Voice rejection sends Australia backwards
Henry Reynolds

Voice rejection sends Australia backwards

It was a dramatic return to the political stage! With the election underway, indigenous activist Noel Pearson broke a self-imposed silence which he had kept for 18 months since the failure of the referendum on the voice to parliament.

Accountability and war reporting
David Robie

Accountability and war reporting

Most reporting of Western wars and conflict — as with current reporting of Palestine and early reporting of Vietnam 50 years ago — is missing context and interpretation.

How Myanmar’s devastating earthquake threatens to leave a lasting economic scar
Jared Bissinger

How Myanmar’s devastating earthquake threatens to leave a lasting economic scar

The earthquake in central Myanmar poses serious risks to its fragile economy, with damages disrupting agriculture, trade and infrastructure.


John Menadue's book on Israel's war against Gaza

Israel's war against Gaza

Media coverage of the war in Gaza since October 2023 has spread a series of lies propagated by Israel and the United States. This publication presents information, analysis, clarification, views and perspectives largely unavailable in mainstream media in Australia and elsewhere.

Download the PDF

Trump’s attack on science risks dismantling a century of innovation
Massoud Amin

Trump’s attack on science risks dismantling a century of innovation

Restrictive visa policies, rhetoric targeting academic institutions and proposed budget cuts to scientific agencies mark the start of US retreat.

Environment: Nations ignoring the need for a just transition to zero carbon
Peter Sainsbury

Environment: Nations ignoring the need for a just transition to zero carbon

Eliminating greenhouse gas emissions is dangerously slow, but doing it in a fair, just and inclusive manner is all but non-existent. Climate change’s many harmful outcomes for women and girls includes more child marriages. Fishing doesn’t have to kill mammals and birds.

Don’t stir Semar – He seeks harmony
Duncan Graham

Don’t stir Semar – He seeks harmony

Ancient Javanese mythology, often inherited from India and adapted to fit local culture, is rich with striking characters in the wayang kulit shadow puppet theatre. The fat-gut wise clown Semar is charged with maintaining stability.

An open letter to Penny Wong seeking action on Palestine
Sue Wareham

An open letter to Penny Wong seeking action on Palestine

Dear Minister, Responding to war crimes committed against the Palestinian people Congratulations on Labor’s achievement of another term of government. We hope this term will be one in which everything possible is done to promote, support and invest in peace, without which Australians - and others - cannot be secure.

Judge orders release of Georgetown scholar Badar Khan Suri from ICE detention
Eloise Goldsmith

Judge orders release of Georgetown scholar Badar Khan Suri from ICE detention

My only 'crimes' making me a 'national security threat' are my marriage to a United States citizen of Palestinian origin and my support for the Palestinian cause, wrote Badar Khan Suri in an op-ed published on 13 May.

Our humanity is lost under the rubble in Gaza
Amin Abbas

Our humanity is lost under the rubble in Gaza

It is a Sunday evening, and I am shopping online. But there is a difference.

Still waiting for the Asian Century? The world-system has moved on
Stewart Sweeney

Still waiting for the Asian Century? The world-system has moved on

Dr Allan Patience’s recent essay, Australia’s misunderstanding of the Asian Century, is a wake-up call we can no longer afford to ignore.

Latest on Palestine and Israel

Judge orders release of Georgetown scholar Badar Khan Suri from ICE detention
Eloise Goldsmith

Judge orders release of Georgetown scholar Badar Khan Suri from ICE detention

My only 'crimes' making me a 'national security threat' are my marriage to a United States citizen of Palestinian origin and my support for the Palestinian cause, wrote Badar Khan Suri in an op-ed published on 13 May.

Our humanity is lost under the rubble in Gaza
Amin Abbas

Our humanity is lost under the rubble in Gaza

It is a Sunday evening, and I am shopping online. But there is a difference.

Fear, censorship and repression are keeping Israelis in the dark about Gaza
Haaretz Editorial

Fear, censorship and repression are keeping Israelis in the dark about Gaza

The public's indifference to what Israel is doing in the Gaza Strip is not just the result of a lack of care, but the result of the war Israel is waging against the possibility of knowing.

Multiple Western press outlets have suddenly pivoted hard against Israel
Caitlin Johnstone

Multiple Western press outlets have suddenly pivoted hard against Israel

After a year and a half of genocidal atrocities, the editorial boards of numerous British press outlets have suddenly come out hard against Israel’s genocidal onslaught in Gaza.

The first-ever historic agreement between the US and Hamas – with Netanyahu in a secondary role
Refaat Ibrahim

The first-ever historic agreement between the US and Hamas – with Netanyahu in a secondary role

The direct talks between the United States and Hamas took Israel by surprise and led to an agreement that resulted in the release of the Israeli-American captive Edan Alexander.

An open letter to the Australian PM from a child of Holocaust survivors
John-Janusz Ebel

An open letter to the Australian PM from a child of Holocaust survivors

Dear Anthony Albanese, I am a child of Holocaust survivors. More than 95% of my extended family perished during World War II in Nazi extermination camps while others were killed by mobile death squads or through starvation in a number of ghettoes.

Samah Sabawi – Cactus Pear for My Beloved
Tony Smith.

Samah Sabawi – Cactus Pear for My Beloved

This 2024 Penguin publication is a highly personal account of the history of Palestinian dispossession.

Mark Leibler on his lobbying power
Pearls and Irritations

Mark Leibler on his lobbying power

In a speech he delivered back in 2018, Mark Leibler lays out how he exerts influence, from trying to block Bob Carr's efforts on recognition of a Palestinian State to watching ABC correspondent Sophie McNeill in order to change her coverage of the Middle East.


John Menadue

Support our independent media with your donation

Pearls and Irritations leads the way in raising and analysing vital issues often neglected in mainstream media. Your contribution supports our independence and quality commentary on matters importance to Australia and our region.

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Latest on China

China and renewable energy: Dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Derek Woolner,  David Glynne Jones

China and renewable energy: Dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

China’s deployment of renewable energy technologies is spectacular and globally dominant, but is not its primary focus.

Trump’s USAID cuts only accelerate the West’s miserly convergence with China
Shahar Hameiri,  Lee Jones

Trump’s USAID cuts only accelerate the West’s miserly convergence with China

Critics of the Trump administration’s assault on foreign aid warn that it will undermine the United States’ capacity to compete with China.

Shell-shocked voters of US allies choose stability over disruption
Alex Lo

Shell-shocked voters of US allies choose stability over disruption

Rather than left- or right-leaning political parties, citizens in Singapore, Australia and Canada chose steady hands to navigate geopolitical turbulence.


More from Pearls and Irritations


Latest letters to the editor

Australia leads the way. Which way?

Bob Pearce — Adelaide SA

It was a young John Howard who announced light rail connecting the east coast. While some in the know bought land in the proposed rail corridor, his idea has remained just that – an idea. Given the politically-led resurgence of inefficient hybrid vehicles, as the article points out, why add a 50% efficient internal combustion engine to an electric motor as your mode of transport? All the indications from the last election are that one side is still arguing whether women should remain barefoot and pregnant or be sacrificed as witches, while the other side is timid about...
Why add more years of governmental failure?

Maggie Woodhead — Perth. W.A

The evidence is out there that government makes a really deficient, and sometimes outright harmful, substitute parent. Children brought up in the foster system need the best parenting in order to live with and hopefully overcome early childhood trauma. Instead of which they receive some of the worst, usually not the fault of the foster carer. An average of seven, yes seven, placements in their first year in care, the focus on reunification when parents never get the support they need in order to become good enough parents. The lack of vital background information to foster carers about the...
We need people like Sawsan Madina in media

Alyssa Aleksanian — Hazelbrook

Sawsan Madina – I wish, oh how I wish, you were still head of SBS Television. Your open letter to The Greens was superb. Instead, in the television and radio space, we have propaganda puppets, ex-CEOs of Newscorp and advertisers pretending to be journalists. As consumers, we must demand more of our media. Call them to account, via feedback on social media, via email, via whatever channel you can. The only way we can change the system is to demand better.
A gift of nuclear waste for our descendants

Alyssa Aleksanian — Hazelbrook

In 2021, the Federal Court found Sussan Ley, as environment minister, owed a duty of care to future generations to avoid causing climate harm through her decisions. And here she is stating nuclear is a zero-emission option. Who is Sussan Ley kidding? Let’s debunk this myth once and for all. Nuclear is the most toxic form of energy. We will be leaving our descendants with a poison cocktail which has no answer. The Coalition’s implied stance of , Oh, we’ll let the future generations work that out is pure negligence. Kicking the can down the road has been...



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