cam, 196 words, 1 comment, APEC, Sydney, Security, Polis, Authoritarianism

Republicanism is the political science expression of liberalism. As with democracy, they require the osmosis of interaction, deliberation, competition, discourse and openness for them to have any public legitimacy. When the polis is fenced and the arms of the state oversee - it ceases to be the political republic and instead becomes the state's exclusive executive garden. The polis is temporarily drained until the state leaves and the urbanites come back.

Photo from Sydney Daily Photo: Wrapping democracy in a 3m high fence (more)

cam, 205 words, 0 comments, Authoritarianism, Banning Games, Arthur Stace, Maureen Shelley, Phillip Ruddock

Arthur Stace started writing Eternity graffiti after hearing a sermon which preached that Sydney-siders should emblazon the streets of the city with the message of God's eternity. From the 1930's until the 1970's, Stace chalked the word in beautiful letters across the sidewalks of the town at night. It came to mean Sydney's hope, wonder, resilience, beauty and perpetuity. This alcoholic and homeless man's work was rewarded on New Year's Eve in the year 2000 when the Sydney Harbour Bridge lit up with what had become a meme. (more)