Writer
RichardHil
Adjunct Professor, School of Health Sciences and Social Work, Griffith University (Gold Coast Campus). Adjunct Professor, Southern Cross University, Faculty of Business, Law and Arts.
-
A necessary reckoning of bloodletting in Gaza
The premeditated bloodletting in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and many other largely forgotten parts of the world speaks hauntingly of the normalisation of death and destruction, largely for cruel, self-serving and illusory reasons. Continue reading »
-
Are we locked in a dangerous illusion?
Two weeks ago, I was at a public event in Northern NSW listening to five speakers reflect on the state of the climate and what we might do about it – that, at least, was how it was pitched. Continue reading »
-
It’s the silence that kills
“Do you agree that Israel has the right to defend itself?” This question, so often and repeatedly put by journalists, is irritatingly banal. Invariably, it’s pitched as a kind of provocation, as if to infer that the person being quizzed has never considered the matter, or worse, is a closet antisemitic. Continue reading »
-
The slow strangulation of truth
Over the years I’ve learnt to chew and walk at the same time. It’s taken a while, but I think I’ve mastered it. Being able and willing to condemn the actions of Hamas, and criticising Iran while also condemning the callousness of Israel’s incursions into Gaza, the West Bank and now Lebanon is something I Continue reading »
-
There’s no escaping the wrongs done to Indigenous people
Patricia Karvelas’s article reflecting on the Labor government’s ‘timid’, ‘pragmatic’, ‘realistic’ change of course in pursuit of bipartisanship on Indigenous affairs made for uber-depressing reading (ABC News, online, ‘Timidity reigns as Anthony Albanese backs away from Makarrata at Garma Festival’, 5th August). It confirmed that the institutional racism prosecuted by the No campaign, is alive Continue reading »
-
Why I’m not in the mood for the Olympic hurrah
The latest Essential poll published in Tuesday’s online Guardian revealed that a whopping third of those polled would, if given the chance, vote for the Mango Mussolini (the Donald). This is concerning. But it’s worse than first appears. Along with the dispiriting response to the Voice – based largely on conspiracy theories, lies and dog-whistling Continue reading »
-
Hostages have been freed, who cares about the Palestinian unpeople?
It’s been a month since I relocated to a new town. It’s been traumatic. The emotions have run wild and the somatic reactions strong. At the epicentre of this emotional firestorm is a deep, wounding sense of dislocation, of severed connections with people and place. Continue reading »
-
Why we must never stop exposing cant and hypocrisy
To witness repeated atrocities around the world is hard enough. To observe wilful slaughter, when it’s openly supported by nations claiming adherence to human rights and international law, is nauseating. The killing of dozens of Palestinians in a supposed safe zone in Rafah is just the latest bloody outrage on global view. Continue reading »
-
Murder by any other name
Writing on the heels of Stuart Rees’s recent article in P&I, A Plea for Gaza: ‘Remember humanity & forget the rest’, and as a participant in last Wednesday’s Gaza plea for humanity event at Parliament House, Canberra, I’d like to commend Stuart for his leadership, courage and tireless efforts to bring peace with justice to Continue reading »
-
Why are you so afraid to speak out??
The brilliant, compassionate peace scholar and activist Stuart Rees, a regular contributor to this publication, constantly searches for ways of jolting the consciences of journalists, the political class – anyone in fact witnessing the horrors in Gaza. Continue reading »
-
Terra solitarius – the true cost of young peoples’ loneliness
We’re sleepwalking toward social catastrophe. Perhaps we’re there already – terra solitarius. Almost anywhere you care to look – research findings, news reports, general social chatter – all signs point in the same direction: a society free-falling into mass disconnection, loneliness and isolation. The word epidemic is often used to describe this situation. It’s a Continue reading »
-
Are we letting big tech outsource our humanity?
The biggest problem with Artificial Intelligence will be the way we use it, writes Dr Richard Hil. Continue reading »
-
So why the secrecy?
Last month, Chris Bowen, the Climate Change Minister, delivered the second Annual Climate Change Statement to the federal parliament. The Minister’s address was in part detailed – especially when it came to the government’s many policy achievements – but less so when it came to the question of climate heating and national security. Continue reading »
-
Facing climate catastrophe, secrecy is the last thing we need
Confronted by the horrors occurring in the Ukraine, Ethiopia, Sudan, Myanmar and now the Middle East, it’s hard to contemplate that an even more imposing global tragedy is already here – climate breakdown. Continue reading »
-
Another day in the colony
The deputy prime minister Richard Marles was asked by Insider’s host David Speers if the voters of Australia were right to roundly reject the constitutional recognition of Indigenous peoples and the Voice to parliament. Of course they were right, said Marles, they’re always right. In a press conference and later during question time in parliament, Continue reading »
-
Israel’s vengeance will not make for a better world
The depressing, crushing spectacle of extreme violence and mayhem unleashed across Israel and Palestine over recent days is a reminder of the depths to which humanity can sink. Continue reading »
-
We’re going nuts, why wouldn’t we?
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted in a profoundly sick society” – Jiddu Krishnamurti Continue reading »
-
Time to grow up? Australia is becoming a militarised US outpost
I hesitate to stray into the florid world of military strategists, senior public servants, cabinet ministers and assorted think tanks, but what on earth is going on with Australia’s so-called defence policy? The Albo government seems hellbent on turning Australia into a militarised outpost of the US whose ‘pivot’ to the Asia-Pacific region has led Continue reading »
-
No need to despair, there’s always the NRL!
What are we to make of what we’re witnessing on our TV screens – the fires, the floods, the storms, the loss of life and habitat? It certainly appears deadly – and monumentally serious. July was the hottest month ever recorded. Continue reading »
-
What really sucks about aging
“It’s like arriving at a bus station at five minutes to midnight, in the middle of a bustling city, dressed only in your undies”. That’s my friend’s rather odd male-centric take on reaching seventy years of age. But let’s go with it – for now. Continue reading »
-
Discovering the village effect
It probably wasn’t the best time to venture near to the Belarus border. Continue reading »
-
Primed for the ultimate AI disconnection
Time to leave for planet Zog. That’s what came to mind recently I as pondered an article about young Japanese men and female holograms. Continue reading »
-
Parachuted professors
In a who-cares-about-standards world, the appointment of some university professors looks very much like insider trading, secret patronage, and who you know, not what you know. How else to explain appointments as professors of public figures, seemingly agile enough to vault over the usual obstacles straight to the top of the academic hierarchy? Continue reading »
-
Imperial power: The Iraq war, 20 years on
Iraq’s trauma is regarded in some quarters as an ill-gotten remnant of the past: something to be air-brushed from history. But not so for those experiencing the ravages of imperial power. On the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq – March, 20, 2023 – the people of Iraq await a historical reckoning. Continue reading »
-
Shoving democracy aside in Brazil… and elsewhere
The destruction of the Brazilian congress by supporters of the former, and now self-exiled, President Jair Bolsonaro is yet another example of the power and real consequences of misinformation and deceit peddled on the internet. Continue reading »
-
High stakes in the climate diaspora
Weeks and months after devastating floods hit many regional centres across NSW and Victoria, there emerged a fresh crop of mycelium-like symbols, otherwise known as ‘for sale’ signs. Pitched on lawns in front of stud-exposed and newly renovated houses, or on empty blocks of land. These commercial hoardings have become the grim tell-tale signs of Continue reading »
-
Guilt and dread as floods remind us of ecological crisis
The flood crisis engulfing much of Australia reminds us of the future we face in an era of climate change. Here’s the thing; writing abstractly about something and experiencing it directly are two very different things. Or so I’ve discovered. Continue reading »
-
The drumbeat of history sounds for the Monarchy
Australia is at an inflection point. The illusion of Pax Britannia is just that. The time for a historical reckoning has arrived. The gruesome facts of colonial violence and the heroism of past and ongoing Indigenous resistance can no longer be denied. Continue reading »
-
There’s no escaping a hothouse earth
A couple of months ago I set off with my partner to the northern hemisphere for a prolonged stint in Canada. I’ll admit I was excited and relieved to be getting away from the rain-soaked Northern Rivers. The region had been robbed of sunlight for months on end and the trauma of the floods earlier Continue reading »
-
The not so great debate
There’s a scene in Fawlty Towers where Basil is so terrified of the anticipated reaction of his partner, Sybil, that he goes into a full-blown meltdown. “Mr Fawlty, don’t panic”, Polly the waitress intones. “What else is there to do?” Basil screams back. I know how he feels. Continue reading »
