Commentaries
The politics of economies, societies, universities, environments.
From about 1984 to 2002 I had many occasional commentary articles published by The Canberra Times, at the rate of perhaps two to four per year. The following articles are a sampling of some of the later ones.
Then there was a change, described below.
More recently, in 2009, I started a blog site, so that my writings would not just disappear in the aether.
Economies, Globalisation, etc.
Privatise the rivers, damn the ecology , 2002 Sept 3
WTO: vehicle for corporate hegemony , 2000 Nov 30
It really is the economy, stupid , 1999 June 16
Societies
Keeping the dream alive , 2000 Nov 23
Universities, freedom of enquiry, etc.
Scientists should be funded to follow their own interests , 2002 July 11
Ideology drives attacks on ANU , 1999 Oct 19
Science & Ethics
Playing with Superfire (PowerPoint presentation, 1.7 Mbyte), 2005, May 17
Environments
Profitable sustainability , 2002 Aug 30
Costly, Unsustainable Waste , 2002 Aug 29
The Changing Canberra Times
Over much of the past couple of decades The Canberra Times functioned well as a forum for its readership, regularly publishing articles from a wide range of local people - since Canberra has a concentration of government, academia and science, there are many well-informed locals.
Late in 2001 the ownership and some of the editorial staff of The Canberra Times changed. My publication rate dropped from around one out of every two articles submitted to seven in a row not published, all of them on the developing political situation in Australia and globally. A couple of articles have since been published, but they were on relatively safe subjects like science funding and water management. Perhaps the quality of my writing declined. Perhaps the articles were not sufficiently timely or interesting. Or perhaps the opinions they expressed were not to the taste of the new owners and opinion editor.
Perhaps I became more adversarial and shrill, or perhaps our democracy was being dismantled by increasingly radical politicians. I think there is an arguable case that the Prime Minister is a subversive. A word like subversive carries a strong emotional charge for many people, even if it were to be used in the most dispassionate analysis.
The first article below was published before the change of ownership. It drew much the strongest reaction, overwhelmingly positive and grateful, of any of my articles over the entire two-decade period. The other articles are a sampling of those not published.
Democracy Subverted, Betrayed, 2001 February 19
2001, August: the Australian navy blocked the entry of Middle-Eastern refugees who were legally seeking asylum in Australia.
Slide to Fascism, 2001 September 10
2001, September 11: terrorists attack the U.S. with hijacked domestic airliners.
Endgame, 2001 October 15
The Threat From Within, 2002 May 19
No surprise that this one wasn't published.
Hypocrisy and Self-Interest of the Media, 2002 October 30
Many Australians died in a terrorist attack in Bali on October 12, 2002. Then, shortly before the following article was written, a family of Middle Eastern origin suffered a terrifying dawn raid by armed and hooded Australian security forces. The Government evidently didn't count on the courage of a teenage daughter of the family, who gave the media a detailed account of the raid. The Government clammed up, and the incident soon dropped out of the news.
Howard's Choice, 2002 November 4
Lost Labor, 2003 June 7
Missing the Big Picture, 2003 August 24
