Fear, Prejudice, Tolerance

In early 2007, Sydney PEN commissioned the 3 Writers Project, a series of essays and public lectures in which three of our leading and acclaimed writers - Alexis Wright, Gideon Haigh and Christos Tsiolkas - tackled topics of vital importance to contemporary Australia: tolerance, prejudice and fear. Allen & Unwin is honoured to publish the essays in one collection, with an introduction from Nobel Laureate J.M. Coetzee. Christos Tsiolkas questions why the notion of tolerance has replaced the language of justice, equality and rights in today's political vocabulary. He asks why the liberal left has failed to counter the rhetoric of the 'clash of civilisations'. Tsiolkas claims this is a failed logic which damns multiculturalism in favour of nationalism. He argues that in this new globalised world, we need to create a set of ethics that goes beyond tolerance. Gideon Haigh traces the phenomenon of nationalism from its enlightenment origins through its fascist excesses and examines how Australia arrived at its own sense of nationhood. What underlies our latest incarnation: a shrill, aggressive, brittle politics of narcissism, pioneered by Pauline Hanson, and pandered