An important letter sent by Reporters Without Borders: The Hon Kevin Michael Rudd Prime Minister Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Australia Paris, 18 December 2009 Dear Prime Minister, Reporters Without Borders, an organisation that defends free expression worldwide, would like to share with you its concern about your government’s plan to introduce a mandatory Internet…
Showing all posts tagged Kevin Rudd
Call for Israel to lift siege of Gaza
The following article by Pam Walker appears in this week’s Sydney City Hub newspaper: Author and journalist Antony Loewenstein is among a group of prominent Sydney activists who will travel to Gaza to join the Gaza Freedom March on December 31, an international protest demanding the opening of the borders and the breaking of the…
Australia snubs Tamil refugees
My following article is published in US magazine The Nation: Sri Lanka’s brutal war against the Tamils, a native ethnic group that has suffered legal, economic and political discrimination for more than half a century, has come at a huge domestic and global cost. Human rights in the Sinhalese-dominated nation are consistently violated, with journalists,…
Tzipi Livni avoids UK for fear of quiet time in prison
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was welcomed in Australia recently with open arms by the Rudd government. In Britain, however, Israeli leaders are having far more issues: Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni cancelled a visit to Britain this weekend over fears pro-Palestinian lawyers would seek to have her arrested. Ms Livni had been due…
The Australian government has no idea what’s happening in Palestine
Michael Shaik, from Australians for Palestine, on Australia’s slavish support for Israel: Just last week, at a Sydney lunch for a delegation, led by Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, Rudd asserted “the Australian people’s deep and high regard for the modern state of Israel”. And on Sunday night, Shalom was hosted at a “gala…
Australia trades any good will towards Tamils for a cheap buck
Western Australia human rights group Project Safecom released a statement yesterday that captured the hypocrisy at the heart of Australia’s foreign policy. We care about human rights until we don’t. In other words, human rights is far less important than keeping rogue states on side for trade or diplomatic benefits. Maybe the government should just…
Rudd helps the Middle East story remain one sided
My following story appears in today’s Crikey: Last weekend the Australian’s foreign editor Greg Sheridan interviewed former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and provided a platform for him to defend the 2006 Lebanon war, 2008/09 Gaza war and reveal the “most extensive concessions any Israeli leader has ever brought to the table in the search…
The state of the peace process in 2009
Overland is one of Australia’s finest literary journals. Punchy, provocative, topical, relevant and interesting, the magazine re-launched its website this week and is currently running a Subscriberthon. Do it for yourself and the country. Get into it! I was asked to write an original piece for the festivities: Antony Loewenstein is a prominent blogger, and…
Extremists should not be welcome in Australia
The following statement was released yesterday by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Sector union: Kevin Rudd is set to host an Israeli delegation to Australia led by Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom. Shalom is one of the most senior members of the extreme right wing Israeli political party, Likud, forming part of the…
Australia loves Zionist crimes, don’t you know?
Words fail me, but we shouldn’t be surprised. Israel can commit war crimes and Australia will welcome its leaders with welcome arms: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will host a delegation of senior Israeli politicians in Australia this week, including Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom. Mr Rudd will launch the Australia Israel Leadership Forum at a…