REALNEWS
We live in a time of paradox and turmoil. We can as readily know what is happening in the desert sands of North Africa as in the meeting houses of our own communities. Through the electronic media, we now have easy access to information and resources that a short generation ago would have meant endless trips to libraries and bookshops and countless hours perusing specialist periodicals and learned journals.
REALNEWS was published and circulated electronically between July 2008 and June 2010. The ideas and reflections presented in REALNEWS represent a development of and an extension of those presented in Completing the Circle: Voices of Renewal, the final chapter of “Holism and Complementary Medicine.”
REALNEWS offers informed and reflective commentary on both the practical and the philosophical dimensions of our present reality. REALNEWS hopes to encourage thoughtful and considered reflections on the nature of those inner attributes and those outer circumstances that condition our experience – individual and collective – during this time of increasing troubles. Such reflections may help to uncover those more enduring influences that contribute to the creation of both harmony and strife.
This page carries links to PDF copies of the 12 editions of REALNEWS produced from 2008 to 2010.
The explorations offered in REALNEWS now continue on the THP Blog page.
We welcome your participation.
REALNEWS Archive
REALNEWS 12. May/June 2010
CONTENTS
Editorial: On the Need for Discernment
The Wounded Earth
Stalin’s Gift to the Earth. Lake Karachai. A New Hell-World
An account of the consequences of the Soviet nuclear weapons program centered around the Mayak industrial complex near Chelyabinsk in the southern Urals. Attention is given to the radioactive contamination of Lake Karachai, and the release of vast amounts of radioactivity by an explosion at the Mayak facility in 1957 and the dispersion of highly toxic sediments from Lake Karachai by wind storms in 1967
Letter From Alexandra
Hearing the Sound of Water. Finding my Religion
By Vincent Jewell
Book Review
Nicolas Berdyaev (1939)” “Spirit and Reality”
Poetica
Terra Calda
REALNEWS 11. March/April 2010
CONTENTS
Editorial: Where Do We Take Our Instructions?
The Wounded Earth
When Protectors Become Destroyers. The Ruin of Rongelap
Reflections on the Castle Bravo thermonuclear test by the US in the Marshall Islands in 1954 and its consequences
Letter From Alexandra
The Disclosed Centre
By Vincent Jewell
Book Review
Signe Toksvig (1948): “Emanuel Swedenborg. Scientist and Mystic”
Poetica
Dancing Dust
REALNEWS 10. January/February 2010
CONTENTS
Editorial: As the Waters Warm
Poem from Upwey
The Eagles Nest
By Nico Di Stefano
Letter from Alexandra
A Fearful Baptism
A follow-on report from Vincent Jewell (See “After the Casting of Fire”, REALNEWS 6, May/June 2009). It offers a poetic theological reflection on the terrible event of the Black Saturday fires and addresses the most pressing human and spiritual question of what we do with our pain.
Restoring the Caduceus: Reflections on Technology and Medicine in a Time of Troubles
Reflections on the fixity of large and powerful institutions and the slow influence of sources of corrective change
Letter from Gembrook
Apocalypse?
Musings from Carey Williams after a revisitation of some early writings of Helen Caldicott
Poetica
At the Turning Point
REALNEWS 9. November/December 2009
CONTENTS
Editorial: Turning Point or Tipping Point?
Malalai Joya: A True Voice in a Broken Land
A revisitation of the events of the past half decade that have contributed to the present situation in Afghanistan
Letter from Alexandra
Disarming the Distance. The Risk of Faith
By Vincent Jewell
On War as an Instrument of Peace
Reflections on the recent acceptance by Barack Obama of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize
Poetica
It All Depends On Who You’re Fighting
REALNEWS 8. September/October 2009
CONTENTS
Editorial: On the Need for a New Way
Letter from Gembrook
The Humble Blackbird
By Carey Williams
The Dismembering of Gaza, Part II
Part II of an examination of the events leading up to and the consequences of the Israeli attack upon the Gaza Strip in December 2008/January 2009
Letter from Alexandra
Encountering Fear
By Vincent Jewell
Poetica
An End to Cruelty
REALNEWS 7. July/August 2009
CONTENTS
Editorial: On the Folly of Transience
Letter From Alexandra
An Entirely Different Sky
By Vincent Jewell
The Dismembering of Gaza, Part I
An examination of the events leading up to and the consequences of the Israeli attack upon the Gaza Strip in December 2008/January 2009
Poem from Mitcham
Desert Rain
By Nico Di Stefano
Letter from Gembrook
Anzac Day
By Carey Williams
Poetica
Redemptorum. A Song of Easter
REALNEWS 6. May/June 2009
CONTENTS
Editorial: On Reconnecting
Enduring Sources
Thomas Berry. The Tragic Climax
Letter from Alexandra
After the Casting of Fire
Reflections from Vincent Jewell on Black Saturday and its devastation
Poetica
Approaching Night
REALNEWS 5. March/April 2009
CONTENTS
Editorial: Must we do this Every Time?
The Feast of the Giants
Further reflections on the recent collapse of investment banks and financial institutions
Letter from Alexandra
The Flat Earth
By Vincent Jewell
Enduring Sources
Leopold Kohr and The Breakdown of Nations
Letter from Gembrook
A Big Mob to Muster
By Carey Williams
Poetica
Terra Calda
REALNEWS 4. January/February 2009
CONTENTS
Editorial: A Call to Vision
The Inevitable Fall
Reflections on climate change as projected by environmental historian, Colin Duncan
Letter from Alexandra
Putting Millstones Around the Neck of Evil
Reflections by Vincent Jewell on the new Heart of Darkness
Poetica
Enough
REALNEWS 3. November/December 2008
CONTENTS
Editorial: A Call to Action
Wounding Further the Already Wounded
Reflections on Afghanistan
Letter From Alexandra
The Language of Stones
By Vincent Jewell
Poetica
Burning Horizons
FURTHER SOURCES
1. The Human Rights Watch Report, “Troops in Contact: Air Strikes and Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan” is available here.
2. Nir Rosen’s extraordinary account of the situation in Afghanistan, “How We Lost the War We Won” published in the October 2008 edition of Rolling Stone is available here.
REALNEWS 2. September/October 2008
CONTENTS
Editorial: There Are No Good Wars
Enduring Sources
E.F. Schumacher
The Bear Reawakens
An examination of the geopolitical developments that led to the August 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia
Letter From Alexandra
Leaving Things Behind
By Vincent Jewell
Dressing Mammon’s Wounds
A review of the legislative manipulation and corporate practices underlying the collapse of Wall Street
Poem from Mitcham
Newly Departed
REALNEWS 1. July/August 2008
CONTENTS
Editorial: Time and Meaning
On Hiroshima and Nagasaki
A remembrance of the atomic slayings of 1945
The New Olympus
Reflections on preparations for the Beijing Olympics in the light of the Tienanmen massacre of 1989
Stealing from the Hungry
On the depletion of West African fish stocks by the European Union, and the misappropriation of East African lands by the Saudis
From Silent Spring to Seedless Summer
On Colony Collapse Disorder and the decimation of bee populations in the wake of industrial agriculture
Letter from Alexandra
Moving at Stopping Speed
By Vincent Jewell
Poetica: Newly Arrived
Useful Links
Commondreams.org provides a remarkable service to all who strive to cut through the banal and inconsequential waste that litters the newspapers of the world. They offer a daily review of the more consequential pieces that appear in the global printed media and regular contributions by a host of articulate and knowledgeable contributors in such vital domains as politics, the environment, peace and justice. Much of the material that appears in REALNEWS has been gathered from articles transmitted through the Common Dreams website.
Democracynow.org offers a daily broadcast of “Democracy Now. The War and Peace Report”. Veteran journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez offer an independent perspective which features international journalists, community leaders, peace activists, environmental activists, artists, and academics. “Democracy Now” is a truly excellent news service that provides high quality in-depth broadcasts of issues that rarely reach the corporate-controlled dominant media. “Democracy Now” is available on-line in a range of video and audio formats. Check it out if you haven’t already done so.