Censorship

All Australian mainstream media outlets push the idea that we must have rapid population growth in Australia and that this must be sourced by increasing rates of immigration. Whilst the mass media never shuts up about this, they are very repressive about any contrary opinion, although people are really angry about the increasingly obvious costs in all this, and they seek ways to express themselves.

In light of the looming Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation ('M.A.D) Bill,[1] Prof. Andrea Carson and Dr Max Grömping's paper looks into the real state of the information environment in Australia in comparison to other countries, focusing on the exaggerated perceived threat of so-called misinformation and disinformation on public information quality and how any harmful effects might be combatted without draconian censorship laws. 

This article has been adapted from a double-sided A5 leaflet.

How is this democracy!?

The overwhelming majority of 98 submissions[1] from the Australian public strenuously oppose the Albanese government’s foreshadowed “Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation)” MAD bill. Any objective perusal of the debate about the MAD bill in Hansard [2] shows that the government clearly lost the argument on both the 6th and 7th November. In spite of losing the argument, the MAD Bill was still carried 78 votes to 66. Every Labor member voted for the bill, whilst the Greens, the Independents and every member of the Opposition voted against it.

See also: Citizens Party press release of 19/11/2024, Close to victory against MAD censorship bill—the Greens must also reject it.

How you can help : Download, print and distribute the double-sided A5 leaflet Ask your Senators to block Labor’s Orwellian “Misinformation Bill” . Ask your Senators to block the M.A.D. bill in the sittings of the Senate which commence Monday 18 November. The bundle of double-sided landscape-oriented A4 printed sheets will have to be carefully guillotined down the middle to give two bundles of double-sided landscape-oriented A5 printed sheets.

Biko Konstantinos has done a fantastic expose of PM Albanese's awful censorship laws that are up for voting in the Senate on 18 November 2024.

On Saturday, 2 November, SPA attendees at the "Curtin Sustainability Fair," sponsored by Teal politician Kate Chaney in Perth, faced an unexpected disruption. Their aim was to raise awareness about the ecological impacts of population growth. However, their efforts were met with unexpected resistance.

Of more than 200 submissions to the Australian Senate Inquiry into Australian support for Ukraine, (27March-4 Aug 24), so-far published, most seem to think that more war, with even more money and weapons, is a solution for Ukraine's problems. Almost none argue for peace-negotiations.

"In one of his early Australian tours, [actor and humorist] Peter Ustinov was asked by a reporter, 'Are you worried about being in the land of the convicts?'  He replied, 'I'm more worried about being in the land of the warders.'  This neatly describes the political divide in Australia, ever since European settlement [...]," wrote Australian politician, Barry Jones.[1]  I was reminded of this when I was confronted by a video of Julian Hill MP ALP opining in some vaguely official capacity on a need for Australia to censor X.com, in order to protect Australians from stuff the government thought should upset us. Then a whole slew of strutting politicians joined in, including Prime Minister Albanese, who personalised his attack on the owner of X.com, Elon Musk, calling him arrogant and out of touch with the public.  You would have thought Albanese was describing himself.

Looking at recent world events, one might be forgiven for wondering if the Nazis secretly won WW2 and captured the United States. If we look back and forth at war-alliance dynamics then and war-alliance dynamics now, we are struck by how the elites dominating western allies were all against communism leading up to WW2. Yet, these dynastic, corporate, and state leaders, who were so against communism, finished up as allies of Russia during WW2. The conventional explanation is that everyone good united against the Nazis because they were so undeniably evil, in order to save the world.

The University of Melbourne is censoring graduating Palestinian and pro-Palestine students and is withholding graduation images from ceremonies taking place this week at the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton, Melbourne.  

Across multiple faculties and departments, graduating students are expressing solidarity for Palestine by wearing keffiyeh’s and carrying signs demanding that Uni Melb divest from arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin.  

The included photograph shows a Palestinian boy moments before he died after he and his people were deliberately targeted by the Netanyahu regime. I captured it from Facebook after assuring Facebook that I could handle the image having read through their warning about how distressing it might be for me. (Unfortunately, I did not bookmark the post, so I cannot link to the original.)

Waverley Council in Sydney recently voted to remove Greens councillors from their positions as Deputy Mayor and Committee members due to their position on the Israel/Palestine conflict. I was terrified of the deep irrationality and over-powering hatred and anger on display at the meeting. How can we usefully engage with such trauma and stop the horrors now being perpetrated against the people of Gaza? (Vivienne Porzsolt)

On Thursday 2 November, staff, students and alumni of The University of Melbourne published an open letter in Overland Literary Journal addressed to Vice-Chancellor of The University of Melbourne, Duncan Maskell.

Ep. 4 Wannabe Dictator pic.twitter.com/MDcs5g0gxB

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 15, 2023

With the atrocious China-bashing going on in Australia at the moment, mirroring US policy, we decided to republish the concisely expressed views of an American living in China. The comments under the video indicate a general approval of his appraisal by people who are familiar with Chinese life. His main criticism of China is the media censorship, which commenters suggest has worsened along with US China-bashing.

In person and online event this Saturday 4th of March the Belmarsh Tribunal reconvenes for its fifth session in Sydney University Great Hall.

Australian Parliament, which sits next week from Monday 6 September, must be made, finally, to debate Julian Assange's fate. At the weekly vigil for Julian Assange outside Melbourne's Flinders Street Station in the evening of last Friday 26 August, James Sinnamon explained how, if Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to end its imprisonment of Julian Assange, he would almost certainly comply without delay, and Julian Assange would

Friday, 17 June. In a horrible clown-world, the UK government has approved the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the US to face criminal charges, despite an original British judge ruling that he should not be deported due to risk of suicide and a warning by his lawyer that he still remains a risk - and the fact that he has committed no crime.

" ... We end [up] waging war against Russians with the proxy. We are investing our emotions just like playing a computer game. Unable to distinguish dying in a computer game from dying for real. When we die, we might start another game. Ukrainians, after being dead once, can not do that. No more games after dying for real.

Following Sasha Gillies-Lekakis's unfair, suppressive, humiliating and vicious, ejection from Q&A audience on 3 March 2022, this statement appeared on https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=sasha%20gillies%20lekakis, posted by Craig Silva.

A friend of mine related today, that at her golf club, after a game, a woman exclaimed, "I wish that someone would shoot the Russian president." Most people there agreed loudly, although a couple of weeks prior, some of them had not even known what Perestroika was. Many people in Australia are confident to the point of arrogance in their belief that they are well-informed about the problems in Ukraine. "I was afraid to speak up, in case they shaved my head," my friend joked blackly.

In this video, BBC journalist Orla Guerin interviews Azerbaijan President Aliyev, assuming that Azerbaijan press and politics are heavily censored, and presses him on that. He denies the accusation, then asks her why Julian Assange has been held inhumanely for years, if the British and western press are so free. The BBC journalist simply won't acknowledge the situation for journalists and the media in her own country, kind of proving the president's point.

UPDATE: Youtube has removed the film again, but you can watch it at https://planetofthehumans.com. We reproduce a letter from Jeff Gibbs, Director of Planet of the Humans. You can also read it here: https://mailchi.mp/4abb9a68b1ad/return-to-the-planet-of-the-humans-break-through-censorship?e=49381abb32

Did you know that YouTube has removed Michael Moore's massive environmental film, "Planet of the Humans"? The reason appears to be a purported infringement of copyright, which its producer vehemently denies. They didn't like the message, he argues in this rivetting and educational interview. Michael Moore joins Rolling Stone's "Useful Idiots" show to discuss the removal of Planet of the Humans from YouTube, and addresses criticism he and the film have received. This fascinating interview has nearly as much to offer on the environmental movement and its problems - notably with corporate interference - as the film itself.

This 21:09 minute video debate has beenc republished from Attack on Freedom of Speech (19/4/19) | PressTV (but see note below - Ed).

During the 80 years following 1789 that it took for the French Revolution to acheive its aims as the Third Republic, the people of the third estate (that is neither church nor noble) launched many newspapers and founded many societies where they could meet and discuss matters.

UPDATE: 23/7/2018 Worldwide protests being organised against the eviction of Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy. See here and here.