Australia continues to resettle homosexual refugees in homophobic Papua New Guinea. Gay men seeking asylum are both required yet unable to declare their sexuality for fear of persecution.
The "Indigenous Australia: enduring civilisation" exhibition at the British Museum leads to the overarching question of who is authorised and best equipped to tell the story of the artefacts displayed, and on whose terms.
Why should Australia acknowledge its bloody past on Australia Day? Firstly, this is a fundamental question of dignity.
We need to raise awareness about how the rich oil nations keep subsidising oil extraction whilst agreeing that the world needs to cut emissions. Taxpayers cannot passively let their governments do this.
There is no shortage of knowledge about global environmental and climate problems. Nor was there 40 years ago. So why is nothing happening?
Australia’s politicians and press are ratcheting up a rhetoric of pure Islamophobia. These escalating tactics are aimed, as ever, at forcing a shift in the balance of freedom and security, in favour of the latter.
For anyone sensitive to the pervasive signs of militarisation, there is no doubt that the centenary invites unwelcome forms of commemoration. Look at the distortions in the documented history of bloodshed in Gallipoli in 1915.
ISIS and Al-Qaeda—which includes ISIS rivals the Al-Nusra Front in Syria—are competing over the same ‘talent pool’ of marginalized and angry Arab and Islamic youth, and ISIS is winning hands down.
Within Australia’s brutal treatment of refugees, there has been an enormous gulf between those who advocate on behalf of asylum seekers, and a “mainstream” discourse of intolerant and cynical public opinion. Why has international civil society remained so silent?
The recent decision by the “Festival of Dangerous Ideas” to cancel Uthman Badar’s talk on “honour killings” begs the question of what is more dangerous: having a dangerous idea, or not wanting to talk about it?
Operation Blame the Victims was in full swing again today as Scott Morrison insisted that it was the unarmed men who received the beating who are to blame.
If the production of refugees was an industry, Myanmar would be among the world’s market leaders. And of all its products the Rohingya would be one of the most lucrative. A niche but growing market of global proportions, the culmination of decades of tireless endeavour to hone a specialist craft.
