My Disaster Capitalism film is currently screening in many nations across the world from Australia to the US. It recently had two screenings in Pakistan, Islamabad and Karachi, and the Q&A sessions that I participated in via Skype are below (forgive the poor sound/picture quality). Audiences wanted to discuss the film itself but also how…
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Necessary conversations about aid and development
Aid organisation CUFA operates across the Pacific and Asia. They’ve launched a podcast series about how aid is used and abused and I’m in the first guest discussing my work around Disaster Capitalism (in my book and film).
Challenging those self-serving media narratives since 9/11
My book review in yesterday’s Weekend Australian newspaper:… In The Operators, a great book on the war in Afghanistan, the American journalist Michael Hastings is scathing of reporters who spend their lives praising generals and socialising with them. Hastings exposed the arrogance and childish antics of the then head of US operations in Afghanistan, Stanley…
Disaster Capitalism and the drug war in north-east Britain
I was recently in the UK researching the “war on drugs” for my forthcoming book, out in 2019, on the global drug war. While I was there my film Disaster Capitalism screened in Newcastle in the north-east of the country. Sponsored by the great group, Recovering Justice, there was a full house to watch the…
Disaster Capitalism film premieres in the US at Columbia University
My film Disaster Capitalism is currently screening across the world. It showed for the first time in the US in late March at Columbia University’s School of Journalism. After the film, there was a Q&A and it later broadcast on the great Disaster Politics podcast (where I appeared last year): Take a listen to the…
How true democracy and self-determination can prevail
A key aim of my Disaster Capitalism film with director Thor Neureiter is to highlight the darker sides of aid (without arguing that aid should stop). There are currently many screenings of the film around the world from Australia to the US and UK (with many more to follow). Aid Watch is a wonderful group…
Reconciling the thoughts of a liberal on the Middle East
I’ve written a long essay/memoir in the latest edition of leading Australian literary journal, Meanjin, on Judaism, Israel/Palestine, human rights and modern identity. My article is here:… meanjinisraelessay
Think: Digital Futures interview on disaster capitalism in Puerto Rico
Think: Digital Futures is a great program on Sydney’s 2SER radio. I contributed to its latest episode: When you think about Puerto Rico—decimated by Hurricane Maria, a debt crisis and the longest power blackout in US history—most people see destruction. To a small group of cryptocurrency millionaires, it’s a chance to build a new type…
The strange case of alleged sexual predator Malka Leifer in Israel
My investigation in the Sydney Morning Herald/Melbourne Age: The legal pursuit in Israel of alleged sexual predator Malka Leifer took a strange turn this week. As she fought extradition attempts by Victoria Police over 74 charges of child sexual abuse, the 54-year-old first gained, then lost the support of influential Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman. Grossman…
How aid can be used to keep nations deliberately poor
I was interviewed last week in Australian media outlet Crikey by Charlie Lewis about my… Disaster Capitalism film: The documentary Disaster Capitalism opens with the earthquake in Haiti, 2010. Through the ghostly fog of CCTV video, we see the ground furiously shake buildings into dust. Fronted by Australian journalist and writer Antony Loewenstein and shot over…