Are these the kinds of comments that only an exiled leader would make? Perhaps and it’ll be certainly harden the views of many Tibetans that the Dalai Lama’s political skills have been less than stellar. Decades of talking and where has it got his people? The Dalai Lama told US diplomats last year that the…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
At least London is giving the impression of caring about killed Tamils
This may be show to appeal to British Tamil voters but at least a major Western government is keeping some pressure on the murderous regime in Colombo: Liam Fox, the defence secretary, is planning to defy the Foreign Office by making a personal visit to Sri Lanka this weekend to deliver a speech in honour…
Both sides of politics see asylum seekers as non-people
Australia’s depravity over asylum seekers is revealed even by the US, a nation fond of demonising refugees: Secret United States embassy cables have sharply criticised the handling of asylum seekers by the former prime minister Kevin Rudd and accused both Labor and the Coalition of playing partisan politics with the issue. The cables reveal that…
Guess which state wants to copy dictatorships?
Looks like North Korea wants to bring in some legal reforms. Oh wait: The [Israeli] Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a bill yesterday that would allow the state to prevent detainees suspected of security offenses from meeting with an attorney for up to one year. The bill, introduced by Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, aims…
Sending Afghan refugees back to their hellish land
Afghanistan is aflame, the country in ruins. So what is the Australian government doing? Sending people back there who, you can be sure, will disappear and be killed. This is all about removing a political issue from our shores, away from prying media interest. Moral bankruptcy on a grand scale: Australia and Afghanistan have finalised…
Watch Serco like hawks or face troubles in future
As more and more Western governments use the services of Serco – the British multinational with an unhealthy hold on prisons and detention centres – it’s worth remembering the gross human rights abuses under its watch. I just received this release: PRESS RELEASE: SERCO officers in Yarl’s Wood IRC, violent, racist, sexist & vindictive On…
Australians in London demand immediate release of WikiLeaks founder
I just received the following information: On Monday 13th December at 4.30 pm, concerned Australian academics, artists, activists and expats will deliver a letter of demands to the Australian High Commissioner calling for the Embassy to be proactive in securing the immediate release from custody of fellow Australian citizen and founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange.…
Wikileaks rallies in Australia hit a nerve
Green Left Weekly reports comprehensively on last week’s Australian pro-Wikileaks rallies: More than 1000 people rallied at Sydney’s Town Hall at 1pm on December 10 to show their support for Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange. Rallies also occurred in Brisbane, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide and Perth. The rally, held to coincide with International Human Rights…
Israel/Palestine needs a South African style truth and reconciliation commission
What would Israel/Palestine look like in a one-state solution? An exclusive new article on the Independent Australian Jewish Voices website by John Docker examines some possibilities: Recent South African history may also give us a basis for new ideas and visions. In Sydney this year I heard Albie Sachs speak about human rights and the…
More Tamil exclusion in Sri Lanka
And the world mostly says nothing: The first cabinet meeting convened by Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa after returning from London decided to abolish the Tamil version of Sri Lanka’s national anthem, Sunday Times reports. The ”˜shortcoming’ of having two national anthems should be rectified and in no other country was the national anthem used…