Julian Assange, the AFP Raids, and the Crime of Dissent
If News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst was watching the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday morning, she might have been surprised to see Peter Dutton discussing the domestic spying proposal that AFP officers raided her home in relation to just thirteen...
Welcome to 1984: The Government’s Relentless Assault on Democracy
Many social commentators have drawn comparisons between George Orwell’s dystopian novel ‘1984’ and the pervasive nature of surveillance in a several modern nations, labelling the book as prophetic rather than emphasising that it is a work of fiction. Orwell’s book...
#MeToo Founder Sued for Defamation
New York based French Journalist Sandra Muller is widely credited for inspiring hundreds of other women in that nation to report being sexually harassed, after she published a Tweet accusing French television executive Eric Brion of making offensive comments towards...
Australian Prisoner Rights Activist Ends 33-Day Hunger Strike
Sydney man Jock Palfreeman has ended his month-long hunger strike inside correctional facilities in Bulgaria. The 32-year-old began his protest on 21 April, with the aim of drawing attention to rights violations in the local prison system, as well as...
The NZ Cannabis Legalisation Referendum: An Interview With NZ Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick
New Zealand justice minister Andrew Little announced on 7 May that all three political parties that from the minority coalition government have agreed to the foundational elements of a legal and regulated cannabis market that the nation is set to...
The Continuing Violation of the Rights of Future Generations
The twentieth century has been described as the century of war. Those years saw more than 170 million people killed by government, with 10 million lost in the Great War and 50 million during World War Two. Although, somewhat paradoxically,...
Family of Australian Woman Shot Dead by Police to Receive Record Payout
The family of Australian woman Justine Damond Ruszczyk, who was shot and killed by a police officer, has been awarded $US20 million, about $AUD28 million, in a civil settlement with the City of Minneapolis. The settlement comes just days after...
Australia Prosecutes Whistleblowers Who Expose Government Misconduct
The US bombing of Laos during the height of the Vietnam War made that country the most heavily bombed per capita in human history. Today, around 50 local people - 75 percent of whom are children – continue to lose...
Free Ola Bini: “Assange-Linked” Digital Rights Activist Arbitrarily Detained in Ecuador
Just hours after the Ecuadorian embassy in London threw Julian Assange to the lions on 11 April, the authorities in Ecuador arrested and detained free software developer and online privacy activist Ola Bini at Quito airport. Despite local press in...
Police Officer Found Guilty of Homicide
Former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor has been found guilty of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter over the shooting death of Australian woman Justine Damond Ruszczyk. Mr Noor has been remanded in custody and faces up to 15 years in...
