Myanmar’s ‘Unpeople’
When one goes to Myanmar one may hear people say, as I have, how flattered they are that one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century wrote not one, but three books about them. And the Myanmar government is again channeling Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece – albeit in a way he would have deplored – to rub out the very existence of the Rohingya minority: to make them into ‘unpeople.’
read more
Free Speech: The Left’s Failure
The Left’s failure to recognise that the proposed amendments to the Racial Discrimination Act are a victory for free speech is a slight against those who usually find themselves on the ‘right’ side of the political divide.
read more
Australia, a country against genocide – most of the time
Australia has a shameful history of carrying out and sponsoring genocide and the Abbott Government is continuing this tradition, writes Tim Robertson.
read more
Who will bear witness? With the doctors gone, nobody watches Myanmar
The government of Myanmar has long instituted a campaign to keep the world from seeing their crimes against the Rohingya. The expulsion of Médecins Sans Frontières will likely lead to more, writes freelance journalist Tim Robertson.
read more
Myanmar’s Impending Genocide
Genocide is afoot in Myanmar and there’s no sign of hope for the Rohingya Muslim minority, writes Tim Robertson from Yangon.
read more
Happy Birthday Mr Eternal President: In North Korea for Their Most Reverent National Holiday
Even Mother Nature, it seems, has been conscripted to help propagate the Kim family’s personality cult. In autumn, North Korea is devoid of any colour: the rice paddies have not yet been sown and the dirt fields lay bare save for a few skeletal trees that struggle up from the earth. But the country has two unique flower varieties that provide highlights throughout Pyongyang: the Kimilsungia and the Kimjongilia. I was there for the celebration of Kim Il Sung’s 101st birthday, the nation’s most important national holiday, and the first stop on the itinerary was the flower show.
read more