An indifferent Australian government has looked on as legal due process for Julian Assange has been trashed. Stuart Rees reports on Nils Melzer's new book The Trial of Julian Assange.
Stuart Rees
Beware powerful people who claim that democratic governments in the United States, Britain and Australia administer justice always according to some time-honoured principle about rules of law, argues Stuart Rees.
Among protesters the meaning of the panacea slogan “freedom” is diverse. Stuart Rees argues that reasoning and persuasion are needed to combat the pandemic of intolerant dogma.
Armed with inclusive views of humanity, “the Arch” crossed borders, challenged nationalism and advocated justice, not least for the Palestinians, writes Stuart Rees.
Cruelty has caught fire in Australian politics; cowardice has become the currency affecting exchange with Washington and London, argues Stuart Rees.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been promoting “can do capitalism” when Australia needs policies that treat all equally, argues Stuart Rees.
Stuart Rees argues that the decision to own and operate United States nuclear submarines is dangerous nonsense.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison boasts that Australia is rescuing Afghans, resettling refugees and will implement humanitarian programs. However, as Stuart Rees writes, this is cover for cowardice.
From Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard to Coalition PM Scott Morrison, Australian leaders have tried to appear in a chorus of extras, parroting that Assange had broken the law, writes Stuart Rees.
That Julian Assange cannot be extradited is welcome, but the ruling comes after the charade in which British authorities held him in a top security prison and made his defence as difficult as possible, argues Stuart Rees.
Under the guise of a phenomenon called security, anti-democratic acts designed to instill fear are being committed, argues Stuart Rees.
Stuart Rees warns about governments' distain for human rights as police are deployed to harass or arrest citizens, and even parliamentarians.
In response to Israel’s intention to annex up to 30% of the West Bank, respect for truth by all the parties involved, Israeli, Palestinian, United States, European and Australian, has been replaced by calculations about the benefits of deceit, writes Stuart Rees.
We chose Professor Noam Chomsky for the 2011 Sydney Peace Prize for inspiring the convictions of millions about ways to achieve those universal human rights, which bolster peace with justice.
For more than 50 years he has been a world champion of freedom of speech, of the value of transparency in government and the need to challenge secrecy and censorship.
In his study of the political economy of human rights, he exposed state crimes, induced by US foreign policy, across South America, the Middle East and South East Asia.
