Voices

Eyewitness:  Crisis in Timor-Leste
Carmela Baranowska
Kaleide Theatre, RMIT Union
360 Swanston St, Melbourne.
Wednesday, July 19, at 6.30 pm

Spirituality and Climate Change
Professor Bob Douglas:  The Human Race – extinction or a sustained future
Dr Paul Collins: Making spiritual sense of what is happening
St James Church Centre, 40 Gillies Street, Curtain, ACT
Thursday, July 20, at 7.45pm

Good Neighbour. Bad Neighbour. What’s the difference? Australia’s relations with Indonesia
Uniya Seminar Series: speakers include Richard Woolcott, Associate Professor Damien Kingsbury and Professor Frank Brennan SJ
Melbourne, August 2
Wollongong, August 8
Sydney, August 16
Adelaide, August 22

 

Eyewitness:  Crisis in Timor-Leste

The Australia-East Timor Association will present Eyewitness:  Crisis in Timor-Leste, a preview of documentary film excerpts with commentary from documentary filmmaker and journalist, Carmela Baranowska, tonight, from 6.30pm in Melbourne.

Carmela Baranowska is a Walkley award winning journalist and filmmaker who was the only Australian journalist continuously residing in Dili from the end of May until early July 2006. She is currently in post-production on "Welcome to independence", a feature length documentary which covers the years 2001-2006 in East Timor. Her documentary, "Scenes from an occupation" (2000) covered the last six months of Indonesia's occupation of East Timor. During the recent crisis she reported for SBS News, ABC Radio and Radio Netherlands.

 

Spirituality and Climate Change

Canberra’s Centre for Progressive Religious Thought (CPRT) will mark the beginning of its fifth year with an event, Spirituality and Climate Change.

The spirituality angle will be dealt with by Dr Paul Collins in Making spiritual sense of what is happening while Professor Bob Douglas will consider The human race – extinction or a sustained future.

In advertising the event, CPRT says: “Spirituality is the driving force for meaning and purpose in life. It determines how we perceive ourselves to be connected to the rest of society, the world, and beyond. All of us need to make sense of who we are and how we relate to others, as well as to our physical surroundings and whatever lies beyond them. We ignore the spiritual dimension of life at our peril.

“For many in modern society, that dimension is based on the concepts of humanism and environmentalism. For others, it is based on a commitment to follow the teachings of dynamic religious leaders such as Moses, Jesus, Mohammed or Buddha.

“Currently, Australians are being encouraged to find meaning in their lives through consumerism. This view of identity is heavily promoted by corporations that depend for their existence on fostering this addiction.

“The shopping mall has become the central focus of Australian community and helps many define who they are and where they stand. But through a growing tendency to worship belongings, and a religion of rampant consumerism, we are destroying many of the ecosystems which are the very basis of survival.”

(Entry fee:  $3 for members; $5 friends. Further information: Dr Jeff Simpson, telephone, 02 6248 0545)

 

Good Neighbour. Bad Neighbour.

A former Ambassador to Indonesia, Mr Richard Woolcott, and academics, Associate Professor Damien Kingsbury and Professor Frank Brennan SJ are this year's first speakers for the Uniya Seminar Series on Australia's relations with Indonesia.

The seminar series, with the topic: "Good Neighbour, Bad Neighbour. What's the difference? Australia's relations with Indonesia" will begin in Melbourne and then move to Wollongong, Sydney and Adelaide, during August.

Mr Woolcott is the former Ambassador to Indonesia (1975-78) and secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (1988-1992); Dr Kingsbury is an academic at Deakin University and an adviser to the Free Aceh Movement in the 2005 Helsinki peace talks; and Fr Brennan is Professor of law at the Australian Catholic University and former Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service in East Timor.

Other speakers for this series are Professor Adrian Vickers, Duncan Campbell, Sidney Jones, Professor Peter King, Dr John Bruni and John Martinkus.

As well as helping to unpack the complexity of the Australia - Indonesia relationship, the speakers also will suggest ways forward for better relations. Questions likely to be raised include: Do we have to choose between pragmatism and principles? What values do we share? Who decides what makes a good neighbour?

Presented by Uniya Jesuit Social Justice Centre, the series is given annually and focuses on a topical social justice issue. It was first held in 1999 to mark 150 years of Jesuit work in Australia.  Founded in 1989, Uniya is a centre for social justice and human rights research, advocacy, education and networking.

 

National schedule

Melbourne – August 2
Assoc Prof Damien Kingsbury, Richard Woolcott AC and Prof Frank Brennan SJ
Venue: Xavier College, Barkers Rd, Kew

Wollongong – August 8
Duncan Campbell AM, Prof Adrian Vickers and Prof Frank Brennan SJ
Venue: Edmund Rice College Hall, 112 Mount Keira Rd, West Wollongong

Sydney – August 16
Sidney Jones, Prof Peter King and Prof Frank Brennan SJ
Venue: Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Centre, 700 Harris St, Ultimo

Adelaide -  August 22
Dr John Bruni, John Martinkus and Prof Frank Brennan SJ
Venue: St Ignatius' Parish, 137 William St, Norwood

For details of many other events, see the diary which runs each week as part of the column, from the editor