I appeared on ABCTV News’s24’s The Drum last Thursday talking about changes in the Murdoch empire, the ethics and politics of changing the racial discrimination laws and why unions are in such dire trouble in Australia:
Showing all posts tagged Murdoch
Why progressives must fight and win the culture wars
My weekly Guardian column is published today: Australia’s reactionary culture warriors are amateurs compared to their British and American counterparts. Sack the ABC Chairman Jim Spigelman,… screams… News Limited columnist Piers Akerman. Privatise the public broadcaster,… shouts… the Institute of Public Affairs (a think-tank that refuses to disclose its funders, though the ABC still allows its spokespeople to appear).…
On anti-Semitism, BDS, Palestine and justice
My essay in New Matilda is here: As the BDS campaign starts to gain traction, accusations of anti-semitism should be treated gravely – whether from pro-Palestine advocates or Israel’s defenders, writes Antony Loewenstein The charges of racism were serious. University orientation weeks, reported Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper,… The Australian,… in early March, “have been marred by a series…
What robust journalism should look like in 2014
My weekly Guardian column is published today: 2013 was the year of Edward Snowden. The former NSA contractor, voted the Guardian’s… person of the year… (after Chelsea Manning the year before), unleashed a vital global debate on the extent of mass surveillance in the modern age. “Among the casualties”,… writes one reporter, “is the assumption that some of…
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?…
David Hicks deserves justice, an apology and compensation
My weekly Guardian column is published today: It’s hard to think of an Australian individual since 9/11 who has experienced more humiliation and abandonment by the federal government than… David Hicks. Julian Assange, who declared he felt abandoned by the Australian government, perhaps… comes close. As they both found out, an Australian passport is no guarantee of…
Why BDS must be supported for justice in the Middle East
My weekly Guardian column is published today: The… boycott, divestment and sanctions… (BDS) movement,… a thriving Palestinian-led initiative… that attacks… institutional links… to Israel’s illegal settlements,… has been… gaining in popularity. In Australia, the movement has been slowly growing… as Israel continues to defy international law – and it now faces one of its greatest opportunities in the court of public opinion. Shurat HaDin…
What asylum seekers are facing on the ground and why support is desperately needed
My weekly Guardian column is published today (here’s my archive): Blind compassion is killing the asylum seeker debate. While Tony Abbott entangles his new government in megaphone diplomacy with Indonesia,upsetting our biggest neighbour… in the process,… refugees… are struggling to survive closer to home. Vast swaths of the Australian public remain hostile towards asylum seekers, and the advocacy…
Where to now for the Australian Left?
My following column appears in the Guardian today: Treating voters with contempt is the perfect way for the left to guarantee itself permanent exile from the political scene. On election night, Melbourne writer Catherine Deveny… tweeted: “This is win for racists, morons, homophobes, fuckheads, jumped up bogans, misogynists, billionaires, haters, comedians.” Such sentiments might momentarily make…
Voice of Russia interview about Australian election of Tony Abbott
I was interviewed last night by The Voice of Russia about the ascension of Tony Abbott to the Prime Ministership (my previous interview with them was in July on asylum seekers): As Australia conservative leader Tony Abbott has won the national elections by a landslide, bringing an end to a six-year Labor rule, Antony Loewenstein,…