Cirrus

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'On Australia’s ‘Day of Shame’, after the release of the Brereton Report, there was much talk of ‘warrior culture’ and ‘bad apples’. Sir Galahad, shining exemplar of warrior culture, never burnt villages or murdered children, but ‘bad apples’ has more of a ring of truth if applied to the few soldiers who take pleasure in killing. The uncomfortable phrase ‘blood lust’ rarely gets a mention, in spite of a nod in that direction in the Brereton Report. It’s damned awkward to chat about a topic like ‘reptilian ruthlessness … one of the strongest of human drives’.'

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y Meanjin vol. 80 no. 2 Winter 2021 22096837 2021 periodical issue Abstract 'The world knows that the Australian immigration process is very tough.' In the magazine's cover feature Still Lives, five people now resident in Australia and New Zealand tell in vivid first-hand accounts the stories of lives stilled by statelessness or detention, and lives settled in a new home and a sense of belonging. Their stories are matched with luscious images by artist Sarah Walker. Anna Spargo-Ryan looks at recent cases of sexual harassment and violence in and around the national parliament and concludes 'This government cannot deliver action on sexual violence. They have told us to our faces: they simply do not understand how.' Mark Pesce considers the recent battles between the Australian Government and the world's major players in social media and the online world, an epoch-defining clash, he argues, between state sovereignty and technological monopoly. Historian James Curran has a long conversation with that legend of well-chosen Australian letters, Don Watson. In the first of two pieces looking at allegations of war crimes made against Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, Bobuq Sayed argues that 'The war crimes detailed by the Brereton Report are endemic to a growing culture of white supremacy in Australia that has also clearly taken root in the ADF.' Caroline Graham looks at the very long history of 'regrettable incidents' involving Australian soldiers, a story of 'warriors, bad apples and blood lust'. (Publication summary) 2021
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