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

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 achieves its goals.

Sanctioning Israel: Courage to Present a Petition to Parliament

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.

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.

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.

Mandela Courage for a Dangerous World

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.

Peace and global citizenship: student's present concerns and future hopes

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.

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 only a convenient rationale.

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.

Immigration: language of cruelty or words for humanity

The Coalition governments 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.

Denial as policy, the Tamil Biloela family.

In a school playground, a little boy responds to being caught doing something wrong: It wasnt 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 family.

The Tamil family: cruelty beggars belief

The Tamil family: cruelty beggars belief

The continued detention of the Tamil Biloela family, let alone the threat to deport them, confirms the governments fascination with cruelty as policy. To demonstrate their bravery in defending Australias borders, Ministers think that to protect comfortable and fortunate Australians, they must show a wanton disregard of the interests of the powerless and vulnerable.

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.

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.

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 at worst, more betrayal and hypocrisy.

Paranoia over China, government, media, AFP collusion

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.

Labor makes another flimsy commitment to Palestinians

While Israel and Palestine are geographically distant, theres no excuse for the Labor Partys out of touch support for a two-state solution, and for appearing unaware of critiques of the controversial Israeli supported definition of anti-Semitism.

An American culture of violence: Implications for Australia?

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 pandemics root cause.

Police compliance with cruelty: will Australia follow Moscow, Minsk and Myanmar?

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.

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?

Australias 'exceptional' human rights record

Leaders who consider their country exceptional are less likely to acknowledge any shortcomings. In light of recent criticism of Australias 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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Cancelling Brexit, the only remedy for a disastrous decision

No deal Brexit looms. Britain will be leaving the EU. Nationalist Prime Minister Boris Johnson promises the use of the Royal Navy to protect British fishing boats and to keep foreign vessels out, even though the EU emphasized inclusiveness. Theres no place for friendly sentiments among ethnocentric Tories.

Replacing Cruelty to Refugees with Aspirations from 1948

If politicians re-learn the principles which dignified the rule-based order, launched in 1948 with passing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this should affect the chances that 2021 will not see a repeat of the cruelties of 2020.

Reveille for Timor, apology from Australia: Courage or Cowardice in Public Life

In common with other countries, Australian rejuvenation after the Covid pandemic depends not only on a vaccine, but also on a language for humanity, as in advocating the return of human rights principles and displays of courage in public life.

Morrison's selective attitude to human rights

Article 1 of the UN Charter declares objectives to promote and encourage respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion. But the Morrison government ignores the abuses of its friends, does not care about the without distinction principle, and thereby undermines claims to champion human rights.

Apologising to Shaoquett Moselmane - a touch of courage needed

Courage to say sorry to anyone wrongly offended is an invaluable quality in personal relations and in the cement which builds a dignified civil society, but courage and dignity is still absent in the treatment of NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane.

Slaughter in France, abusive power, the significance of satire

Slaughter in Paris and Nice by Islamist extremists raises the issue whether it is worth risking discussion of actions taken in the name of a religion, let alone re-asserting the value of satire.

Shaoquett Moselmane, Dan Oakes and Julian Assange: what price justice? What about the media?

Under the guise of a phenomenon called security, currently interpreted as suspect any pro-China sentiment, or dont reveal murder by US forces, sinister theatrics play across Australia. These reveal Shaoquett Moselmane MP as one victim, ABC journalist Dan Oakes another, and in Londons Belmarsh security prison sits Julian Assange.

Downer on Palestine: to the Manor Born

The powerful prey mercilessly on the vulnerable and the mainstream media let them get away with it.

P&I ISSUES in Stuart Rees Cruelty or Humanity , Bristol: Policy Press 2020

Regarded by international jurist Richard Falk as A road map for humanity and by Noam Chomsky as a wonderful guide to the challenges we face, Stuart Rees' 'Cruelty or Humanity'identifies world-wide threats to freedom and democracy and displays the humanitarian alternatives.

Overcoming Fatalism: Victoria, The Congo and Yemen

Scapegoating Victoria suggests indifference to global issues. A touch of internationalism could replace the hand wringing pity which has been compounded by partisan attacks on Premier Andrews.

Police state governance and the civil liberties of an MP

In disdain for human rights and to display power, governments deploy police forces to harass or arrest citizens, and then justify their actions with claims about the influence of foreign forces.And it's happening right now in Australia.

Border openings, vaccine illusions and a log jam of proposals

Even before a Covid-19 vaccine arrives Coalition politicians, limited by their assumption there is no alternative to capitalism, are recommending the resurrection of Reagan and Thatcher policies to treat everyone and everything as a commodity.

Words matter - poets can change the World!

Responses to the mayhem caused by the destruction of Beirut will have much in common with the aftermath of Covid 19: long term recovery from devastation coupled to an opportunity to build societies so different from those which preceded the explosion and the virus.

Make peace not war, the language of military strategists

Politicians, defence strategists and media enthusiasts for the armed forces will use words from the Defence Strategic Update proposal to spend $270 billion on weapons for the military. Via the language of non-violence, it is also valuable to convey other ways of thinking.

United States and Australia, so little in common ?

Australia identifies with and supports US democracy, yet values and dominant modes of thought in America have produced a form of governance so dysfunctional that Australians should question their assumptions about the two countries similarities.

Drop the xenophobia and Cold War tactics - respect Shaoquett Moselmane's rights

A healthy civil and democratic society depends on citizens' ability to weigh up diverse views, to re-frame issues and to consider the dangers when powerful people make claims without any obvious evidence.

A Politics of Deceit: Israel/US Annexation of Palestinian Lands

In response to Israels intention to annex up to 30% of the West Bank, respect for truth by all the parties involved, Israeli, Palestinian, US, European and Australian, has been replaced by calculations about the benefits of deceit.

Pathology of a Dictatorship: Lessons from the Philippines

Over six thousand kilometres to the north of Australia, a dangerous pandemic is spreading and needs to be contained. President Duterte of the Philippines is consolidating his dictatorship with an Anti-Terrorism Bill which defines terrorism so broadly that free speech can be prosecuted and any dissent punished.

Authoritarian cultures in Hong Kong, the US and Australia.

Authoritarianism as a way to govern has been embraced in democracies and by dictators. It rests on assumptions that leaders know best, dissent should be suppressed, democracy derided, free speech stifled, control made effective by violence and secrecy.

Cowardice as a principle of foreign policy, what on earth are they thinking?

In relation to Israels decades of military occupation of Palestinian lands, a cowardice spreading pandemic has infected Australian politicians and public servants. Recent symptoms are evident in the Australian governments submission to the International Criminal Court (ICC) that an investigation of Israeli war crimes in Palestine should not take place.

Character Assassination as Journalism & Politics

The notion common humanity presupposes regard for respect, dignity, tolerance, thoughtfulness, generosity and support for non-violence. Recent attacks against the Assistant President of the NSW Upper House, Moslem Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane, displayed none of those qualities.

Socialism, Language and Values for Post Corona World.

New words and phrases, lockdown, self-isolation, flattening the curve, have been coined to explain ways to cope with Covid-19. Language to promote the traits of a post corona society is also needed.

An End To Global Capitalism

The raiding of supermarket shelves shows the influence of capitalism at its worst: competition, selfishness, exploitation by the successful raiders at the expense of those who could not compete or decided not to.

Learning from a crisis

Sickness and deaths from the corona virus present challenges to save lives, but could also prompt discussion about different ways to live.

Copyright Laws: Corporate Greed, Legal Farce

The operation of Copyright Laws amounts to a giant con, a legal farce and an opportunity for corporate greed.

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