Serco bleeding but helped by Australian immigration contract

My article appears today in The Guardian: British multinational Serco is in trouble. After years as the favoured outsourcer for public services in Britain and countless countries around the world, the latest figures show a financial crash of unprecedented proportions. The firm announced it is writing down its business value by nearly AU $3bn with…

Why literary festivals matter

My weekly Guardian column: The Byron Bay writers’ festival, one of Australia’s largest literary events, has just finished after three days of discussion and debate under sunshine and rain. With… record-breaking… crowds listening to writers and rappers in large outdoor tents, it was impossible not to be seduced by the diverse participants, including British authors… Jeanette Winterson… and… Geoff Dyer.…

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…

On anti-Semitism, BDS, Palestine and justice

My essay in New Matilda is here: As the BDS campaign starts to gain traction, accusations of anti-semitism should be treated gravely – whether from pro-Palestine advocates or Israel’s defenders, writes Antony Loewenstein The charges of racism were serious. University orientation weeks, reported Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper,… The Australian,… in early March, “have been marred by a series…

Detention centre owners making a killing

My following feature appears in the January edition of Britain’s New Internationalist magazine: Outsourcing detention to private companies is a recipe for a disaster, says… Antony Loewenstein. Imprisoning immigrants is good for business. In the… US… it’s common for lobbyists hired by leading prison companies to magically convince officials to write legislation that benefits their bottom… line. US… magazine… The Nation… revealed…

"No Fire Zone" is devastating film about Sri Lankan war crimes

This is a remarkable film that clearly details the range of crimes committed by the Sri Lankan military and government during the civil war that ended in 2009 and continues to this day. The regime in Colombo is desperate to discredit it but this is miserably failing. The Commonwealth meeting begins in Sri Lanka this…

What asylum seekers are facing on the ground and why support is desperately needed

My weekly Guardian column is published today (here’s my archive): Blind compassion is killing the asylum seeker debate. While Tony Abbott entangles his new government in megaphone diplomacy with Indonesia,upsetting our biggest neighbour… in the process,… refugees… are struggling to survive closer to home. Vast swaths of the Australian public remain hostile towards asylum seekers, and the advocacy…

Welcome to the remote Curtin detention centre

The following extract from my book Profits of Doom appears in The Melbourne Review: In this extract from his recently-released… Profits of Doom, Antony Loewenstein visits the remote and jealously guarded Curtin Immigration Detention Centre.…  It’s a 30-minute drive through the desert from Derby to the Curtin Air Base. A number of signs warn us to…

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…

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