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Peace Blog

The world can’t afford to keep wasting soil

One-third of Earth's soil is degraded because of unsustainable farming methods, which could lead to a major food crisis. Salina, Kansas - Late last year, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) released a hair-raising report on the state of

John Howard’s Dishonour

By Prof Stuart Rees: On the first Monday of the new year, on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald, former Prime Minister John Howard was pictured below a heading which said that he had been 'honoured for Queen and

Vaclav Havel’s life in truth

"Former Czech President Vaclav Havel was exceptional for a simple reason: he was a decent, principled man". Prague, Czech Republic - Long before Czechoslovakia's communist regime collapsed in 1989, Václav Havel was one of the most remarkable figures in Czech history

Mr Rudd: Protect Assange! Open Letter and petition.

This is an open letter to Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and Attorney-General Nicola Roxon. It calls on the Australian government to take steps to ensure Julian Assange's human rights are protected. It will be delivered on 19 December 2011, but

Whistling in the wind: is there anybody out there?

AS MOST Australians contemplate a traditional Christmas of over-indulgence and recuperation, we should spare a thought for one of our less fortunate compatriots. He lives in exile under house arrest, awaiting one last hopeful court appeal. He faces a perilous

Chomsky: “Without honour in his own land”

Months before Chomsky is due in Australia as guest of the Sydney Peace Foundation, the seats for his public lecture in the Sydney Town Hall had already sold out. Despite his near-invisibility in the US and Australian media, Chomsky is in

Unequal Partners Can’t Negotiate

By Paul Duffill Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, the University of Sydney Opponents of UN recognition of Palestine want the parties to sit down and talk it out. Will this be effective? Paul Duffill on the conditions necessary for real negotiation

American hypocrisy confirmed, Palestinians still pawns.

American hypocrisy is enormous: in alliance with Israel they have vetoed so many attempts to identify the real obstacles to peace, such as America enabling Israel to maintain massive armed forces, such as the continued building of settlements in defiance

Noam Chomsky: Looking Back on 9/11 a Decade Later

Tuesday 13 September 2011 by: Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! | Interview Ten years ago, at a time when lawmakers from both sides of the aisle joined together to authorize endless war, Noam Chomsky’s was the leading voice to call for the United

The debasement of public debate

By Dr Ken Macnab Dr Ken Macnab is an historian and President of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPACS) at the University of Sydney. John Stuart Mill argued in On Liberty (1859) that it was 'imperative that human beings should

Silencing David Hicks is absurd and shameful

By Jeff Sparrow. Jeff Sparrow is the editor of Overland literary journal and the author of Killing: Misadventures In Violence. If there was nothing wrong about how David Hicks was treated, why won't they let him talk about it? Whenever a government

America in Decline, OpEd by Noam Chomsky

Friday 5 August 2011 by: Noam Chomsky, Truthout | Op-Ed “It is a common theme” that the United States, which “only a few years ago was hailed to stride the world as a colossus with unparalleled power and unmatched appeal is

The language of derision: targeting Noam Chomsky

By Professor Stuart Rees, Director of the Sydney Peace Foundation Current political debate and radio talkback exchanges - about asylum seekers, about the carbon tax or the influence of the Greens - is characterised by abuse. Similar habits have been adopted

Justice for Bradley Manning or the Culture of Revenge?

By Professor Stuart Rees, Director of the Sydney Peace Foundation On August 2nd in the theatrette of the NSW parliament, the Australian support group Sydney Solidarity for Bradley Manning will take a major step in their campaign for justice for this

Greek ports no friend to the Freedom Flotilla

How sad that a country concerned with understanding and freedom should be sending commandos to stop the current Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. Not only are the boats being hindered from leaving Greek ports, but the skipper of the American boat Audacity of

“Chomsky a brilliant Sydney Peace Prize choice”

Stuart Rees, Director of The Sydney Peace Foundation, writes for the ABC's The Drum Unleashed. It is disappointing that Mr. Lapkin, billed as a research fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, churns out articles in The Drum and the Daily