Yesterday, Mum and I attended the afternoon session of Andrew Marcus’s discussion of the community survey, at Monash University.
I urge everyone who can, to get hold of a copy of the survey results. At the presentation, we were also offered “Key Findings from the 2006 Census” on Victoria’s Jews, collated by Markus and Tanya Aronov.
Markus’s [...]
Feb
28
2010
28
2010
Sep
2
2009
2
2009
The Community Survey: Civil Discussion, the “Volunteer” Canard, and Intimidation
Aug
27
2009
27
2009
In The AJN – The Community Survey; a Question; and Coming Next
Community Survey
Headed by Andrew Markus, the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation at Monash has recently completed a 45 page study on patterns in Australia’s Jewish community.
This week, The AJN published some of the results, and this post will examine some of the more interesting findings:
1) Religious affiliation – As expected, Orthodox Jews are in the [...]
Aug
25
2009
25
2009
Part Five – Axis of Honour: Dislocation, Family, and Terror
You probably remember the refrain, during the Bush years, that the Islamists objected to our freedoms and our way of life – that this is why America was attacked on September 11.
This is not exactly in the realms of profound analysis, and belonged with Bush’s ill advised response soon after the attacks, that America was [...]
Aug
17
2009
17
2009
Part Two – The Axis of Honour: Honour, Communalism, and Islamist Suicide Terrorism
Terrorism, Terrorists and Suicide Attacks: Our Representatives Fail to Shed much Light
The first post in this series took issue with the flaccid thinking of some academics and policy makers. They are, however, no worse that many non-academics (in the media and lobby groups) on the right.
Bren Carlill of AIJAC, recently wrote in The Australian, [...]
Aug
14
2009
14
2009
In The AJN – The Holocaust: No Laughing!
I remember the story of two Jewish girls in their early 20s.
They were a bit tipsy on a weeknight when they arrived at one of the girls’ family home. The young ladies didn’t want to scandalise the parents, so they tried to compose themselves before entering.
“Stop laughing,” the girl whose house it was – let’s [...]
Jun
25
2009
25
2009
Loewenstein: Why Bother?
Antony Loewenstein has provided fodder for this blog on a number of occasions. Some of our readers have asked whether writing about Loewenstein serves any function, or indeed, whether such posts provide him with oxygen or legitimacy.
Let me state for the record: I have no personal beef with Mr Loewenstein. I met him once, quite [...]
Jun
25
2009
25
2009
Australian Jews, a New Format, and Later Today
This blog began as a forum for for discussion of Australian Jewish issues. Because it began in Melbourne, its has tended to focus on Victorian governance and media shenanigans.
We hope, however, to commission posts soon from writers outside this city. Each community shares a number of challenges and some of these are national in scope.
Jun
2
2009
2
2009
Zionism on Campus: a New Approach
There is no more fertile ground than the Western campus for all manner of anti-Zionist activity. How such activity can be countered is an important question, not only because Israel and Zionists are misrepresented, but because often, people come to university without eve having known or cared about Israel or Jews, and their formative experiences [...]
May
24
2009
24
2009
Where to now? practical questions and suggestions for change in our community and a link to Manny Wax’s Report
Manny Waks, formerly of B’nei Brith has spent considerable time researching our community and looking into the possibility of establishing a nation-wide think tank.
[edited at 10:51pm to add] Manny has now put the report online. You can read it here. He points out that it is not an academic document, but one designed for the [...]
Mossad and Our Passports
In the current debate surrounding the Australian passports used in the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, there are two equally unsound positions.
Firstly, there’s the shrill (if exultant) Anti-Zionist response, that often tips over into outright racism. (see readers comments at the end of the stories)
On the other side, Jewish Australian leadership still hasn’t managed [...]