Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten travelled to Israel this week to “celebrate” the 100-year anniversary of Beersheba and the Balfour Declaration. Palestine was barely on the agenda. After living in East Jerusalem for the last 1.5 years, I was interviewed for Lateline by ABC TV reporter Michael Vincent on the…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
Sydney Ideas talk on Israel/Palestine and realities in the West Bank and Gaza
In September, I spoke at Sydney University alongside US academic Mark LeVine and Palestinian academic Lana Tatour on the realities in today’s Palestine/Israel. Many interesting comments and my thoughts (after living in East Jerusalem for the last 1.5 years) start at 1:00:26:
Disaster Capitalism book interview published by Verso US
My latest book, Disaster Capitalism: Making A Killing Out Of Catastrophe, tackles issues related to privatisation, the war in Afghanistan, crisis in Haiti and the private prison industry. Here’s my interview, via my UK/US publisher Verso, conducted a few months ago in Brooklyn, New York and just posted now:
Who is trying to silence Israeli journalist David Sheen?
Israeli-Canadian journalist David Sheen is facing a major legal battle in Israel.… I’ve investigated the story in British outlet The New Arab: Israel promotes itself as the only democracy in the Middle East. Former prime minister Ehud Barak once described his nation as a “villa in the jungle“. But recent years have seen a major…
US Disaster Politics podcast interview on aid profit making
My book, Disaster Capitalism: Making A Killing Out Of Catastrophe, examines companies and individuals making money from misery. I was recently interviewed by the great US podcast, Disaster Politics, hosted by Jeff Schlegelmilch, Deputy Director of Columbia University’s National Centre for Disaster Preparedness. My interview begins at 35:13.
Supporting beleaguered Israeli/Canadian journalist David Sheen
During my recent 1.5 years living in Jerusalem, I became friends with the great Israeli-Canadian journalist David Sheen. He’s one of the sharpest reporters on Israel’s far-right turn including the Jewish state’s war on African refugees. He’s currently embroiled in a legal case in Israel that goes to the heart of that country’s increasing opposition…
ABC TV The Drum on refugees, boycotting Australia and Israel/Palestine
This week I appeared on ABC TV’s The Drum talking about Australia’s awful refugee policies, Israel/Palestine and the Israel lobby’s pernicious attacks on anybody who dares challenge the Jewish state: The show has gone viral. One clip, of fellow journalist John Lyons and I talking about the Zionist lobby’s pressuring of critical voices, has been…
The Wire interview on Netanyahu, Israel and its contempt for Europe
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been caught speaking privately against the European Union and its often critical stance towards Israel. In reality, the EU occasionally condemns the Israeli occupation of Palestine but continues to maintain very close ties with the Jewish state. Today I was interviewed by Australian current affairs show, The Wire, about…
How do we escape our filter bubbles?
We live in an age of filter bubbles. I’ve been commissioned by Germany’s Goethe Institute to discuss these issues online for the next month alongside Austrian journalist Robert Misik. Here’s the first entry that is distributed in 160 nations around the world (here’s the German version): Once upon a time there were hopes that the…
Arundhati Roy returns with force to fiction
My book review in The National newspaper: Twenty years is a long time to wait for new writing but in the case of Indian writer Arundhati Roy she’s remained deeply engaged with her country over the last two decades. After the huge success of her first novel, The God of Small Things won the Man…