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Binoy Kampmark
Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne.
Binoy Kampmark - Latest News [Page 59]
Settling Scores: Malcolm Turnbull’s Smaller Picture
Tuesday, 21 April 2020, 11:53 am | Binoy Kampmark
Memoirs can be unreliable artefacts. They feature fiercely subjective views, reflections tempered, or hardened, by the passage of time. They tend to be of lives edited, errors justified, triumphs amplified. Malcolm Turnbull, yet another Australian prime minister ... More >>
Donald Trump’s Governor Problem: Debates On Opening Up The Economy
Monday, 20 April 2020, 3:21 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Things are getting dizzy in the White House on what, exactly, is being done to “open the economy”. Cranky advocates for the financial argument over the restrictions of public health have been attempting to claw back some ground. As Jonathan Chait ... More >>
The Coronavirus Liability Craze: Holding China Accountable
Saturday, 18 April 2020, 6:12 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Politicians, as any political class, will nurse their favourite prejudice. And when there is a crisis, those prejudices will be fanned and praised to the heavens. For some politicians, who find the whole business of lockdowns and business restrictions ... More >>
Cutting The Funding: The WHO, Trump And The Coronavirus Wars
Friday, 17 April 2020, 1:08 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The US president is in a warring mood. Having declared himself a president at war, a meaningless gesture given that the US is always, somewhere in the world, at war, finding necessary enemies in distraction was always going to be a priority. Donald ... More >>
The Fire Fauci Brigade
Wednesday, 15 April 2020, 3:13 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The intemperate volcano that is the US President has done much to burn its way through prominent appointments. As the title of former GOP strategist Ray Wilson’s book goes, Everything Trump Touches Dies . There seem few more important individuals in ... More >>
Pandemic Lifestyles And Domestic Violence
Tuesday, 14 April 2020, 2:17 pm | Binoy Kampmark
In No Exit , the translated title of Jean-Paul Sartre’s play, Huis Clos , three deceased characters find themselves in a room, ostensibly in Hell, in what transpires as a permanent wait. Locked after being ushered in by a valet, with quite literally ... More >>
Worshiping And Defiling Britain’s NHS
Monday, 13 April 2020, 6:02 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Tories worshipping Britain’s National Health System are akin to fanatical carnivores who suddenly extol the virtues of vegans. Has the grave response to COVID-19 signalled a change of heart? In the case of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, it was all heart, ... More >>
Julian Assange: One Year In Belmarsh
Monday, 13 April 2020, 6:40 am | Binoy Kampmark
It should not be a matter of distinction, but Julian Assange is a figure who is becoming the apotheosis of political imprisonment. This seems laughable to those convinced he is an agent without scruple, a compromiser of the Fourth Estate, a figure ... More >>
The Coronavirus State: New Zealand And Authoritarian Rumblings
Sunday, 12 April 2020, 2:13 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It’s all about the lever of balance. Laws made for public protection, within which public health features prominently, provide grounds for derogation authorities can exploit. Like plasticine, the scope of power during times of an emergency extends. ... More >>
A Victory For The Fogeys: Bernie Sanders Drops Out
Friday, 10 April 2020, 6:31 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Champagne corks will be popping in the Trump Empire, for good reason. Whatever happens come November, the exit of Senator Bernie Sanders from the US presidential race will be a relief. The fractured republic can be reassured that the Democrats have not ... More >>
Cosmic Gangster Capitalism: Elon Musk Crowds The Heavens
Thursday, 9 April 2020, 4:00 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“I don’t trust glib reassurances from satellite operators without precise details.” Alice Gorman , space archaeologist, May 26, 2019 Astronomers tend to have their eyes, and minds, not merely in the clouds but beyond them. The dream of unimpaired vision ... More >>
Banal Terrors: Pandemics And The Ordinary Business Of War
Tuesday, 7 April 2020, 4:12 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The twaddle of framing the confrontation of the coronavirus as a “war” has proven to be a cheapening, misguided exercise. France’s president Emmanuel Macron has deemed COVID-19 the “invisible, elusive enemy”, making it sound like an adept ... More >>
Coronavirus Socialism For The Wealthy
Monday, 6 April 2020, 3:24 pm | Binoy Kampmark
When capitalism screeches to a halt and starts its old business of killing off the adventurous but weakened, the enterprising but foolish, those who initially benefited, shed tears. Losses mount, accountants tally up current and future losses. Huge profits ... More >>
Binoy Kampmark: University Bailouts, Funding And Coronavirus
Sunday, 5 April 2020, 4:23 pm | Binoy Kampmark
In a set of stable circumstances, funding higher education should be a matter of automatic persuasion. If you want an educated populace, the tax payer should muck in. In some countries, however, this venture is uneven. In the United Kingdom, the ... More >>
Binoy Kampmark - Boastful Pay Cuts: The Coronavirus Incentive
Saturday, 4 April 2020, 4:22 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It has become a source of pride. Highly salaried executives – often, it should be said, receiving pay very much disconnected from the value of their work – making voluntary pay cuts and telling everybody else about it. In sport, celebrated figures ... More >>
Dangerous Gifts: Coronavirus And Trump’s Sanctions Regime
Thursday, 2 April 2020, 5:08 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The global effort to combat the coronavirus pandemic has been one of stutters and staggers. There are go-it-alone instances of severity, and cases of blasé indifference. State ministers and leaders have not escaped the chance to demonise and point accusing ... More >>
Signing In And Dropping Out: Coronavirus And The Virtual University
Wednesday, 1 April 2020, 12:50 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It was made with little thought but a good deal of high-minded urgency: Evacuate your office, take what you can, and prepare for the virtual world. Fill in a form, tell us if you actually pinched the office computer. This was the message that was ... More >>
The Swedish Alternative: Coronavirus As A Grand Gamble
Tuesday, 31 March 2020, 3:23 pm | Binoy Kampmark
As draconian lockdowns, punitive regimes and surveillance become the norm of the coronavirus world, Sweden has treaded more softly in the field. This is certainly in contrast to its Scandinavian cousins, Denmark and Norway. The rudiments of a life ... More >>
An Inglorious Opportunity: Coronavirus And Emergency Powers
Monday, 30 March 2020, 3:36 pm | Binoy Kampmark
There has been a hurried spate of cancellations and suspensions of elections across the globe because of the risk posed by COVID-19. The trend is unsurprising. In the age of post-democratic process, suspending the procedure should only induce a cough ... More >>
Barbaric Decisions: Coronavirus, Refusing Bail And Julian Assange
Saturday, 28 March 2020, 3:51 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“To expose another human being to serious illness, and to the threat of losing their life, is grotesque and quite unnecessary. This is not justice, it is a barbaric decision.” Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, March 26, 2020 Social ... More >>
