Peace
Featured, Green Agenda Quarterly Journal Autumn 2021, Peace, Social Justice
SAS war crimes: (In)security at home and in Afghanistan
Content warning: This article provides details of violence that readers may find distressing. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that some of the hyperlinks contain the names and photographs of people who have died. On July 11 2017, ABC journalists Dan Oakes and Sam Clark published ‘The Afghan Files’, a series of investigative stories that detailed the deeply... Read More
Culture, Featured, Green Agenda Quarterly Journal Autumn 2021, Peace, Social Justice
Government’s secrecy war makes us less safe
When the Australian government announced in April last year that they would be developing and deploying a smartphone application to assist contract tracing efforts as the coronavirus pandemic started to impact Australia, there was immediate and vocal public scepticism. It came from privacy advocates and the technology sector, but also human rights advocates and the broader public. The trickle of... Read More
Featured, Green Agenda Quarterly Journal Summer 2021, Peace, Social Justice
Beirut burning
Some of the worst wildfires ravaged through the mountains of Lebanon in 2019, caused by extended drought, wind and unusually dry weather. The government’s response to this crisis mirrored every government service in the country, at best inadequate, and mostly non-existent. In 2020 more than 100 wildfires spread again throughout the mountains in the southern Chouf and in the northern... Read More
Environment, Featured, Green Agenda Quarterly Journal Summer 2021, Peace, Social Justice
A fiery trifecta
We are in the midst of a fiery trifecta of crises: climate, covid, nuclear. They’re all connected, and all capable of great damage, and of great transformation. The climate crisis just keeps getting worse, as governments refuse to take the bold and necessary actions to limit global warming to 1.5%. This challenge has been sneaking up on us for more... Read More
Featured, Peace
Criminalisation And Covid-19
On Saturday July 4th Daniel Andrews’ government announced on national television that there would be a hard lockdown of Melbourne’s nine public housing towers, effective immediately. As his announcement (presumably for the benefit of Melbournians not living in the public housing estates) streamed into living rooms around the country, armed police streamed into the homes of residents in the Kensington,... Read More
Featured, Peace, Social Justice
Lethal Weapons: The Violent Politics Of Australian Defence Policy
It was hard to miss, and that was kind of the point. As if to really ram home the “potency” argument made in the PM’s press release, the front page of Wednesday’s Daily Telegraph featured a turgid surface-to-air missile, flanked by two smaller silver missiles, ejaculated from somewhere in the far north of South Australia. It didn’t really matter that... Read More
Peace, Social Justice
COVID-19: Militarise Or Organise?
This is a re-post of a blog originally published by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Please see here for more salient commentary in their series on COVID-19. In the last week as cities around the world have entered into lockdown, and as fear of the many uncertainties associated with our latest global crisis mount, some people have... Read More
Environment, Peace, Social Justice
Post-COVID: Will Our Better Angels Prevail?
I know I shouldn’t sit up late at night scrolling through the 24-hour coronavirus news coverage. I know reading countless horror stories about those impacted by the pandemic only makes me unnecessarily anxious, yet I do it anyway. While my biggest concern is for those losing their lives and loved ones to the virus, what also strikes me is that... Read More
Democracy, Environment, Peace, Social Justice
Protecting Our Right To Peaceful Dissent In The Face Of Climate Breakdown
It is difficult to overstate the importance and influence of disruptive, peaceful protest and non-violent direct action in social change. On countless issues like women’s rights, LGBTIQ+ rights, justice for First Nations people, rights for workers, or campaigns against racism and xenophobia, large-scale protest, including disruption and direct action have been an essential ingredient of success. Globally, recent months have... Read More
Democracy, Environment, Peace
Time To Rebel: Civil Disobedience For The Planet
The Extinction Rebellion (XR) movement has grabbed headlines since late 2018 with its repertoire of non-violent but disruptive tactics to raise climate awareness and protest government inaction on impending ecological collapse. The UK-born phenomenon has transformed into an international movement which continues to gather momentum. XR activist Jayne Forbes speaks here about her experiences in the London blockades and citizen’s... Read More