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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An Australian Story of Cruelty: the Biloela family
On Monday, former immigration minister Amanda Vanstone was wringing her hands on ABC TV. Not on behalf of the persecuted Biloela family, though. She was crying crocodile tears to defend a powerful, inflexible government. Continue reading »
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Anti-Palestinianism is as damnable as anti-Semitism: a statement is long overdue
Before endorsing the International Holocaust Remembrance Association’s definition of anti-Semitism, politicians in Australia and other western countries should consider the implications for the rights of Palestinians. Continue reading »
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Resilience via poetry, a South Sudanese story
Behind the stay-at-home Covid restrictions, the mental health of thousands is threatened. Cries for help multiply. To virus induced threats, including isolation if schools and universities stay closed, migrants must also deal with the trauma of past events plus the stigma of not always feeling accepted in a new country. Like Achol Arop. Continue reading »
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Morrison shows selfishness and cruelty towards Afghans.
At press conferences about the Afghan tragedy, Prime Minister Morrison boasts that Australia is rescuing Afghans, and to resettle refugees will implement humanitarian programmes. Each claim displays selfishness and cruelty, as in policy statements which are cover for cowardice and devoid of generosity. Continue reading »
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Biloela and Assange: compliance with governments, not justice
In Australia, to utter the words ‘High Court’ assumes a sense of justice. In the UK, claims about British justice imply adherence to principled conducted influenced by law. But in both countries, judges and lawyers have been displaying not passion for justice but compliance with revengeful governments. Continue reading »
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Climate urgency, Australia’s selfishness
In response to the UN International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Treasurer Josh Frydenberg rushed to Sky News to repeat the platitude that technology, not taxes would overcome threats from global warming. Before a Canberra press conference, a smirking Prime Minister claimed Australia would reach targets to limit greenhouse gas emissions because this country always Continue reading »
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Sanctioning Israel: Courage to Present a Petition to Parliament
A petition to be presented to Federal politicians on August 9 seeks the imposition of sanctions on Israel. It asks for condemnation of apartheid as a crime against humanity, demands an end to the cruel 15 year siege of Gaza and the 54 year military occupation of Palestinian lands. Continue reading »
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Covid-fuelled violence threatens civility and democracy
In common with the thugs who invaded the US Capitol on January 6, the Australian protesters against lockdown measures on July 24 displayed extremism which threatens the civility of democracy and thereby others’ freedoms. Continue reading »
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Humpty Dumpty, Michael Easson and Israeli Apartheid.
Humpty Dumpty told Alice, ‘When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.’ Continue reading »
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Mandela Courage for a Dangerous World
Not for Mandela the contemporary, pragmatic tactic of polling by sticking a finger in the air to test in which direction voters’ interests are blowing. Continue reading »
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Peace and global citizenship: student’s present concerns and future hopes
Zoom conversations with students from Brazil, Japan, Malaysia, France, India, Bangladesh and Ghana, reveal dismay about universal cruelties but also their hopes to experience peaceful futures. Continue reading »
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Julian Assange and the culture of revenge
To lessen the macabre prospect of Julian Assange spending 175 years in a US maximum security prison, the US Department of Justice suggests that he could serve prison time in Australia. In a decades long tragedy, this latest act looks like nurture for an all consuming culture of revenge in which legal theatre has provided Continue reading »
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Fascism is alive in Australia
George Orwell wrote that almost any English person would accept bullying as a synonym for fascism. Political theorists refer to fascism as characterised by secrecy in government, by goals for national regeneration plus promotion of masculinity and derision of democracy. Continue reading »
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Immigration: language of cruelty or words for humanity
The Coalition government’s self-image, values and attitudes towards powerless people, such as the Tamil Biloela family, are parcelled in a language and style that is far removed from ideals of a common humanity. Continue reading »
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Denial as policy, the Tamil Biloela family.
In a school playground, a little boy responds to being caught doing something wrong: ‘It wasn’t me sir’, or ‘It was those other boys’, or even ‘ I would never do such a thing.’ His ducking for cover matches the denial of responsibility characterising the Morrison government, not only regarding their cruelty to the Tamil/Biloela Continue reading »
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The Tamil family: cruelty beggars belief
The continued detention of the Tamil Biloela family, let alone the threat to deport them, confirms the government’s fascination with cruelty as policy. To demonstrate their bravery in defending Australia’s borders, Ministers think that to protect comfortable and fortunate Australians, they must show a wanton disregard of the interests of the powerless and vulnerable. Continue reading »
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Towards peace for Gaza by ending deceit
Following the ceasefire after the latest Gaza carnage, media commentary included claims that life in that besieged, bombarded strip could return to normal. This insulting observation is one more verbal absurdity in cowardly refusals to speak truths about the colonisation of Palestinians and cruelty towards them. Continue reading »
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Imagining an alternative world: Stories for justice*
In the 2019 Australian Federal election, Labor leader Bill Shorten offered diverse policies but never a narrative which could be remembered and shared. To speak about justice, a story could have been more effective than a recitation of policies. Continue reading »
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Killed and abandoned: the children of Afghanistan
US and Australian troops are preparing to leave Afghanistan with a debilitating legacy for millions of children. Simultaneous with news of troop withdrawals, Prime Minister Morrison has spoken of his taste for a laying on of hands as a means of healing. The children of Afghanistan would regard these events as at best confusing, and Continue reading »
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Paranoia over China, government, media, AFP collusion
The High Court’s current deliberations about the legality of warrants issued last year to the AFP to search the home of John Zhang, part-time assistant to NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane, are the tip of a massive iceberg of government abuses of power. Continue reading »
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Labor makes another flimsy commitment to Palestinians
While Israel and Palestine are geographically distant, there’s no excuse for the Labor Party‘s out of touch support for a two-state solution, and for appearing unaware of critiques of the controversial Israeli supported definition of anti-Semitism. Continue reading »
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An American culture of violence: Implications for Australia?
Gun slaughter runs rampant crosses the United States, but belief in US exceptionalism accompanied by denial that a culture of violence exists discourages diagnosis of the pandemic’s root cause. Continue reading »
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Police compliance with cruelty: will Australia follow Moscow, Minsk and Myanmar?
In an ideal world, war is declared but no-one turns up. In the same utopia, police forces refuse orders to arrest, torture and kill, but in Myanmar, Minsk, Moscow and Hong Kong, men in police uniforms are complying with orders. Continue reading »
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A tepid cry for change: Tanya Plibersek’s book “Upturn” and Labor’s prospects
In a world riven by crises, we need new ways of thinking, knowing, and relating. We also need courage. The challenge is huge. There will be no return to a pre-Covid-19 normal, which for many Australians meant poverty, hardship, and marginalization. This book had rich promise but is a missed opportunity. A comprehensive, coherent vision Continue reading »
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Colonial-type genocide in West Papua: living in constant fear
West Papuans are Indigenous people, easily ignored, their natural resources exploited, their homes and cultures destroyed, hundreds tortured, hundreds of thousands killed. Our media reports endlessly about genocide in remote Xinjiang but not about genocide in neighbouring West Papua. Why? Continue reading »
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Australia’s ‘exceptional’ human rights record
Leaders who consider their country exceptional are less likely to acknowledge any shortcomings. In light of recent criticism of Australia’s human rights record, will our leaders feel so ashamed of being labelled exceptional that they will look to implement standards of common decency considered central to a fair-go culture? Continue reading »
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Cruelty as policy in Australia and elsewhere: a short list of 2020s’ victims
Political cultures also foster sadism, justifying such behaviour by an alleged need to protect national security. And once specific population groups have been dehumanised, they become targets for cruelties. Continue reading »
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Conspiracy Theorists, Free Speech and Australian Politicians
No need to be a wowser to insist that respect for truth cements civil society and that personal relationships, conduct in organizations and the implementation of governments’ policies depend on claims based on proven facts. Continue reading »
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Trump thuggery exploited political fault lines
Fault lines beneath US politics explain the fragility of democracy and the invasion of the Capitol building. Like a thug armed with high explosives, President Trump exploited each weakness and lit the fuse to guarantee an explosion. Continue reading »
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Assange decision welcome but sullied by legal chicanery
The British judge’s ruling that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the United States is welcome, but it comes after the charade called justice in which British authorities held an unconvicted person in a top security prison and made his defence as difficult as possible. Continue reading »
