One of Australia’s major weekend newspapers, The Saturday Paper, reviews my new book, Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs, in a piece by Louise Swinn: While our government, under the guise of “compassionate conservatism”, announces plans to drug-test welfare recipients, journalist Antony Loewenstein brings us Pills, Powder, and Smoke, the result…
Showing all posts tagged Britain
Ethical ways to end the brutal war on drugs
My interview in the Guardian about my book, Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs, by Jenny Valentish: In August 2018 there was a flurry of headlines about the hypocrisy of middle-class cocaine users, dubbed “the woke who do coke”. Hot takes were prompted by the comments of UK Metropolitan police commissioner…
My new book, “Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs”, is out
I’m excited to announce the release of my new book, Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs. It’s now out in Australia (via Scribe publications), India later in the year (with Pan Macmillan India and a special foreword for this edition), November in the US and January in the UK. It’s a…
When anti-Semitism is weaponised to silence criticism of Israel
The anti-Semitism “crisis” consuming the UK Labour party is largely an attempt to silence serious criticism of Israel IMHO. I was asked to comment on just one angle of this story by Phil Miller in the UK newspaper The Morning Star: Labour has been labelled “undemocratic” after the party revoked a press pass for a…
Legalising and regulating all drugs is the solution
My essay appears in this week’s Sydney Morning Herald: The only way to ensure a safer Australian society is to legalise and regulate all drugs. This could save lives, earn huge revenue for the state and diminish the power of criminal gangs that make billions of dollars annually from the production and sale of illicit…
What does disaster capitalism really look like in the 21st century?
In the last 7+ years, I’ve been investigating and reporting on disaster capitalism around the world. This culminated in my book, Disaster Capitalism: Making A Killing Out Of Catastrophe, and the documentary, Disaster Capitalism. There’s a great, long essay in the US magazine Public Books about disaster capitalism in the modern age, written by US…
Public statement in support of justice for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange
The following public statement was published today after I was asked by John Pilger to write a comment in support of Julian Assange: Antony Loewenstein, a prominent… independent Australian journalist, author and documentary filmmaker, issued the following endorsement of demonstrations and vigils… demanding freedom for Julian Assange.… The Socialist Equality Party has called a rally in defense of…
Disaster Capitalism and the drug war in north-east Britain
I was recently in the UK researching the “war on drugs” for my forthcoming book, out in 2019, on the global drug war. While I was there my film Disaster Capitalism screened in Newcastle in the north-east of the country. Sponsored by the great group, Recovering Justice, there was a full house to watch the…
Defending the right to protest Pine Gap
I signed the following public statement to support peaceful protest of the secretive US spy base at Pine Gap in Australia. It’s directed at Attorney General George Brandis: We seek your urgent intervention to protect the right to freedom of speech, expression, political communication and of religion for six Australian citizens who face up to…
US magazine Truthout picks Disaster Capitalism and extracts its introduction
US magazine Truthout has picked my book Disaster Capitalism: Making A Killing Out Of Catastrophe… as its “Progressive Pick” (AKA book of the moment). Here’s an extract from the introductory chapter: “Sometimes we win the skirmishes, but the war continues.” — Rebecca Solnit, 2011 Back in 1972 Jørgen Randers, today the professor of climate strategy at…