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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 64]
Crushing Anti-Mining Protest in Australia
Saturday, 2 November 2019, 2:34 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The Prime Minister of Australia is fuming. Having made his mark on Australian politics by being the mining sector’s most avid defender, Scott Morrison was disturbed by the week’s events in Melbourne that saw clashes between police and protesters outside ... More >>
Tethering Pegasus: WhatsApp takes NSO Group to Court
Friday, 1 November 2019, 2:51 pm | Binoy Kampmark
A lawsuit filed in a US federal court in San Francisco on Tuesday threw up a few interesting, and disturbing considerations. In it, the Facebook-owned platform WhatsApp advanced an allegation that now seems commonplace: that the Israeli spyware Pegasus ... More >>
Boris Johnson Against Parliament
Wednesday, 30 October 2019, 12:04 pm | Binoy Kampmark
A pretty odd thing, this. The prime minister of Britain, supposedly of the conservative creed, making an almost violent dash against both parliament and the courts of law. While his presence is barely a patch on Margaret Thatcher, there is something about ... More >>
A Touch of Plagiarism: The Nazari Precedent
Wednesday, 30 October 2019, 10:13 am | Binoy Kampmark
The academy is filled with wonder. There are professors who cannot teach. There are associate professors who cannot write. There are tenured academics who have been promoted on the basis of being able to be the fourth author on all their papers, ... More >>
Unlevelled Fields: Brexit, Workers’ Rights & the Environment
Sunday, 27 October 2019, 9:32 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The smorgasbord of Brexit terms has been further plated up with the latest acronym: the WAB or Withdrawal Agreement Bill . It comes in at 115 pages, with an added bonus of 126 pages of explanatory notes. For something seemingly so significant, not much ... More >>
Libra and Calibra: Mark Zuckerberg appears before Congress
Friday, 25 October 2019, 3:45 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It was never going to be pretty. The Facebook CEO knew in appearing before the House Financial Services Committee to answer questions on the company’s proposed cryptocurrency that a few sizeable bumps would appear. As it turned out, much of the questioning ... More >>
Julian Assange, Political Offences and Surveillance
Thursday, 24 October 2019, 3:19 pm | Binoy Kampmark
While Australian journalists bonded and broke break in condemning national security legislation that some of them had previously supported, one figure was barely mentioned. Julian Assange was making his first public appearance since April for a case management ... More >>
Brand Trudeau Wins a Second Term
Wednesday, 23 October 2019, 2:23 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Few politicians come across more as products of hashtag committee management than Justin Trudeau. His image has been doctored, massaged and spruced, and even then, the Instagram-Twitter committee did not quite see those corrupt influences that are ... More >>
Equine Hypocrisies: Race Horses for the Knackery
Tuesday, 22 October 2019, 5:35 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It was always a probable fact: the dark consequences of having what is termed in Australia a “racing” industry, where breeds do battle on the track, sponsored and watered by the money of an industry that sees no sign of contracting. Curiously, ... More >>
Celebrity Protesters and Extinction Rebellion
Sunday, 20 October 2019, 6:36 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Benedict Cumberbatch. Olivia Colman. Fine actors. They believe in Extinction Rebellion, or perhaps, rebelling against the prospect of extinction. The environment thing, humanity as a damnably scandalous, ecologically damaging species. But they also believe ... More >>
The Decent Protester: A Down Under Creation
Friday, 18 October 2019, 4:28 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The Decent Protester, appropriately capitalised and revered is, from the outset, one who does not protest. It is an important point: to protest in the visage of such a person is an urge best left to inner fantasy and feeling. You come late to the ... More >>
Piggish Problems: African Swine Fever Does Its Worst
Thursday, 17 October 2019, 9:45 am | Binoy Kampmark
You cannot get away from it, at least in print or in Google land. African swine fever is doing its rounds, cutting through the swine population of Asia with remorseless dedication. Since its deadly debut in China last year, it has done away with some ... More >>
A Coalition of Support: Parliamentarians for Julian Assange
Monday, 14 October 2019, 5:16 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Australian politicians, and the consular staff of the country, are rarely that engaged on the subject of protecting their citizens. In a couple of notorious cases, Australian authorities demonstrated, not only an indifference, but a consciously venal approach ... More >>
University Woes: The Managerial Class Gets Uppity
Sunday, 13 October 2019, 1:05 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The university, in a global sense, is passing into a managerial oblivion. There are a few valiant holdouts, but they have the luxury of history, time, and learning. Cambridge and Oxford, for instance, still boast traditional academics, soaking erudition, ... More >>
The Politics of Funding: Cash Crisis at the United Nations
Thursday, 10 October 2019, 7:25 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It remains one of the more unusual arrangements in terms of funding. Like a club filled with members of erratic disposition, the United Nations can never count on all dues to come in on time. Some members drag their feet. The bill is often delayed. ... More >>
Cynical Enterprises: The Kurds Await Their Fate
Wednesday, 9 October 2019, 4:08 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Big powers, as with the greatest of gangsters, have always had a certain, indulgent luxury; their prerogative is to make promises they can choose to abide by or ignore. A vision is assured, guarantees made. Then comes the betrayal. The small powers, ... More >>
Colin Powell’s Trump Problem
Monday, 7 October 2019, 5:50 pm | Binoy Kampmark
When the compromised speak of judgment, the voice of credibility vanishes. In its place, a certain niggling sense of hypocrisy and weakness prevails. Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell is one of those of those compromised voices. He presided over ... More >>
Internal Dissolution: Brexit and the Disunited Kingdom
Sunday, 6 October 2019, 6:20 pm | Binoy Kampmark
While the European family seems to be having its internal spats – populist sparks within threatening to light the powder keg – the marshals and deputies, for the most part, are attempting to contain the British contagion. Britain is still scheduled ... More >>
Turning 70: XiJinping’s People’s Republic of China
Friday, 4 October 2019, 5:28 pm | Binoy Kampmark
During the era of Sovietology, experts would pour over images of the gathered politburo in Red Square, gazing with grey monolithic interest upon the military hardware moving across the forum. An absent figure might suggest a potential coup; a new face, a ... More >>
The President Did It: Donald Trump’s Phone Around
Wednesday, 2 October 2019, 4:22 pm | Binoy Kampmark
When the squalid, absurd and occasionally hilarious accounts are compiled by a sober mind, the Trump administration will stand out as much gargoyle with more than a touch of paranoia. But there will be one thing that might save the man who has given an ... More >>
