New episode of Bad News. In this episode, I interview Professor Jon Altman. Jon has a background in economics and anthropology, and is an Emeritus Professor at ANU. He works on practical issues around environmental, economic and social justice for First Nations people in Australia and beyond with a number of not-for-profits. he has been an active participant in the Arena project for 20 years. In the interview, we talk about a couple of articles he wrote for Arena Magazine last year, in which he critiques the destruction of Aboriginal heritage sites at Juukan Gorge in May 2020 and legacy of the Northern Territory Intervention from a perspective drawn from the work of Patrick Wolfe, a late professor of settler-colonial studies. We talk about the notions of settler-colonialism and extractivism, both historically and as ongoing processes. Cover art by Honor Webster-Mannison. Music is Despegue by Makiza. //Links// https://arena.org.au/lest-we-forget-the-harmful-policy-legacies-of-the-northern-territory-intervention/ https://arena.org.au/again-and-again/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC4ZDkvbme0&t=88s //Bad News// www.facebook.com/BadNewsAU twitter.com/BadNewsAU www.instagram.com/bad_news_au/

New episode of Bad News. In this episode, I interview Professor Clinton Fernandes. Clinton is Professor of International and Political Studies at the University of New South Wales in Canberra. He writes on the relationship between science, diplomacy and international law, intelligence operations in foreign policy, the political and regulatory implications of new technology and Australia's external relations more generally. His books include 'Reluctant Saviour: Australia, Indonesia and the Independence of East Timor', 'Island Off the Coast of Asia: Instruments of Statecraft in Australian Foreign Policy', 'What Uncle Sam Wants: US Foreign Policy Objectives in Australia and Beyond', and the forthcoming 'Sub-Imperial Power: Australia in the International Arena'. In the interview, we talk about what he identifies as the three pillars of empire, comparing the past British empire and the current American one. We also talk about Australia’s role in both of these. Cover art by Honor Webster-Mannison. Music is Despegue by Makiza. //Links// https://www.mup.com.au/books/sub-imperial-power-paperback-softback https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QPR_dAcDls&t=3584s https://arena.org.au/the-rules-based-order/ https://theconversation.com/worried-about-agents-of-foreign-influence-just-look-at-who-owns-australias-biggest-companies-123343 //Bad News// www.facebook.com/BadNewsAU twitter.com/BadNewsAU www.instagram.com/bad_news_au/

New episode of Bad News. In this episode, I interview Dr Emma Shortis. Emma is an expert in the history and politics of the United States and a research fellow at the Social and Global Studies Centre at RMIT. In the interview, we talk about her book ‘Our Exceptional Friend: Australia’s Fatal Alliance with the United States’. We talk about the notion of American exceptionalism and the US’s global dominance and Australian support for it. We also talk about the notion of an ‘Australian national interest’, the shared racist history of the US and Australia, and how all this relates to the Australian state’s stance on China. Cover art by Honor Webster-Mannison. Music is Despegue by Makiza. //Links// https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/publishing/bookfinder/book/our-exceptional-friend-by-emma-shortis/9781743797839 https://theconversation.com/the-anzus-treaty-does-not-make-australia-safer-rather-it-fuels-a-fear-of-perpetual-military-threat-165670 //Bad News// www.facebook.com/BadNewsAU twitter.com/BadNewsAU www.instagram.com/bad_news_au/

On this episode, I talk to Scott Ludlam. Scott is an ambassador with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, a former Australian Greens senator for Western Australia and the author of Full Circle, a book that travels the world looking at the systems that have humanity in their teeth, and the ways ordinary people are standing up to them. In the interview we talk about the crises the world faces, the truly international nature of them and the necessity of an internationalist response. We talk about some movements for justice, past and present, and their successes and limitations. And we also talk about the capture of the Australian state by resource companies and the consequent necessity of taking our politics far beyond elections if we don’t want to see the planet burn. Cover art by Honor Webster-Mannison. Music is Despegue by Makiza. //Links// https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/full-circle https://progressive.international/ https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2022/february/1643634000/scott-ludlam/scourge-state-capture#mtr //Bad News// www.facebook.com/BadNewsAU twitter.com/BadNewsAU www.instagram.com/bad_news_au/

In this episode I interview Dr Elizabeth Humphrys. Elizabeth is a political economist interested in the impact of economic crisis and climate change on workers, and how workplaces can be made safer and more equitable. Her research focusses on work health and safety and questions of control over the labour process. Her current projects include the impact of climate change on workers and the politics of adaptation, and the growing prevalence of silicosis disease among workers. In the interview, we talk about her book How Labour Built Neoliberalism, published in 2018. In that book, Elizabeth investigates the development of neoliberalism in Australia. She argues that, in contrast to its development in countries such as the US and the UK, neoliberalism in Australia was largely instituted by trade unions and the ALP through what is known as the Accord process. She explores the nature of the Australian state and its relation to capital and organised labour. In diagnosing the ways in which oppositional forces such as organised labour are incorporated into the status quo, she helps us to understand how we got here, and clears the way for thinking about how to avoid and overcome this process of incorporation. Cover art by Honor Webster-Mannison. Music is Despegue by Makiza. //Links// https://overland.org.au/2019/04/taking-back-worker-power-elizabeth-humphrys-how-labour-built-neoliberalism/ https://www.ppesydney.net/how-labour-built-neoliberalism/ //Bad News// www.facebook.com/BadNewsAU twitter.com/BadNewsAU www.instagram.com/bad_news_au/

On this week’s episode, I talk to Karina Lester. Karina is a Yankunytjatjara Anangu woman from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands (APY Lands) in the far North West of South Australia. Karina grew up in the remote community of Mimili in the Everard Ranges, with her father’s people and is determined to keep her language alive and ongoing for the future generations. Karina is also a keen anti-nuclear activist, sharing not only her late father’s story but her grandmother’s story of the British Nuclear Tests in the 1950’s – 1960’s and speaks strongly about the impacts felt by her people. Her recent works have been with the Noble Peace Prize Award Recipients International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons; the South Australian Royal Commission into International Waste Storage facility; and the National Waste Storage facility – WE SAY NO! Campaign. In 2018 Karina joined the list of iCAN Ambassadors along with current Ambassadors Robert Tickner – ex Australian director of the Red Cross and the former federal Labor Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Scott Ludlam – ex Greens spokesperson on nuclear issues and Melissa Parke – ex federal Labor MP for Fremantle and international human rights lawyer. In the conversation we talk about the nuclear tests conducted by the British government in outback South Australia, the effects on the communities there, including Karina’s family and particularly her father, the activism that came out of this tragedy and crime, and the work of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners are advised that the following conversation contains names and references to Aboriginal people who have now passed. Cover art by Honor Webster-Mannison. Music is Despegue by Makiza. //Links// https://theconversation.com/315-nuclear-bombs-and-ongoing-suffering-the-shameful-history-of-nuclear-testing-in-australia-and-the-pacific-148909 https://icanw.org.au/ //Bad News// www.facebook.com/BadNewsAU twitter.com/BadNewsAU www.instagram.com/bad_news_au/

In this episode I interview Barathan Vidhyapathy. Barathan is an Eelam Tamil filmmaker and member of the Tamil Refugee Council. Last year Barathan published an article in Jacobin Australia about the way the Australian government supports the Sri Lankan government’s oppression of Tamil people. We talk about about the oppression of Tamils, including the ongoing genocide and the massacre of 2009. We also talk about how the Australian government supports the Sri Lankan government by downplaying these atrocities and equipping its security forces. We talk about Tamil resistance in Sri Lanka and in Australia, and how the oppression of Tamils in Sri Lanka is linked to the refugee policies of the Australian government. Cover art by Honor Webster-Mannison. Music is Aerolineas by Makiza. //Links// https://jacobinmag.com/2021/05/sri-lanka-australia-eelam-tamils-genocide-military-aid-drones-refugees https://tamilrefugeecouncil.org.au/ //Bad News// www.facebook.com/BadNewsAU twitter.com/BadNewsAU www.instagram.com/bad_news_au/

In this episode I interview Antony Loewenstein. Antony’s an independent journalist, author, film-maker and co-founder of Declassified Australia. His books include Disaster Capitalism: Making A Killing Out Of Catastrophe and Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside The Bloody War On Drugs. In the interview, Antony and I discuss the invasion of Afghanistan and its aftermath, the way these are seen and represented in the West, including Australia, and the new media organisation he’s launched called Declassified Australia. I hope you enjoy the show. Cover art by Honor Webster-Mannison. Music is Aerolineas by Makiza. //Links// https://declassifiedaus.org/2022/02/16/australias-failed-resource-grab-in-afghanistan/ https://antonyloewenstein.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XgWu_uL7oY&t=87s //Bad News// www.facebook.com/BadNewsAU twitter.com/BadNewsAU www.instagram.com/bad_news_au/

In this episode of Bad News I talk to Patricia Arcilla, a writer and member of Anakbayan Sydney. Patricia wrote an article in Jacobin last year, titled Australia Is Enabling State Violence in the Philippines. In it, Patricia details the ‘war on drugs’ being waged against the Filipino population by the government of right-wing strongman Rodrigo Duterte; how, in tandem with new anti-terror legislation, it’s being used to target left activists and environmental defenders among others; and how the Australian government is complicit. We talk about this in the context of the history of colonialism and imperialism in which what is now called the Philippines has been enmeshed for the last 500 years. Cover art by Honor Webster-Mannison. //Links// https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/08/australia-violence-repression-philippines-morrison-duterte-human-rights https://www.rappler.com/author/leon-dulce/ https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/2018/06/30/duterte-harry/15284664006335 //Bad News// https://www.facebook.com/BadNewsAU https://twitter.com/BadNewsAU https://www.instagram.com/bad_news_au/

In this episode of Bad News I interview David Brophy, a historian of China and Inner Asia at Sydney Uni. We talk about the issues covered in his book 'China Panic', including Chinese foreign policy and development, US-China relations and Australian foreign policy.