by Ian Cochrane | Apr 7, 2018 | Oceania
We are 1000km east of Darwin, our only access to here via the Central Arnhem Road, arriving at the turnoff late afternoon. Then it’s still another 20km off the main track, with compulsory vehicle restrictions fair warning – `Vehicle must be 4WD with plenty...
by Ian Cochrane | Mar 21, 2018 | Americas, Oceania, Utopia
Paul Robeson was a black American man and an important civil rights activist of the early to mid 1900s, but there is so much more to this story. Until hearing Jeff Sparrow’s impassioned presentation at his recent Melbourne book promotion, my own knowledge of...
by Ian Cochrane | Mar 12, 2018 | Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, Oceania, Utopia
Bodies of children, guns more sacred Lay in heaps on crimson pavement The future dead, the ghosts of hope A shattered nation with prayers will cope . Pagoda beauty, suddenly soured Hateful icons, a new leader’s power Crowded camps, no fault their own Despair and...
by Ian Cochrane | Mar 3, 2018 | Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, Oceania, Utopia
Blogging these days is not like it once was… a fickle, little-read beast at best. And it’s hard to believe that just five years back I chose to take a dip in the blogosphere, a late starter, a wandering writer through the once-was maze of WordPress and...
by Ian Cochrane | Feb 1, 2015 | Oceania
I’m in Tasmania drinking with Dave; a giant of a man with broad shoulders and no neck. He’s lived alone all his adult life, and sits at his normal spot at the bar, in brown flannelette shirt and singlet, jeans and mud-caked Blundy boots. “Changed?...