Human Rights
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History Hits the Headlines.Our Troubled Past
History haunts many countries at the moment. This is especially true of the United States. But Australia , New Zealand, Britain, France and Belgium are being forced to once again face up to their legacy of colonial brutality and attendant racism…. Continue reading »
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Justice impossible with secret trials
Over in the United States, a former national security adviser to Donald Trump, John Bolton, has a book about to hit the newsstands. It is very critical of, and indiscreet about, his former boss. It shows Trump double dealing with China, approving, not disapproving of its persecution and detention of the Uighars, and seeking China’s… Continue reading »
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Black Lives Matter, Gandhi and Makarrta
The challenge for the Black Lives Matter protesters is to maintain their rage and commitment to their cause as Gandhi did to his, while remaining scrupulously non-violent…. Continue reading »
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Faulty reasoning in BBC purge. Dealing with art and prejudice.
How will the BBC, other media organisations and theatre companies deal with plays that are clearly prejudicial, injurious and intolerant towards a particular group of people in the future? … Continue reading »
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We may be stuck in our bigotry. Urgent change on many fronts needed
So much of our political mainstream has been based on bigotry and racist perspectives. We have always had the comfort of the US and UK accepting our attitudes on race. That no longer will be the case…. Continue reading »
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Remove place names dedicated to racists. *
* This article uses the names of some deceased persons. The removal of the visual reminders of perpetrators of racism is a good move towards helping Indigenous peoples feel as though they belong in their own land…. Continue reading »
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Unlearning racism starts with deep listening
The George Floyd case has given witness to social systems in the US that privilege whiteness. However across the world, there is institutional police brutality that is an expression of existing tensions and hierarchies…. Continue reading »
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FRANK BRENNAN SJ. ‘I can’t breathe.’
Martin Luther King said ‘in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard’. … Continue reading »
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SPENCER ZIFCAK. The New Asio Powers: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Minister for Home Affairs, Peter Dutton, has introduced new, comprehensive powers for ASIO. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill 2020 repeals ASIO’s existing questioning and detention warrant framework and introduces a reformed and extended compulsory questioning scheme. The Bill is not all bad. But there is quite enough in it to cause those… Continue reading »
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TONY SMITH. Time to abolish the spies?
Planned expansion of the powers of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) should alarm anyone who believes in democratic values and rule of law…. Continue reading »
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STUART REES 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…. Continue reading »
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DAVID SOLOMON. Privacy should be protected
If I thought my privacy would genuinely be protected, I would have little hesitation in downloading the coronavirus tracing app being developed for the national cabinet…. Continue reading »
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ISABELLE REINECKE & BELINDA LOWE. Strong democratic systems will see us through COVID-19
The COVID-19 crisis has rapidly hit every aspect of our lives. Governments are making life or death decisions during this emergency period that will reshape the face of our nation for decades to come. Strong democratic systems that enable transparency, scrutiny and accountability are key to success on all these fronts…. Continue reading »
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STUART REES. 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…. Continue reading »
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GREG BAILEY. Covid-19 and personal liberty.
It has been many years since Australians experienced a crisis like the present one where all paradigms have been turned upside down. The social implications of the need for physical isolation are immense and the economic costs, both personal and national, are equally significant…. Continue reading »
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Singapore Prime Minister’s message to foreign workers
What a contrast to Australia’s treatment of foreign workers…. Continue reading »
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WITNESS J in the Pell case. I am content. Do not be discouraged.
I respect the decision of the High Court. I accept the outcome…. Continue reading »
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ELIZABETH COOMBS and AMY MCCARTHY.-DARE WE QUESTION ‘THE BARD’?
It may be “That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet” (Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene I), but there is a lot in a name, particularly if you are transgender. ‘Deadnaming’ denies and repudiates the gender identity of transgender individuals…. Continue reading »
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MARY KELLY. Gaza must be given the right to fight the Covid-19 pandemic
Australia must call on Israel to lift the crippling blockade so that Gazans can be given a chance to fight Covid-19. … Continue reading »
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PATRICIA and DON EDGAR. Who is expendable? Ethics in an age of a pandemic
In 1651, the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, writing about the social contract, warned that without a strong central government man reverts to his natural state of self-interest and life is ‘solitary, poore, nasty, brutish and short’. The West has rejected Hobbes’ philosophy and we have seen the erosion of strong central government across decades. And… Continue reading »
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GREG BAILEY. Predictability, Society and the COVID 19 Virus
The economic stimulus must adopt a whole of society approach, focusing on those of lower income, of a kind that it has consistently refused to do. If it does this and, above all, can be seen to be doing it, then Australia may emerge out of this crisis as a better country than it was… Continue reading »
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MILES LITTLE. Coronavirus – more than an ethical problem
There are support groups springing up at community level in various places, offering contactless food delivery for self-isolating people and for the elderly left without carers, and regular telephone calls for the isolated…. Continue reading »
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DAVID MACILWAIN. The Beechworth Principles – setting demands for Integrity in Government
As claims the Federal Government is honestly serving and representing the people look increasingly hollow, Independent MP Helen Haines has presented a historic scheme to hold them to account in “the Beechworth Principles”…. Continue reading »
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ROSEMARY O’GRADY. Anthropology and Perspective
One of the rare pleasures of working to salvage documentation of a vandalized archive is that, sometimes, a damaged jewel surfaces amidst the rubble…. Continue reading »
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MARK BUCKLEY. Men of Australia Lift Your Game
Recently I heard Phil Cleary speaking on the radio, which reminded me of an interview of his I heard four and a half years ago concerning family violence…. Continue reading »
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DUNCAN GRAHAM. Bali Nine ‘Black Sheep’ pleads for mercy
The media curtain-raisers for Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s visit to Australia focused on trade and visas. Human rights activists were hoping the agenda might include the fate of the five surviving Bali Nine. One is Martin Stephens…. Continue reading »
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GREG BARNS and LISANNE ADAM: JULIAN ASSANGE – THE LONG ROAD TO EUROPE
Julian Assange’s fight against extradition to the United States from the UK highlights breaches of his rights under European human rights law. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is likely to take a very dim view of the United States’ conduct because to allow extradition would breach a number of Mr Assange’s human rights…. Continue reading »
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VACY VLAZNA. On Becoming Australian: A Migrant Story, Part 1
Australia is an unresolved crime scene… Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. Modi’s threat to the idea, national unity and territorial integrity of India
China’s Communist Party never admits to mistakes but always learns from them. India’s PM Narendra Modi never admits to mistakes and seems too stubborn to learn from them. He calls to mind Barbara Tuchman’s description of Philip II of Spain: ‘No experience of the failure of his policy could shake his belief in its essential… Continue reading »
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PETER RODGERS: Human rights in Xinjiang and Gaza.(A Repost 22.10.2019)
US and Australian responses to China’s maltreatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang and Israel’s blockade of Gaza reveal glaring double standards. But no worse perhaps than those of many Muslim states hungry for China’s largesse. … Continue reading »
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