Britain’s conservative government is proudly dismantling many established social services. Austerity on crack. The Independent columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown tackles this in her weekly column and references my new book, Disaster Capitalism: While we are on asylum-seekers and refugees, let’s look into the places these people are incarcerated. Antony Loewenstein’s Disaster Capitalism exposes the way profits…
Middle East in Focus radio on disaster capitalism
My new book, Disaster Capitalism: Making A Killing Out Of Catastrophe, is now out and last week I was interviewed by the great Californian radio show, Middle East in Focus. We talked about war contractors making money in Afghanistan, privatised immigration centres in America and beyond:
Disaster capitalism surrounds us every day
My story in Al Jazeera America: When an earthquake struck Nepal in April, thousands of locals died in the carnage. But many foreigners had far more luck as members of Global Rescue, a company committed to rescuing its clients from dangerous environments. “Why shouldn’t we be able to hire private armies to ensure our safe…
How privatised immigration firms get away with murder in Australia
My investigation in New Matilda: Despite a mountain of transgressions – including spying on a federal senator – Transfield somehow got a new contract. Antony Loewenstein takes up the story. Barely a day goes by without new allegations of sexual assault,… self-harm, violence or dysfunction at Australia’s privatised, immigration centres. Whether on the mainland, Nauru or…
How the US continues to manipulate Haiti
My investigation in Alternet: The industrial park in Caracol, northern Haiti, never receives tourists. It’s a collection of factories producing clothes for some of America’s leading retailers including Walmart and Target. The opening of the facility in 2012 saw then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, actors Sean Penn and Ben Stiller, and…
The Lahore Times reviews "Disaster Capitalism"
The following review of my newly released book is written by Robert J. Burrowes and appears in The Lahore Times: In his just-released book, ”˜Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing out of Catastrophe”˜, Antony Loewenstein offers us a superb description of the diminishing power of national governments and international organisations to exercise power in the modern…
Ongoing failures to hold South Sudanese war criminals to account
My article in Foreign Policy: In the middle of a hot, clear day on Aug. 21, roughly 2,000 people packed around the John Garang Mausoleum in downtown Juba to shout down the latest deal to end South Sudan’s nearly two-year-long war. Organized by the government, it was an event for true believers, those somehow insulated…
What disaster capitalism brought New Orleans
My following article appears in Al Jazeera America: “Envy isn’t a rational response to the upcoming 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina,” Chicago Tribune editorial board member Kristen McQueary wrote in a recent column, referring to the monster storm that nearly wiped out the city of New Orleans in 2005. “Hurricane Katrina gave a great American…
Al Jazeera English's The Stream on Hurricane Katrina and disaster capitalism
Yesterday I appeared on the Al Jazeera English program, The Stream (thankfully the poor internet here in South Sudan came through): Deadly floodwaters caused one of the biggest evacuations in US history when Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans, Louisiana. Ten years on, the city still hasn’t fully recovered. New economic, educational and housing models…
The desperate need for peace in South Sudan
My piece in The National: A woman in a black and white dress stood with a huge pot on her head. She had walked for days, with her two young children also carrying goods, to reach the camp for internally displaced persons in Bentiu, South Sudan. They were all exhausted by the time they registered…