The following review of After Zionism by Jeff Sparrow appears in Overland Journal: After Zionism: One State for Israel and Palestine Antony Loewenstein and Ahmed Moor (eds) SAQI In the media, particularly in Australia, the ”˜two-state solution’ to the Palestine/Israel crisis – that is to say, the proposition that peace depends upon the creation of…
Showing all posts tagged Tony Abbott
Why WikiLeaks forces accountability on the insular journalistic and political club
Last week I was invited down to Canberra to give the keynote speech at the Independent Scholars Association of Australia 2011 Conference. It was held at the National Library to an appreciative audience. The following are my notes: -… … … … … … Quote from Julian Assange, The UnAuthorised Autobiography, p. 119/120 + 168 -… … … … … … … What is modern journalism…
Please can Australia have a mature discussion over refugees? No, didn’t think so
The Australian “debate” over asylum seekers leave ones thoroughly depressed. Both major sides of politics seem determined to dehumanise the most vulnerable people seeking assistance. Grubby and utterly pointless. No wonder nobody really respects politicians these days. Are we truly saying Australia can’t handle a few boats arriving on our shores? Sigh. The Australian’s George…
The gospel according to Tony Abbott (future Australian leader?)
The Liberal Opposition leader Tony Abbott is interviewed in today’s Murdoch Australian by Greg Sheridan, a man who never saw a war he didn’t love to watch (from a distance). The message? Abbott loves America, Israel, the West, the “war on terror” and anything Washington asks. That’s not a foreign policy; its sycophancy: I ask…
Western politicians prefer to ignore Israel’s inherent racism
My following article appears in today’s Sydney Morning Herald: Imagine a mainstream Australian politician saying that Aborigines should be banned from leading tourists around Uluru because they might “present anti-Australian positions” to visitors. The outcry would be furious. But a bill is currently before the Israeli Knesset, led by a parliamentarian from the “moderate” Kadima…
More on Tony Abbott mixing with the “enemy” in Sydney
After attending a Sydney event last night with Liberal Opposition leader Tony Abbott and writer Bob Ellis (with actor Rhys Muldoon in my photo above), today’s ABC Radio AM reported on proceedings: ELIZABETH JACKSON: Politics throws up some unlikely friendships. Indeed it’s hard to imagine a more unusual friendship than the one between the Labor…
Meeting Tony Abbott in Sydney and shooting the Palestinian breeze
Last night I attended an event in central Sydney at Gleebooks with Leader of the Liberal Opposition Tony Abbott and writer and speech-writer Bob Ellis. The room was packed with around 200 people and the two men initially talked about the war in Afghanistan (Abbott backs it, “the best of the worst options” for the…
Moving forward? Australia’s relationship with Israel is dire
My following lead essay appears in the Australian literary journal Kill Your Darlings: I first discovered the importance of the Israel/Palestine conflict in my early teens, in Melbourne. I remember sitting around the Sabbath table with my parents and cousins, discussing the events of the week as we consumed schnitzels, soggy vegetables and chicken soup.…
Platitudes over Afghanistan were already irrelevant in 2001 post 9/11
What happens when a compliant corporate journalist simply reprints what a military man tells him? Welcome the Sydney Morning Herald’s Peter Hartcher, repeating pro Afghan war propaganda with no contrary views. This is what embedding “journalism” is all about: The Australian officer in charge of the Afghanistan deployment has told Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott…