On the box

Programs of interest on Sydney Community TV (UHF 31) — Perleeka, indigenous Australians' program, nightly, 7pm. Art Experimenta, Mondays, 8pm and 11.30pm, and Tuesdays, 3am and 6.30am. Bent TV, Gay and lesbian program, Thursdays, 10.30pm and Fridays, 2.30am. XX, women's program, Fridays, 8pm and midnight, and Saturdays, 5am. Waste Not, Want Not, environment and recycling, Saturdays, 8.30pm and 12.30am, and Sundays, 4.30am. For more information phone 649 9622. Actively Radical TV — Community television's progressive current affairs program tackles the hard issues from the activist's point of view. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Friday, 10.30pm. Voodoo — One of the world's most misunderstood and least known religions. Racist caricatures paint voodoo and related beliefs as the embodiment of superstition and macabre rites. But to its 50 million practitioners around the world, voodoo is a powerful system of belief which answers universal needs through cooperation with nature and its spirits. Journey into the mysterious world of voodoo and explore its origins in Africa and Haiti. SBS, Sunday, December 10, 7.30pm. The Spirit of Freedom — First of a four-part series which looks at this century's most influential intellectuals. The first part looks at those who, galvanised by the Dreyfus affair in France and the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, were attracted to the ideas of communism. SBS, Sunday, December 10, midnight. Masterpiece: k.d. lang — An intimate portrait of the popular singer. SBS, Monday, December 11, 8.30pm. The Pope, the Jews and the Nazis — Pope Pius XII refused to raise his voice in condemnation of Nazi atrocities even though there were 46 million Catholics in Germany. The Vatican was kept informed about the plights of Hitler's victims yet he ignored all pleas to intervene. ABC TV, Monday, December 11, 8.30pm. History's Turning Points: The Spanish Invasion of Peru — Under Francisco Pizarro, 170 conquistadors arrived in Peru in 1532. Pizarro betrayed the Inca people's hospitality by ambushing and slaying almost 5000 people. Ninety per cent of the Inca people died from hunger, disease or war as a result of the Spanish invasion. SBS, Tuesday, December 12, 8pm. The Prize: Empires of Oil — The inside story of Shell, accomplices to the murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Britain and Holland's oil tycoons were as ruthless any other. Royal Dutch Shell and British Petroleum became Rockefeller's Standard Oil's great rivals. ABC TV, Tuesday, December 12, 10.05pm. State of the Ark: Zoo Update — Earlier this year SBS broadcast a fascinating and disturbing overview of the state of Europe's zoos which debated their role today. Some horrific examples of neglect and cruelty were discovered. As a result of the original series, thousands of people throughout Europe contacted Zoocheck, a watchdog organisation, offering help. Zoo attendances plummeted and the European Environment Commissioner summoned legislators to draft new laws to protect the animals. This new series updates those stories of tragedy and promise. SBS, Thursday, December 14, 7.30pm. Geronimo and the Apache Resistance — The real story of the legendary Apache chief, told by the descendants of Geronimo's tribe, the Chiricahua. SBS, Thursday, December 14, 8.30pm.