Writer
Stuart Rees
<div id="qt"> <div>Stuart Rees AM is Professor Emeritus at the University of Sydney & recipient of the Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize.</div> <div> <div></div> </div> </div>
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The Richard Boyle case: Lots of persecution, no sign of humanity
The Australian public needs to know why persecution of the principled, courageous ATO whistle blower Richard Boyle has dragged on for six years. He blew the whistle on the ATO in October 2017, the AFP raided his home in April 2018, in March 2023 a judge in South Australia decided he was not immune from Continue reading »
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Authoritarianism rampant
The primary site of the authoritarian cancer is the embrace of abusive power as the way to govern. Continue reading »
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Pat Conroy and the sexuality underpinning AUKUS
The sexual connotation of support for AUKUS should be obvious. An apparent fascination with phallic symbols as large as nuclear submarines, plus language describing how to dominate and penetrate enemies shows notions of security which reflect a top down, masculine interpretation of power. Continue reading »
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At National Conference, the ALP has the chance to recognise Palestine as a state
The 1948 Palestinian catastrophe, known to Palestinians as the Naqba, saw 750,000 of their predecessors driven from their lands, over 500 villages and towns destroyed, the extent of the killings, destruction and dispossession denied and no-one held accountable. How should Australia respond? Continue reading »
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Why does the Australian Government fear dissent on AUKUS and Palestine?
Desperate to present a united front at the forthcoming Labor conference in Brisbane, the Albanese government looks to prevent delegates voting on the merits of the AUKUS alliance and for recognition of Palestine as a state. On two crucial issues, dissent is feared. An opportunity for informed debate will be lost. Toeing a party line Continue reading »
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A boycott of Israeli universities, who could possibly object?
In a significant, scholarly book ‘Boycott Theory and the Struggle for Palestine’, Dr. Nick Riemer describes Palestinian civil society as ‘among the most strangulated and oppressed on the planet.’ Continue reading »
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To honour Daniel Ellsberg, we must reject a US war over Taiwan
Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame, died on June 16. Asked about his decision to dispute the Nixon White House claims about US progress in the Vietnam war, Ellsberg said he had one regret. ‘I waited too long to release those papers. The bombs were already falling.’ From his death bed he stressed the value Continue reading »
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War or peace? Immanuel Kant turns in his grave
In 1795, in his Treatise on Perpetual Peace, philosopher Immanuel Kant advocated rationality about peace by repudiating any plans for military domination, by respect for non-violence and by aiming to abolish standing armies. Continue reading »
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The cowardly conduct of the media, government and AFP
When former NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane was vilified, his home raided and false claims made by a journalist who wanted to promote himself, no apology was given, no restoration made. Instead, the victim became the guilty party, punished for something he did not do. Sounds familiar? Continue reading »
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Managerialist and consultancy deceits: PWC and others
Sudden political excitement about the unethical, almost certainly illegal conduct of a large, too big to disappear, accountancy company, deflects attention from the primary site of a cancerous managerialist disease. That site was infected with the idea that individuals labelled managers, usually but not always accountants, could be trusted to decide how government departments, universities, hospitals Continue reading »
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Gun slaughter of Americans and Palestinians
Despite the horrors of conflicts around the globe, the United States and Israel compete for headlines about their latest killing sprees. These close allies have cultivated cultures of violence, have aided one another with weapons, with military mindsets, with a fascination with violence as the way to solve problems and eliminate opponents. Continue reading »
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Best not to know: how secrecy and ignorance feed AUKUS policy
Reports that Australia pays retired senior US military officials up to $7,500 a day for advice on AUKUS related defence projects, reveals a cultural cringe and taste for secrecy. Such practice is coupled to a common policy technique, of avoiding criticism by maintaining public ignorance. Continue reading »
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President Putin eliminates his critics: the latest sentence – 25 years in prison
For denouncing Russia’s war in Ukraine, the brave dissident Vladimir Kova-Murza has been found guilty of treason and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. This savage punishment, the longest sentence given to any opponent of Putin, shows the Kremlin waging cruel authoritarianism as their preferred means of government. Continue reading »
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Nihilism in Israel, what possible response?
April 5, in Jerusalem, Israeli police using stun grenades and firing rubber coated steel bullets invade the Al Aqsa Mosque. Hundreds of worshippers are arrested. Fourteen Palestinians are wounded by bullets, beatings and tear gas inhalation. Continue reading »
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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 »
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President Xi’s peace plan for Ukraine: plausible and implausible
At first sight, the Chinese President’s twelve proposals to achieve peace between Russia and Ukraine appear plausible. Claims about common interests are supported by references to parties working together for peace and security, abiding by international humanitarian law, sustaining an existing world economic system and insisting that nuclear weapons not be used. Continue reading »
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Rainbow alerts for peace, not red alerts for war
In their Red Alert for War, doom laden experts assembled by the Sydney Morning Herald forecast a war with China. Preoccupied with cybersecurity, biosecurity, with the weaponry available in military alliances, the experts speak the language of militarism and war but have nothing to say about peace. Yet the language of peace can inspire, not Continue reading »
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Authoritarianism pandemics: Belarus, Nicaragua and beyond
Nobel Peace Prize recipient Ales Bialiatski has been sentenced to 10 years in a Belarus prison for allegedly smuggling and financing actions which violated public order. At almost the same time Nicaraguan opposition leader Felix Maradiaga was released from prison, stripped of his citizenship and flown to the US. Continue reading »
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Thinking differently about sovereignty and economy
While Governments often promote consensus views that disguise racism, domination of the less fortunate and an ages old acceptance that violence can sustain dominant interests, recent articles in P&I have begun to challenge this conformity. Continue reading »
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Lessons from the earthquake disasters in Turkey and Syria
At personal, national and international levels, crises provide learning opportunities. How to adapt to loss by seeking change, how to think differently about family, community and nation by, among other things, pondering the meaning of security and sovereignty. Continue reading »
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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 »
