which day-to-day life is lived by ordinary people, writes Mark Davis.
Whither the Democrats?
The inaugural meeting of the Australian Lobster Party…
Islam and democracy: six speakers, four brains
Tonight sees the first Australian Intelligence Squared debate. The sell-out debate topic is “Islam is incompatible with Democracy”, and it should be interesting, writes Irfan Yusuf.
America still holding out against Pakistani democracy
This week’s visit to Pakistan of two high-ranking US policymakers raised some expectations that they might be carrying the message to General Musharraf that it was time to quit, writes Charles Richardson.
Why China won’t hold Tibet forever
In the longer term, Tibet’s prospects are not so grim, writes Charles Richardson.
Mysteries of Democracy – The Recyclable Cardboard Polling Booth
We still don’t understand how they know…
The Burmese people have had enough
Dr Monique Skidmore details the historical roots of the current Burmese protest and where it might lead.
