Peace, harmony - and an equal footing.

The post below, together with the two posts further below it, forms a triad.

1. The post of 19 May 2018, emphasized the common elements people from different cultures share.
2. The post of 20 May 2018, emphasized the Jewish/Christian feast of Pentecost which has ever been a festival of multiculturalism before the latter term had been invented.  
3. To-day, 21 May, 2018, the emphasis is on the nations of the Pacific Ocean.

In spite of the many avenues of humanity to come together to live in peace and harmony, we are still not making a success of the ventures available to us: governments, religions, political organisations, civil institutions.  We seem to last for so long or go so far geographically and then we explode and fracture into divisions, wars, and bondage.  

One way or another, forms of bondage and slavery and oppression exist across the world - even in places where one would consider they no longer existed or had no need to exist.  

In Australia, most forms of payment for work are regulated by industrial awards and agreements.  However, many industries are notorious for trying to avoid regulated payments to their employees. The very meaning of the term "employee" is frequently dodged so that such people hide under the term "contractor".  

This can often mean that the so-called contractor unwittingfly foregoes legal entitlements such as sick leave, holiday entitlements, workers compensation for workplace injuries, holiday pay and long service leave.  And, of course, the employer (well, that term is avoided of course) - does its level best to displace anything that can be used to define an employer/employee relationship - does not approve of trade union membership

Global Diversity in the Asia-Pacifc - Research from Pew

Global Religious Diversity

Half of the Most Religiously Diverse Countries are in Asia-Pacific Region

Several years ago, the Pew Research Center produced estimates of the religious makeup of more than 200 countries and territories, which it published in the 2012 report “The Global Religious Landscape.” The effort was part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, which analyzes religious change and its impact on societies around the world. As part of the next phase of this project, Pew Research has produced an index that ranks each country by its level of religious diversity.

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