Tehran’s Azadi Tower was finished in 1971. Five decades later, Iranians increasingly embrace secular values (Picture for EPA by Abedin Taherkenareh) Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution was a defining event that changed how we think about the relationship between religion and modernity. Ayatollah Khomeini’s mass mobilisation of Islam showed that modernisation by no means implies a linear process of religious…
Read MoreDay: September 14, 2020
Scene set for addressing challenges of the youth
(Image from Unsplash) As the Covid-19 pandemic grinds on, we must attend to the needs of our young people, our taiohi. “Taiohi” in te reo Māori comes from the term “tai,” referring, in one sense, to the turning of the tide. This meaning captures the ways in which young people are defined by change: a process of “becoming” full members…
Read MoreFive leaders speak about their policies virtually
The leaders of the five main parties in Parliament shared a washed-down podium for the first time on the campaign trail – except for New Zealand First’s Winston Peters, livestreamed from his bus tour of the South Island. This was no debate. It was more like individual rounds of golf than a tennis match – shots being fired but not returned, and…
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