Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Binoy Kampmark
Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne.
Binoy Kampmark - Latest News [Page 105]
Repulsion By Film: Anti-Refugee Propaganda in The Journey
Friday, 8 April 2016, 3:12 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The Danish government is doing it – as are others. The Australian government, however, may count itself as one of the first ones to take the concerted step to repel potential asylum seekers who arrive to Australian shores by boat with threatening films. There ... More >>
Misusing Privacy: Mossack Fonseca and the Panama Papers Leak
Tuesday, 5 April 2016, 3:24 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“Privacy is a fundamental human right that is being eroded more and more in the modern world. Each person has a right to privacy, whether they are a king or a beggar.” Few could disagree with the essence of this statement by Panamanian lawyer Ramon ... More >>
Weapons of Mass Distraction
Tuesday, 5 April 2016, 10:54 am | Binoy Kampmark
“When you can give AK-47s to a group of guys and they slaughter a group of people on the streets of Paris, why would you really care about something like transporting radiological material?” Andrei Baklitsky, Sputnik , Mar 31, 2016 More >>
War and Incitement: The Acquittal of Vojislav Šešelj
Friday, 1 April 2016, 3:42 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“[H]istory is past politics, and politics is present history.” Edward A. Freeman (Nov 18, 1880) More >>
Saudi Arabia, Arms and Embargoes
Friday, 1 April 2016, 3:32 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It is the great moral message these days amongst the righteous Western participants in Middle Eastern crusades: restrict tyranny and despotism, fight theocracies, embrace values of openness. Such a mission is seemingly imperilled by the workings of the ... More >>
The Sugar Wars and Nanny’s Demands
Wednesday, 30 March 2016, 2:01 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“Superficially rational, there are in truth few instincts more fundamentally illiberal than the drive towards preventative policymaking.” Henry Hill, CapX , Mar 21, 2016 More >>
Bernie Sanders, The Democrats and The Superdelegate Problem
Tuesday, 29 March 2016, 4:18 pm | Binoy Kampmark
He finds them problematic. In his exact words to CBS’s Face the Nation, Bernie Sanders suggested that, “The whole concept of superdelegates is problematic.” Such an alignment of interests again shows how peculiarly undemocratic aspects of ... More >>
Finalising Cruelty: The EU-Turkey Agreement
Tuesday, 29 March 2016, 4:02 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It seemed a foregone conclusion, but here it was, a ghastly cuddling show between Turkish officials and Donald Tusk, President of the European Council. Both political forces had united behind a refugee containment system that is compromised from start ... More >>
Terms of Terror: What the Brussels Attacks Mean
Thursday, 24 March 2016, 3:19 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“I do believe we are not addressing right the issue of terrorism today.” Dominique de Villepin, CNBC, Mar 22, 2016 More >>
The Saudi Arabian Coalition
Thursday, 17 March 2016, 12:35 pm | Binoy Kampmark
For a month now, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been engaged in hosting forces from 20 allied states in what it has dubbed a Saudi-led Islamic Coalition. Its formation was announced last December in boastful fashion, though the Kingdom’s officials ... More >>
Targeting Climate Change Scientists
Wednesday, 16 March 2016, 10:49 am | Binoy Kampmark
“Our climate and environmental scientists are some of the best in the world. We wouldn’t stop supporting out elite Olympic athletes just as they’re winning gold medals.” Andrew Holmes, President, Australian Academy of Science, Feb 9, 2016 More >>
Alienation through Plebiscite
Tuesday, 15 March 2016, 11:25 am | Binoy Kampmark
If ever there was a situation where everyone would lose, some more heavily than others, it would be a plebiscite about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) rights on the marriage equality issue. More >>
Killing Asylum: The Turkish-EU deal on Migrants
Friday, 11 March 2016, 3:56 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Bribing officials. Relaying and returning migrants to poor countries without adequate scrutiny or screening. Closing borders. Setting up camps with appalling conditions. Barbed wire and armed guards. Europe now faces the most profound test on the refugee ... More >>
Retrospective Crucifixion: The Anger over Maria Sharapova
Friday, 11 March 2016, 3:39 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Retrospective punishment is shunned in many legal systems. To make criminal what was previously not is one of the most invidious tendencies of a regime that fosters the arbitrary over the certain. More >>
The Fukushima Disaster And Nuclear Amnesia
Wednesday, 9 March 2016, 11:58 am | Binoy Kampmark
“People’s understanding of disasters will continue to be constructed by media. How media members frame the presence of risk and the nature of disasters matters.” Celine Marie Pascale, American University, Mar 10, 2015 More >>
The World of Make-Believe: Nancy Reagan in the White House
Tuesday, 8 March 2016, 3:33 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“It’s true that Mrs. Reagan has an interest in astrology.” Marlin Fitzwater, New York Times, May 4, 1988 More >>
Diminishing Democracy: The Australian Senate Changes
Thursday, 3 March 2016, 4:27 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“My delight is at the prospect of the court striking down the enactment and telling the grubby politicians how to enact a recent reform.” Malcolm Mackerras, ABC, Mar 1, 2016 More >>
The Rise of the Absurd: Donald Trump and the GOP Legacy
Tuesday, 1 March 2016, 12:19 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The politics of the absurd, and the politics of absurdity. Both dance immaculately in the electoral rounds in the US. The point is that the current US political process, with its venality, has created a rather rich soil. The US is far from the only one ... More >>
Cameron’s European Sojourn: The Referendum on Brexit is Nigh
Monday, 22 February 2016, 12:28 pm | Binoy Kampmark
This was always going to be a mixed bag. Heading to Europe, receiving bruising, and then getting some concessions for his case, Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron’s attempt to renegotiate his country’s arrangements with the EU was not going to ... More >>
Sabotaging Privacy: The FBI’s Battle Against Encryption
Friday, 19 February 2016, 4:34 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“Specifically, the FBI wants us to make a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation.” More >>
