As part of the Twenty Years project, a journalistic and artistic initiative with Afghans in Australia and around the world to assess the legacy of the US-led war in Afghanistan, we commissioned young, female, Afghan-Australian artists to make a short film on these themes. This is their statement: The fall of Kabul in 2021 was…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
Slovakian edition arrives for Pills, Powder and Smoke
I’m excited to reveal the Slovakian translation/amazing cover art of my drug war book, Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs. The foreword is written by Martin Poliacik, a philosopher and former politician who’s been a leading advocate for drug reform. I’ve just read his words, thanks (imperfect) Google Translate, and it’s…
Who’s the real superpower here?
The US says it wants to re-open its consulate in Jerusalem, closed during the Trump administration, but Israel is refusing to accept the proposition. My comments to global broadcaster TRT World: Antony Loewenstein, an independent journalist, author and film-maker who was based in occupied East Jerusalem between 2016 and 2020, sees the template of Israel’s…
Britain and Australia’s secretive relationship
The recent launch of Declassified Australia coincides with the first piece by journalist Peter Cronau and me for the great news organisation Declassified UK on the often sordid and secretive relationship between Australia and the UK. Some highlights (but read the whole thing): Australia’s independence from Britain has been contested ground since the nation’s birth in…
Launching Declassified Australia
I’m excited to announce this (launched late last week and already generating a lot of interest both locally and globally so stay tuned for more soon): The Australian media too often report the nation as a compliant ally of the US, the UK and the Western alliance but few ask questions about why and what…
End the drug war and improve the climate
NGOs Health Poverty Action and LEAP UK are working with students at Queen Mary University in London to highlight the absurdity of the drug war and why it should end. I was interviewed last week, the project is called SEEDS for Change, and I talk about the links between the war on drugs and climate…
No uranium mining in Greenland
Back in 2014, I reported for the Guardian on an Australian company determined to open a uranium mine in Greenland. Years later, the issue is still live, the mine hasn’t happened but the corporation is determined to make it a reality. Green Left is covering the story (and virtually nobody else is): Sydney-based independent journalist,…
What disaster capitalism tells us about Bougainville
I’ve investigated the dark realities in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea in my Disaster Capitalism book and film. A new report, published in the Pacific Journalism Review by Wendy Bacon and Nicole Gooch, examines this fact (and I was interviewed about my work on Bougainville, independent journalism and disaster capitalism): This article focuses on the making…
The how and why of cultural boycotts of Israel
Irish writer Sally Rooney, one of the most popular writers of her generation, just announced that she won’t allow an Israeli publisher to translate her latest book on political grounds related to Israeli state and corporate complicity with the occupation of Palestine. Here’s my comments to the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age about it…
No more $ to the Iron Dome
A small but significant shift in the official US posture towards Israel with a number of US politicians refusing to give even more money to the Jewish state’s Iron Dome. My comments to Middle East Eye: Antony Loewenstein, an independent journalist who is writing a book on how Israel’s occupation has gone global, says that…