Back in 2006, I published my first book, My Israel Question, which was met with huge opposition from the organised Jewish community but warm approval from the general public. It became a best-seller. Here’s a profile about my book and me in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2006. My then publisher Louise Adler wrote this…
Showing all posts tagged censorship
The ongoing importance of Wikileaks
My weekly Guardian column: The secret CIA files appeared just before Christmas. One detailed how CIA operatives could maintain cover, using fake IDs, when travelling through foreign airports. Israel’s Ben Gurion airport was said to be one of the… hardest to trick. The other document, from 2009, was an assessment of the CIA’s assassination program. It…
Free speech in a time of terrorism
Yesterday’s massacre in Paris at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is… shocking and unforgettable. The… publication may have been frequently racist against Muslims and a whole host of “enemies” but the right to offend is a key attribute in a democracy. This doesn’t mean we have to applaud editors and writers who trade in racial…
ABC radio interview on whistle-blower rights
Last week my Guardian column was about defending the rights of whistle-blowers. I was interviewed by ABC Sunshine Coast about these issues:
Defending the rights of whistle-blowers in our age
My weekly Guardian column: Freedom is difficult to resuscitate once extinguished. Australian attorney-general George Brandis recently chastised journalists for criticising his government’s new laws aimed at preventing reporting about “special intelligence operations”. Because he’s a culture warrior brawler, Brandis damned the “usual suspects of the paranoid, fantasist left” but also “reputable conservative commentators” for questioning…
ABCTV Big Ideas on IQ2 debate over technology
In August I was involved in an IQ2 Squared debate in Sydney (and my side won, for the record, despite the audience starting off backing the other team.) This was broadcast by ABCTV1’s Big Ideas: Are we becoming enslaved to our technology? This was a decent Intelligence Squared debate with the audience split between the…
News flash; debating Israel and Islam is healthy sign of democracy
This Friday the Lebanese Muslim Association has organised an event titled, “From Iraq to Gaza: The Politics of Fear”. I’ll be speaking alongside many others. Daring to be critical of the dominant narrative over Palestine or terrorism has upset Rupert Murdoch’s resident race-baiter Andrew Bolt. There’s also a “story” in today’s Murdoch Australian that features…
Ed Snowden: Encryption is answer to NSA spying
Striking conversation with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden at America’s SXSW overnight. We can and must resist unwarranted government and corporate snooping:
Condemning media propaganda over Russia and Ukraine
The Western media prides itself on self-criticism but the fact remains that very journalists routinely challenge the inherent power structures of government and the press. RT host Abby Martin this week damned Russian incursions into Crimea and meddling in Ukraine (she maintains her job thus far) and in this interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan she…
How US/Australia intelligence collusion rightly concerns Asia
My weekly Guardian column is here: Australia has an identity crisis that has never been resolved. Are we a US client state, happy to host any number of… American troops… and… spying assets, or a fully integrated part of Asia? Do we crave true independence, or are we happy to remain America’s ‘deputy sheriff‘ in the Pacific region?…