John Manifold was an Australian poet who fought in the European theater during World War II. I read the first long ago in an anthology, and it has always served to remind me that fine and vigorous formal verse could still be written in the middle of the 20th century. It is a pity that he is not read more outside of Australia, where is or was something of a hero.
The discussion of human rights limps along on the Forum: Political theories are often too abstract–too etherial to stand fast in the high winds of everyday life. Let us turn to some everyday topics where human rights might be invoked. I’ll put a simple one on the table, and others, I hope, will up the ante. Once upon a time it was assumed that parents were obligated to provide for their children’s education, either by teaching them at home, paying for the private schools they sent them to, or, by the later 19th century in some parts of the US,...
Boris Johnson may be the next Prime Minister of the UK. I wish I hated Britain, because if I did, Boris’s elevation would be a reason for drinking in the morning.
Alabama defies Hollywood–but will it make a difference?
Herder approached the nations of the world much as a radical environmentalist today regards endangered species. Each nation is precious because it reflects some quality within the human type, and when an imperial nation eliminates another nation, it is committing a crime against humanity.
Even in principle, America’s pseudo-democracy is the worst form of government.
To spend uncounted years of pain,
Again, again, and yet again,
In working out in heart and brain
The problem of our being here;
According to nationalists, the will of the nation, as defined as an historic community of blood and tongue, had to find expression in a common and unified state. Hence, the Italian nationalist Mazzini, whose political lineage goes back to the Revolution, spoke always of the twin principles of unity and nationality.
