As mentioned in a previous post, I’m speaking on Sunday at a forum organised by the Search Foundation in Brisbane. The idea is to discuss how we in the left might formulate some objectives that transcend both particular campaigns and electoral politics - in short, an exercise in re-envisioning goals. I’m circulating my paper in advance of the meeting, and I’ll be talking to it rather than reading it, but since there was some interest on the previous thread, I’m also posting a link here. [pdf]
I’m looking at a subsequent magazine publication, so any feedback and discussion is greatly appreciated, and as I’ll be extemporising around the text on Sunday, I’d also be delighted to incorporate any constructive comment in the talk itself.
As well as hosting public fora, one other thing LP is up to is facilitating conversation in livespace. I want to get away from the whole “meet a visiting blogger and get trashed” thing and more towards the have a few quiet Sunday drinks and have a convo thing. If you’re interested, and in Brisbane on Sunday, we’ll be at Kaliber in the TCB Building on the Brunswick Street Mall from 4pm. As Nabs might (just) recall, they do good cocktail. And there’s a band, but also outside seating where you can have a chat.
A bit more notice has been given of this event via Facebook, and it really is convenient for organising stuff - for instance, if there’s a late change in plans, it’s easy to contact all attendees quickly. So do please sign up for the FB group if you think you’d be interested in such events and other fora in future.
If anybody wants to organise something under the LP banner in their own town, give us a shout (as Brendan Nelson would say).
The Search Foundation is holding a series of roundtables in capital cities leading up to a national conference in 2009. The idea is to stimulate discussion in order to contribute to a reimagination of the objectives of the left in Australia. I’m speaking at the Brisbane event on April 20. Prelimary details available at this link:
I think this sort of thing is fabulous - it’s very easy to lose sight of longer term goals and the necessity of developing both a realistic critique of Australian society and aims which go beyond the necessary every day struggles for various causes or for electoral victory. So I hope and trust it will be very worthwhile.
The event is invitation only, but if you’d like to be put on the invite list, please email Rachael Jacobs at this address.
You might notice slow loading and outages today. This is because the server we’re now on is experiencing a much higher than usual load, and this is under investigation. As we type, work is still going on behind the scenes on the blog.
I’ve mentioned this before, but the renovations to the blog and something that’s on tomorrow night have got me thinking about it again. From time to time, I’ve been inviting people to events I think LP folks would find interesting via the blog’s Facebook group - most recently, the Anna Haebich book launch and this week, a forum tomorrow night featuring John Quiggin on the way forward for the labour movement. Just because of where I live, these events have had a tendency to be in Brisbane! I’d be really keen to see people use LP and the Facebook interface to promote things on all over the shop that would appeal to people this blog appeals to. So I’d encourage people to let me know of anything that might fall into that category.
I also think that it might be a spiffy idea to run some of our own - I’m thinking more forums with speakers and discussion than grogblogs - not everyone’s into the latter, but those who are could of course combine the socialising with a bit of politicising. What do folks think? I’d be very keen to have some feedback, ideas, suggestions.
Incidentally, if you’re on Facebook, please consider joining the blog’s group. And feel free to add me as a friend!
As noted here, the changes we’re making to LP mean that we’ll probably go off line today and possibly tomorrow while the blog is upgraded. In the meantime, it’s probably not worthwhile putting new posts up on the site, but while we’re still here, do feel free to keep commenting and if there are any issues you’d like to chat about, you’re most welcome to do so on this thread if the Saturday Salon is getting a bit long.
As mentioned on the previous post seeking input for the upgrade of LP’s site architecture, we’re going to be getting some professional web techies to give the thing a good tune up. We’re using the services of Graham Young of On Line Opinion fame’s web design folks, and we’ll also be swapping to their server. So with any luck we’ll be enjoying much faster loading speeds, and also a cleaner interface, and regular professional support will help us keep the blogging machine in good running order.
Because of the renovations, we will be off line for a bit on Monday and possibly Tuesday. So please bear with us as we work to provide you with a better blog.
Speaking of which, having made the decision to go pro in terms of tweaking and maintaining the site, we’ll be incurring some expense. We’re very grateful for the donations last time we moved servers, which covered the intial costs and bought us some months’ hosting, but if you’re feeling generous towards LP, we’d be deeply grateful for any contributions!
As part of some changes in the near future for LP, we’ll be getting some professional web techies to give the architecture of the site a good going over. Hopefully that should fix some slow loading times we’re intermittently suffering from. But also I think there are still a lot of bugs in the system related to functionality and appearance. This is your chance to help us iron them out - so if there’s anything awry that you’ve noticed, please leave a comment here. It’s really helpful if you can also add what operating system and browser you’re using.
I’m off to Sydney later in the week for a couple of work-related meetings (and the New Matilda relaunch party). So if there’s anyone who’d like to catch up for a quiet drink on Thursday night, I’ll be at the Clock Hotel at 470 Crown Street, Surry Hills from 6pm.
NB: We sometimes let people know of other LP related meetups or events which we think LPers would be interested in via our Facebook group. It’s quite a neat way of doing so - as it’s very useful for messaging all invitees and/or attendees, judging numbers, etc. I don’t necessarily guarantee all future LP events will be advertised on the blog as such, so if you’re on FB, please consider joining the LP group.
While all eyes have centred on the Andy Warhol extravaganza at GOMA, QAG has quietly been having a fantastic exhibition of a quintessentially modernist Australian painter - Kenneth Macqueen. I went to see it today, and it’s fab - very interesting images - almost socialist realist in style - of men and women at work in the bush, which actually hark back to an earlier era. The landscapes of farming land on the Darling Downs (Macqueen and his brother had a property just near Milmerran) are wonderfully evocative, and his watercolours have really caught something special in the Queensland rural landscape and captured the peculiar Queensland light exquisitely. It’s almost social history as well as art history - and very well curated, with a number of Macqueen’s sketchbooks, photo albums, and some tiny watercolours painted while he was serving on the Western Front in 1917 and 1918. Do yourself a favour, etc.
I’m looking forward to going back for the curatorial talk on 2 March on “Images of labour in Kenneth Macqueen’s work”.
In Afghanistan, a journalism student, Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, has been sentenced to death for downloading a Farsi paper from the internet which stated that Islamic fundamentalists had misinterpreted the Koran to justify the oppression of women. He wanted to discuss the issue with fellow students and teachers. The sentence has been confirmed by the upper house of Parliament.
A young man, a student of journalism, is sentenced to death by an Islamic court for downloading a report from the internet. The sentence is then upheld by the country’s rulers. This is Afghanistan – not in Taliban times but six years after “liberation” and under the democratic rule of the West’s ally Hamid Karzai.
Basic freedoms, for which we’re allegedly fighting, such as freedom of speech and association, freedom of religion, the right to a fair trial and freedom from the death penalty do not exist in Afghanistan. The Independent is urging readers to sign a petition to the UK foreign office. Since we’re also in a position to exercise leverage over the Afghani regime, I’d suggest emailing Kevin Rudd and Stephen Smith. Wanting to discuss women’s rights and religion is not an offense.
Larvatus Prodeo is an Australian group blog which discusses politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. more»
As mentioned in a previous post, I’m speaking on Sunday at a forum organised by the Search Foundation in Brisbane. The idea is to discuss how we in the left might formulate some objectives that transcend both particular campaigns and electoral politics - in short, an exercise in re-envisioning goals. I’m circulating my paper in advance of the meeting, and I’ll be talking to it rather than reading it, but since there was some interest on the previous thread, I’m also posting a link here. [pdf]
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