Last week in Sydney was the first public screening of my film, Disaster Capitalism. Director Thor Neureiter was in New York but co-producers Media Stockade were there along with a solid audience. There will be many more public screenings in Australia, the US and beyond soon. After the film, we held a Q&A around aid…
How the Philippines has been transformed by its war on drugs
My… story in Australian magazine Crikey: President Rodrigo Duterte has maintained a firm grip on the Philippines since being elected in July 2016. Although public support is slipping, due partly to the brutality unleashed by his “war on drugs”, which has seen up to 20,000 people killed in 18 months, the general population still backs the…
Who should really benefit from aid?
My article in the Guardian: Foreign aid has the power to save lives but also to corrupt nations. It’s regularly used as a political football as some argue for more financial support to the world’s most vulnerable people while others believe more money should be spent at home. It’s a false distinction, however, because the…
Growing corruption scandal around Netanyahu and weird connection with James Packer
My story in today’s Sydney Morning Herald/Melbourne Age: Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is in trouble, and it partly stems from his close relationship with Australia’s most recognisable billionaire, James Packer. The country’s second longest-serving Prime Minister is facing potential charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust after an extensive investigation by Israeli police.…
Interviewing Pink Floyd's Roger Waters about Palestine
Last Friday night in Melbourne, I interviewed Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters alongside Palestinian writer Randa Abdel-Fattah. The event was organised by the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network. Waters is in Australia on his massive “Us and Them” world tour (which I saw on Saturday night and it was one of the most spectacular music performances I’ve…
ABC Radio National interview on Disaster Capitalism film
My film Disaster Capitalism, with director Thor Neureiter and co-producers Media Stockade, is screening publicly soon. Last weekend I was interviewed by Hugh Riminton on Australia’s ABC Radio National Sunday Extra program about it: When war or disaster strikes, we assume our aid contributions are life-saving, or at the very least will help rebuild countries…
How Trump weaponised far-right/Israeli connections
In March 2016, MidEastWire published my investigation into the growing ties between Israel and the global far-right. Newsweek Arabic has now re-published the story in Arabic, in its 3 February edition, and I’ve updated it one year into the Trump presidency: newsweekarabic
ABC Radio Australia interview on Disaster Capitalism film
My film, Disaster Capitalism, with director Thor Neureiter and co-producers Media Stockade, is starting to screen this month (initially in Sydney and Melbourne with many more locations in Australia and globally to come). I was interviewed today about the film on ABC Radio Australia’s Pacific Mornings program, broadcast across the entire Pacific region:
Destroying US democracy from within
My book review in The Australian newspaper: Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America By Nancy MacLean Scribe, $35, 368pp As Hurricane Irma was pounding the US, President Donald Trump made a major announcement. He wanted huge tax cuts for the wealthiest members of society. Standing alongside Secretary…
Israeli dissident journalist Gideon Levy speaks in Sydney
Gideon Levy is one of Israel’s most outspoken journalists. He’s been writing for decades in Israeli newspaper Haaretz about the devastating effects of the never-ending Israeli occupation of Palestine. I first met Gideon in Tel Aviv in 2005 when I was researching my first book, My Israel Question. Since then, he’s become an inspiration for…