Writer
Vacy Vlazna
Dr. Vacy Vlazna is Coordinator of Justice for Palestine Matters. She is the author of East Timor: Reveille for Courage, editor of a volume of Palestinian poetry, I remember my name and writes political commentary for a number of independent online magazines. She was Human Rights Advisor to the GAM team in the second round of the Acheh peace talks, Helsinki, February 2005 then withdrew on principle. Vacy was convenor of Australia East Timor Association and coordinator of the East Timor Justice Lobby as well as serving in East Timor with UNAMET and UNTAET from 1999-2001.
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How do they sleep at night?
The nature of human cruelty is vastly complex, so I am focusing on some valued insights that have enlightened my activism.
For years, like others, I was utterly baffled by the question: how do the perpetrators sleep at night? Continue reading » -
Pragmatic national interest vs principled friendship with Timor-Leste
Since WWII, the implied mantra of successive Australian Governments on Timor-Leste is: Your Friends Will Not Forget You- unless it conflicts Continue reading »
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Review: The shock, horror and rage of Mark Willacy’s Rogue Forces
Respected journalist Mark Willacy’s Rogue Forces is imperative reading for its detonating exposé of Australian SAS war crimes in Afghanistan and the systematic cover-ups at varying levels of the Australian Defence Force operations. Continue reading »
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Victors of colonial terrorism, disguised as civilised democracy, get to write the story
Just as Israel’s Independence Day and the Palestinian Nakba Day, in remembrance of deportation and deadly dispossession, have a bloody symbiosis, Australia Day/Invasion Day is celebrated or mourned according to the victors or the vanquished. Continue reading »
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Some joy in the gloom
A photo taken in Warruwi on South Goulburn Island off Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory Continue reading »
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BBC & ABC threatening hearts and minds
Apropos the times, in Covid-Speak government propaganda and lies spread by compliant media are a war-mongering contagion and the only vaccine is the Truth.. and where do you get it? At principled alternative media sites like Pearls & Irritations. They save lives. Continue reading »
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Thug culture, not a warrior culture, to blame
“Losers” commit war crimes and are punished and pilloried in news articles, books, documentaries and movies while cover-ups by the victors of their atrocities ensure the winners evade justice. Continue reading »
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Review: Cruelty or Humanity by Stuart Rees
Cruelty or Humanity by Em.Prof. Stuart Rees, is essential reading in our present tumult and bedlam of human cruelty. Continue reading »
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Australia’s fathers day shame
On this coming Father’s Day I want to salute three fathers whose sons, who have not broken Australian law, were and are betrayed by the Australian government: Terry Hicks, John Shipton and Khalil El-Halabi. Continue reading »
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Smashing the Chinese golden goose egg
In the fragile recovery from mega-bushfires, floods, drought and the pandemic, Australians are looking for competent, trustworthy and decent political leadership. If the Eden-Monaro by-election was a leadership testing ground, both major parties failed. Continue reading »
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Israel’s Aussie Mensch
The Zionist Federation of Australia bestowed in November its 2019 Jerusalem Prize for “exceptional in strengthening Australia-Israel relations” or as Prof. Stuart Rees puts it, ‘for sucking up to Israelis,’ on an exemplary recipient, the prime minister of Australia, Scott Morrison. Continue reading »
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Christchurch, Nobel and the Aussie Comatose Conscience
The Christchurch tragedy has exposed the Canberra virus that haemorrhages hypocrisy, racism, lies, scaremongering and heartlessness infecting the Australian psyche. Continue reading »
