Human Rights
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Courage in public office and Australia’s recognition of Palestine
“No room for robust debate” within ALP caucus. “There is so much courage that Australia could exercise. We could come out and be the real champions of human rights, and human life, that we claim to be – especially within the Labor party.” High profile Senator Fatima Payman and former Labor Senator Margaret Reynolds discuss Continue reading »
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A call to all Christians in Australia to strive for a just peace in the holy land
In the Name of Christ, Our Peace – The time has come for people of faith to hear the cries of the people of Palestine, Gaza and Lebanon and to do everything in our power towards the ending of the death and destruction they are suffering. Continue reading »
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Politicking wins, vulnerable people lose out
Isn’t it better to hold on to integrity, uplift the lives of the most vulnerable in our society and risk losing an election, rather than win an election through the brutal treatment of society’s most vulnerable people? Continue reading »
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The prescience of Corporal Hijack
A year ago, Mussa Hijazi, a stone-throwing young teenager of the first Intifada who became a long-serving Canberra lawyer, laid out three options on how the conflict in Gaza would end. Continue reading »
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A necessary reckoning of bloodletting in Gaza
The premeditated bloodletting in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and many other largely forgotten parts of the world speaks hauntingly of the normalisation of death and destruction, largely for cruel, self-serving and illusory reasons. Continue reading »
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China speaks for conscience of the world at UN over horror in Gaza
Disgraceful veto of draft ceasefire resolution by US coincides with arrest warrants by International Criminal Court for Israeli pair on war crimes. Continue reading »
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If Tel Aviv was reduced to rubble like Gaza, the world would stop the war immediately
My mother survived the WW2 Nazi Auschwitz extermination camp, and she always asked why was the world silent? Why did they look away from the genocide of the Jews and do nothing? Today we know the answer as our government and media look away and do nothing for the Palestinians. Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
A defendant who spied on JUlian Assange during his embassy asylum faces criminal charges for falsifying evidence. At the UN the State of Palestine reiterates that despite of labes of ‘terrorism’ Palestinian people have a seven -decade just cause while Piers Morgan interviews Francesca Albanese. In Pakistan, Imran Khan supporters are being brutally attacked, while Continue reading »
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The politics of ignoring genocide
Jews in Germany, Bosnians in former Yugoslavia, Tutsis in Rwanda, and now Palestinians in Gaza. In a recent interview, Francesca Albanese posed a rhetorical question: What kind of monsters have we become to see the live-streamed genocide of Palestinians and not act? Continue reading »
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Fighting coercive control: Why we can’t police our way to safety
Last week the state of South Australia moved another step closer to criminalising coercive control, with the bill passing through the House of Assembly on its way to the Legislative Council. Continue reading »
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Addressing harms caused by Australia’s response to ‘Slavery’
Chris Evans’ involvement in anti-trafficking responses in the late 2000’s was a heady time for the sector; John Howards’ ousting led many to hope migration would no longer be the political weapon of choice, human rights became important and collaboration with civil society became funded, fair and feasible. Continue reading »
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Devil in the detail of UAE trade deal reveals failure on Labor policy
The Labor government has a policy which requires enforceable commitments to internationally recognised labour rights and environmental standards in trade agreements, and to safeguard the rights of First Nations peoples and women. The announcement of negotiations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last year surprised many because the UAE has not ratified some basic labour Continue reading »
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Craig Foster: “Refugees are not political footballs”
“Seeking asylum is legal. Refugees are tired of being used as political footballs,” said former Socceroo Captain and human rights advocate Craig Foster while umpiring a Refugee Soccer Match on Sunday. Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
Owen Jones reveals media manipulation regarding the soccer in Amsterdam. Palestine, the most well-documented genocide in history, Gideon Levy speaks of the Apartheid state while Andrey reveals the destruction of Bedouin communities. In South Lebanon, attacks on cities intensify while reports Israel has killed more than 200 paramedics are ignored by the press. At home, Continue reading »
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Modern slavery in Australia’s diplomatic heart: envoys’ abuse of domestic workers exposed
Court rulings have revealed harrowing stories of abuse and neglect at the hands of envoys operating under diplomatic immunity in Canberra. Continue reading »
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History cannot excuse the crimes of the present
One of Mark Twain’s more celebrated aphorisms is that ‘history never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme’. Witty, no doubt, but it doesn’t seem quite adequate to Israel’s genocidal destruction of Gaza, its longstanding, settler-led expansion into the West Bank, or the implausible use of history to justify current policy. Continue reading »
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Netanyahu has been leading the United States into disaster after disaster after disaster
This is a US operation being carried out by Israel but with complete complicity by the United States and silence by Europe. Continue reading »
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Zionists’ inflammation of antisemitism
The primary focus of the Zionist movement and the Israeli lobby is not combating anti-Semitism but rather combating critics of Israel’s colonial apartheid regime and the crimes it is perpetrating against the Palestinian people. Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese speaks out for humanity, Palestine speaks in the UN, the PM of Ireland speaks out for the UNRWA and Bernie Sanders explains the difference between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on Israel. Overnight continued Israeli attacks decimate lives in Beit Lahia, North Gaza, the US State department gives their perspective. Continue reading »
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The banning of UNWRA: The situation could not be grimmer
Let us be abundantly clear. What Israel is intending is against its obligations under international law. What Israel is intending is against its moral obligations as fellow citizens of the human race. Continue reading »
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Clean slate for prison reform
The Canberra community decided on 19 October to remove from its parliament the two most recent ministers for corrections, Mick Gentleman (Labor) and Emma Davidson (Green). Continue reading »
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Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity “extreme under any circumstances”
“The events since October 7 have been absolutely overwhelming. And that means they are overwhelming for everybody, but particularly for the people who are experiencing them, those who are suffering. The victims. It’s regularly said that October 7 represented the greatest killing of Jewish people since the Holocaust. And that’s correct. What’s said less frequently Continue reading »
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Lidia, I’m angry, too
A lot has been written in the past few days about Senator Lidia Thorpe and her courageous act of speaking truth to power when she confronted coloniser, King Charles, in the colonial halls of Parliament. Yet amidst the commentary, one voice remains absent: the voice of the criminalised community. As a formerly incarcerated woman, I Continue reading »
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Nobel messages from East Asia, 2024
Early in October 2024, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the award of two major prizes: the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize to the Japanese grassroots peace organisation Nihon Hidankyo (Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organisations), and the literature prize to the Korean novelist, Han Kang. From both winners came messages addressed to our troubled Continue reading »
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Thank goodness for Lidia Thorpe
Calling Lidia Thorpe “un-Australian”, as occurred in Canberra on 22 October, is to be reminded that being “Australian” is to grovel to British royalty, to curtsy, genuflect and pay homage and allegiance to an anti-democratic institution, to a man who has wealth, position, entitlement and power due to birth, and birth only. Continue reading »
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The treatment of detainees at the Alexander Maconochie Centre federal prison in Canberra
So far, the only media outlets courageous enough to publish my revelations about the inhumane treatment of David McBride and other inmates at the odious Alexander Maconochie Centre federal prison in Canberra have been Pearls and Irritations and Canberra’s City News. Continue reading »
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Coping with despair: Palestine, Lebanon and beyond
Israel’s atrocities for which they are not held accountable, leaves a world feeling powerless to do more than watch and protest. Intervention to cope with a pandemic of despair, requires life enhancing responses to foster peace and revive respect for international humanitarian law. Continue reading »
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Make aid reach Gaza, but not until children starve to death for another 30 days, says US
For years, the Israeli authorities have restricted food, fuel and essential supplies to the Palestinians in Gaza, turning the deliveries on and off at will. This contributed to the desperate Hamas outbreak on 7 October 2023, which some experienced observers believe the Netanyahu government expected Continue reading »
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Terms of engagement: Refusing the Zionist narrative
“Our language shouldn’t be designed to appease the oppressor.” Steve Salaita Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
The onslaught of Israeli horror continues on Northern Gaza. Learn about the victim in the images shared across the world, Shaban al-Dalu, a 19-year-old university student. Israel has dropped the equivalent of six atomic bombs on Gaza, three times smaller than Hiroshima. We see horror in the aftermath as women and children are found in Continue reading »
