The militarisation of Australian history and public memory has a seemingly unstoppable dynamic. I would even say that the conflation of national history with military history, that is, the assumption that national history is military history, is pretty much complete. Rather
By Professor Stuart Rees, in the Sydney Morning Herald's Letters to the Editor: The prospect of US charges against Julian Assange will be a test of the Australian government's courage in standing up to big brother America, thereby showing its independence
WikiLeaks's latest release of confidential emails obtained from the US private intelligence firm Stratfor indicate the US Department of Justice has issued a secret, sealed indictment against Julian Assange. While the Department of Justice has refused to confirm the existence
The Sydney Peace Foundation invites you to attend: Israeli Apartheid Week 2012 Israeli Apartheid and the Means of Resistance Thursday, 15 March 2012 Join the main discussion event of Israeli Apartheid Week Sydney. This is a panel discussion titled 'Israeli Apartheid and the Means of
By Dr Ken MacNab. Weasel words have invaded the world, with pernicious consequences. The purpose of weasel words (from the belief that weasels suck the yolk from bird's eggs, leaving an empty shell) is to deprive a word or phrase of
More patronage for pollies? To depict the individual whose activities symbolized the most significant events of 2011, Time magazine featured a protester. That protester was for democracy and against authoritarian rule throughout the Middle East. He or she was also a member
We must act urgently to protect West Papuans from Indonesian brutality. In West Papua, it's appeasement, violence and business as usual for Indonesia. There is a vast difference between promises made to the people of West Papua and what actually happens. President
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
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
"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
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
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
PRESS RELEASE 13th November, Sydney Australia need not be a ‘Frightened Country’: Security through dialogue with China not by threat of US force Sydney Peace Foundation, responsible for Australia’s only international award for peace, insists that the best way to enhance Australia’s security in
On Thursday 3rd November, Australia's Father of Reconciliation and 2008 Recipient of the Sydney Peace Prize, Patrick Dodson, presented Prof Noam Chomsky with the Sydney Peace Prize at a Gala Dinner in the beautiful surrounds of the MacLaurin Hall, the
The 2011 City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture was delivered to a sold-out crowd at Sydney Town Hall on Wednesday 2nd November, by the 2011 Sydney Peace Prize Recipient, Prof Noam Chomsky. Prof Noam Chomsky's City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
As the US obsesses over how to avoid a default on its loans, deep divisions within the ethos of the American society are becoming apparent. There are those who are intent on maintaining military spending at a record high and
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
