Human Rights
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Australia and apartheid Israel: “not to act is to condone”
The recent Robert Gregory blog in Australian Jewish News demands a response. Continue reading »
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Don’t forget the Nakba
With the passing of the 75th remembrance of the Nakba this May, Palestine and its Occupation can often be forgotten from one May to another. Continue reading »
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Migration policy and modern slavery: no sex worker left behind?
While minds turn to an overhaul of Australia’s migration policies, anti-sex work sentiment may have created a parallel policy reality for some. Continue reading »
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Stella Assange in Australia
For those familiar with the ongoing prosecution of Julian Assange by the United States, a brutal carnivalesque endeavour that continues to blight that legal system, there is not much to be said. Assange is a political prisoner who must be freed. But the task remains for those like Stella Assange to convince politicians and journalists Continue reading »
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Julian Assange: hung by the thread of ignorance
If you witnessed a war crime, what would you do? Since the US led capture of Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy into the UK’s Belmarsh prison, he has served four torturous years of detainment. Julian’s family, their international team of lawyers along with a growing number of leaders, scholars, concerned citizens – and especially Continue reading »
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The ongoing Palestinian Nakba
Today, May 15th, is the 75th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe). And counting. I say ‘and counting’ because the theft of our land, the occupation, the siege on Gaza, the disposition of our people, the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and replacement of the Palestinian nation, with Jews, often of dual nationality, from around the Continue reading »
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The doors to Assange’s cell will not open by themselves
Despite a year of grace given to the Prime Minister for ‘quiet diplomacy’ to work, the release of Julian Assange from political incarceration and extradition looks as remote as ever – so it seems it’s time to get out the loudhailer once more. Continue reading »
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AUKUS, Assange, and the “seething pathologies” of the American Security State
We are permitting ourselves no character of our own under the architecture of the Alliance. It means we’ve accepted the status of a kind of client state, or American territory. I won’t say the 51st state. It means we’ve got even less independence than a US governor would have, former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr Continue reading »
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Human Rights and ethnic-regional autonomy in China
When the western media and politicians speak of China’s treatment of minorities it is always taken for granted that such treatment is a violation of the minority’s human rights. I would venture to differ. China has a complex framework of ethnic-regional autonomy enshrined in its constitution that is poorly understood in the West. Having worked Continue reading »
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Our human rights are fundamental to our chances of peace
Constitutional enshrinement of rights through a federal Human Rights Act is essential. Continue reading »
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The Persecution of Truth
The war on whistleblowers, WikiLeaks and truth will be examined at a conference called The Persecution of Truth at the State Library of Queensland on Sunday April 30th. Continue reading »
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“It’s armageddon, but not as we know it”
Why are tens of millions of Christians supporting the expansion of Israel and the oppression of the Palestinians? It’s an important question because the answer has serious consequences for the stability of the Middle East. Continue reading »
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No bulldozer can bury the truth: Remembering Rachel Corrie
In another echo of early 2003, the twentieth anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie on 16 March went largely unreported. Continue reading »
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The Kashmir insurgency
One of the world’s oldest unresolved international issues, Kashmir, has experienced many stark vicissitudes over time. In 2019, it made headlines due to India’s controversial revocation of Article 35A and 370, which essentially eliminated Kashmir’s special status and autonomy. Continue reading »
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Toothless protections: the public interest disclosure act and Richard Boyle
Australian legal and political history is littered with examples of petty and vicious prosecutions, notably against those considered dangerous tittle tattles who give the game away and seek to shine some light on the unpalatable practices of those in power. Continue reading »
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FOI exposes Australia’s attempts to protect Israel on apartheid status
Foreign Minister, Penny Wong has asserted that Australia does not accept that Israel is an apartheid State. Freedom of information (FOI) documents have exposed that this position is not based on DFAT legal advice. The concerns of many Australians that their government, through trade and other dealings, or by even visiting Israel, might be making Continue reading »
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Does the ABC regard Palestinians as humans, equal to Ukrainians?
An open letter to the ABC, 22 March 2023. Continue reading »
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Imperial power: The Iraq war, 20 years on
Iraq’s trauma is regarded in some quarters as an ill-gotten remnant of the past: something to be air-brushed from history. But not so for those experiencing the ravages of imperial power. On the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq – March, 20, 2023 – the people of Iraq await a historical reckoning. Continue reading »
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The betrayers of Julian Assange
I have known Julian Assange since I first interviewed him in London in 2010. I immediately liked his dry, dark sense of humour, often dispensed with an infectious giggle. He is a proud outsider: sharp and thoughtful. We have become friends, and I have sat in many courtrooms listening to the tribunes of the state Continue reading »
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Silent collaborator
Exclusive new Declassified Australia report details Australia’s official neglect of detained WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, revealed in Federal Government files obtained under FOI legislation. Continue reading »
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Palestinians are not terrorists
Australia supports, indeed resources, Ukrainian armed resistance to Russia’s invasion and its attempt to forcibly exert its sovereignty over Ukrainian soil. Very few Australians appear to find fault with this position. For what reason is Israel’s provocative and continuing colonisation of Palestine not seen in the same light? Continue reading »
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An open call for genocide in Palestine
Some might think that state genocide is a new phenomenon in Israeli occupied Palestine. I can assure you that this is the very essence of Zionism. The point was, and still is, to occupy the land, get rid of the people by any and every means, and change the topography and the demography of Palestine Continue reading »
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Discarding article 9 of the Japanese constitution is not inducive to peace in Asia Pacific
Those service personnel who died in WWII fighting against the Japanese would turn in their grave if they knew that their descendants were rearming Japan. There is no reason for any accelerated arm race or nuclear proliferation in the East Pacific. Why are we creating one? Continue reading »
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Ha’aretz: Israel is now a “formal, full-fledged apartheid regime”
Following yet another Israeli Settler killing spree and the “annexation of the West Bank”, Israel is now a “formal, full-fledged apartheid regime”, writes leading Isreali newspaper Ha’aretz. Continue reading »
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Young Afghan women are pivoting to online education after the Taliban ban
It has been over a year and half since girls’ secondary education was banned by the Taliban in Afghanistan, and recently, they banned women from studying at universities too – which led the future of many women and girls to darkness. Continue reading »
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The one hope for peace in the West Bank
Last Thursday, the Australian government condemned Israel for planting more settlements on the occupied West Bank: 10,000 extra units. It’s a big step to criticise Israel because in Australia its organised friends are a powerful lobby. But this was a huge breach of international law. And, as Penny Wong pointed out, a deliberate blow to Continue reading »
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A plan for human survival
Among the world’s many pressing needs, the most urgent of all is a plan for human survival. And Australia should be the country to lead its creation. Continue reading »
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In Kashmir’s cycles of violence, progeny of former counterinsurgents are trapped in traumatic past
Ganderbal, India – The sun has just come out on a grey wintery afternoon and the snow-clad peaks of Harmukh are shining in the distance, casting sharp reflections over the horizon. Continue reading »
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CCTV cameras: of arrogance and ignorance
What motivated the Australian government when it announced that it would get rid of CCTV cameras on public buildings because they were Chinese devices? They are to be discarded not because they malfunction but because they function all too well. Continue reading »
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Why did Australia oppose an ICJ advisory opinion on Israeli settlements?
Surely the Australian people are entitled to an explanation as to why in December last year the government voted against an International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the legality of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Continue reading »
