Milan Kundera, the celebrated Czech author best known for The Unbearable Lightness of Being, has died, aged 94. His work interrogated totalitarianism and explored ideas – leavened with bleak humour.
Monica Attard witnessed the death throes of the USSR – and the birth of a brave new world – as the ABC’s Russia foreign correspondent. In 2022, a return to an Orwellian regime looms.
The stakes are high for China as WHO teams arrive to investigate the origins of the coronavirus. Beijing has presented a success story to the world — and will not accept any criticism.
China’s attacks on Australia may seem over the top, but they are meant to achieve specific goals — playing to a nationalist domestic audience and making an example of Australia to the world.
Many African American women have run for president of the US, despite the enormous barriers facing both Black and female candidates. Biden’s pick puts a Black woman much closer to the Oval Office.
China’s leader is facing one of the greatest challenges of his presidency. But the extent of China’s controls almost rule out monumental change – or Xi taking accountability for his mistakes.
Yun Jiang, Australian National University dan Adam Ni, Macquarie University
The Chinese government is accused of reacting too slowly to the health crisis and silencing its critics. Now, the public is angry and wants party leaders to be held accountable.
With serious questions being raised about Liu’s possible links to United Front organisations in Australia, a dark cloud could continue to hang over both her and the Liberal Party.
United Front’s mission is to unite those who can help the Communist Party achieve its goals and neutralise its critics. This includes many influential members of the Chinese diaspora.
The most important political event of 2017, the 19th Chinese Communist Party Congress, has concluded. And while there was much to digest, one image above all stands out: Xi Jinping’s political dominance…
China’s surplus of unmarriageable men poses a stark dilemma for Xi and other leaders as they set the country’s economic course for the next five years.
No-one knows quite how things will play out, but most likely Xi will bend the norms of the party to allow him to place enough supporters in key posts without completely upending the system.
The SACP is the oldest communist party in Africa, formed in 1921. It is one of only 20 parties which survived the anti-communist purge post independence. Its membership went through cycles over years.