Australia’s immigration detention system is in chaos and yet the company running them, Serco, is about to be rewarded. Again. The perverse logic of privatisation: The federal government is believed to have signed a contract to outsource the management of defence base operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan to the foreign company running Australia’s…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
Encouraging shoots of change in Egypt
A welcome development: A judge fined former President Hosni Mubarak and two officials about $91 million Saturday for cutting cellphone and Internet services during the protests this winter that forced Mubarak to step down. It was the first court ruling against Mubarak since he was ousted Feb. 11. Egyptian state television reported late Saturday that…
It’s official; Australian government happy for Serco to do what it pleases
The glories of unaccountable privatisation in action (via New Matilda): Not only is the $1 billion contract awarded to detention centre operator Serco beyond the reach of public scrutiny, but Senate Estimates hearings today revealed that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship collects scant data on breaches and has limited knowledge and oversight of staff…
AIPAC faithful hate Palestinians and believe in fairy tales
Max Blumenthal paints the bleak picture: On May 22, thousands of supporters of America’s most powerful pro-Israel lobbying group, the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, converged on Washington for the group’s annual conference. For two days they watched Democratic and Republican congressional leaders pledge their undivided loyalty to the state of Israel, and by…
Chinese prisoners forced to earn web game credits
A surreal environment in a country where human rights campaigning is an issue largely seen as a Western plot to undermine Beijing: As a prisoner at the Jixi labour camp, Liu Dali would slog through tough days breaking rocks and digging trenches in the open cast coalmines of north-east China. By night, he would slay…
Saluting the lone woman who stood up to Netanyahu in Congress
Rae Abileah is a peace activist with the group CodePink and a Jewish American of Israeli descent. She shouted out during Netanyahu’s pro-occupation speech a few days ago: No more occupation! End Israeli war crimes! No more occupation! End Israeli war crimes! She tells Democracy Now! why: There’s a culture of silence and fear in…
Handy reminder that Sri Lanka wants to teach world how to use terror
Human Rights Watch issues a timely statement: Governments should decline the invitation to attend a Sri Lankan military conference that seeks to legitimize the unlawful killing of thousands of civilians during the armed conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Human Rights Watch said today.… The Sri Lankan government has invited 54 countries…
Australian Zionist organisation refuses to truly engage on BDS
Yet another story of the mainstream Jewish establishment attempting to shut down open debate on the most controversial issues. Certain, set boundaries are established around these discussions and the Zionist lobby polices them vigorously. Of course the effect is the general public seeing Jews once again trying to censor issues such as BDS and ongoing…
Serco must face the music and accountability forced upon it
The role of British multinational Serco in Australia is a murky affair. How much money is the federal government giving them? Can the media and general public get reliable answers from them? Hardly. Yesterday’s Australian editorial touched on this (but of course didn’t acknowledge that inserting the profit motive into detention centres distorts the system):…
Glimpses of Israeli occupation in leading Murdoch space
Now and then, the Australian Murdoch press features a story about Zionist occupation that reveals deep truths about what Palestinians are living through. Their main website (in the travel section) ran the following piece about Hebron yesterday: Mohammed Saadeq has had rocks, bleach and even dead rats thrown at his home but so far it…