Explaining the Gaza genocide: Settler colonialism in Palestine
In a settler colonial state, the indigenous population has to be physically erased because they are an ongoing reminder …
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“Marketisation has failed”: Rebuilding the Commonwealth Employment Services
When the Howard government privatised Australia’s Employment Services system it promised more innovative, effective and efficient services. Almost 25 years later, it’s clear that the giant experiment of full privatisation has failed. And the most vulnerable Australians pay the price. Continue reading »
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Why isn’t China a Democracy?
U.S. President Joe Biden, the Western media, and American academics seek to rally Western democracies against China, allegedly the leader of the world’s authoritarian countries. They charged that China is not democratic. Is this charge true? How so? Continue reading »
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Climate, health, and the Rising Tide
“Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals. But the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels. Investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure is moral and economic madness” – Antonio Guterres Continue reading »
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From Vietnam to Australia, a refugee doctor’s journey
On 23 November, a boatload of asylum seekers was dispatched to Nauru for offshore detention. They were found wandering the coast of Western Australia by Aboriginal people, three days earlier. This has been Australian policy for unauthorised boat arrivals since 2013; 10 arrivals in the past year. But there was a time when asylum seekers Continue reading »
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ABC gives selected politicians licence to spread fear – Weekly Roundup
Why the RBA Board should enjoy the break on a houseboat ride, the ABC gives selected politicians licence to spread fear, bullshit, lies and division just because they are called “the opposition”, sex and the cost of living, immigrants’ kids do better at school than Australian-born kids, cleaning up the mess of another failed privatisation. Continue reading »
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How Western allies subvert international law and norms to ‘contain’ China
The US has been ruthlessly militarising what some Pentagon strategists have called the island chains of defence in the Indo-Pacific with quiet ‘Five Eyes’ help. Continue reading »
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Climate change terror: Dubai’s COP-out denial conference
The issue, betrayed, is nothing more and nothing less than the future of a multitude of species on Earth, including Homo sapiens. Continue reading »
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Australia has abandoned international law
Two months have passed since the events of October 7. Publicly, Australia has done nothing except perhaps indicate that it desires a two-state solution, and expects Israel to only take action which has regard to the need to protect civilians. Is this enough? The answer is no. Continue reading »
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A different kind of climate movement: the Kaldor Centre Principles on Climate Mobility
Every second, someone is displaced by a disaster. Each year, nearly three times as many people are displaced within their own countries by disasters than by conflict – the vast majority in the Asia-Pacific region. Climate change will amplify the problem as worsening cyclones, floods, bushfires, droughts and food insecurity force millions from their homes. Continue reading »
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The unflinching cruelty of Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger’s death has brought a flow of predictable judgements: ‘He created some evils – 1973 Chile, for example. But overall he helped end the Cold War.’ And as a beneficiary – the 1971 opening to China, for example – Australians should be grateful. Continue reading »
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The ALP and NZ’s U-turn on Indigenous affairs
The Voice referendum dominated the national discourse for much of this year. The result was a major setback for the government. Continue reading »
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‘Apocalyptic’ horror in Gaza called ‘total failure of our shared humanity’
“How is it that these atrocities are beamed across the world for all to witness, and yet so little is done to stop them?” Continue reading »
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The official story of October seventh
The official story is that on October 7, 2023, thousands of evil Hamas terrorists broke out of their walled-in enclave and killed approximately 1,200 Israelis for no reason other than because they were evil and wanted to kill Jews. Nothing was done by the Israeli government to provoke this attack, and nothing of any relevance Continue reading »
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China, US offer different approaches to achieving lasting peace in Middle East
In the aftermath of the Suez Crisis of 1956, the United States replaced Britain and France as the sole hegemon in the Middle East. The Middle East has never achieved lasting peace under US hegemony; and years of war and devastation have plunged many Middle Eastern countries into great economic difficulties. Continue reading »
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Australians need to know what lies beneath the new era of US-Australia strategic cooperation
Euphemistically, the Prime Minister recently announced that he and President Biden have “inaugurated a new era of US-Australia strategic cooperation”. Presumably he meant to say he’d found new ways to surrender Australia’s sovereignty. Continue reading »
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UNCOP28 at a time of international stress and vivid suffering
At UNCOP28, clear-eyed, we persist. And not without hope. There is a saying; ‘Pessimism of the intellect; optimism of the will.’ The time to have an influence comes and goes. Like life itself… Therefore it is best to live by the highest one can conceive when one has the opportunity! Continue reading »
