My following article appears today in the Guardian: In April 2010, as the war in Afghanistan was raging and US president Barack Obama… “surged” 30,000 more troops… into the country, Australian opposition leader Tony Abbott suggested that under his leadership, a Coalition government would have considered increasing involvement. “The government should explain why it’s apparently right that…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
Introductory passages in For God’s Sake
Following great media coverage over the last week for my new book, For God’s Sake, with Jane Caro, Simon Smart and Rachel Woodlock, here’s an extract by me from the introduction. Please buy the book! Birth is a beginning And death a destination. Rabbi Alvin Fine This poem has remained with me since childhood, when…
How much does religion cause violence and war in the world?
This week sees the official launch of a book I’ve co-written, For God’s Sake. Today the Guardian runs extracts from one of its chapters, Doesn’t religion cause most of the conflict in the world?, by all four contributors: Rachel Woodlock (Islam) Religion is powerfully motivating and belligerent humans fight over it. Heck, religion has caused…
Edward Snowden in his own words
As the saga continues, and Ecuador now claims it was a “mistake” to assume the country would help the NSA contractor, the following statement, released via Wikileaks, has appeared: One week ago I left Hong Kong after it became clear that my freedom and safety were under threat for revealing the truth. My continued liberty…
Believe the hype, BDS against Israel is growing and feared
To all the politicians, journalists, Zionist lobbyists and hacks who continually claim that BDS is irrelevant, the fact that it’s being fought at the highest levels of the Israeli government proves otherwise. Alex Kane in Mondoweiss reports: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is directly involved in growing efforts to combat the boycott, divestment and sanctions…
How the disabled can make and inspire music
A truly remarkable and moving experience in Britain. Watch and be amazed with what technology can bring:
The Australian reviews “For God’s Sake”
The following appears in today’s Weekend Australian written by Gerard Windsor. For the record, the writer’s description of my relationship with my father is false and not reflected in the text of the book. I am extremely close to my dad, though years ago this was very different, something I explicitly explain in the book:…
News flash: Afghan war about India and Pakistan
The kind of perspective far too rarely heard in the West; William Dalrymple writes in the Guardian with an extract from his recent paper,… A Deadly Triangle: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India: The hostility between India and Pakistan, ongoing for more than 60 years, lies at the heart of the current war in Afghanistan. Most observers in…
Great review of “For God’s Sake” hits
Following this week’s release of my new book, For God’s Sake, one of Australia’s leading independent book chains, Readings, publishes a wonderful review: Religion, in its various forms, has delivered both immeasurable joy and terrible conflict throughout history. Currently, many ”˜neo-atheists’ predict the death of organised religion within a generation. In… For God’s Sake, four prominent…