Guardian Australia’s weekend wrap of essential reads from the past seven days, selected by Imogen Dewey. Get this in your inbox every weekend. Sign up for Five Great Reads here.
Good morning. I’m back with a wrap of great writing from around the Guardian this week – I hope you find something here you like. I’d love to know what else you’ve been reading, too – drop us a line: australia.newsletters@theguardian.com
1. ‘A white man’s fantasy’: Melissa Lucashenko on where things really started unravelling
“Australia does have a serious problem with social cohesion, but it’s no good pretending it’s recent,” the award-winning writer observed on Monday. “Koori civilisation has been torn asunder ever since the convict ships dropped anchor just south of Bondi, and the stealing of Blak land and lives and rights began.” So how do we fix it? Lucashenko argues that the modern Australian nation needs to acknowledge its original rift: the failure of the British crown to negotiate treaty. “Or to put it in simpler terms – no justice, no peace.” How long will it take to read: four minutes or so.
2. A double tragedy and a deadly diagnosis
Writer Siri Hustvedt’s reflection on the death of her novelist husband, Paul Auster, is beautiful. This extract from her memoir has shards of light and dark: family griefs and terrors, moments of wonder and tenderness and Auster’s courage as he “looked into the abyss”. “The wondrous and the horrible mingle in many people’s lives,” she writes. How long will it take to read: eight minutes. Further reading: Narelle Towie might not believe in ghosts, but it didn’t stop her negotiating a “ghost pact” with her friend at her deathbed – a code they agreed on, to share messages beyond the grave.
3. Is fascism back?
Some of today’s far right is openly violent and undemocratic – and even in its less extreme forms, far-right populism is a profound threat. But as journalist Daniel Trilling lays out in an extract from his new book, that doesn’t mean it is just a re-run of history. “Populism is often a way of asking voters for permission to make radical changes to society – so the nature of those changes matters hugely.” – Daniel Trilling. The impossible promise: Trilling explains several key differences between the fascism of interwar Europe in the 20th century and today. The overlap, he says, is to do with the contradictory emotions such movements tug on – on one hand, a yearning for community; on the other, a call to tear it all down. How long will it take to read: about 10 minutes.
4. A genocide scholar examines ‘what Zionism became’
Israeli-born Holocaust historian Omer Bartov’s new book tracks how a liberatory strand of Zionism transformed into the extremist ideology he views as responsible for genocide in Gaza. The problem as he sees it, he explains to Aaron Gell, arose after Israel declared its independence in 1948. Settler-colonial project or haven for a persecuted minority? “When the state decides that it’s not going to be a normal state, it’s not going to have a constitution, it’s not going to define its borders … then its nature changes.” How long will it take to read: four minutes. Further reading: For something outside a somewhat relentless news cycle, George Eliot’s final novel, Daniel Deronda, is interesting reading. “For those today who find Zionism difficult to understand, Eliot’s depiction of its origins is evocative and powerful,” Paul Owen wrote in the Guardian back in 2009 – his advice still holds up, in my opinion.
5. In praise of the night imp (or: why we need the tooth fairy)
There can be something ridiculous about the tooth fairy ritual, writes Anthony Castle for this week’s Sharing the Load parenting column: “invoking night imps, exchanging cash for body parts”. But after all, he reflects, aren’t all rituals kind of ridiculous? How long will it take to read: two minutes. On the subject of rituals: we recently challenged three writers to follow the blueprint for having a nice day – here’s how it went. Whatever your Saturday ritual is, I hope you have a great weekend.
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