The Freedom Charter process was an imperfect but impressive attempt at capturing the will of the people and articulating an alternative vision to apartheid South Africa.
It’s the simple, everyday encounters and experiences – a friendly wave, a helping hand – that refugees say makes them feel part of the Australian community.
Abuses by police and the army point to the need for citizens to be involved in security and other crisis response measures
EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Ramaphosa’s call for a new social compact will fall on deaf ears unless there are some fundamental changes to the way in which the pandemic is being managed.
Most new apartments were not designed with families in mind and parents of young children can struggle to make social connections.
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Almost half of apartment residents in Australia are families, but few high-rise dwellings were built with them in mind. Many find these apartments present barriers to building social connections.
Students are far more understanding of their religious peers if they attend classes about religious diversity.
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Australian society is made up of people from different backgrounds and faiths. Teaching school children about religious diversity and traditions makes them more tolerant of religious minorities.
General assimilatory practices can leave pupils feeling isolated.
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The combination of higher-density living and increasing cultural diversity means we need to think about how to build social cohesion and make the most of the opportunities of apartment living.
A car is set alight during the 2005 riots that prompted soul-searching in France about segregated and badly designed housing projects.
A.J./Wikimedia
Planning matters. The 2005 riots in France started in badly designed housing projects, while innovative planning helped Medellín, Colombia, shed its reputation as the most violent city in the world.
The speech was delivered with panache and confidence. It had style, declaring to the nation and the world that he, Cyril Ramaphosa, was in charge.
The Sydney suburb of Liverpool, with its high concentration of ethnic migrants, has improved its levels of community trust since the Cronulla riots.
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Trust has returned to areas with a higher concentration of ethnically diverse migrants significantly since 2005, but more must to be done if we want to avoid another Cronulla riot.
Malcolm Turnbull often claims Australia is the world’s most successful multicultural nation.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The government’s multicultural statement stays fairly much in the place where rhetoric around the issue has been located for the past generation – social control and integration.
Interculturalism emphasises interaction between members of diverse communities, rather than ‘groupism’.
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Despite the noble goals of the new South Africa and its ideals of racial harmony, racial tensions remain a major problem in the country. Prejudice and bigotry persists even in universities.
There is consistent high-level agreement with the proposition that ‘multiculturalism has been good for Australia’ across Scanlon Foundation surveys.
AAP/Paul Miller
Research Director: Developmental, Capable and Ethical State (DCES) research division, and Coordinator of the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS), Human Sciences Research Council