“Sir, are you or have you ever been member of the underground terrorist organization known as PAAP?” “Yes, senator, but PAAP is neither terrorist nor underground. We are a multi-ethnic multi-faith charity group, and most of our activities involve…” “Yes or no,...
Dissident Voice
Plausible Parody: A ‘Property Development’ Theory of Geopolitics
Since resuming residence in the White House a few months ago, it has not been difficult to detect in President Trump’s behaviour traces of his background as a real estate deal maker. Indeed, it could be said that his statements and actions since becoming president...
How the UN Can Act Decisively to End Genocide in Gaza
One year ago, the UN General Assembly demanded that Israel must end its occupation of the Palestinian Territories within twelve months. The General Assembly voted, by 124 votes to 14, with 43 abstentions, for a strong resolution that not only “demanded” an end to the...
Nuclear Snobbery and Atomic Anniversaries
How do we commemorate it? The atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the Second World War on August 6 and 9, 1945 by the United States remain the only examples of the use of such a weapon in history. Rather than banishing any temptation to use them, the...
The Old World Order Was Buried in China
Xi, Putin and Modi have lead calls in Tianjin for a UN-centered multipolar system, as Eurasian blocs tighten and the EU is sidelined. The latest gathering of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tianjin looks at first like another summit – handshakes, family...
From Manufactured Scandals to AI Misinformation
FAKE NEWS This section chronicles some of the most pressing examples of disinformation and fake news from the previous two weeks. I define fake news as information that appears to be real news but is baseless, inaccurate, misleading, or false. Fake news isn’t just a...
The People’s Champion: Howard Zinn
Go to school, but don’t become an educated dummy. — Eddie Zinn to son Howard when he was a boy, Howard Zinn: A Life on the Left Labor Day is a good time to pay tribute to the late Howard Zinn, a rebel historian who broke with the tedious orthodoxy of “patriotic”...
How to Stop Israel from Starving Gaza
Israel has crossed the clear line into the darkest crimes. Israel, with US complicity, is committing genocide in Gaza through the mass starvation of the population as well as direct mass murders and the physical destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure. Israel does the...
Deja vu-Lebanon
In 1982 the world watched as Israeli troops invaded Lebanon, taking over the capital city of Beirut. The Americans and International Community made a deal with Israel that if the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) withdrew from Lebanon, Israel would retreat...
Structural Foundations of Africa’s Biggest Slum
Poverty is an artificial creation. Join political activist Ajam Baraka and members of the Communist Party of Kenya on a trip, making the case using Kibera, Africa’s largest slum. It is symptomatic of a larger issue because, despite Nairobi being the wealthiest county...
Clean Solar Outshines Filthy Oil
We can have a world that runs on a resource that’s available to everyone everywhere. — Bill McKibben There’s a renaissance of nature powering the world, and it’s happening throughout the planet hidden from public view because it’s everywhere all at once and not in one...
Refugee Dunghills: Australia Makes Another Nauru Deal
Over the last two decades, Australia has made a name for itself by pursuing barbaric policies towards refugees and asylum seekers arriving by sea. Priding these moves as noble and humanitarian, cruelty born of kindness, these have entailed attacking the right to seek...