Letters to
the editor

Time for a moral stand

A horrible 2016 ended with a world rife with fracture and rage. Tyrants and terrorists trailed blood and rubble across the Middle East and Europe. Refugees drowned in the Mediterranean. Right-wing extremism and xenophobia are on the march. The US election set loose old racial hatreds. Earth got hotter as the world burned, smouldered, blew up or melted. The first hour of 2017 witnessed a murder of innocent patrons celebrating the new year at an Istanbul nightclub. The desperate sea of humanity escaping brutality, poverty and threats to life continues. There are more refugees on the move than at any time since 1945. The antidote for a 2017 pregnant with danger and uncertainty (it can’t get any worse, as some have claimed) is to assert that there is humanity and dignity in every person, however poor or desperate. Yet our leaders remain silent on guarding against the hysteria that reduces those we believe threaten our livelihoods and prosperity to nameless numbers. To avoid the twin poles of despair and denial, the world needs to realign its moral axis to breed the courage to speak out against crime and cruelty exacted against those different from us and the vulnerable homeless. Edmund Burke contended: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” I’d urge the press to keep up the good fight at the start of 2017, take a bad year and make it better.

– Joseph Ting, Carina, Qld

A chorus of disapproval

“Yes We Can” is about to become “No We Won’t” if the president of the Divided States of America and the new PM of Great Brexit have their respective ways. “No we won’t” show compassion to refugees and migrants. “No we won’t” take the action necessary to save the planet and future generations from climate catastrophe. “No we won’t” reduce social and economic inequality by increasing taxes on the wealthy, introducing a basic minimum income, and reducing the working week to maximise employment. “No we won’t” support the very multilateral forums, such as the United Nations and European Union, that are working to find global solutions to conflict, environmental crises, pandemics and the threat of nuclear war. We need the voices of compassion, reason, peace and global co-operation to be heard. The protests at the Trump inauguration are just the beginning of what must be a global movement to restore hope and sanity to our beautiful but fragile world.

– Michael Hamel-Green, Coburg, Vic

Climate policy still coal-fired

Here in the Lucky Country things carry on much as they always have. This week there were calls for Australia to walk away from the Paris agreement, or at least scrap the renewable energy target if America rescinds its Paris commitments. And Energy and Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg – an advocate for “responsible sustainability” who claims to accept climate science – is sharpening his attack on Labor’s flirtation with policies that might actually address climate change. Frydenberg is focused on keeping power prices down and reliability up. For him this means more “supercritical” coal and gas. The oxymoron “clean coal” is apparently still the answer. Oh dear, it’s 2017 and the goal of climate policy continues to be the protection of hip pockets.

– Dave Lisle, Mullumbimby, NSW

A valuable legacy

Ben Quilty shows us the paradox of the best and worst of who and what we are (“Another day in paradise”, December 24, 2016-January 27, 2017). Until we confront the unreality of our own evil we cannot even start to become the person we were meant to be. Myuran Sukumaran has been blessed: he was given and was able to take the opportunity to become a good man. And he has been given a friend in Ben Quilty who continues to embody the goodness of what Myuran stood for and to oppose the evil of racism. Quality work. May the Force, or whatever you want to call it, be with you.

 – Mark Porter, New Lambton, NSW

Double threat

Ben Quilty’s “Another day in paradise” was a pleasant surprise. One of Australia’s most talented painters also writes so well. He says what needs to be said – and does what needs to be done. All power to your brush and pen.

– Bill Clark, Melbourne, Vic

Missteps on the dance floor

I largely agree with what Christos Tsiolkas has to say about La La Land (“Faux pas de deux”, December 24, 2016-January 27, 2017) but I don’t think he quite hits the nail on the head. The reason the film is so lame and disappointing is that the dancing is not good enough. The main thing that sets movie musical masterpieces apart is that the dancing is daring, inventive and superbly executed. If a filmmaker is going to make a homage to Astaire and Rogers or Gene Kelly, he needs to have dancers that can at least approximate the artistic level reached by these sublime artists, otherwise he is out on a limb, totally exposed. The whole point of an Astaire–Rogers movie is the dancing – one endures the inane plots, waiting with bated breath for the moment when they start to dance and then the movie is totally transformed. Think of the brilliant dance sequence “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” in Follow the Fleet or the “Slaughter on 10th Avenue” ballet (danced by Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen) in Words and Music. And by the way, the music in these classics is better, too.

– Liz Jacka, Marrickville, NSW

Harsh critique

I look forward to The Saturday Paper publishing Australia’s shortest ever movie book – “Films Christos Tsiolkas likes”.

– Simon Tatz, Curtin, ACT