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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 71]
A Privileged Education: The US College Admissions Scandal
Wednesday, 27 March 2019, 2:25 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The oldest idea of history; the perennial problem of station: education. Get the child as far as possible so that he or she can be propelled, as if from a trebuchet across the ramparts of life. Nasty obstacles – one being a lack of intellect – ... More >>
Reining in the Yemen Conflict
Sunday, 24 March 2019, 3:50 pm | Binoy Kampmark
We keep hearing it. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is firm on the view that the Yemen conflict should conclude. “We all want this conflict to end,” he never tires of saying . “We all want to improve the dire humanitarian situation.” Then comes ... More >>
Disinviting Jordan Peterson
Sunday, 24 March 2019, 3:48 pm | Binoy Kampmark
He has sent so many cliques and groups into titters of anger, and the indignant have attempted to turn on him. The university environment should be the last place where dangerous ideas, and views, are stifled and stomped upon. In actual fact, we are ... More >>
Globalising the Christchurch Shootings
Friday, 22 March 2019, 10:36 am | Binoy Kampmark
Never let a bloody and opportune crisis pass. In New Zealand, there is talk about gun reform after attacks on two Christchurch mosques left fifty dead. There have been remarks made in parliament about unchecked white supremacy growing with enthusiastic ... More >>
Saving the Planet One Child at a Time
Monday, 18 March 2019, 4:43 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Children’s crusades do not necessarily end well. During the years of armed missions to the Holy Land, when Jerusalem meant something to the sacredly inclined in Europe, children were encouraged to take to the rough and dangerous road as it wound its ... More >>
The Dangers of Values: The Christchurch Massacre
Sunday, 17 March 2019, 6:59 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The argument that the Christchurch shooter, suspect Brenton Tarrant, or the views of Australia’s Senator Fraser Anning, seemingly holding a lone torch, are somehow not representative of the broader whole, be it Australia or New Zealand, is a self-deflecting ... More >>
Death in New Zealand: The Christchurch Shootings
Saturday, 16 March 2019, 2:39 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Five weapons were said to have been used, all inscribed with symbols, numbers and insignia. The individual charged with the shootings at two Christchurch mosques that left 49 dead was an Australian with, it is alleged, a simple purpose: inflict death, ... More >>
Lobbies and Belated Groundings: Boeing’s 737 Max 8
Thursday, 14 March 2019, 5:11 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Lobbies, powerful interests and financial matters are usually the first things that come to mind when the aircraft industry is considered. Safety, while deemed of foremost importance, is a superficial formality, sometimes observed in the breach. To see ... More >>
Lies in the Branding: Justin Trudeau’s Implosion
Wednesday, 13 March 2019, 2:09 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The gods have various roles, and most of them are intrusively irritating. They select humans, and drive them mad. They select them for special missions, praise them and drive them to death. They also select them to, if the time comes, commit foolish ... More >>
Publicised Cruelty: Scott Morrison Visits Christmas Island
Tuesday, 12 March 2019, 3:03 pm | Binoy Kampmark
His visit struck a sour note. The Australian prime minister Scott Morrison was making an effort to show he cared: about those intangible things called borders, secure firm and shut to the unwanted human matter coming by sea. The distant Australian ... More >>
Grand Jury Efforts: Jailing Chelsea Manning
Monday, 11 March 2019, 10:37 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“I will not comply with this, or any other grand jury.” So explained Chelsea Manning in justifying her refusal to answer questions and comply with a grand jury subpoena compelling her to testify on her knowledge of WikiLeaks. “Imprisoning ... More >>
A Fancy Hypocrisy: China, Australia and Coal Mania
Sunday, 10 March 2019, 12:41 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Fear them for their technology; fear them for their ideology and their authoritarianism. But embrace interference and involvement in the economy if it involves coal. This is the fancy hypocrisy of Australian politics, one driven to lunacy and inconsistency ... More >>
The Cardinal Can Do No Wrong: George Pell’s Defenders
Thursday, 7 March 2019, 3:08 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The powerful have always had defenders. Power seeps into the system, corrupts, controls and, ultimately, assumes an authority that does wonders to destroy an appraisal of fairness. To be there is to assume that matters are natural, a habit. As David Hume ... More >>
Militarised Conservation: Paramilitary Rangers and the WWF
Wednesday, 6 March 2019, 2:06 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Think charity, think vulnerability and its endless well of opportunistic exploitation. Over the years, international charity organisations have been found with employees keen to take advantage of their station. That advantage has been sexual, financial ... More >>
British Labour’s Fractious Jaunt
Tuesday, 5 March 2019, 10:02 am | Binoy Kampmark
They could not hold on. A small – and in the scheme of things negligible group – split from the British Labour mothership last month in an effort to salvage some self-described form of credibility. In truth, they were the original sceptics of ... More >>
Glorious Bitchery: Yorgos Lanthimos and The Favourite
Sunday, 3 March 2019, 3:56 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Yorgos Lanthimos likes his subjects deranged and troubled. He likes seeing queens in the slap, servants in the lurch, and women in mud. But that is just one side. The Favourite is a film of exotic, exorbitant bitchery, filmed with aesthetic relish. ... More >>
Walkout in Hanoi: The Second Trump-Kim Summit
Friday, 1 March 2019, 2:44 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“Sometimes you have to walk and this was one of those times.” That was US President Donald Trump’s remark about something he has been doing a lot of lately: walking away from agreements or understandings in the hope of reaching the ultimate deal. ... More >>
The Chagos Islands Case, WikiLeaks and Justice
Thursday, 28 February 2019, 2:56 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Let this be a lesson to its detractors, doubters and stuff shirts of the secrecy establishment: the documents sourced from WikiLeaks can have tangible, having significant value for ideas and causes. They can advance matters of the curious; they can confirm ... More >>
Shifting Centre of Gravity: Julian Assange Receives Passport
Tuesday, 26 February 2019, 4:19 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Shifting the Centre of Gravity: Julian Assange Receives His Passport More >>
Turning Screws: China’s Australian Coal Ban
Sunday, 24 February 2019, 10:22 am | Binoy Kampmark
Overly reliant economies are dangerously fragile things. As it takes two parties, often more, to play the game, the absence of interest, or its withdrawal by one, can spell doom. The Australian economy has been talked up – by Australian economists ... More >>
