The kind of conversation that my recent book After Zionism is aiming to foster, this piece by Dahlia Scheindlin in +972 is more vital than ever: To put it bluntly: the question is no longer about whether one state should be considered, because if we’re counting “states” who control people, it is already a reality.…
Showing all posts in June 2019
What “5 Broken Cameras” shows about reality of Israeli fascism in Palestine
Last night I saw the acclaimed documentary, 5 Broken Cameras,… at Australia’s only documentary film festival, Antenna. It’s about Palestine, the non-violent resistance movement against the IDF and settlements and the grinding, daily brutality of the Israeli occupation. Here’s a piece about the film in the New York Times and an interview with the Palestinian and…
“After Zionism” contributor imagines Abrahamic state for Middle East
In my recently released book, After Zionism, there’s a range of views that don’t fit neatly into traditional categories. On yesterday’s ABC Radio National’s Religion and Ethics Report… with Andrew West, one of the book’s contributors offered his vision: There is a stalemate in the Middle East – no longer any tangible peace process between Israel…
You’ve been water-boarded but it’s illegal to talk about it
If you need the definition of Orwellian in the American “justice” system post 9/11, here’s the perfect example (via Pro Publica): In a motion… unsealed last week, the government proposed new ground rules for classified information in the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others charged with planning the 9/11 attacks. The new order says…
Remembering the slaughter in Sri Lanka
Last week saw the London launch of a new book by Frances Harrison called Still Counting the Dead. Harrison is a former BBC foreign correspondent. The work is about the civil war in Sri Lanka and the killing of tens of thousands of Tamils in the slaughter. Here’s video of the event:
US peace group Code Pink in Pakistan protesting drone strikes
An Australian friend of mine was on this remarkable march and he’ll be writing something about it soon. It’s vital to raise awareness of the fact that US drone attacks are often indiscriminate and kill countless civilians. American peace group Code Pink, with whom I was in Cairo a few years ago for the Gaza…
Chavez wins in Venezuela and The New York Times must be devastated
Hugo Chavez has won another term as President of Venezuela. There’s rarely been a better example of Western corporate media outlets spending years demonising the man and yet he remains popular in his own country. The New York Times have been particularly bad offenders, publishing anti-Chavez propaganda as news. Read this and weep at the…
This is what we’re leaving in Afghanistan; likely chaos
International Crisis Group doesn’t mince words in its latest report: Plagued by factionalism and corruption, Afghanistan is far from ready to assume responsibility for security when U.S. and NATO forces withdraw in 2014. That makes the political challenge of organising a credible presidential election and transfer of power from President Karzai to a successor that…
