The media is once again filled with Middle East “experts” pontificating about the prospects of Obama-led “peace talks” in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine. There’s zero chance of a just outcome. The occupation deepens by the day. I was interviewed by the current affairs show The Wire to discuss the reality on the…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
Jeremy Scahill gives background to Somalia's Al-Shabab
The horrific attack on the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi continues to generate headlines around the world. But what’s the background to the attacks, who are Somalia’s Al-Shabab terror group and what’s been the position of US and Kenyan intervention in the region? Jeremy Scahill, author of the recent book Dirty Wars, tells Democracy Now!…
The Wire interview on Profits of Doom and poor Serco care
A theme in my book Profits of Doom is the role of multinationals in running Australia’s detention centres for asylum seekers. I was interviewed by The Wire… radio program on these matters:
Eagles Waves Radio interview on For God's Sake
Issues of religious and cultural identity are endlessly discussed in society. My recent book, For God’s Sake, touches on these issues (as does my… Guardian column this week). I recently appeared on Eagle Waves Radio – a small outlet in the heart of Sydney – alongside my co-writers Jane Caro and Simon Smart. We were interviewed…
ABC Radio Triple J's Sunday Night Safran interview on Profits of Doom
This was enjoyable. On Sunday an extended interview with John Safran and Father Bob, hosts of Triple J’s Sunday Night Safran, was aired and we discussed detention centres, Serco, Palestine, Haiti, Afghanistan, private war, BDS, democracy and human rights:
How I became a German citizen (while maintaining the Australian passport)
My following article is published today by the Guardian (where I’m now a weekly columnist): It was hard to forgive the Nazis. The “1,000 year Reich” lasted a mere 12 years, and the German state was crushed under the weight of bloody streets, genocidal concentration camps and despotism. For this to happen in the heart…
Congratulations America; you just love imprisoning your citizens by the millions
That’s quite a record (via Alternet): The United States imprisons almost three times as many Black people than were jailed in South Africa during Apartheid,… Rep. Spencer Bachus said Thursday… [3]… during a subcommittee oversight hearing on the Federal Bureau of Prisons. While games of comparison are rarely productive, the American prison industrial complex has seen cries of…
The Bourdain/CNN take on Israel/Palestine
Surely a healthy sign of the mainstreaming of Palestine. US chef Anthony Bourdain takes his TV show to Israel and Palestine (including the West Bank and Gaza) and shows humanity in Palestine and crass extremism of Zionist settlers:
Why Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four is my favourite work of fiction
I was asked to write a short column… on Australian novelist Annabel’s Smith’s website: ”¦in which I invite someone bookish to share one of their all-time favourite works of fiction and what it means to them. This week’s Friday Fave comes from journalist and political writer Antony Loewenstein. I remember first reading Orwell’s masterpiece many years…