My book review in The Saturday Paper on Johann Hari’s book, Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention: We’re all drowning in distraction. “It felt like our civilisation had been covered with itching powder,” writes British journalist Johann Hari near the beginning of this insightful, global investigation, “and we spent our time twitching and twerking…
Melbourne’s Triple R radio interview on Declassified Australia
Late last year, I co-founded the new media outlet, Declassified Australia. We aim to critically report on Australia’s real relationship with the world. It’s often not pretty. Today I was interviewed on Melbourne’s Triple R about it all.
The enduring legacy of disaster capitalism in its many forms
The stubbornness of disaster capitalism is legendary. I recently spoke to the New York-based podcast series News Beat on the war in Afghanistan and how many people made a fortune during the 20-year US occupation. The show has done a follow-up episode just on disaster capitalism and in it I discuss mining, Blackwater founder Erik…
Pakistan wants to end the drug war
One of Pakistan’s biggest newspaper, The Express Tribune, positively reviews my book, Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs: Released last year, Antony Loewenstein’s book titled, Pills, Powder, and Smoke: Inside The Never-Ending, Bloody War On Drugs is a detailed investigation into the individuals, officials, activists and traffickers caught up in the long-spanning…
20 Years: The words that shaped the war in Afghanistan
As part of the Twenty Years project, a journalistic and artistic initiative with Afghans in Australia and around the world to assess the legacy of the US-led war in Afghanistan, we commissioned young, female, Afghan-Australian artists to make a short film on these themes. This is their statement: The fall of Kabul in 2021 was…
The countless ways to punish drug users
A key theme in my latest book, Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs, is the absurdity of governments continuing to push futile drug war policies. This week I was interviewed by the UK Telegraph about a new British policy that aims to punish drug users with the threat of losing their…
The Afghan war as a grifter’s paradise
What was the post 9/11 Afghan war really about? This great New York-based, award-winning podcast, News Beat, has produced a one-hour examination of this very question, melding journalism with hip-hip. I’m one of the guests talking about disaster capitalism in the war-torn nation.
Arabic edition of Disaster Capitalism soars across Arab world
Back in late 2019, the Arabic edition of my book, Disaster Capitalism: Making A Killing Out Of Catastrophe, was released. Now, two years later, the sales figures are in and they’re remarkable. The publisher has just sent the sales figures. The print run was 43,000 and it’s sold more than 37,000 copies in a range…
Slovakian edition arrives for Pills, Powder and Smoke
I’m excited to reveal the Slovakian translation/amazing cover art of my drug war book, Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs. The foreword is written by Martin Poliacik, a philosopher and former politician who’s been a leading advocate for drug reform. I’ve just read his words, thanks (imperfect) Google Translate, and it’s…
Who’s the real superpower here?
The US says it wants to re-open its consulate in Jerusalem, closed during the Trump administration, but Israel is refusing to accept the proposition. My comments to global broadcaster TRT World: Antony Loewenstein, an independent journalist, author and film-maker who was based in occupied East Jerusalem between 2016 and 2020, sees the template of Israel’s…