Monthly Access August 2010 (Issue 10)

A monthly newsletter by ACCESS, the AIIA's Network for Students and Young Professionals. All the views expressed in this newsletter are solely those of the individual writers and that the AIIA, while providing a forum for discussion and debate on international issues, does not formulate its own institutional views, and eschews political bias.

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Note from the editor

By Ishita Acharyya

July has been a dynamic month for Australian politics. The Gillard prime ministership has already made an impact on Australia’s relations with its regional partners, demonstrated by the so far unsuccessful attempt to establish a “regional processing centre” in Timor-Leste for asylum seekers. The current government’s fiscal and population policy is also under intense scrutiny as we approach this year’s federal election.

In this edition of Monthly Access we’re accordingly focusing on the asylum seeker and multiculturalism issue, as a continuation of our Access forum in June, and as an acknowledgment of its prominence in current social debate.

Access update

By Ishita Acharyya

Recent months have been particularly busy for Access.

The Great Immigration Debate, with speakers Kon Karapanagiotidis and Julian Burnside allowed for a range of opinions to be expressed, particularly about Australia’s approach to human rights and alleged xenophobia.

Professor Stephen King, dean of Monash University’s school of business and economics provided an exemplary explanation of the causes of the Global Financial Crisis and the inadequacies of Australia’s regulatory framework.

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Letters to the editor.

Q & A with Mohammed El-Leissy, Special Projects & Community Outreach leader for the Islamic Council of Victoria

By Kristoffer Mckay

Uncertainty about the place of Muslims in the Australian nation-state has been a source of public anxiety at times, particularly in the past decade. The recent recurrence of the 'Burqa debate' is a sign of this. To gain an informed perspective on how Australian Muslims contend with media misconceptions and public unease, Kristoffer McKay interviewed Mohammed El-Leissy of the Islamic Council of Victoria.

West Papua’s struggle for independence gains momentum

By Kristian Lewis

The far eastern Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua have been the home of a political and often violent struggle between Indonesian security forces and West Papuan resistance fighters (OPM – Free West Papua Organization and TPN-OPM – its militant wing) since the 1960s.

Contemporary debate: The Clash of Civilizations

Samuel Huntington, Amartya Sen, Ayan Hirsi Ali and Mohammed Khatami.

By Ishita Acharyya.

Published as an article in 1993 in Foreign Affairs, and subsequently as a book, the ‘Clash of Civilizations’ is Samuel Huntington’s renowned theory that the most significant source of conflict in post-Cold War era would be along the lines of culture and identity, and that the “bloody borders” of Islam could pose the greatest threat to Western civilization.

News Hit guest column: Travails of a former dictator

By Timothy Lawson

Former Panamanian President Manuel Noriega, 76, went on trial in Paris following his extradition in April this year. In July he was found guilty and sentenced to jail for 7 years, and still has charges to face in Panama. Given the failures of Noriega’s previous attempts to avoid jail, the future looks bleak for the former military dictator.