SouthernCross Review

It's time for change. According to a study by a reliable institution, 53% of Argentine children live in poverty. And Argentina is far from the poorest country in Latin America or in the world. "Poverty", by the way, is defined as a typical, four person family earning less than $450 a month. Don't think that $450 can go a long way here. Believe it or not, the cost of living in Argentina is about 20% higher that in the United States. Violent crime in the cities has become epidemic. Protests, usually in the form of blocking roads with burning rubber tires, has become a national sport often accompanied by tragedy. Last week two young men were shot to death by snipers. Much of the dilemma can be justifiably attributed to the stupidity and corruption of local politicians and economists. But the underlying cause, one which more and more people are pointing accusing fingers at, is globalization. Not globalization as such, which is inevitable, but the way it is being implemented. Dog eat dog or, less idiomatically, social Darwinism. It is unfortunate that global consciousness is still in kindergarten.

We can't do much about the situation in Argentina, but we can certainly bring about change in SouthernCross Review. The first change is that one of SCR's key words is now Anthroposophy, the spiritual science originated by Rudolf Steiner during the first third of the twentieth century. The lead articles in this issue are dedicated to that subject. "The Cardinal Question of Economic Life" is a lecture translated for the first time in English.

The second internal development is that all the e-books in our E-book library are now free. We only suggest that a donation of two dollars per book be made - but no one is under any obligation to do so. Click on E-book Library in the Table of Contents for details.

Two new e-books are offered in the library: "The Soul of Man under Socialism", a brilliant essay by Oscar Wilde. Socialism in practice turned out to be very different from what the arch-individualist Wilde imagined. But the essay is really more about the soul of man than it is about socialism. Click here for direct access. The other is one of my all-time favorites: "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the first and possibly the best literary psychological thriller.

Don Cruse is back, in a philosophical mood this time, with an essay on Sin and Freedom. And if you've ever suspected that there's more to baseball than meets the uninitiated eye, don't miss Hannah M.G. Shapero's article on its esoteric meaning. Chuckling is allowed. Still in anthropo-sophical mode, Bobby Matherne contributes a review of a Rudolf Steiner book about thinking. In the fiction department, our regular contributor, Gaither Stewart, has a jewel of a story. And batting in the cleanup spot is the ineffable anah childs.

See you again in September - Spring up north, Autumn here in SouthernCross Review headquarters. Don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already done so.

Frank Thomas Smith
Editor

Jo Ann Schwartz
Business Manager

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