These two pieces really speak for themselves. The moral corruption of the Israeli occupation in all its gruesome detail. First up, Aluf Benn in Haaretz: The photographs of the female soldier Eden Abergil on Facebook with the young, bound Palestinians did not “shock” me, as did the automatic responses of people on the left who…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
Overland 200
Overland magazine is one of Australia’s finest independent journals. I contributed the lead essay in 2008 about the resource wars. The publication is progressive and proud. It has just released its 200th edition and a number of leading leftists were asked to briefly define the “Left” in 2010 and what it means to them. Here’s…
British aid must now help those noble foreign policy goals
So does this mean that Britain, involved in countless covert and illegal conflicts across the world, will be dead keen to “aid” one side in a civil dispute or back militias against London’s “enemies”? The government is to introduce a wholesale change to Britain’s overseas aid budget by demanding that projects in the developing world…
Rabbinic court lashes singer
If Muslims stone women the world reacts in horror. And yet when fundamentalist Jews behave similarly, silence: A singer who performed in front of a “mixed audience” of men and women was lashed 39 times to make him “repent,” after a ruling by a self-described rabbinic court on Wednesday. Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak, founder of the…
Performing Brecht in Palestine is a shameful use of talent
How too many Israeli theatres are embracing performing in the occupied Palestinian territories (but some are rightly refusing).
Chinese repression isn’t the way forward
The Western capitalist model is inherently problematic with massive over-consumption and a gross disregard for human rights (if corporations get in the way). But this really isn’t an alternative and viable model: The “discipline” of China’s authoritarian political system should be considered as a potential recipe for economic growth in Africa and other developing regions,…
You want to negotiate with these fools?
The actions of a rogue state (which is why the US-backed Palestinian Authority is so keen to sit down with them in early September): The Israeli government should immediately stop the arbitrary destruction of Palestinian homes and other property in the West Bank and compensate the people it has displaced, Human Rights Watch said today.…
Nokia and their mates in Tehran
In my book The Blogging Revolution I examined the role of Western web multinationals in assisting repressive regimes censoring information. This latest story should therefore not come as a shock but how many Westerners realise that their mobile phone company is backing a dictatorship? A jailed Iranian journalist is suing phone company Nokia on the…
Peter Beinart in Sydney
Saw Peter Beinart tonight in Sydney. Talking about US power, or lack thereof. He’s articulate, bright and knows his subject. And yet Beinart seems oddly detached from the human beings affected by US foreign policy. Victims of Washington are absent in his analysis. And Beinart didn’t mention Israel. I couldn’t ask my question about his…
Transparency in the US
A small but important step of progress thanks to the UN Human Rights Council: The Obama administration has told the United Nations that America’s human rights record is less than perfect but stressed that the U.S. political system has built-in safeguards that promote improvements. In its first-ever report to the U.N. Human Rights Council on…