FROM LITTLE THINGS BIG THINGS GROW

Gurindji strikers at Wattie Creek, next to the sign that they had made to assert their claim over their lands. Photo: Brian Manning.

Gather round people let me tell you a story 
An eight-year-long story of power and pride 
British Lord Vestey and Vincent Lingiari 
Were opposite men on opposite sides

You probably know these as the opening lyrics to the 1991 Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody song, From Little Things Big Things Grow. It is one of Australia's most important songs and most Aussies will know it - if not from its radio play or performances from Paul and Kev around the nation, then from its use by grassroots movements around Australia and in advertising campaigns.

The story told by the song is one of the greatest this wide brown land has known and one that sadly too few Australian's know. It's a story that is everything we lionise in Australia; mateship, courage, the battler, a fair go, the underdog getting one over the powerful and a happy ending where the hero wins. This is the story of the Gurindji Strike! The hero; Aboriginal man Vincent Lingiari as he led the Gurindji, Ngarinman, Bilinara, Warlpiri and Mudbara peoples on a long, courageous battle for justice.

FOXCONN, APPLE AND QUESTIONS THAT NEED ANSWERS

"This American Life" Goes Undercover at Foxconn, Reveals Harsh Conditions at iPhone Factory

Mike Daisey was a self-described "worshipper in the cult of Mac." Then he saw some photos from a new iPhone, taken by workers at the factory where it was made. Mike wondered: Who makes all my crap? He traveled to China to find out.
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In response Apple has published a list of its suppliers for the first time as it looks to head off criticism over how workers are treated, BBC news reports.

MASADA

Masada (Hebrew for fortress), is situated atop an isolated rock cliff at the western end of the Judean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea. It is a place of gaunt and majestic beauty.

On the east the rock falls in a sheer drop of about 450 meters to the Dead Sea (the lowest point on earth, some 400 m. below sea level) and in the west it stands about 100 meters above the surrounding terrain. The natural approaches to the cliff top are very difficult.

The only written source about Masada is Josephus Flavius’ The Jewish War. Born Joseph ben Matityahu of a priestly family, he was a young leader at the outbreak of the Great Jewish Rebellion against Rome (66 CE) when he was appointed governor of Galilee. He managed to survive the suicide pact of the last defenders of Jodfat and surrendered to Vespasian (who shortly thereafter was proclaimed emperor) – events he described in detail. Calling himself Josephus Flavius, he became a Roman citizen and a successful historian. Moral judgment aside, his accounts have been proved largely accurate.

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On the Nature of Things By Lucretius Written 50 B.C.E

 

Titus Lucretius Carus (c 99-55 BCE) is known as the author of the poem, De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things). Other than that, virtually nothing is known about Lucretius other than what can be deduced from the poem itself. From this source (some 7,400 hexameter lines), he appears to have been a well-educated Roman who had traveled as far as Sicily and avoided falling victim to the murderous politics of his time. His poem was an attempt to popularize the “obscure discoveries” of Epicurus, who lived about 240 years earlier. By doing this, Lucretius provided what is now the fullest surviving exposition of Epicurean philosophy. In it, Lucretius argues that the darkness of the mind brought about by superstitious fears should be scattered by a dispassionate view of the inner laws of nature.

TEACHING FOR THE FUTURE

Teaching guidelines for the future

Of the ten guidelines for teaching and preparing young people for the 21st Century prepared by Australian researchers Beare & Slaughter, eight refer to important features of Steiner Waldorf education:


1. Appropriate imagery - choosing metaphors with care and imagination
2. Teach for wholeness and balance - holistic paradigm;
3. Teach identification, connectedness, integration - epistemological inter-connectedness;
4. Develop individual values - value the individual;
5. Teach visualisation - development of the picturing imagination;
6. Empowerment through active hope - distinguish between faith and hope;
7. Tell stories - use story telling and mythology as powerful teaching tool; and
8. Teach and learn how to celebrate - celebrate festivals.


Or, to summarise the spirit of the above in the words of Rudolf Steiner:

The need for imagination, a sense of truth
and a feeling of responsibility ---
these are the three forces which are the very nerve of education.

Steiner on RUDOLF STEINER EDUCATION