My essay in literary journal Meanjin: “In Europe there are shelves of books dedicated to every war, archives full of documents, special rooms in museums. Nothing of the kind exists in Africa. Here, even the longest and greatest war is forgotten, falls into oblivion. Its traces vanish by the day after: the dead must be…
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Why Western leaders love dictatorships
My weekly Guardian column: Western-friendly dictators can die in peace, knowing they’ll be lauded as soon as they stop breathing. So it was for Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew, who recently passed away at the age of 91. Tributes poured in from across the globe. Barack Obama called him “visionary” while Australian prime minister…
What South Sudan faces on a daily basis
My Guardian column: The creaking Russian helicopter lands in an open field in remote Wai, a town in South Sudan’s Jonglei state. The sky is perfectly clear; the temperature reaches 45 degrees. Women wave the South Sudanese flag to welcome the UN’s top humanitarian official, Valerie Amos, who arrives with Unesco peace envoy and American…
How the West has always backed brutal Sri Lanka
My weekly Guardian column: The Sri Lankan Navy band was busy last week, learning the tune to Waltzing Matilda. They played it to welcome Scott Morrison, the Australian immigration minister, who was visiting to launch two patrol boats donated by the Australian government. A photo of the moment,tweeted… by journalist Jason Koutsoukis, showed Morrison sitting alongside…
Jews backing academic boycott against Israel
Back in January 2013 I signed a statement as a Jew in a global campaign backing the Palestinian right of return. The same New York-based Jews have collected signatures for a new, equally vital statement and my signature appears below: We salute the… American Studies Association’s courageous endorsement… of the… Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS)…
Why tackling fossil fuel corporations is vital for the planet
My weekly Guardian column is published today: The viability of a fossil fuel future is rarely connected to the human rights abuses required to sustain it. How often do we think about where oil and gas is obtained? Are the Europeans or Americans any more aware? This deliberate depoliticisation of our energy present, by the…
Stop drinking the think-tank kool-aid
My weekly column for the Guardian appears today: The ABC TV Lateline interview with Kurt Campbell, former US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, was… cordial, even reverential. It was conducted in the middle of March this year, more than a month after Campbell had left the state department. Interviewer Emma Alberici…
Profits of Doom introductory chapter
My new book Profits of Doom is released officially today. There will be an avalanche of media and events in the coming weeks and months but in the meantime my publisher, Melbourne University Publishing, has published the introduction to the work. You can buy the book via Amazon and my publisher. Please read and share:…
Let’s be clear, Britain sells weapons to thugs globally
A belief in human rights? Preaching to others about improving accountability? It’s all empty rhetoric by most/all Western governments, including Britain. Evidence for the prosecution (via Independent): The Government has issued more than 3,000 export licences for military and intelligence equipment worth a total of …£12.3bn to countries which… are on its own official list…
How much does religion cause violence and war in the world?
This week sees the official launch of a book I’ve co-written, For God’s Sake. Today the Guardian runs extracts from one of its chapters, Doesn’t religion cause most of the conflict in the world?, by all four contributors: Rachel Woodlock (Islam) Religion is powerfully motivating and belligerent humans fight over it. Heck, religion has caused…