So this is getting big. Following a call by a handful of writers this week, including yours truly, to highlight the gross human rights abuses in Sri Lanka and the Galle Literary Festival’s relationship/relative silence about it, the story has truly taken off. Here’s the AFP story, Hindustan Times and Indian Express. And the big…
When racism isn’t seen as abnormal at all
The Middle East’s Glorious Only Democracy Inc: Three weeks after the publication of a petition calling on Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar to take action against racism spreading within schools and the general public, teachers told Ynet about the harsh reality they are forced to face daily. In one case, a 12th grade student of a…
No wonder China will one day rule the world
Wow: China’s online population rose to 457 million in 2010 as use of mobile phones to surf the Web spread rapidly, an industry group reported Wednesday. China’s population of Internet users – a group more than 50 per cent larger than the whole U.S. population – grew 19 per cent in 2010 over the previous…
Questioning Sri Lankan cultural events is right moral decision
Following the release this week of a major international statement calling on writers going to Sri Lanka’s Galle Literary Festival to understand the political ramifications of doing so, controversy has exploded. Here’s the Hindu newspaper: Organisers of the Galle Literary Festival have ridiculed attempts to portray the festival as one that legitimises repression and asserted…
Are we expecting Palestinians to thank us for building a dictatorship?
If any more evidence was required that Washington, no matter who runs the place, only acts towards Israel with uncritical affection, the Wikileaks cables confirm it: CounterPunch has accessed Wikileaks’ file of cables on Israel’s Gaza assault two years ago (Operation Cast Lead, December 27, 2008 through January 18, 2009). Though the cables often… simply…
Google opens its heart a little in the Islamic Republic
During research for my book The Blogging Revolution, a great deal of time was spent examining just what companies such as Google actually do in Iran. The company has posted the latest information: During the protests that erupted in Iran following the disputed Presidential election in June 2009, the central government in Tehran deported all…
Recognising anti-Islam mood is first step to recovery
It’s almost impossible to imagine a conservative leader talking this way in Australia or America: Islamophobia has “passed the dinner-table test” and become widely socially acceptable in Britain, according to Lady Warsi, the Conservative chairman. Warsi, the first Muslim woman to attend Cabinet, is expected to use a speech at Leicester University today to raise…
Why Marrickville embracing BDS is proper and moral
A fine statement: Pip Hinman, the Socialist Alliance candidate for the NSW state electorate of Marrickville, has expressed strong support for Marrickville Council’s recent resolution to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli apartheid in Palestine. She disputed claims by the ALP candidate for Marrickville, Carmel Tebutt, and the local federal Labor…