Writer
John Jiggens
Dr John Jiggens is a citizen journalist. He was the founding editor of The Westender and The Cane Toad Times and currently works in the community newsroom at Bay-FM in Byron Bay. His PhD was Marijuana Australiana: Cannabis use, popular culture and the Americanisation of drug policy in Australia. He has published several books on the history of cannabis prohibition.
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David McBride versus Four Corners
On Easter Saturday, a friend and I drove down to Mullumbimby to hear Afghan war crimes whistleblower David McBride speaking at the Mullumbimby RSL. The previous Monday, I had watched the Four Corners program about David McBride, called Rules of Engagement. My friend hadn’t seen it, so we listened to it on the iPhone as Continue reading »
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Extradition looms for Julian Assange
The UK High Court has delayed the extradition of Julian Assange to the US for a further three weeks, requesting the United States give assurances that Assange will be protected by First Amendment free speech rights, that he won’t be discriminated against as an Australian citizen, and that he will not face the death penalty. Continue reading »
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The persecution of Julian Assange
I see in the persecution of Julian Assange, a parallel with a technique put together by the United States in the destruction of Iraq that they called shock and awe, wherein all of the institutions of state were destroyed and plundered, with the exception of the department concerning itself with the production of oil. Now Continue reading »
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Night Falls in the Evening Lands: The extradition of Julian Assange
As we await the UK High Court decision on Julian Assange’s extradition to the US, the implications of Assange’s persecution and the repercussions for human rights, journalism, peace and justice will be explored at the conference Night Falls in the Evening Lands: the Assange epic, which will be held in Melbourne on March 9. Continue reading »
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USUKA: The hidden history of AUKUS
The Australian Citizens Party (ACP) have written to the National Anti- Corruption Commission (NACC), asking them to investigate former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s decision to join private companies who will profit from the massive defence expenditure resulting from Morrison’s decision to establish AUKUS — a decision the ACP characterised as “extraordinary, unilateral and secretive”. Dr Continue reading »
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Andrew Wilkie: Assange must be allowed to return to Australia
“The majority of the Australian parliament, including the Australian government and the Prime Minister are of the view that regardless of what you think about Julian Assange, the fact is he’s been incarcerated in one way or another for twelve years or so. The matter has gone on long enough that the extradition should be Continue reading »
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Historic vote in Australian parliament on Julian Assange
Wednesday, February 14, turned out to be an unanticipated Happy Valentine’s Day for Julian Assange supporters. The Australian House of Representatives passed a motion introduced by Tasmanian Independent, Andrew Wilkie on behalf of the Parliamentary Friends of Julian Assange, urging the US and the UK to bring their prosecution of Julian Assange to a close, Continue reading »
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The ghost of Julian Assange
Despite being detained, silenced, and hidden from public view in the maximum security Belmarsh prison for the past five years, as the day of his extradition draws near, the spectre of Julian Assange looms ever larger over the politics of the AUKUS lands. Continue reading »
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John Pilger, maverick journalist (1939-2023)
In a speech he made in Sydney in 2011, defending Julian Assange, John Pilger recalled how it was always impressed upon him when he was young that Australia was a brave country: that we stood up to authority, and we stood up for justice. Such national myths were at best half-truths, Pilger said, but in Continue reading »
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Crown successfully overturns Nuremberg war crimes principles in Australian court
In direct contradiction to the 1945 Nuremberg trials, the Crown successfully argued in the prosecution of Afghan Files military whistleblower David McBride for breaching the Defence Forces Act that the sole duty of an Australian soldier is to follow orders. An Australian soldier does not serve Australia, or the Australian people or the public interest. Continue reading »
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Who do you serve? The non-trial of David McBride
“Today I serve my country. And the question I have for you, Anthony Albanese is, ‘Who do you serve?’” – David McBride Continue reading »
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John Mearsheimer and the decline of US hegemony
“It’s very important to understand that what’s happened is that the unipolar moment is in the rearview mirror. It’s gone. We are now in a multipolar world” Continue reading »
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David McBride and the Afghan files trial
Afghan war crimes whistleblower David McBride is facing a secret trial on November 13 that could result in him serving a life sentence for leaking classified information that formed the basis of ‘The Afghan Files’, a 2017 ABC exposé revealing allegations of misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan. Continue reading »
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Assange extradition: “something you might expect from a totalitarian regime”
Julian Assange may be only weeks away from being extradited to the US where he will face prosecution under the US Espionage Act that could see him imprisoned for 175 years, even though he is an Australian citizen, not a US citizen! With extradition so near, the campaign to save Assange has reached its highest Continue reading »
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Opposing US-led wars: can Australia become independent and peaceful?
The narrative about the inevitability of a war with China began to dominate US strategic thinking in the second decade of the twenty-first century. Continue reading »
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Are we on a path to war with China? An interview with David Shoebridge
“One of the most extraordinary moments in politics in the last five years has been watching Anthony Albanese, notionally from the left of Labour, adopt, without any internal democracy within the Labor Party, without any public investigation of it, adopt wholeheartedly Scott Morrison’s AUKUS plans… It’s perhaps one of the most extraordinary betrayals of the Continue reading »
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Bring Julian home
Over the past month, Australian pressure on the Biden administration to drop the charges against Julian Assange has grown significantly. Continue reading »
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A revolution in Journalism: WikiLeaks and Julian Assange
Speech at The Persecution of Truth conference Continue reading »
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The Persecution of Truth
The war on whistleblowers, WikiLeaks and truth will be examined at a conference called The Persecution of Truth at the State Library of Queensland on Sunday April 30th. Continue reading »
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The AUKUS orchestra, Julian Assange and Iraq
On Saturday, March 18, a small rally to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Iraq War gathered in a park outside the Lismore Memorial Baths. Continue reading »
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Championing war with China
In an extraordinary editorial that was labelled as warmongering by former prime minister Paul Keating, the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) called for China to be labelled a clear and present threat, argued for the reintroduction of conscription and for long range missiles armed with nuclear weapons, and urged Australia to prepare for war with China Continue reading »
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Freeing Assange?
On New Year’s Day 2023, John Lyons, the Global Affairs Editor of the ABC, made the extraordinary prediction that within the next two months Julian Assange would be released. Continue reading »
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Kevin Rudd on The Avoidable War
Kevin Rudd lives in New York these days, but on November 18, he returned to his former hometown of Brisbane to speak about his most recent book, The Avoidable War: the dangers of a catastrophic conflict between the US and Xi Jinping’s China at Brisbane’s City Hall. Continue reading »
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Collaery demands Royal Commission on Timor Leste spy scandal
“Just think of it. After years and years of assisting the Timorese resistance … to have Witness K. come to my office and tell me something so marked with treachery, words still fail me. … So immoral. So unethical. … so counter to all of our national interests!” Continue reading »
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Mexico honours Julian Assange
Julian Assange’s family, his father John Shipton and his brother Gabriel Shipton, have returned from Mexico where they were invited to attend the celebrations of Mexico’s Independence Day by the Mexican President, Andreas Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is affectionately known as AMLO from his initials. Continue reading »
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Dr. Strangelove in the Ukraine – US strategy in the Cold War against Russia
The RAND Corporation is a US think-tank that describes itself as a research organisation ‘that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous.’ Continue reading »
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The Trial of Julian Assange: A story of persecution
Nils Melzer was UN Special Rapporteur on Torture between 2016 and 2022. In 2019 he began investigating the case of Julian Assange. The English language edition of his book, The Trial of Julian Assange, is the most well-researched account of the legal ordeals suffered by the WikiLeaks founder. A brave and an important book, it Continue reading »
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Vale, Craig McGregor, 1933-2022
My friend and mentor, Australian journalist, writer and cultural critic Craig McGregor, died on January 22, 2022. Continue reading »
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Not just the corners: ABC assault on Assange undermines foundations of journalism
Demonised by governments, abandoned by his homeland, Julian Assange ends another year in captivity, a living rebuke to double standards in the media. Continue reading »
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Four Corners v Julian Assange: your ABC, their sneers
Who could imagine that a revered current affairs program could stoop to peddling slanderous allegations against an award-winning Australian journalist? Continue reading »
