My following article appears in the Guardian today: I couldn’t believe my ears. I was in Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby,… in 2012 and a local Oxfam employee told me that he wished Australia would again take control of his country. He argued that in the nearly four decades since independence, the state had not…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
Right Now positively reviews Profits of Doom
The great publication Right Now (they recently published an extract from my new book, Profits of Doom, on Christmas Island) today publishes a strong book review by… Maya Chanthaphavong: The drive by governments to privatise what are usually key governmental functions, such as refugee processing and detention, reform and prison, and health care is one that…
Australian Jewish heads love Zionist colonies, conservatism and remain lost cause
Australia has a federal election on 7 September. We’re looking at a change of government to Liberal leader Tony Abbott; a period of neo-conservatism awaits us. I agree with Wikileaks head Julian Assange who argues that one of the key issues is liberating ourselves from genuflecting towards Washington on every issue. Israel/Palestine has barely featured…
Weekly reminder to assist my documentary on disaster capitalism
A week after launching my Kickstarter campaign to raise $20,000 for my documentary with New York colleague Thor Neureiter, on the subject of disaster capitalism and Profits of Doom, we’re close to 30% of our target with many more pledges still to come, I’m told. Thanks for all your support thus far. But we have…
On the dangers of militant atheism
One of the themes in my recent book For God’s Sake is tackling the role of extremism in all its guises, including atheism. I was interviewed this week by Jenna Price in The Canberra Times: Australian journalist and atheist Antony Loewenstein, co-author of… For God’s Sake,… says evangelical atheism, or what is now called “new atheism”, is…
Perth Indymedia interview on Profits of Doom
I was interviewed last night by Perth Indymedia on my new book, Profits of Doom, and we discussed privatised detention centres, privatised war in Afghanistan and Iraq and resistance in the form of the #Occupy movement. Listen here.
Western elite outrage over Syria has little to do with chemical weapons
Forget the crocodile tears of Western leaders. This is about unseating a leader who opposes Western designs in the Middle East (albeit Assad is an incredibly brutal dictator). Here’s Australian intellectual Scott Burchill: How genuine is the West’s concerns about the use of chemical weapons in Syria five days ago? Not very, I suspect. … …
Serco and G4S under marginally tighter scrutiny
This is new positive news, if the outsourcing obsessed British government takes it seriously. Serco, G4S and a range of other vulture capitalists need to be challenged on their woeful human rights records (via the Financial Times): Security companies… G4S… and… Serco… will have to go through a process of “corporate renewal” if they are to be considered for…
Journalist Amy Goodman on the hope for public media
One of the finest reporters in the world, co-host of Democracy Now!, in a long chat about media, democracy, challenging corporate elites and listening to the silences: