ZA News Mandela Puppet at the Seder Table

One Passover, many moons ago, I arrived at the Shapiro family home in Rondebosch, Cape Town. Can you imagine my surprise and delight to find Mr Mandela at the seder table? My brother Jonno, aka Zapiro, had reserved a seat for him with our family for the night.

And here he is - the first of the prototypes of the puppets launched this week at ZA News. This is one my most treasured old photos: Madiba and me at Pesach in the 90's.

ZA News is launched in Cape Town

Jonno's book launch, 2004. One of the last Zapiro events I was able to be at in Cape Town. That's what happens when siblings move to other countries!

I love the entrepreneurial spirit in South Africa. The resourcefulness, the innovation, the excitement that accompanies great ideas. For nearly 10 years now, the puppets created by Zapiro for ZA News have not been aired - TV stations have gone against that South African experimental mood, have blocked the artistic brilliance and quite frankly been what I would call Un-South African. But perhaps that's after living in Australia for a while where there's a constant debate about what is Australian and Un-Australian. But I digress.

Yesterday Kulula.com, whacky as they are, and the Mail and Guardian partnered ZA News and launched the news by the Spitting Image inspired puppets. The secret to the successful screening? Using the internet, and sidestepping television altogether.

I've never been more proud of the work my brother, Jonathan, is involved with. This time with Thierry Cassuto. There's very little to say other than "Go Jonno and colleagues!! ZA News is fantastic".

You can see some of the real ZA News and the Media Launch at the ZA News site http://www.zanews.co.za/ or the Mail and Guardian site http://www.mg.co.za/zanews

Orange Dust-storm Skies

We just woke to the brightest orange light through the gap in our curtains. I thought I was imagining the colour. It just didn't seem possible. The view out the back and front of our house was unprecedented. The TV news tells us that it's a dust-storm that is very widespread, but it is thickest over Sydney. It has come from central New South Wales.

Medical advisors say don't work outside, don't exercise, and if you can stay at home, do. If you have a mask, you might want to wear it, they say. And there is a special warning for asthma sufferers to be cautious.

Wow, it's quite an experience! Some of the pictures on TV are of even redder skies than we can see. Predictions are that this dust-storm will sweep around the world. We watched a wonderful Richard Attenborough program on The Planet last night, where we saw views from space of dust-storms moving across the earth. And now we're right in it.

This is an extraordinary, orange morning.

Sydney - the Serotonin City: Spring Dance Festival

The Spring Dance Festival - no performances over $25

Sydney - the Serotonin City at the Opera House

Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week on the Steps of the Opera House

Sydney - the Serotonin City

Iconic Sydney Ferries at Circular Quay, passing the Sydney Opera House

The other day a cousin visited from London. When his holiday came to an end he admitted feeling quite down, and I heard myself say: "That's understandable - you're leaving the Serotonin City".

And Sydney is just that. It gives one a dose of "up".

So many people comment on the quality of the light - there is something special in the way the light falls in this city - and there's a lot on offer. Spring is pretty electric, just as it is in Cape Town and Buenos Aires. I would say that my inspiration to start this blog, 34 Degrees South (based on my life in Cape Town, Sydney and Buenos Aires) was Springs and Autumns in those three cities. I used to say that Cape Town was showing her true colours on gorgeous days like today in Sydney, and one can't resist the infectious good feeling.

The Serotonin City likes to play. This weekend on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights the Spring Dance Festival at the Sydney Opera House is offering free films at 6.30pm on the Opera House forecourt. Preceded by entertainment at 5.30pm each evening (ooh, at sunset), including free teaching of some of the dance moves from the movies, the films are:
- Swing Time (1936): Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers on Friday the 11th September
- West Side Story (1961): Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer and Rita Moreno on Saturday the 12th September and
- Fame (1980): Irene Cara and Debbie Allen on Sunday the 13th September.

See details here and click on "Play Video" - an upbeat introduction to the free screenings.

What fun! There are plenty of other dance offerings at the Spring Dance festival. But we'll try for the Friday night event - it seems one must get there early and with a cushion. We're keen to George Washingmachine again, and he plays before Swing Time on Friday followed by some nifty teaching of tap moves. See you there.

A Road Trip in New South Wales

Starting off, heading north.

We were all packed and ready to go. Early. We'd got ourselves organised so the last day or two could be to complete work. On the Thursday before our planned Saturday departure I went to my obstetrician for a routine check-up. She'd given me the go-ahead to travel. However, things had changed since I last saw her, and the H1N1 threat had worsened. A locked cabin for a few hours on the way to Vanuatu was not her idea of a worthwhile risk for a 5 and a half month pregnant woman.

Some heavy decision-making followed. I had a deadline for the Friday and didn't have time to change tack.... Francis stepped in. We agreed to let the Vanuatu holiday go for now, and take a road trip north. He contacted the insurance people, and I got back to work.

Less than 48 hours later our suitcases had been re-packed with warm clothes, we'd thrown in some food and we set out on our Northern NSW road trip. It wasn't Vanuatu, but it was Australia, and we were to discover some of the lovelier places within a seven hour drive of our home.

For those not in the know, New South Wales is not a small place. It covers and area of 801,600 square kilometers (about two thirds of the size of South Africa or nearly four times the size of Great Britain) and has 780 national parks. The Great Dividing Range runs the length of the State from Victoria in the south to Queensland in the north, with the highest mountains reaching above 1000m. Most Australians live within 50km of the coast and in areas outside of cities, most Australians live even closer to the coast. The vast hinterland is not an area I am at all familiar with, but I hear that people manage the harsh lifestyle and the vast distances.

We set off North on Saturday morning the 1st of August. The short version is that we shuffled back and forth up and down the Great Dividing Range and the coast for just over a week. We saw some fantastic scenery. Lots of what I was seeking and what I like to call Bluery and Greenery. And animals - my first koala in the wild, whales (including getting involved in an exciting binocular search with national parks staff to find a whale that had become entangled in some fishing line and a bouy), porpoises, dolphins, black cockatoos, domestic dogs, a wallaby, some fenced-in kangaroos, a dead wombat or two, and a lot of non-city folk.

We stayed in some funky accommodations, most of which I can recommend and which I have a list of if anyone needs it:

• Saturday and Sunday: Bellingen (a great mountain town on the gorgeous Belliger river, and home of a great music festival, headlined this year by the famous South African musician Hugh Masekela who I am going to see in October)
• Monday and Tuesday: Woolgoolga (yes, all the t-shirts say 'where on earth is Woolgoolga', and most people just fondly call it Whoopi. It's just north of Coff's Harbour and has a good whale watching headland)
• Wednesday: Dorrigo (a mountain town, at almost 1000m altitude)
• Thursday: Armidale (a University town reminiscent of Pretoria)
• Friday and Saturday: Tea Gardens (the twin town of Hawks Nest on the Myall waterways just north of Nelsons Bay, and my idea of heaven - I'd be happy to go back holiday after holiday after holiday)
• Sunday: back home.

We traveled 1850km. The highlight was in Tea Gardens. We'd read a local book that said that if we went to the top of the bridge between Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest at 9.30pm we'd see dolphins playing in below. This seemed a bit too specific, and perhaps a touch implausible. But we dutifully drove to the bridge (embarrassing as we realised it was just 200 m away, but it was cold out!) and walked up to the top. It was freezing. We heard a large splash, and could not quite place it as the river is way too far upstream for waves. There, in the disturbed water, was a large dolphin surfing on it's back. It was fantastic - fully visible in the street light from the bridge. Then, after a cold wait, we saw two more dolphins, and another. We shivered and watched, and they came and went in through the light and the bridge shallows. We headed for our accommodation to to rug up some more, but it was too cold to get back out.

The next night we thought we might be a bit late. We put on loads on clothes and in our best imitation of Michelin Men walked to the bridge and took up our vantage points, Francis on one pavement and me on the other. And there they were - three dolphins. A very large mum and her juvenile (we later heard it was probably Nicky, a well known matriarch in the area). She was teaching her young one to fish. They dashed in and out of the well lit shallow waters, and disappeared for up to ten minutes at a time. It was magical, just magical. When the dolphins wer elsewhere we entertained ourselves watching silent pelicans paddling by on the nightly fishing expedition, and some rather haunting black swans whose red beaks gave them away against the shadows.

It was a great nine days, and an incredible realisation that there are places just three hours from Sydney that are at least as gorgeous as Knysna in South Africa, my usual holiday haunt (which is five hours from Cape Town). I can imagine us taking our little Spud there, to the Myall lakes area at Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest, many times in the future. And nine days with Francis was just the best start to August - good company, good conversation and spontaneous travel decisions.

For pics of the trip on Picasa, click here

Aussie Women continue to earn less than men

Last year in October I wrote about women earning less than men in Australia. I just came across an update at Women's Forum where Robert Tanton of the University of Canberra writes that women are catching up but the progress is slow.

I am amazed by the anecdotal evidence I see around me every day. Of all the women I know, almost none earn more than their men. That's a simple fact, and one that needs stating. There are plenty of reasons for this, and Robert Tanton touches on a number of these, but even not taking into account the times that women don't work full time (babies and the like), women's salaries start to lag behind men's in their early years, and generally lag far behind men's salaries in their later years.

I work with social entrepreneurs and small business people, and a great deal with people in the non-profit sector. And here the trend is emphasised. While some social entrepreneurs who are men tend to take on the social justice ethos, which in this country seems to involve not earning much, it is women that I see earning erratically and only for particular hours that they count as "really working". Robert Stanton makes the point that in salaried positions, and he is not distinguishing in which kinds of salaried positions, women tend to take unpaid hours to do child and family care and men mostly slot in those times to flexible paid hours. This is a difference in perception between the way men and women see their roles, in my opinion.

But back to those working in the social justice arena - I have heard, again and again in Australia, that people "should either work for love OR money". I don't get it. Why can't people work for love AND money? It makes sense to me. Love what you do, and earn while you do it. Why not?

One interviewee in a piece of social research I have just finished said: "you can just TELL who is doing it for love and who is doing it for money". For her, there was no way the two go together.

This is my challenge. Do your work for love AND money. Do what you love doing, and get paid for it. As I encourage my coaching clients to do, check how much of your time goes into each paid hour. And if you are anything like the people I coach, teach and facilitate, you will find that between two and four hours go into every hour that is an earning hour. So account for it. And if you are a woman, check if you are telling yourself that some hours are not worth being paid for (and some men need this check too).

Closing the gap between men and women's earnings is a lot to do with closing the gap between men and women's worth. And I include myself in the audience to this advice - since coming to Australia I have had to take my own advice and really put a stop to people wanting to use my ideas, my skills and my time free because I am doing "good work", and since putting a stop to that my work has grown and developed. However, it remains in that category that needs constant maintenance and a constant check that I am not putting in hours and hours before the first dollar comes back to me.

In my holistic coaching course I work with the participants to motivate their people and to free them to be the best they can be. For that they need to earn well. And to remove the word "just" as one of the participants reminds us as in "I am just a coach", "I am just a mother", "I was just thinking that it might be a good idea"....

It might just be a good idea to rethink the earning gap and be a bit more proactive in closing it.

17 Degrees South

Picture at Sonasaili resort, Fiji, 2007 Honeymoon.

I passed my Citizenship test. First time. 100%. Boy, do I feel proud of that. One thing to remember is that the head of government is the Prime Minister and the head of State, yes it's true, is the Queen. Queen Elizabeth, that is. Luckily the guy who escorted me up in the lift at the Department of Immigration quizzed me on that one, just to play with my pre-test nerves. It paid off.

Something else to remember if one is not keen to give up Citizenship of your country of birth is to let them know BEFORE you apply for Citizenshipship in the New Country that you want dual citizenship. Otherwise they swiftly remove your original citizenship. Well South Africa does, anyway.

With the Citizenship test under my belt and a new-found sense of strayanism (that's "Australianism" to those not in the know) I embarked on a piece of detailed research about a one-week break (at five months pregnant it's apparently called a Babymoon!) on the Great Barrier Reef. After all, I now live in Australia and I can't be satisfied with just knowing Sydney and surrounds. There's 4,000km in width to play with and 3,700km north to South to explore (aren't I fabulous that I know the stats from my test - although I had to rely on an even newer arrival than me, Anita, to tell me that there are 37,000km of coastline - hah - add THAT to the study book, I say). So the Barrier Reef it was.

I learnt that there are three major sections I was interested in - the Southernmost islands - they have less mountains, and even have some backpacking options. Lady Elliot Island, Lady Musgrave Island, Great Keppel Island. With some snorkeling straight off the islands. Accessible from Rockhampton and Brisbane and the like. But those airports are not that well connected.

Then there are the middle islands - around Hamilton Island including the Whitsundays. The land resort area is Airlee Beach, and all are connected through Shute Harbour. One can fly straight onto Hamilton Island, but that means that everyone does. So it's very touristy, over-priced and crowded. Or so I hear. Daydream Island nearby has mixed reviews, but is another option. It's the one place one can fly straight onto an island, and that is tempting.

Then there's the famous north. Cairns, Townesville, Port Douglas. Port Douglas is very popular with people whose opinions I respect. But the reef is very far away and my dream of being able to walk out onto the reef is just a dream. It's a long time in a boat, and with my pregnancy heading up for month five and a half, I can just imagine getting really sick and that would be awful. The Southern Islands have some snorkeling right off the islands, but that is less likely in the north.

I stand to be corrected on all of this, having never been to anywhere that I am writing about, but hours (literally hours) of internet reading with Francis resulted in a general feeling of nuh-uh about our long awaited trip. The reviews, if one reads the detailed reviews, were filled with disappointment about the amount one pays for the amount you get. It's REALLY expensive. And we just could not find enough positive stuff to make us take the bull by the horns and book Queensland.

So at 1am we decided to give up on the complicated itineraries we had been constructing for an Australian break and choose either to go back to the Yasawa Islands in Fiji (where we honeymooned in 2007 and which we highly recommend - we'd assist anyone with ideas about those) or to take the plunge and go 17 degrees South. To Vanuatu.

And that is what we are going to do. We'll spend a week in Vanuatu - half of it at the Hideaway Island resort (what a picture!) where, yes, you can snorkel right off the sand I am told. And the other half wherever our noses take us. Or your recommendations lead us.

So while I love 34 degrees South (Sydney, Cape Town, Buenos Aires - and maybe one day Santiago in Chile... Francis and I have started lessons in their national dance, the Cueca, so we might land up there one day) this time I have to halve my usual favourite number and choose 17 degrees south. Let's see how it pans out!


Ps - I recommend www.travelonline.com for accommodation deals. Their deal was SO much cheaper than the one we used, but hey, I'd already booked. Nothing to be done about that. Just don't get caught out too.

Citizenship - ten facts for the Citizenship test

I took this photo at the Blacktown Festival. Love the Australian Flag turban!

I just discovered I am free to apply for Australian Citizenship. I thought that was still a few months off, but in fact it is now. There was even an appointment available this Saturday to sit my Australian Citizenship test. So I took it.

I have been pretty anti the Citizenship test. I have had dire doubts as to whether it's a good idea. However, having just booked my test, I started reading the preparation booklet for Citizenship, Becoming a Citizen. It provides some useful information and hey, it's not that bad. In fact I think I could've done well to read it the week I arrived. It would have saved me some wonderful dinner table boo-boos over time! I have yet to get all the way through the 46 pages, but I am now sure, if I wasn't before, that:

1. The national flower is the Golden Wattle
2. Humans have inhabited Australia for 40,000 to 60,000 years and Australia's Indigenous Culture is the oldest surviving culture in the world
3. More than 700 languages were spoken by Aboriginal people pre-settlement and 250 remain today
4. Voting is compulsory in Australia
5. There are three levels of government: Federal (national), State and Territory, and Local (councils).
6. There are 21 million people in Australia (a similar population, by the way, as Shanghai)
7. 22% of Australians were born overseas (where I live the figure is way past 50%)
8. The country is predominately Christian (64%), with the other all having less than 2.2% each (Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism). The Jewish people, which is where I identity, make up just 0,4% of the population. Interestingly, Aboriginal people make up just 2,3% of the population, just 0.1% more than any of the minority religions.
9. The median age is 37 years
10. There are eight states and territories: Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland (that's where you find the Barrier Reef), New South Wales (where I live), ACT (where Canberra is), Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania (I have to admit I thought Tasmania was a country when I got to Australia, but then many people here don't know South Africa is a country, they think it's a region).

So Citizenship can't be that far away. Once I pass the test and lodge my application, it's about three months til it gets approved. I think it might be just a bit too short a time to manage before the Spud is born, but I will try. After all, I can't officialy change my name to Shapiro-Liu until I am a citizen, and it would just be so much more convenient to have this sorted before Spud Shapiro-Liu arrives.

I hope that I get to attend a Citizenship Ceremony where my own choir sings. I don't know if I can arrange to attend Canterbury (where 120 nations are represented, sometimes 60 at a time) or whether I will be in Ashfield. I'll wait and see.

My greatest excitement about being an Australian citizen is being part of an incredible multi-cultural nation, expressed so wonderful in the song We Are Australian by Judith Durham:
We are one
But we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream
And sing with one voice
I am
You are
We are Australian.

Ten Years of Tango

Midnight at a Tango Salon in Buenos Aires, March 2004

It's ten years, to the week, since I took part in my first intensive Tango experience. There is nothing quite like the International Week held at Tango El Corte, in Nijmegen, Holland. Some weeks before, in May, I had attended a few tango lessons by the incredible tango maestro, Eric Jorissen, in Cape Town which had been arranged by Rodney, Sally and Mark. I had been dragged there, kicking and screaming, by my friend Neil. At the time I had said "I think tango is ugly, and the music is funny". Seriously. I said that.

Neil's then partner had been unavailable for three out of a four-session course. At the time I was Neil's dance teacher in other forms of dance, and a good friend. So I went along.

I loved it. I was hooked. I was going to be in Holland that August to fundraise for NICRO, so I arranged with Eric to attend his International Week. He was "pretty sure" I'd be fine.

Yeah, right!

In July I made my way to Nijmegen, found his out of the way studio under a railway bridge, and had my first of many, many experiences around the world of opening an arbitrary door and hearing the strains of tango welcoming me in. There, at the very back of El Corte were couples seamlessly moving around the room, legs wrapped in legs, bodies wrapped in close embrace. A room of lovers, I thought. How was I ever to be part of it. Then the music stopped, and these tight couples drifted apart, re-formed with other people, and started again, weaving webs of tango magic around the room. I backed off. I would never make it. A wonderful woman told me everyone felt that the first time, and I should stick with it.

I did. It was one of the hardest weeks of my life. I spent a lot of up a ladder at near the roof of the studio where there was a tiny one-person balcony where I could observe the dance from above. As I learn well by watching, this was a great strategy, especially after one chap was particularly irritated in a class that I didn't know how to turn, or what a giro was. I was new. He was not. I have since learnt that rudeness is not essential in those kinds of settings, but that it is slightly irritating being partnered with an absolute beginner when you have traveled far and paid lots to learn advanced stuff.

It was good that Eric had such trust in me - that I could survive International Week. But also a huge leap of faith, and one I just HAD to live up to. Many people there had been dancing up to 11 years, and some were dancing six nights a week.

Interestingly, when we got back to Cape Town in July 1999, Mark Hoeben and I had been exposed to more tango than our Cape Town tango friends, so it was fitting that he continue to teach and that I start to teach tango. And what a fabulous few years that was - teaching and facilitating tango, running la Vie en Rosebud (a free milonga in Green Point) and arranging mad places to dance inside and outside along with others. A fantastic group of friends, and the licence to dance in other places, including the five continents I tangoed on in 2004 on my tango trip around the world. It was on that trip that I met Francis in Spain.

Now, exactly ten years later to the week, Francis has taken himself off to intensive tango workshops with the lovely Lucia Mazer from Buenos Aires. He did three night sessions and four sessions over the weekend, with a milonga in between. I managed just two sessions on the weekend and the milonga - it was good to be back on the floor, complete with a 21 week preggie belly. I was thrilled to see the level of the participants and the excellent ethos bred by Hosanna and Paul at their exciting warehouse venue in Redfern. and it's a plus that Francis is fast becoming a tanguero. It's time to celebrate ten years of tango for me, and many years ahead for Francis and me.

You can join 810-strong Tango El Corte, Nijmegen group on Facebook which I started to link whose lives El Corte has touched. We're with those at International Week in spirit this week.

Social Media - good or not?

What a strange, strange day the 25 June 2009 was. Michael Jackson (50) died in Los Angeles. Farah Fawcett (50) died in Santa Monica, California. However, Jeff Goldblum did NOT die in New Zealand as some online hoaxes claimed. Twitter, Facebook, blogs and online fora get news out fast, but this is not always an advantage.

Why would anyone put out a hoax that someone is dead when that person certainly is not? The "falls to his death in New Zealand" is apparently not a new story. It has re-emerged after many years. There was one attempt, according to Seven News, to say that Tom Cruise had met his fate this way too. Of course he hadn't.

Personally, I find online tools the most incredible thing since sliced toast. To live in Sydney, so far from my native Cape Town, would be that much harder without daily contact with friends and family from the home country and news from the home world. I would find my distance from Buenos Aires so sad - how I loved my tango days there in 2004. With the help of posts on Facebook, particularly, I can follow tango all around the globe. And be part of it.

With a large belly, and a Spud on the way, I can't do those inter-continental flights that could connect me to the rest of the world. My computer, and skype, will just have to do it. And they do, for me. However, this this fantastic technology goes hand in hand with the risk of false news reports. I find Hoax-Slayer really useful to check these things out.

RIP Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett.

And Jeff Goldblum - you continue to live a long and healthy life despite any online hoaxes.

Sydney's diversity of music, song and dance

One of the most wonderful things about living in Sydney is the incredible diversity of music, song and dance (and food, but that goes without saying) from a multitude of nationalities. Francis and I feel privileged to be included in Chilean and Bolivian events, to be able to eat out and listen to local music at the Cyprus club, to try to count the complex beats of Greek music at Steki in Newtown, and to be part of folk festivals and choir events, political and other, all over Sydney.

On Sunday afternoon Mary-Jane Field, our special friend, had another of her Penas. A pena is a concert, a community event, and when Mary-Jane arranges them, they are always of the finest musical standard and supported by a great number of people, most of whom volunteer in some way - to sing, to perform, or to help with food and raffles....

Sunday's Pena was no exception. Mary-Jane would like us to believe it was her last, but I doubt that. It might have been the last in a series that celebrated the Cantata por Domitila, a cantata that Mary-Jane wrote in celebration of the life of Domitila Barrio de Chungara. On her website, Mary-Jane describes the Cantata as

a work featuring a fusion of musical styles blended with traditional and modern Bolivian folk music. The Cantata tells the story of Domitila Barrios de Chungara, a courageous Bolivian woman who has dedicated most of her life to the struggle for the rights of the tin miners of her country.

The Pena was filled with choirs including the Bright Stars led by Mary-Jane, a church choir Mary-Jane sings in and her incredible daughter and granddaughters singing as the West Girls in close harmony and a capello. There were folk singers and other performers. But for me the highlight was a tango demonstration. Not because I am completely crazy about tango and dedicated five years to it, but because this particular performance was enormously challenged by the music breaking down over and over again, and the resultant miracle performance was one of the most moving I have seen. Miguel, Heatwole, a well-known choir leader in Sydney, came to their rescue. Accompanied only by the steady clicking of his fingers, he took the mike and in a velvety tango voice, slowly and deliberately sang a tango for the dancers to perform to. The audience was mesmerised, and their quiet clicking fingers were testimony to their will to make the performance work. I take my hat off to the dancers, Margarita and Guy from Tango Embrace, and to Miguel for their quick thinking and their gut-wrenching performance.


Mary-Jane has once again woven her magic in the Spanish and English musical world. Her Bolivian friends' performance of Bolivian folk music with it's contagious beat rounded the evening off. The proceeds went to the Auntie and Uncles charity in Australia and to a Bolivian charity. And once again we had had the privilege of being part of the extraordinary mix of cultures that is so very Sydney.

Real Conversation at the Citizens Parliament

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Australian of the Year Prof Mick Dodson and Adam Gilchrist.
Sydney Morning Herald, 26 January 2009.

Australia has entered a new era of debate. Not always comfortably, but certainly noticeably. One of Kevin Rudd's first projects after becoming Prime Minister was to call the 20/20 summit. His plan was to discuss the important issues affecting Australia with ordinary people. His detractors were quick to say that he was all talk and no action. I beg to differ. One his first, and certainly his most powerful action to date, was to say Sorry to the Aboriginal people of Australia. That was serious talk, and serious action. It shifted Australia on its axis forever (to borrow a phrase from my older sister, Yvonne).

Kevin Rudd's style continues to encourage debate. I have noticed a tangible shift in conversation since his election in 2007. When I arrived in Australia in 2004, in the 8th year of the Howard government, talk was not encouraged. Debate was discouraged. So were big ideas (I remember the CEO of the Australian non-profit where I worked raising her hand to me in a "talk to the hand" gesture and stating loudly "Thank you very much, Rosemary. We don't need any more Big Ideas. What we need is people at their desks").

The past 12 months have been different. I have seen, and been part of, lots of meaningful and action-directed talk, both at dinner-table level and in organisations. I have seen some great conversation in WILPF (Women's League for Peace and Freedom), some of which I have facilitated. The Apology led the way, and 20/20 offered a new openness.

However, today Mr Rudd has disappointed me. Prof Mick Dodson, named yesterday as the 2009 Australian of the year (he is a long-time activist and one of the authors of the 1997 "Bringing Them Home" Report) , has raised a question many have asked. He queries whether the 26th of January, the anniversary the 1788 First Fleet in Australia, is the right date for Australia Day. To some, Australia Day is Invasion Day and there are alternative celebrations that are not about beer swilling, flag-wearing, okker Australians, but about remembering the death and destruction those first settlers brought to this country, to some of the oldest peoples on earth.

The question Prof Dodson is asking is simply this: should we choose a day that represents the pride and national feeling of all Australians, a day that perhaps has less mixed feelings for some. Prof Dodson, at his own admission, is not as concerned about whether this happens or not, as he is about the fact that a conversation is needed.

Which brings me to why Mr Rudd has disappointed me. His answer was reported to be a flat "no". To my mind I don't think that's much of a conversation. Prof Dodson has another view - he said on TV this morning that perhaps that is the conversation: a question has been raised, and an answer has been given. Personally I think he's being quite big about it.

What will be interesting, and what I am thoroughly looking forward to, is the Citizens Parliament to be held in Canberra in the first week of February. This, I think, is a real conversation. As stated on the Citizens Parliament website, in answer to the question "Who Runs the Citizens' Parliament" :

Ultimately, it belongs to the participants. The organisers are researchers from Australian National University, The University of Sydney and Curtin University, in conjunction with the newDemocracy Foundation. The Citizens' Parliament is co-chaired by Hon. Fred Chaney AO and Dr. Lowitja O'Donoghue AC CBE DSG. Participants will be guided by facilitators and assisted by researchers and volunteers.

Apparently the recommendations will be published and presented to the Prime Minister and all Members of Parliament. The idea is that the recommendations will be considered by the Government and widely discussed in the media.

I am thrilled to be one of the team of volunteer facilitators at this event. My consultancy, Making Things Work, is aimed at working in just this arena. I have no idea what will be expected of the team of facilitators, save to say that they will be very long days! And that there will be a lot of Open Space methodology, something I have worked with for years and found to be super-effective. Our briefing session in Canberra the day before the event will prepare us for the task at hand. The website has the following to say:

Facilitators ensure that everyone has the opportunity to express themselves and encourage a generous and empathetic response from listeners. Facilitators ask open questions that require reflection and consideration, to help participants find deeper understanding of the topic at hand. They don't express any favouritism--they invite participants to object if any bias is perceived, even if it is unintentional. Facilitators encourage respectful and constructive dialogue, but won't intervene unnecessarily. Importantly, facilitators of deliberative processes do not push participants to reach a consensus.

Sounds like a fabulous opportunity for real conversation between 150 randomly selected delegates. Now perhaps Mr Rudd and Prof Dodson could join us for a guest conversation that does not just start with a question and end one minute later with a definitive answer!

Last-First Networks

Taken in Guguletu, not long before I moved to Sydney.

I constantly hear of organisations in other countries, specially in Africa, that can do with our support. That is, the support of those of us who live relatively comfortable lives in the developed world. One of my favourites at the moment is the African Scholars' Fund. For around $100 AUS one can support one young person through school for a year. The young man Francis and I support has managed to pass, yet again, and is really grateful for the opportunity the African Scholars Fund has afforded him to continue his education. His mum receives a pension of less than $50 a month (unimaginable!). He would never have been able to continue school without assistance.
[Click here to sponsor a child]

There is something so right, so useful, in bringing money to third world causes from first world sources. The money buys so much more. It's vital to many smaller projects.

I came across a wonderful group here in Australia, in Queensland to be exact, called Last-First Networks who distribute books, CD's, DVD's, training manuals in social justice issues, and handicraft and fair trade coffee. They are

a Network of community development practitioners committed to generating interest in and promoting access to educational resources on social, justice, peace and empowerment.

Those who created Last First have worked for years in Development settings, and bring their social justice experience home to Australia. To Queensland, to be exact. There's a fabulous video on Facebook of the work of one of the groups in the network, West End Women's Work. Watch it here.

It's easy to be involved either in the needs of those at a distance, or those who have recently arrived in Australia. It just needs commitment from plenty of people, and you can be one of those people.

Do Important Things First!

photo by Janis Krums

The plane crash into the Hudson River in New York has caused such interest that one website, at least, went down as a result of too many people trying to pass the photo on simultaneously (read full article about Twitpic here).

I, for one, am really pleased that I don't have to rely solely on official news sources and that I can choose to expose myself to the diversity of news and views online. I love the speed at which news gets out. I know accuracy can be compromised, but I think it's worth it. The current Israel-Gaza debate is a case in point - lots of people being able to have their say (myself included) and a really fast spreading of information which is vital for social action that is being taken on both sides, all over the world. It is this, the assistance to social action, that I am most pleased about.

The struggle, of course, is where to draw the line. I can spend whole days following news, views, and social networking niceties. What with our family's rapidly growing family tree on Geni.com, the social and dancing networking and cause related marketing of Facebook, and professional networking on LinkedIn, my work could be cut out for me every day. That's before starting real work.

The idea is to find the right sites, to resist getting drawn into extra applications that are time-wasters, and to put a big sign up on your desk, as I have on mine, that says "Do Important Things First"!.

But with riveting pictures of the rescue of 148 people from a sinking plane in the freezing Hudson River coming up on my news sites as I work, there are times when I don't take my own advice. Good work to the rescuers in New York. A great story of cooperation for this Friday morning.

Let there be logic (and freedom of speech)

Thank goodness some sense prevails in South Africa. The South African Appeals Court has overturned a high court ruling dismissing corruption charges against Jacob Zuma, the president of the ruling African National Congress (ANC). In effect this means that charges against Zuma can, and might well, go ahead.

Ironically, in a rally last week Zuma announced that his party would clamp down on corruption. One hardly needs cartoons to see how ludicrous such a public announcement is, coming from him. But cartoons there have been, and cartoons there will be as this strange-but-true story unfolds in the ever dynamic South African political landscape.

Zapiro's controversial cartoon on Zuma and the Independent Judiciary (see the Zapiro website) continues to cause a great deal of debate. On Facebook where he has a huge following someone wrote today:

"As long as Zapiro is in our beloved country's newspapers I know that democracy and freedom of speech are alive and kicking in South Africa, keep it up!"

. The cartoon, and the role of the judiciary, continues to be debated on public fora, in newspapers, on the radio and at dinner tables not only around South Africa but abroad. I have heard debate on Zuma and Mbeki and the judiciary centred around the controversial cartoon here in Sydney. Zapiro is currently being charged by Jacob Zuma for defamation...

I wait with baited breath as the elections in South Africa draw close. Who knows what the next few years hold, but about one thing I am sure: South Africa remains one of the most resourceful, innovative and dynamic places I have known, and it's political stage is one of the most colourful and fascinating of the moment.