Jeff Richards Web Diary

Politics from the margins of the Australian Labor Party

Adelaide, South Australia

Please note: I only keep three months worth of commentary on this web space. Those who want to torture themselves a bit more should click this hyperlink

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I write this stuff because I like writing. Its fun. I am happy that anyone bothers reading it and I am also happy for intelligent conversations about political issues. I don't suffer from the delusion that what I write will change the world. What will change the world is theoretically and historically informed political practice. If you are a responsible human being you should find ways to 'get involved'. You can be conservative, socialist, communist, neo-liberal, anarchist, liberal democrat. You choose your political road... just do it!

Last updated:
8/2/2003; 8:23:52 PM

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MY FAVORITE LINKS

Please click the hyperlink text below to go there.

Christopher Hitchens: Controversial journalist now scorned by many on the left. He is an impressive thinker with an acidic style. Good exercise for the left wing mind

Counterpunch: Acidic magazine of the left. Very focused on the operations of the Washington elite.

Le Monde Diplomatique: Want the best thinkers on politics in a monthly magazine. Here it is. The very best.

Z-Net: Excellent e-magazine. Full of useful links and articles by journalists of the left.

London Independent: This is a wonderful newspaper. For Iraq coverage I go to the search engine and type 'Robert Fisk' and then, separately 'Patrick Cockburn'

London Review of Books: Want really good essays on politics and literature. Try this

New Left Review: Intellectual flagship of the western left since the early 1960's

John Quiggin: Australia's most intelligent economist and political commentator.

The Nation: Published in New York. This is the American liberal lefts best weekly magazine. It has been around for more than 100 years.

Monthly Review: Intellectual journal of the left from New York. Independent of mind. Read and praised by Albert Einstein (who, like Helen Keller, aka Patty Duke, was a socialist)

Andre Gunder Frank: One of the great socialist scholars. Still alive and doing productive work, principally in the area of international political economy. He has his own well maintained web page.

GO TO MY DIGITAL ARCHIVE: CLICK THIS

Saturday, July 26, 2003

Richard Alston

I have been listening to Richard Alston, the federal minister for communications relentlessly continuing his attack on the Australian Broadcasting Commission for its biased reporting during the Iraq war. Despite a review by an independent commission he continues to claim that this issue of bias has not been addressed. If there were any claims to be made about the reporting in the invasion of Iraq, it is that the ABC failed to give enough time to those who were opposed to this war. After all, they were probably in the majority before the invasion. Alston is hell bent on turning the ABC into the neutered American PBS. Listen to him makes me want to declare Jihad against the government!

I was puzzled as to why Alston was so relentless in doing this. The opposition said that it was the product of the litany of Alston failures, starting with the failed privatisation of Telstra; then there is the dreadfull choice of the now dumped Jonathan Shier as head of the ABC. Is Alston in the crosshairs as far as his political future is concerned. He certainly wont be able to sell the privatisation of Telstra if the government does not win the senate in the next election.

There may be another reason. This may have to do with fear of exposure over the reasons for invading Iraq. The government may want the ABC to be so distracted over this issue that it wont pick up on the false WMD claims made to justify war.

Saturday, 26 July 2003

3:08:11 PM comment []