Writer
Stuart Rees
Stuart Rees OAM is Professor Emeritus, Univ. of Sydney, recipient of the Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize and author of the recent Policy Press book ‘Cruelty or Humanity’.
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Explaining Israel’s oppression: cruelty, evil, apartheid and colonisation
On January 27, Israeli forces kill 10 Palestinians in Jenin, including two youths and an elderly woman. The following day a lone Palestinian gunman shoots dead seven Israelis as they leave a synagogue in a settlement in East Jerusalem. Continue reading »
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Fear to criticise Israel fosters racism and apartheid
An extremist Israeli government insists that apartheid policies will be permanent, that the 2022 slaughter of Palestinians will be repeated, that settler stealing and violence will be ignored and international law derided. In these circumstances, surely no Australian citizen, let alone a politician, could justify such policies? Continue reading »
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Prince Harry’s outrage, spare a thought
Amidst the despair unfolding in the world, buying Prince Harry’s Spare means you’ve been fooled into taking something seriously instead of discarding it at first sight. Continue reading »
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Best of 2022: Russia-Ukraine: For humanity’s sake, turn down the heat
It’s time we recognise the carnage of this war in Ukraine, and turn to dialogue with Russia. Continue reading »
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Nobel recipients’ humanity is in stark contrast to Putin’s bestiality
During days preceding a festive period, the world watches the contrast between the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize recipients’ hopes for humanity and the bestiality of a Russian President’s war in Ukraine. Representing their respective civil society organisations in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, three brave individuals have been rewarded for their human rights-based opposition to the Continue reading »
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Thinking differently about peace and security, lessons from Costa Rica
World-wide threats to life on earth imply a desperate need to think differently about peace and security. Costa Rica teaches how. Continue reading »
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Labor’s Chris Minns fails tests of principle and courage on Violet Coco and Shaoquett Moselmane
The treatment of Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane, a staunch supporter of the Chinese community and of Palestinians, and the sentencing of environmental protester Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco to fifteen months in jail and refusal of bail have been tests of principle and of courage in public life. NSW Labor leader Chris Minns has failed the test. Continue reading »
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The Voice of an obstructionist, willfully ignorant National Party
The National Party’s decision to campaign against a voice to parliament is destructive and wilfully ignorant. Contributors to this decision ignore a history of Indigenous punishment and powerlessness. They criticise a referendum process which has not been published but which they pretend to know. They attribute to the Uluru Statement goals which it does not have. Continue reading »
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The costs of cruelty: Egypt profits, Israel colludes, Gazans pay
To enter the large open prison known as the Gaza Strip, hundreds of Palestinians travel daily from Cairo to Rafah on the Egyptian Gaza border. A car journey of 450 kms through the Sinai desert, in summer temperatures hovering around 40C, takes at best seven hours and must negotiate numerous Egyptian military checkpoints. Continue reading »
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Principled conduct? Shaoquett Moselmane and the NSW ALP
On October 19, before a crowded public gallery and in a packed Upper House of the NSW parliament, Labor MP Shaoquett Moslemane gave his valedictory speech. He did so with dignity, with no bitterness and with gratitude to his many supporters. His standards in public life have been impressive. His treatment by powerful operatives has Continue reading »
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Russia-Ukraine: For humanity’s sake, turn down the heat
It’s time we recognise the carnage of this war in Ukraine, and turn to dialogue with Russia. Continue reading »
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Ethiopian, Eritrean atrocities in Tigray: who cares, it’s an African war
Fighting and famine in Tigray is described by the London Observer as ‘the most lethal anywhere in the world.’ Continue reading »
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Due process in law a deceitful farce: ask Julian Assange
Due process in the administration of justice requires respect for a defendant’s right to a fair trial, acknowledges a role for public scrutiny of court practices and insists that judges should be recused if they have a conflict of interest which would amount to bias. In the prosecution of Australian citizen Julian Assange, such principles Continue reading »
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Crafting a Republic: “Aprés Moi Le Deluge” an Elizabeth II legacy?
King Louis XV of France and Madame de Pompadour are reputed to have warned that across France after their deaths there would be life destroying floods of various kinds. By implication, these distant on-a pedestal characters were predicting that life after them could be far worse than when they reigned, so look back a little Continue reading »
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Pakistan floods -The wealthy pollute the world and the poor suffer
Global capitalism is ‘a giant poverty producing machine, masterful in its methods of pitting the poor against the very poor or flinging crumbs to the wretched so that they dissipate their energy fighting one another.’ Continue reading »
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Terrorist-preoccupied Israel issues latest license for thuggery
While the world was distracted by brutalities in Ukraine, Yemen, Myanmar, Somalia and by a threatening US, China conflict, Israeli forces raided the offices of six Palestinian human rights organisations, and after stealing equipment and documents, soldiers welded doors shut. Continue reading »
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Peace with Justice: Lessons from the Anthropocene and for Ukraine
Imagining the arrival of peace with justice in Ukraine needs two caveats. In any peace negotiations, Ukrainian citizens’ judgements about the future should be a priority. Continue reading »
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Uluru Statement and Makaratta message redefine sovereignty
There is a huge contrast between the notion sovereignty depicted in the Uluru Statement from the Heart and political leaders’ perception of this concept as a weapon. Uluru’s message forecasts hope through reciprocity and healing. Continue reading »
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A Significant People’s Forum on Peace, not just in Ukraine
Citizens in Australia speak of peace and show how to reach that goal. They do not trust politicians stifled into thinking that security means militarism, or think tanks funded to promote the idea that national defence and arms industry interests are the same. Continue reading »
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Menace from George Brandis: how to represent state interests not Julian Assange
Appearing on last Thursday’s ABC Q&A programme, George Brandis, former Attorney General and former Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, behaved as though Australian citizens should always be grateful for the way he would protect their interests. Continue reading »
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The human catastrophe in Yemen. What a contrast to our media focus on Ukraine
In the last five years, an estimated 377,000 people have died in Yemen mostly from hunger, lack of health care and unsafe water. In Ukraine? Continue reading »
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Superiority born from class: Lowy Institute’s Michael Fullilove on Julian Assange
Beware privileged people who have learned to speak with confidence yet appear blind to the benefits of social class. Beware powerful people who claim that democratic governments, in the US, UK, Australia, administer justice always according to some time-honoured principle about rules of law. Continue reading »
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Preparations for war stifle advocacy for peace
When reporting on Russian atrocities, mainstream media have also been preoccupied with the supply of arms to Ukraine, with news of Finland and Sweden joining NATO and with fingers crossed forecasts of the defeat of Russia. In media minds and in academic circles, advocacy of peace finds little or no space. Continue reading »
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Floods, mental health & love in Lismore
A principle known for centuries by Indigenous peoples, teaches that the health of the land affects the wellbeing of people, a principle familiar to citizens of Lismore in northern NSW. After catastrophic floods submerged homes and commercial properties, one thousand citizens still live in emergency accommodation and thousands more survive in homes where walls, ceilings Continue reading »
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Opportunity for Albanese intervention to free Julian Assange. ‘It’s time.’
Across Australia, a hopeful Australian public are praising the Albanese government for showing a sense of justice in permitting the persecuted yet dignified Murugappan family to return to Biloela albeit only on bridging visas. It is rumoured that deliberations are underway to end the mind-boggling prosecution of Bernard Collaery. If that’s the case, Prime Minister Continue reading »
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Scared to mention Palestinians lives and Israel brutalities: A challenge for new MPs
In six weeks of electioneering, and despite the election result, Australian politicians did not dare and appear unlikely to dare to condemn the Israeli government’s continued abuse of Palestinians. An Israeli sniper murdered the distinguished Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Israeli police attacked mourners at her funeral, but such brutalities make little impression on the Continue reading »
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Peace scenarios for Ukraine via people’s tribunals
In November 1966, regarding the conduct of the Vietnam war, the philosopher, anti-war activist Bertrand Russell founded a People’s Tribunal to ‘inform public opinion and arouse opposition to war.’ Continue reading »
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Election absentee: Who dares to mention socialism?
An election campaign in an apparently democratic society is affected by fear to mention the goals and benefits of socialism. Commentators censor themselves. The agenda offered to voters is controlled by a media obsessed with the image of two leaders. In addition, derision by a right wing press, bullying by shock jocks, basic ignorance of Continue reading »
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Colonisation stifles Indigenous leaders: now Victor Yeimo in West Papua
Victor Yeimo, leader of the West Papuans’ struggles for freedom has been in prison since May 2021. The world needs to know. To argue for his interests, Australia needs to summon a touch of courage. Without persistent pressure on the Indonesian government to provide urgently needed medical treatment for Victor, he is likely to die Continue reading »
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Reporting about Ukraine: peace difficult, war easy
In the grinding weeks of an Australian Federal election, something needs to happen to change the language, to prompt debate, to craft vision, and even generate excitement. That something could be the goal of peace with justice. Continue reading »
