Showing all posts in June 2019
Toxic mix of American “justice” and war on drugs
I’m currently writing the introduction of my disaster capitalism book (the vast bulk of the manuscript is written and being edited by my publisher) and looking into the role of privatised prisons in the US and how the “war on drugs” has deformed the society. This short film is deeply powerful:
Documenting the unaccountable war on terror
Laura Poitras is a remarkable American film-maker who has faced constant harassment by US officials for simply doing her job of documenting the countless abuses against innocents since 9/11. Here are two short films, made for the New York Times, that are beautiful, moving and rage-inducing. This is the true face of America in the…
Former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks details US torture post 9/11
Moving testimony on the 11th anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo Bay, a gulag that remains open to this day. Justice is yet to be done:
Will US start prosecuting journalists for espionage?
Michael Calderone, Huffington Post: Here’s a back-and-forth from… Wednesday’s proceedings… in the case against Pvt. Bradley Manning that should be troubling for journalists. Colonel Lind, the judge, asked a prosecutor a hypothetical question: If Private Manning had given the documents to The New York Times rather than to WikiLeaks, would he face the same charges?“Yes, ma’am,” said…
Radio Live in New Zealand on heroin in Afghanistan
I was interviewed this morning on Radio Live in New Zealand on the massive drug issues in Afghanistan, something I witnessed first hand last year. From poppy fields to locals and foreigners using the drug, the West has largely ignored this in the last decade despite rhetoric telling us otherwise.
What blind Zionism looks like; Palestinians invisible on Birthright
Great The Real News story by Max Blumenthal and Lia Tarachansky:
“Congress less popular than cockroaches, traffic jams”
Surely the best opening paragraph of a press release (via Public Policy Polling): Facing low approval ratings after a historically unproductive 112th… session and… a series of last-minute showdowns over fiscal matters, Congress is now less popular than root canals, NFL replacement referees, head lice, the rock band Nickelback, colonoscopies, carnies, traffic jams, cockroaches, Donald Trump,…
ABCTV News24’s The Drum on sexism, Syria and divestment
I appeared tonight on ABCTV News24’s The Drum (video here), alongside Rowan Dean and Jacqueline Maley, talking about a range of political issues. I argued that it was legitimate for pension funds to divest from organisations or companies that go against people’s morality such as big tobacco, the thuggish Murdoch empire or fossil fuels (quoting…