My following article appears in The Hoopla today: The rate of incarceration of Indigenous Australians is… higher per capita… than it was for … blacks living in apartheid South Africa. The Australian Institute of Criminology released figures this year that confirm the problem. One in four are behind bars and the over-representation of Indigenous people in West Australian…
Showing all posts tagged privatisation
Al Jazeera English gets “access” to Serco-run Christmas Island camp
When I visited Christmas Island in late 2011 (researching my book Profits of Doom), the Australian Immigration Department and Serco heavily restricted access (though I finally obtained entry on my last day). This was supposedly for asylum seeker “privacy” but in reality is a policy aimed to not humanise the faces and lives of refugees.…
What is vulture capitalism doing to our world?
My follow article appears today in The Conversation: The story in last weekend’s Sydney’s… Daily Telegraph… was stark: “[Prime Minister] Kevin Rudd will warn people smugglers he stands ready to create an island from hell in Papua New Guinea housing 10,000 asylum seekers.” The message, an “exclusive” by News Corp Australia journalist Samantha Maiden, was to inform…
Profits of Doom extract: politicised, privatised and silenced by bureaucracy
The following… appears in the wonderful publication Right Now, an online site dedicated to human rights: In his new book,… Profits of Doom,… independent Australian journalist Antony Loewenstein travels to Curtin Immigration Detention Centre and Christmas Island to investigate the reality of Australia’s, notoriously… secretive, privatised detention facilities for asylum seekers.… In this excerpt, Loewenstein is on Christmas Island (CI)…
ABC Adelaide on Profits of Doom and vulture capitalism
Discussing the realities of crony capitalism is rare in the mainstream media. My interview this week with ABC Adelaide… about my book Profits of Doom… gave me the opportunity to talk about private mercenaries in Afghanistan and the attempts by multinational Rio Tinto to re-open its polluting mine in Bougainville in Papua New Guinea:
Q&A: Antony Loewenstein and Guardian readers debate vulture capitalism
The recent release of my new book, Profits of Doom (and forthcoming documentary trailer), gives me a unique opportunity to discuss issues too often ignored in the mainstream media. Today the Guardian hosted a Q&A session in which I engaged for three hours with readers from across the world on vulture capitalism. Here’s my introductory…
Private companies making a fortune from asylum seekers
My following piece appears in the Melbourne Age today: In 2005, Labor’s then immigration spokesman Tony Burke said detention centres for asylum seekers must never be run by private companies. “You shouldn’t have a situation”, he said, “where the level of supervision and the standard of care has anything to do with the private profits…
Readings positively reviews Profits of Doom
My new book Profits of Doom is now out. Here’s a great review from one of Australia’s leading independent bookstores, Readings: Australian journalist Antony Loewenstein has travelled to Papua New Guinea, Afghanistan, Haiti and around Australia to report on a growing trend of ”˜vulture capitalism’ where the political and economic culture encourages ”˜corporate vultures to…
Profits of Doom introductory chapter
My new book Profits of Doom is released officially today. There will be an avalanche of media and events in the coming weeks and months but in the meantime my publisher, Melbourne University Publishing, has published the introduction to the work. You can buy the book via Amazon and my publisher. Please read and share:…
Why Bradley Manning trial should inspire journalists and citizens to rebel
My following article appears in New Matilda today: Whistleblowers like Bradley Manning show us the true face of global power. The guilty verdict against him should stir journalists to challenge authoritarianism, writes Antony Loewenstein The verdict was never really in doubt. Former US intelligence analyst Bradley Manning was always going to be found guilty by…