Category Archives: Rights

David McBride’s trial for whistleblowing Afghanistan war crimes has just begun

By Joe Montero

Whistleblower David McBride will face the start of his trial today (Monday 13 November), and last week, a group of other high-profile whistleblowers signed an open letter to the federal government to call on it to honour the promise to legislate protection for whistleblowers and cut down the cost of waging a legal defence. Continue reading David McBride’s trial for whistleblowing Afghanistan war crimes has just begun

Video: Interview with Afghan war crimes whistleblower David McBride

David McBride, the whistleblower on war crimes in Afghanistan perpetrated by Australian military personnel faces court on 13 November. He was charged over disclosures that revealed the murder of non-combatant civilians. He faces up to 50 years in prison. None of those who committed the killings have been charged.

This double standard has not gone unnoticed. Public opinion is on McBride’s side. This has resulted in the backdown from holding a secret trial in a closed-door tribunal. There will now be a trial by jury – except that anything deemed to be of national security will still be heard behind closed doors. A fair trial is by no means guaranteed.

McBride deserves the support of everyone.

This interview with investigative journalist Michael West reveals all this and the human side of David McBride.

Video from the West Report

Truth Is the Central Issue of Our Time

Virginia Bryant is an award-winning artist/painter whose writings have been featured in daily newspapers and other publications. The flowing article Los Angeles Progressive 29 October 2023) she shows that there is also a vigorous campaign in the United States to win the Freedom of WikiLeaks founder Jullian Assange from persecution and a lifetime of imprisonment.  Two politicians are spearheading a bipartisan effort within the Democrat and Republican parties and building support within the Congress and Senate, as part of the broader campaign. Most American agree that Assange should be freed.

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and James McGovern (D-Mass.) are circulating a letter to their colleagues in the House of Representatives calling on President Biden to end the prosecution of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is facing a possible extradition to the U.S. for publishing classified U.S. military documents. Continue reading Truth Is the Central Issue of Our Time

International human rights group condemns Philippine police execution union organiser Jude Fernandez

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) has sent the following, which seeks global condemnation condemns the extra judicial execution of a union organizer by the paramilitary Philippine National Police. Such killings of union and other leaders are routinely practiced in the Philippines and are becoming more frequent udert the new Marcos regime.

Continue reading International human rights group condemns Philippine police execution union organiser Jude Fernandez

Video: Free Assange movement heats up as Australian lawmakers gather in DC for release of Wikileaks founder

Interview with Gabrial Shipton Julian Assange’s brother reveals the movement to free Julian is growing, and this is being helped by the Australia cross-party delegation of members of the federal parliament, which has gone to Washinton to put to their American counterparts, Australia’s call to stop the persecution of the award-winning journalist and publisher. Nine in 10 Australians support Assange, and support is growing in the United States.

Australia’s support is so strong that the prime minister and the leader of the opposition agree that “enough is enough.”

Gabrial suggests that perhaps those in Washington who value the Alliance the United States has with Australia might to consider this. He finishes by paying tribute to his brother’s courage, standing up in difficult situation marked by years of unjust imprisonment.

Video from The Hill

The threat posed by anti-terrorist laws exposed by disclosure

Civil libertarians have always argued that Australia’s anti-terrorist laws pose a major threat to democratic rights. They provide government with the means to punish those who criticise what it does. There is concern that the introduction of these laws has been accompanied by an increasing militarisation of Australia’s police forces.

Continue reading The threat posed by anti-terrorist laws exposed by disclosure

Daniel Duggan’s imprisonment is a denial of justice and an affront to Australia’s sovereignty

Contributed 

Too many Australians still don’t know who Daniel Duggan is, even if his case has significant repercussions and says a lot about how legal process is Australia is being transformed into something that we should all be worried about. Everyone should know more about what is happening to this man. Continue reading Daniel Duggan’s imprisonment is a denial of justice and an affront to Australia’s sovereignty

United Nations investigation highlights cruel treatment of prisoners still in Guantanamo

Contributed

A United Nations investigator, with a background in the Irish legal system has released a report that calls for proper treatment of prisoners still being held in the Guantanamo detention centre. Headed by Irish law expert Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, a team visited the prison where 30 men continue to be incarcerated without any date for release. Continue reading United Nations investigation highlights cruel treatment of prisoners still in Guantanamo

The cost of the obscene tax cut to for the rich is now blowing out

By Joe Montero

New Parliamentary Budget Office costings on the Stage Three Tax Cuts, which had been requested by the Greens, has revealed that the cost is rising and now sits at $20 billion for the first year (2024), and will increase each financial year to $42 billion in 2033-34. This is a total of $313 billion, and it is likely to end up costing even more.

Any decent and caring human being should be moved to anger and turn their back on anyone who promotes this obscenity.

The numbers speak for themselves. They reveal how much that small group at the top of the income pyramid is taking, and how little everyone else is getting in the face of an ongoing rise in the cost of living. Those in the middle get small shift in the tax margins, and what they gain is a sop that will soon be taken over by inflation. The share of national income will keep on flowing outwards. Those on annual incomes less than $45,000 get nothing. The screws will continue to tighten on government expenditure on services that benefit the majority.

Pocketing the money are those with incomes over $180,000 a year. Most of this will go to a much smaller group of billionaires. The much larger group in the middle-income range will be given a sop through modest marginal tax bracket adjustments. Not big enough to deliver any real change, and this will soon be eaten away by inflation. Those with an income below 45,000 a year will get absolutely nothing.

It’s those down the pyramid who will be paying the cost to line the pockets of those at the top of it, through the taxes they pay, and in the absence of services that could otherwise have been provided with this money.

For example, the money could have been used to lift those living below the poverty line and for the creation of affordable housing to address the rising cost of living crisis. Everyone should be up in arms over this failure.

While there is discontent over it, the lid has till now stopped this form boiling over. This lid is the political bipartisanship pushing it through.

The Coalition parties are supposed to stand up for the wealthy and Labor for working class Australians. It’s not quite like this in the real world. Political life within the framework of the existing political institutions demands those who seek to be the government to seek patronage in terms of dollar donations, entry into networks of power, and a positive media profile. There is always a price to be paid for patronage.

Labor differs with its base in the unions and community sector. It is from here that internal pressure to change direction is coming from and lining up with the rising expectations of Australia.

Working the other way are the realities of the political system and its associated bipartisanship on this question.

Political expediency and the unquestioning ideological hold of neoliberalism provides the rational that insists responsible government is about looking after the wealthiest to keep the economy sound, despite of its ongoing failure in practice. If it had worked, we wouldn’t have the problems that we have. The other part of this ideology is that any other approach is delegitimised. The neoliberal ideology must go.

Last but not least is the ethical question. In a caring society we look after each other. Each contributes according to their own capacity in return for benefits. There is nothing wrong with suggesting that those who are in the best position should contribute a little more. The choice is tied to whether we strive towards to be a caring society or continue on the same path.

As for the claim that moving in the opposite direction will hurt the economy. This is rubbish. Action that will facilitate participation and increase activity, means a far better chance of investment where it’s needed, and more likely to create jobs boost the economy.

Official site of the May Day Committee (Malbourne)