Stuart Rees
Stuart Rees AM is Professor Emeritus at the University of Sydney & recipient of the Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize.
Stuart's recent articles
31 March 2024
A Plea for Gaza: Remember humanity & forget the rest.
If you are not outraged by injustice, you lose touch with your own humanity.
25 March 2024
Moral cowardice hinders pleas for a Common Humanity in Gaza
Faced with war across Europe, nineteenth century poet William Wordsworth asked, What a fair world were ours for verse to paint, if Power could live at ease with self-restraint? He was following sixteenth century John Donnes recognition of human interdependence, No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main
4 March 2024
Israel: a terrorist state
Thursday February 29, starving Gazans try to obtain flour for their families. From the safety of their tanks, Israeli soldiers fire. One hundred and four people are killed, 750 injured. Israeli army spokespersons blame the crowd and insist that most fatalities occurred when Gazans were crushed by aid trucks.
28 February 2024
Death of a Giant for Peace: the Johann Galtung legacy
On Feb 17, aged 93, Norwegian Johann Galtung, polymath Professor of Peace Studies died. In a world riven with conflicts, whose leaders appear to know more about weaponry, destruction and murder than about peace making, Galtungs teaching offers a penicillin for peace, an antidote to the arms trade and to persistent violence.
20 February 2024
Time to occupy Israel
Amid end time destruction, we must liberate Gaza, march to the security wall, and Occupy Israel.
30 January 2024
Toxic effects of censorship on Gaza
Doctors, Teachers, Journalists, Academics are being disciplined, hauled before disciplinary bodies and even sacked for criticising the slaughter in Gaza and, most heinous sin of all, for mentioning genocide. Arrayed against those professionals is a lobby promoting the notion that criticism of Israeli government policies is anti-Semitic, hence the need to censor commentary about the massacres in Gaza.
19 January 2024
Cowardly refusal to support South Africa at the ICJ
In response to South Africas suit before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) charging Israel with genocide in Gaza, Australian politicians have refused to support a significant international means of ending this slaughter of Palestinians. Instead, party leaders search for words to disguise cowardice, to camouflage the lack of courage required to avoid offending Israel or the U.S.
10 January 2024
Sudanese catastrophe: male egos, womens violation
Since April 2023, in a civil war in Sudan, an estimated 10,000 people have been killed, six million internally displaced, over one million are refugees in neighbouring countries, 18 million people are reported by the UN to be food insecure; and where fighting has reached the borders of neighbouring countries, food aid has been suspended.
4 January 2024
Hypocrisy as Australian Foreign Policy: oppose Russia, ignore Israel
In the International Court of Justice in The Hague, South Africa has filed suit against Israel for committing genocide in Gaza in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention. Charges of genocide by South Africa include documentation of Israels killing of thousands of women and children, destruction of homes, denial to a population of water, food, power and medical supplies, the expulsion and displacement of citizens of Gaza.
1 January 2024
Israel is 'rotten to its core'
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, presumably the moral arbiter of his nation, was photographed signing a bomb as a gift for Gaza.
19 December 2023
Usman Khawaja for humanity, Australian MPs for Israel
In contrast to cricketer Usman Khawajas principled stand for human rights, the Liberals Simon Birmingham and Labors Josh Burns broadcast their judgements that the time is not right for a ceasefire. Commentary from these Australian MPs in response to slaughter in Gaza, both of whom are in Israel to show support for that country, shows their warped view of history and scant regard for humanity.
10 December 2023
Hypocritical US vetoes UN ceasefire resolution, cowardly UK abstains
As the bloodbath in Gaza moves towards 18,000 casualties, 70% of whom are women and children, as a humanitarian catastrophe affecting a whole people persists, the rich and powerful US vetoes a U.N. Resolution calling for a ceasefire. The rich and powerful UK ducks for cover and abstains.
4 December 2023
De-Mystifying Hamas: who are the Israeli terrorists?
Mainstream media outlets repeat, Hamas, a terrorist organisation designated by the US and other western governments. Tagged to that description is a daily reminder of the brutality of Hamas attack on October 7 and the taking of over 200 hostages. Intimidated journalists and ill-informed politicians then promote the Israeli message that Hamas is a monster without precedent and must be destroyed.
23 November 2023
What happened to the UNs Responsibility to Protect?
The world watches the destruction of Gaza as 13,000 thousand Palestinians are killed including 5,600 children. The world watches as Gazan hospitals are invaded, patients ordered to flee south where there is neither water, food nor safety. The world watches while Israeli spokespersons claim they never target civilians, and then comes the propagandist fig leaf to conceal all the cruelties. An Israeli spokesperson points to a hole in the ground beside a hospital as evidence of Hamas headquarters.
15 November 2023
'The Australian' weaponises anti-Semitism
The Israeli media has been interpreting the October 7 attack as reaching Holocaust levels, or as an equivalent of the 9-11 attack in the US: and in an atmosphere of fear and anger, Israeli citizens are said to perceive the Hamas slaughter as a threat to the countrys existence. In Australia, to defend Israel, to stifle critics of the bombing of Gaza, and to follow Prime Minister Netanyahus polarisation of choices between good and evil, between civilisation or barbarism, between a powerful law-abiding country or Hamas terrorists, charges of anti-Semitism are being weaponised.
5 November 2023
Expose and dismiss the dominating Israeli narrative
For decades, the western world has been fed Israeli/Zionist narratives about their country being exceptional, Palestinians not existing or being less than human. False Israeli accounts have been swallowed by a compliant media andby politicians scared of being accused of being even slightly anti-Semitic.
26 October 2023
In this conflict, context is everything
The truth of the matter is that Western Governments bear the primary responsibility for both the carnage in Israel and the genocide in Gaza.
15 October 2023
Voices of women, life and freedom battle sadism in Iran
In Australia, in the 25th year of the award of the Sydney Peace Prize, attention has at last been turned to a country, Iran, ruled by fear. The award-winning Iranian born British activist and actress Nazanin Boniadi will receive the 2023 Sydney Peace Prize for drawing attention to human rights violations in Iran, for lending a powerful voice to support for Iranian women and girls in their Women, Life Freedom Movement.
12 October 2023
Netanyahus cries for revenge
Terrible violence and massive loss of life in this latest Palestine/Israel conflict is tragic and regrettable, but commentary from western politicians and their media backers is also tragic. The US rush to generate sympathy for Israel, and with scant regard for the traumatised citizens of Gaza, repeats years of thoughtless commentary that depicts the more powerful nation, Israel, as always, the victim and a people under siege as terrorists.
27 September 2023
The despotism of Mike Pezzullo
Journalists from The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and Sixty Minutes have at last exposed the efforts by Mike Pezzullo, Secretary of Home Affairs, to influence government in favour of conservative politicians and by insisting that press freedom be stifled.
20 September 2023
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 prosecution and a trial may not be held until 2024.
15 September 2023
Authoritarianism rampant
The primary site of the authoritarian cancer is the embrace of abusive power as the way to govern.
23 August 2023
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.
15 August 2023
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?
3 August 2023
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 is the priority. On each issue, Australias identity as an independent, human rights respecting country is at stake, so why fear debate?
2 July 2023
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.
18 June 2023
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 of warning against war before it is too late.
13 June 2023
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.
8 June 2023
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?
4 June 2023
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 thatindividuals labelled managers, usually but not always accountants, could be trusted to decide how government departments, universities, hospitals and other public institutions, could be more cost effective.
19 May 2023
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.
3 May 2023
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.
22 April 2023
President Putin eliminates his critics: the latest sentence - 25 years in prison
For denouncing Russias 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.
11 April 2023
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.
10 April 2023
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?
29 March 2023
President Xis peace plan for Ukraine: plausible and implausible
At first sight, the Chinese Presidents 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.
14 March 2023
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 red alerts but rainbow visions to enhance life, not destroy it.
11 March 2023
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.
23 February 2023
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.
9 February 2023
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.
31 January 2023
Explaining Israels 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.
22 January 2023
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?
15 January 2023
Prince Harrys outrage, spare a thought
Amidst the despair unfolding in the world, buying Prince Harrys Spare means youve been fooled into taking something seriously instead of discarding it at first sight.
28 December 2022
Best of 2022: Russia-Ukraine: For humanitys sake, turn down the heat
Its time we recognise the carnage of this war in Ukraine, and turn to dialogue with Russia.
19 December 2022
Nobel recipients humanity is in stark contrast to Putins 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 Presidents 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 dictators Putin and Lukashenko.
10 December 2022
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.
8 December 2022
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.
30 November 2022
The Voice of an obstructionist, willfully ignorant National Party
The National Partys decision to campaign against a voice to parliament is destructive and wilfullyignorant. 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.
2 November 2022
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.