The world and its people are facing very serious local and global emergencies. Climate change, economic instability, limits to free speech, threats to independent media and increasing social inequality all signal the breakdown of democratic systems across the world. The genocide in Gaza and the war in Ukraine are ongoing. Our political institutions and leaders are failing us with increasingly conservative policies that favour big business.
Increasingly conservative policies favour big business. Far-right political movements gain ascendency and move whole nations towards fascism while American hostility to China threatens global security and economic prosperity.
Instead of building bridges to our own region we are acting as a spear carrier for the US, the most aggressive and warlike country in the world.It is almost always at war either directly or through a proxy. In it’s arrogance it really believes it is the ‘indispensable nation’
We learn and grow most when we are challenged by difference and adversity: when we are out of our comfort zones. Such experiences offer turning points for change. I’ve had many such turning points throughout my career and have become more radical as I’ve grown older. In 1999, I published my autobiography, Things You Learn Along the Way.
This new collection, Summing Up, continues with personal accounts and my views on issues that remain of concern to me. It comprises posts I wrote for Pearls and Irritations along with several speeches, interviews and articles I’ve written over the past 14 years.
I hope these accounts continue to prompt readers to think, question and act for a more just Australia and world.
When we first notified our readers of the new book, many told us there were challenges in making purchases.
Summing Up is available as a downloadable book and recently was published in paperback.
Both books are available via Amazon.
Profits from the purchase of both books are given to Pearls and Irritations.
We didn’t deliberately plan this release just in time for the coming holidays, but it is coincidently well-timed for those seeking to give a thoughtful collection to an avid reader.
John Menadue is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations. He was formerly Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, Ambassador to Japan, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and CEO of Qantas.
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