(This article was first published in RED FLAG newspaper on June 18, 2015.) It seems fairly certain now that Australian Customs and Navy personnel paid the captain and crew of an Indonesian ship carrying 65 asylum seekers, including children and a pregnant woman, to take the Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis and Burmese back to Indonesia. Sixty-five desperate […]
ARTICLE: Widodo, the death sentence and Indonesia’s political vacuum – by MAX LANE
I do not know what the prospects are that President Widodo will stop the current implementation of the death sentence for people convicted of drug related crimes. There is nothing in any of Widodo’s statements that indicates a change of mind on this issue. In a recent interview with Al Jazeera he reaffirmed his decision stating […]
SHORT COMMENT: The Greens, social democracy and ideological anemia – by Max Lane.
Even the paid professional commentariat working for the privately owned media as well as the ABC have long publicly recognised a significant sameness between the Australian Labour Party (ALP) and the Liberal National Coalition (LNC). The convergence between the ALP and the LNC was recognised in the 80s by the wit who described them as […]
Article: The circus in late capitalist Australian politics. – by Max lane
In 1975, the then Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Fraser, urged people to vote for an Australia that would be ‘relaxed and comfortable” and where “sport would be back on the front page” of the newspapers. The long post-war economic boom and pretty much zero unemployment (noting that participation still did not really count women) […]
Article: Refugees and the ideological imperatives of late capitalism in Australia – by Max Lane.
As from July, 2013, the Australian government has a new policy as regards refugees arriving in Australian territory by boat, “without a visa”. The Australian government will no longer accept them as potential residents of Australia. They are to be shipped to detention camps in Papua New Guinea and, if recognized as ‘legitimate’ refugees, will […]
Max Lane 2010 events – Updated February 4, 2010
This schedule will be updated regularly and can be accessed by clicking “Where Max is Speaking” just under the banner of this blog, on the far right. FEBRUARY Indonesia in 2010: what kind of neighbourhood? 18 Feb, 6.30pm GLEEBOOKS, Glebe Point Rd., Glebe ALL WELCOME at above time and place. You can help by RSVPing […]
Indonesia, the new Pacific solution? Refugee rights and social justice in the Asia Pacific
Public forum: Indonesia, the new Pacific solution? Refugee rights and social justice in the Asia Pacific Date: Tuesday, 08 December 2009 Time: 18:00 – 20:00 A discussion forum with Pamela Curr and Setyo Budi Presented by Indonesia Solidarity Forum and the University of Melbourne Indonesian program Pamela Curr – Long term refugee rights activist and […]
AUSTRALIA: “Labor stirs anti-refugee hysteria”
Kerry Vernon has written a new article on the current mistreatment of people trying to reach Australiaby boat via Indonesia hoping to apply for residence in Australia as refugees. She starts by saying: “Tamil asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, diverted from entering Australia and put on the Australian Customs ship Oceanic Viking, had been refusing food […]
AUSTRALIA: The fear of idealism, Rudd and refugees
78 Tamil refugees still refuse to leave the Australian customs ship which rescued them from their boat just under two weeks ago. They were heading for Australia but the Australian took them back to Indonesia. This is a part of the Rudd government’s plan for the “Indonesian solution” whereby more refugees trying to get to […]
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