Welcome to “democratic” Israel. Last night here in Sydney distinguished international lawyer and UN expert Richard Falk explained how growing numbers of people globally are recognising the justice of the Palestinian cause and Israel’s continued belligerence. But we still a way away from holding the Jewish state to account. Here are two stories that highlight…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
Calling US Middle East "peace process" the farce that it is
Great piece by Bill Van Esveld, a Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch based in Jerusalem, published in The Hill: Twenty years ago, Israeli and Palestinian leaders signed the Oslo accords on the White House lawn, opening the “peace process” that the US is trying to reinvigorate. Yet the Obama administration has failed to…
ABC Sunday Nights interview on For God's Sake
My recent book, For God’s Sake, tackles religion, faith and politics. Last Sunday all the contributors were interviewed by ABC Radio’s… Sunday Night: Sunday Nights takes on the world’s biggest religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam and, what some refer to as a kind of religion, Atheism. A recent book, For God’s Sake, features representatives from each of…
Assange, Greenwald, Coombs, O'Brien, Manne and Keane on mass surveillance
Last night at the Sydney Opera House I witnessed a truly unique event. 1.5 hour discussion with Wikileaks’ Julian Assange, The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald, indy reporter and key documenter of the Chelsea Manning trial Alexa O’Brien (with whom I did an event tonight… on Manning and dissent), Manning lawyer David Coombs, academic Robert Manne and moderator…
The eternal paradox at the heart of Zionism
The always insightful Israeli historian Ilan Pappe … (who endorsed my first book, My Israel Question) on where to from here for Israel and Palestine: The recent attempt to revive the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians is not likely to produce more meaningful results than that of any of the previous attempts. It comes…
ABCTV News 24's The Drum on asylum seekers and Indonesia
I appeared last Friday on ABCTV News 24’s The Drum (video here) talking principally about the reality of asylum seekers and why Australia’s policy towards them is based on cruelty and not compassion. In summary, I’ve long argued that Australia, as a rich nation, is making a choice to punish refugees in remote detention camps…
Chomsky reminds Obama that US brings instability
On the anniversary of America’s 9/11 (let’s not forget Chile in 1973), Noam Chomsky tells Democracy Now! that US President Barack Obama wilfully lies about the real role of empire: The other things that he said were not unusual, but nevertheless kind of shocking to anyone not familiar with U.S. political discourse, at least. So…
Inside the mind of a Chinese internet censor
A key theme of my book The Blogging Revolution is China’s extensive web censorship regime. Fast forward to 2013 and this story, via Reuters, offers unique details about the pathological desire to exercise control over citizens: In a modern office building on the outskirts of the Chinese city of Tianjin, rows of censors stare at…
Naomi Klein damns big greens groups as aiding and abetting climate change
One of the finest journalists in the world, and somebody who inspired my new book Profits of Doom, is Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine. She continually challenges mainstream thinking on war, politics and environment. She’s currently working on a film and book about climate change and was interviewed by Earth Island Journal recently:…
What price for real security? Melbourne Writer's Festival on Profits of Doom
Today, on 11 September, ABC1 and ABC Big Ideas… screens the following… (and I discuss my recent book Profits of Doom): Personal, economic, geopolitical security – this is the panel discussion from the… Melbourne Writers Festival. Who gets to make the decisions in these arenas? And why are we so damned anxious and insecure in this continuing period…