The Conviction of Maria Ressa: Press Freedom in the Philippines
It has long been said that countries in Southeast Asia take a dim view of the fourth estate. Various legal measures have been deployed against […]
Articles by Dr Binoy Kampmark
Sticks, Stones and Death in Galwan Valley
Things along the Indian-Chinese border in the Himalayas have rarely lacked interest, notably along the secretive, heavily patrolled 3,488 km Line of Actual Control. Neither […]
The Narrative of the Leakers: Collateral Murder and the Assange Indictment
When the superseding indictment was returned by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia against Julian Assange on May 23, 2019, there […]
Trump at West Point: Un-Policing the World
Donald Trump claims to be the law-and-order president of the United States. There does not seem much sign of this as the stitching of the […]
Corrupt Propositions: AstraZeneca, Public Institutions and the Coronavirus Vaccine Drive
Putting your destiny into the hands of a drug company is much like seeking reassurances from an opportunistic pimp. The returns are bound to mixed, […]
Woked in Fright: The Brief Banning of Fawlty Towers
It’s all getting nasty. The urge to remove statues in hurried indignation; the lust to censor programmes now deemed offensive; the erasure of history, which, […]
Battles over Education: Australia, China and Unsafe Universities
Entering a university should be, to some degree, unsafe. Away from the gazing eyes of parents, institutional structures for the child, the entrant faces, or […]
Open Wounds: Sweden Drops the Olof Palme Case
It’s the sort of thing that ruffled the image of a composed and tranquil existence. In some countries, doing away with political leaders is a […]
Altars of Hypocrisy: George Floyd, Protest and Black Face
Be wary what you protest about. The modern moral constabulary are out, and they are assisted by their Silicon Valley friends in the Social Media […]
Radical Reforms: Disbanding Police Forces in the US
If you can envisage the commencement of a police force as a band of auxiliaries to keep slaves in check, capture escapees and sow much […]
Eternal Fixation: The Madeleine McCann Disappearance Show
The “lost child” endures as motif and theme, the stalking shadow of much literature, the background to a society’s anxiety. The child, often deemed innocent, […]
Skin Deep Protest: Selective Outrage, Bollywood and George Floyd
George Floyd’s suffocating death at the end of a policeman’s knee in Minneapolis on May 25 has become an international protest movement. What endures beyond […]
None of Your Business: China, Hong Kong and a Question of Sovereignty
Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam seemed to relish it before the cameras this week. The United States was enduring extensive shudders of internal instability […]
To the Commercial Heavens We Go! SpaceX, NASA and Space Privatisation
It would be too simple to regard the latest space venture, funded by Elon Musk, as entirely a matter of vast ego and deeply-pocked adventurism. […]
Let’s Burn the Whole Thing Down: Death, Protest and George Floyd
Mobs are unruly, headless things. The message is the action. The platform is often violence. But what is happening across the United States cannot simply […]