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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 61]
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 >>
Goodbye Gabbard
Thursday, 26 March 2020, 4:24 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The Democratic establishment is deriving some delusionary cheer from it. The line of candidates for the presidential nomination has thinned, many falling out and proceeding, suicidally, to endorse former Vice President Joe Biden. The case of Hawaii Representative ... More >>
Coronavirus And The Prison Industrial Complex
Wednesday, 25 March 2020, 1:40 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The legacy of the coronavirus pandemic, at least in so far as responses are concerned, is thickening by the day. Behavioural changes are being urged, language is rapidly evolving (spot the “covidiot” amongst you) and the policy of health ... More >>
Business As Usual: Coronavirus, Iran And US Sanctions
Monday, 23 March 2020, 4:48 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Never discount the importance of venality in international relations. While pandemics should provide the glue for a unified front in response – we keep being told of fighting this horrendous “invisible enemy” – it’s business as usual in other ... More >>
The Pandemic Surveillance State
Sunday, 22 March 2020, 5:23 pm | Binoy Kampmark
In anticipation of the post-COVID-19 world, bold statements are being made on how we will, as a race, be wiser, even kinder; cautious, and reflective. If history is ever a lesson on anything, such statements are bound to be the fatuous utterances ... More >>
Moralising Hoarding, Panic Buying And Coronavirus
Saturday, 21 March 2020, 5:34 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Hoarding as moral aberration and ethical breach: the term has recently become the subject of scorn in coronavirus chatter. In terms of mental disorders, it is “characterized by persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions”, though the Coronavirus ... More >>
Viral Reactions: The Smugness Of Celebrity Self-Isolation
Thursday, 19 March 2020, 1:32 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The rush to elevate self-isolation to Olympian heights as a way to combat the spread of COVID-19 has gotten to the celebrities. Sports figures are proudly tweeting and taking pictures from hotel rooms (Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton being a case ... More >>
Britannic Herd Immunity And Coronavirus
Wednesday, 18 March 2020, 4:11 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Epidemiologist William Hanage was more than perplexed by the plan. “When I heard about Britain’s ‘herd immunity’ coronavirus plan,” he reflected in The Guardian , “I thought it was satire.” Much public policy, foolishly considered and expertly ... More >>
