Nothing short of genius tinged with necessary slap-downs of race-baiting Fox News:
Category General
Three problems with the Fourth Estate
The blandness of the mainstream media, including public broadcasters, is all about the narrow level of “debate” allowed on issues of the day. Australian intellectual and academic Scott Burchill has written the following short essay on the problem and possible solutions: In what is misleadingly called the ”˜age of culture wars’ there are three aspects…
How to reconcile black and white relations in Australia
My weekly Guardian column: The humidity in Darwin slows everything down. Although it’s currently dry season, the temperature is still in the mid 30s and warm breezes linger late into the night. The city, which sits at the top end of Australia, is troubled by… excessive… violence and alcohol abuse. The Northern Territory has one of thehighest…
How the world currently sees Australia
Champagne piece on the US comedy show by John Oliver,… Last Week Tonight:
How the UK and its mercenaries assisted Ugandan thugs
The history of Western governments talking about democracy and freedom while backing the most thuggish groups in the world is long and sordid. The UK-based Corporate Watch does a wonderful job of uncovering the many links between business and government. Here is its Phil Miller on a story that shows why we always need to…
ABCTV News24's The Drum on asylum seekers and politics
I was on ABCTV News24’s The Drum on Monday night discussing the latest report on asylum seeker chaos caused by Australia and other political issues:
Why understanding the "other side" remains vital in war
During last week’s Sydney Writer’s Festival, I was involved in a fantastic event about World War One Poetry with Tony Birch, Colin Friels, Judy Davis, Jennifer Mills, Omar Musa and Maxine Beneba Clarke. It was organised by Jeff Sparrow at Overland magazine. I read the following piece: My father’s father, Fred Loewenstein, was born in…
Jeremy Scahill in Australia
Last week I had the honour to meet and spend time with US investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill. He was here for the Sydney Writer’s Festival (photos from the event here) – our panel together discussed the importance of indy journalism in the face of corporate reporting – and it was unique hearing somebody speak clearly…
How to consider identity, pride and country
My weekly Guardian column: I rarely feel proud to be Australian. Perhaps it’s a personal distaste for any form of nationalism, or my long-held belief that human rights abuses increasingly define our nation as brutal, petty and racist. It’s hard to feel pride when we… lock up children in Pacific detention camps… and incarcerate indigenous men at… record…
ABC Radio discussion on faith, belief and politics
Last weekend I spoke at the Sydney Writer’s Festival and one of my panels was this fantastic event (recorded and played on ABC Radio’s Sunday Nights yesterday): A Muslim-Christian-Muslim, a Jewish-Atheist and a Scientist-Atheist-Humanist walked into a room… for a conversation with John Cleary of Sunday Nights. Writers Reza Aslan, Antony Loewenstein and Jim Al-Khalili…