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 61]
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 >>
The Taliban Scores A Coup
Tuesday, 17 March 2020, 1:00 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It threatened to disappear under the viral haze of COVID-19, but February 29 saw representatives from the US and Taliban, loftily acknowledged as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, sign the “Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan”. After ... More >>
The Release Of Chelsea Manning
Monday, 16 March 2020, 1:47 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Chelsea Manning’s release last Thursday by order of Virginia District Court judge Anthony Trenga had an air of oddness to it. “The court finds Ms. Manning’s appearance before the Grand Jury is no longer needed, in light of which her detention no longer ... More >>
For Heaven’s Sake Sanitise! Coronavirus As A Way Of Life
Saturday, 14 March 2020, 4:01 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“Anything we say in advance of a pandemic happening is alarmist; anything we say afterwards is inadequate.” Michael Leavitt, US Health and Human Services Secretary, March 30, 2006 A crew of gathered customers were busying themselves this Friday evening ... More >>
Resisting Interpretation: The Perpetrator And Domestic Violence In Australia
Thursday, 12 March 2020, 4:16 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Resisting Interpretation: The Perpetrator and Domestic Violence in Australia A parliament of tears, or at the very least, a chamber of parliamentarians keen to shed tears. It all seemed that a feeling of genuine empathy was streaming forth in Australia’s ... More >>
Golden Anniversaries For Flawed Treaties: The NPT Turns Fifty
Wednesday, 11 March 2020, 5:09 pm | Binoy Kampmark
In an era where agreements have been abandoned as “bad”, to use that favourite word of US President Donald Trump, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons continues to feature on the books of diplomacy. But age seems to be wearying ... More >>
Coronavirus Offerings And Job Losses: University Reliance On China Bites
Wednesday, 11 March 2020, 1:12 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It was predicted, warned against and is happening. Universities fattened by the Chinese student market are now in a state of financial shock, cutting losses, trimming courses and doing what over managed institutions do best: remove working productive ... More >>
Crimes In Afghanistan: Fatou Bensouda’s Investigative Mission
Sunday, 8 March 2020, 4:52 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It seemed an unlikely prospect. The International Criminal Court has tended to find itself accused of chasing up the inhumane rogues of Africa rather than those from any other continent. It has also been accused of having an overly burdensome machinery ... More >>
Toilet Paper Blues: Coronavirus And Pandemic Pantries
Thursday, 5 March 2020, 3:12 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Fears of imminent apocalypse tend to be midwives to absurdity. The stockpiling fever that has gripped various populaces in response to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has taken various forms. “Pandemic pantries” are becoming the norm, ... More >>
Daring To Kiss: Coronavirus And The Butterfly Effect
Wednesday, 4 March 2020, 12:56 pm | Binoy Kampmark
At some point, it seemed like a slow burner, gathering attention with each press release from the World Health Organisation. When talking about a threat, language is everything. With more cases of COVID-19 being identified, the panic that comes ... More >>
Strong Man Legacies: Burying Mubarak
Tuesday, 3 March 2020, 2:48 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Reviled strongmen of one era are often the celebrated ones of others. Citizens otherwise tormented find that replacements are poor, in some cases even crueller, than the original artefact. Such strongmen also serve as ideal alibis for rehabilitation: ... More >>
The Viral Blame Game: Xenophobia, Attribution And Coronavirus
Sunday, 1 March 2020, 12:37 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Moralising the way diseases and viruses are transferred is a very human, and particularly nasty trait. “We don’t need this kind of riff-raff on our shores,” screamed The New York Times in 1892 in response to Russian Jewish immigrants arriving at Ellis ... More >>
