My weekly Guardian column: To have a prominent political figure challenging the power and message of the Israel lobby is almost unheard of in most western nations – which is precisely what makes the… just released diaries… of former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr all the more remarkable. Across 500 pages, Carr catalogues his intense exercise regime,…
The Australian review of "Prisoner X"
My following review appears in yesterday’s Weekend Australian newspaper: Understanding the insular and tribal Melbourne Jewish community has fascinated sociologists for decades. With one of the largest concentrations of Holocaust survivors outside of Israel, proudly Zionist and with strong Jewish day schools, it’s a world that created Ben Zygier, the Australian Mossad agent who committed…
"After Zionism" review surfaces
Back in 2012 I co-edited a book, After Zionism, with Ahmed Moor (it was released in an updated edition in 2013). Now the magazine at the University of Technology Sydney has published a review (yes, just a little late and on page 17): Israel is a stark anomaly. There are few… states in the world that…
Personally supporting BDS against Israel
Last night in Sydney there was a successful event to highlight the growing global movement of BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) against Israel and the legal case against proponent and Sydney University academic Dr Jake Lynch. Around 140 people came to hear various speakers detailing the many reasons BDS is one just way to apply…
FBI Radio interview feature on privatised immigration detention
The issue of privatised immigration detention in Australia and globally is one subject of my book Profits of Doom. Sydney’s FBI Radio Backchat program produced a strong feature on the issue last weekend and interviewed me about it:
On racism, how to tackle it and why the state often worsens it
My weekly Guardian column: As an atheist Jew, I find it distinctly uncomfortable to defend the free speech rights of Holocaust deniers. I utterly oppose the inaccuracy, hatred and intolerance that goes with refuting the reality of Nazi crimes against Jews, gay people, Gypsies and many others. But a truly free society is one that…
What is the author's voice and where the hell is it living?
I was invited last October by the Australian Society of Authors to speak at their national congress on the role of writing, journalism and being an author. The video has just been posted (!): Much modern publishing is based on a commercial model, and has relied on authors to deliver sales and profits. Yet authors…
ABCTV Big Ideas on Profits of Doom and vulture capitalism
The following was broadcast today on ABCTV1: Can vulture capitalism be stopped? That’s the question put up by… Antony Loewenstein… in his last book… ”˜Profits of Doom: How vulture capitalism is swallowing the world’. He’s a writer, photographer, blogger, doco-maker and always a provocateur. He’s in conversation here with… Chip Rolley, editor of the ABC’s… The Drum. The focus of…
ABCTV News24's on racial discrimination, politics and Murdoch empire
I appeared on ABCTV News’s24’s The Drum last Thursday talking about changes in the Murdoch empire, the ethics and politics of changing the racial discrimination laws and why unions are in such dire trouble in Australia:
The ethics of the US alliance
The job of US State Department favourites (journalists, commentators and politicians who routinely rehash US government talking points over war, peace and the Middle East) must be exhausting. Defending the indefensible while still being on the information drip-feed. Welcome to the US embassy, the free champagne, caviar and PR tips are in the boardroom. I…