This week’s British Supreme Court decision over Julian Assange was yet another step in the farcical legal case against the Wikileaks publisher. Australian and American politicians have shown over the last years a disturbing desire to shut Wikileaks down. Let them try. They will fail. There was a large rally in Sydney this week in…
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David Hicks speaks out, as a man who knows US torture, in support of Wikileaks
Last night in Sydney around 200 people protested outside the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in support of Julian Assange and Wikileaks. I spoke about the importance of an organisation that deeply challenged the power elites in both politics and the media. A key speaker was David Hicks, the former innocent Guatanamo Bay detainee…
Leading Israeli journalist persecuted for doing his job
Like the Western elite campaign against Julian Assange and Wikileaks, power hates being exposed and embarrassed. This news is therefore worrying but unsurprising. Democracy it is not (via +972): Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein announced his intention to indict Uri Blau, one of Israel’s top investigative reporters, for possession of classified materials without permission. The materials…
#LeftTurn editors talk to each other
Following the very positive of my new book Left Turn from leading independent bookstore Readings this week, here’s an interview between co-editor Jeff Sparrow and myself: Editors Antony Loewenstein and Jeff Sparrow discuss… Left Turn… – a collection of essays from our leading political writers, including Larissa Berendht, Christos Tsiolkas, Guy Rundle and more Antony Loewenstein: You…
Blogging our way to freedom isn’t so easy in 21st century
The following interview appears in the Australian online legal and human rights journal Right Now: Samaya Chanthaphavong spoke to Antony Loewenstein, author of… The Blogging Revolution… about the use of the internet, in particular blogging, as a communicative tool to promote self-representation, democracy and human rights in areas where excessive regimes impose strict censorship over most forms…
Who believes that NATO won’t continue terrorising Afghanistan for years to come?
Despite much of the media coverage recently that suggested America and its Western allies would largely leave by the end of 2014, Thomas Ruttig from The Afghanistan Analysts Network – I spent time with this valuable NGO while in Kabul in April – offers the reality: When President Barack Obama stated at last weekend’s NATO…
Talking about war without celebrating war
It’s a tough call on mainstream, corporate TV. And so rare. This segment, Up With Chris Hayes on MSNBC, is an interesting attempt. Even talking about the immorality of US-led wars is a concept almost absent from so-called polite debate: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
America invaded Iraq because media backed war for patriotic reasons
It’s therefore pretty depressing seeing MSNBC host Chris Matthews talking about the glories of cable TV to challenge official power: As Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting show, it’s a constant theme of mainstream journalism that America is never the aggressor always the victim. As if.