Writer
William Briggs
Dr William Briggs is a political economist. His special areas of interest lie in political theory and international political economy. He has been, variously, a teacher, journalist and political activist.
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The China threat: turning myth into reality
We have been told that China poses a real and present danger to Australia and, regardless of the truth, it has become a ‘truth.’ Continue reading »
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China: a manufactured threat
Is China a threat? Presidents, Prime Ministers, governments and opposition parties all tell us that it is. There is barely a day passes without the media finding new and more expansive ways to ‘prove’ the existence of this threat. And while all this goes on, the voices of dissent become marginalised. Continue reading »
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The witch-hunting of Moslemane and Zhang
Australia’s ‘foreign interference’ laws were criticised by many as a step towards domestic authoritarian politics with a pronounced anti-China flavour. NSW politician Shaoqett Moselmane and staffer John Zhang have since been attacked by the Attorney-General, the PM, and vilified by the media; all in the cause of witch-hunting China. Now both Moselmane and Zhang are Continue reading »
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The United States moving a step closer to the brink
Kevin Rudd’s most recent article in Foreign Affairs, warns us to ‘beware the guns of August.’ His allusion to the early days of WWI is apt, but the world is by no means ‘sleepwalking’ to war but rather rushing, with eyes wide open, toward the precipice. Continue reading »
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America’s drive to war with Australia as a willing participant.
The world has moved a step closer to war. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s latest outrageous speech has signalled a change of policy and Australia has once again willingly agreed to aid and abet the USA in its provocative and dangerous actions. Continue reading »
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Lincoln’s second assassination
And so, the statues topple. History is revised and historical figures, deserving of homage are lumped together with those who deserve condemnation. There is a madness upon the earth. Somehow, symbols of slave-owning society, and those who fought against slavery have been mixed, amalgamated, and history has been turned upon its head. Continue reading »
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Morrison beating the drums of war
Scott Morrison’s most recent statements regarding defence and security are chilling reminders that a war with China is no longer merely a possibility, but that real plans are being made in real time. Continue reading »
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US-Chinese relations: why things just keep getting sharper
President Trump’s press conference on the 29th May has set the scene for even more dangerous US-Sino relations. He claimed that China was effectively responsible for the 100,000 American COVID-19 deaths, has ‘ripped off’ the US economy and ‘stolen jobs.’ Continue reading »
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WILLIAM BRIGGS. Tear gas – only fit for civilians
Television cameras show streets filled with angry men and women. The air is thick with tear gas. There are batons, armoured police, and pepper spray. For some a symbol of resistance. For others fearful scenes of anarchy. For many more a sign that something is terribly wrong. Continue reading »
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WILLIAM BRIGGS. A Trade War is Announced
A new ‘cold war’ has been announced. While some will have it that COVID 19 is at the root of the deteriorating relations between the US and China, the pandemic is but a symptom of a deeper and potentially far more deadly problem; how the US responds to its perceived China threat. Continue reading »
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WILLIAM BRIGGS. What Drives Peter Hartcher
Peter Hartcher, the Sydney Morning Herald’s international editor, maintains an indefatigable but entirely unedifying assault on China. He is by no means alone in vitriolic attacks. Continue reading »
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WILLIAM BRIGGS. ANZAC Day 2020: why they died and for what?
It is now 105 years since Gallipoli. We have had more than a century to reflect and possibly learn the odd lesson or two. But it seems that nothing has been learned. Continue reading »
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WILLIAM BRIGGS. Assange – when telling the truth becomes a crime
The campaign by Julian Assanges’s lawyers to stop his extradition and the support that his campaign has won and is winning across the globe shows just how torn the fabric of our democracies has become. Continue reading »
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WILLIAM BRIGGS Lessons in how to hate China
In an often-confused world, some things have a ring of certainty. The steady rise in anti-Chinese rhetoric is an example. It is disturbing, and largely baseless, but is becoming one of life’s truisms. This is not to suggest that China is beyond criticism or that its internal politics are in any way defensible. A country Continue reading »
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WILLIAM BRIGGS. How Australia became a racist country
Is Australia a racist country? Are Australians racist? The questions crop up with unfortunate regularity. There is another question. How did Australia become a racist country? An accident of birth cannot be a reason for what has become an entrenched fear of the other, and yet there is a deeply rooted xenophobia in Australia. How Continue reading »
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WILLIAM BRIGGS And So Unto Dust …
Amid all the hand-wringing, wailing and gnashing of teeth in the aftermath of the election, it might be wise to reflect on some possibly painful little truths pertaining to the process and indeed legitimacy of the entire electoral system. Continue reading »
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WILLIAM BRIGGS Julian Assange and the Australian Election – the issue that must not speak its name
Julian Assange was arrested and taken from the Ecuadorean embassy just one day after the Federal election was called. Coincidences, or accidents of chance can, just occasionally, present political opportunities. This particular coincidence offered a chance for the arrest, and the whole saga of his years in the Ecuadorean embassy to figure, if only in Continue reading »
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WILLIAM BRIGGS ANZAC Day: lest we forget the militarisation of the Australian economy
ANZAC Day is once more upon us. We are told that it is a time for reflection. And, so it is. The sad truth is that we engage in little actual or meaningful contemplation of the date or of its deeper meaning. There are, of course, exhortations, there are reminders (lest we forget), there are Continue reading »
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WILLIAM BRIGGS-The US, walls, and the paradox of a globally integrated capitalist economy
Two significant events are being played out on the US-Mexican border. They appear at first to be unrelated and yet show the paradoxes and contradictions surrounding the economic structures that dominate our lives. Continue reading »
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WILLIAM BRIGGS – The Victorian election in a global context
That the ALP won the Victorian election was not really a surprise. The magnitude of that victory certainly was. Tea-leaves are being read and many a goat has had its entrails threatened as the political class and the media search for understanding. Something is happening out there and that something is being reflected across the Continue reading »
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WILLIAM BRIGGS. A century of remembrance days: will the guns ever fall silent?
One hundred years ago ‘the guns fell silent’ or at least WWI ended. Since the end of the war to end all wars, however, 120 million more people have died as a result of armed conflict. Well might we remember, but what are we remembering and what have we learned along the way? Continue reading »
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WILLIAM BRIGGS. Snow globes on the road to war
I stood the other day in a post office queue. Among a range of souvenirs marking the centenary of the end of WWI, were commemorative snow globes. It suggested all that is perverse in marketing, but then it might be argued that marketing is a perverse science. Australians are increasingly being convinced to ‘buy’ Continue reading »
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WILLIAM BRIGGS. There are no racists here.
Race and racism have come to dominate political debate in Australia in recent times. However, as Senator Ian McDonald assured us earlier this year, racism does not exist in Australia! The Liberal Party have declared themselves a racist free zone, although the Sudanese community in Melbourne might see Dutton’s statements that they are nothing more Continue reading »
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WILLIAM BRIGGS. The Chinese threat in far away Hobart.
Two events in the past couple of weeks have signalled disturbing trends in local and global politics. It might seem a long bow to draw a link between a city council election in Hobart with the sometimes rarefied atmosphere of international relations, but there is a link and it is a serious one. Continue reading »
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WILLIAM BRIGGS The anti-China syndrome at work in far away Tasmania.
A little over a century ago, the world plunged into war. The call to nationalism, national identity and symbolism was carefully promoted. The conditions that created that war still echo. We see, today, an integrated global capitalism in contradiction to a powerful nation-state system. We see fears, animosities and distrust between peoples and states rise Continue reading »
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WILLIAM BRIGGS. Strange Bedfellows: The Tasmanian Greens and ultra right in the China panic.
What do the Tasmanian Greens and Australia First Party have in common? While it’s unlikely to pop up in any trivia night, what they say is by no means trivial. What shouldn’t happen is very nearly happening. Recent statements from the leaders of the two parties almost converge as they wade into a vigorous, and Continue reading »
