Australian Politics

Links

By New Matilda

February 21, 2006

Further reading

West Papua

‘International Federation of Journalists concerned that barring foreign media from West Papua is an attempt to conceal human rights abuses. The IFJ has written to the Indonesian Government demanding the removal of the ban on foreign media in West Papua immediately.’ Perth Indymedia

Hamas

‘The right’s response to Hamas’ victory has left the Israel-Palestine conflict teetering on the edge of a dangerous new phase.’ Who Exactly Are the Real Partners for Peace? By Joshua Holland, AlterNet

Education‘Australian universities were designed to have a crucial role in a free and democratic society, but today they are no longer able to fulfil their proper function. The chapters in this book elaborate on what universities are for and how they became subverted, with some revealing case histories.’ The subversion of Australian universities, edited by John Biggs and Richard Davis, University of Wollongong

Google‘Google Inc. denied a report Tuesday that its Chinese-language search engine, which has been criticized for blocking searches for politically sensitive material, is operating without a required government license.’ Google denies report its Chinese site operating without license by Joe McDonald, MiamiHearald.com (thanks to rachelcantos [via the forum])

Capitalism‘It fully exposed the nightmare of global capitalism for working class women, children and men of all racial, ethnic and nationality groups and the U.S. government that exists primarily to serve the interests of the richest global corporations.’ America Through The Eye Of Hurricane Katrina “ Capitalism At Its œbest  by Jerome Scott and Walda Katz-Fishman. Z Net

‘Americans have always believed that hard work will bring rewards, but vast numbers now cannot meet their bills even with two or three jobs. More than one in 10 citizens live below the poverty line, and the gap between the haves and have-nots is widening,’ 37 million poor hidden in the land of plenty by Paul Harris in Kentucky, February 19, 2006 The Observer

‘What do multinational corporations do once their dirty record gets around and people start seeing them for what they are? They change their names, of course. Philip Morris is leading the way.’ BadCorp.orgThose cartoons

Why I Published Those Cartoons by Flemming Rose, culture editor of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. Washington Post

Iraq

As we approach the third anniversary of the onset of the Iraq war, it seems very unlikely that history will judge either the intervention itself or the ideas animating it kindly. After Neoconservatism By FRANCIS FUKUYAMA, New York Times

Google et al

‘Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Cisco Systems came under fire at a House human rights hearing on Wednesday for what a subcommittee chairman called a "sickening collaboration" with the Chinese government that was "decapitating the voice of the dissidents" there.’ US: Web Firms Are Grilled on Dealings in China by Tom Zeller Jr., The New York Times (link through Corpwatch)

Gay Agenda‘I’ve never seen a copy of the Gay Agenda, but I figured there must be a piece of paper somewhere with the massively sordid details. After all, the uptight and sexually terrified radical right has gone all screechy about it again since "Brokeback Mountain" came to a theater near you – and a little bit too near them.’ Gay Agenda Revealed Here For First Time! by Beth Quinn, Common Dreams

The beginning of life

‘An experiment to recreate the conditions in which life began has revealed that the hot, acidic, clay-filled waters that had been proposed as prime candidates are probably incapable of mixing organic matter in the right way.’ US study pours cold water on Darwin’s theory, People’s Daily Online