Wake up, lefties, and reject wokeness
Clive Hamilton It’s time the left pushed back against woke. Afraid of being branded a racist, misogynist or transphobe, the left has been browbeaten into silence by woke activists, even though the left enabled the modern movements for black rights, gay rights and feminism. Left politics are about capitalism’s structural inequalities – corporate power, state […]
Open source research is fine. Just don’t do it for foreign spies
Clive Hamilton The worlds of research and foreign intrigue collided recently in the case of Alexander Csergo, a business consultant arrested in April under Australia’s foreign interference laws. According to the police, Csergo was recruited by two Chinese intelligence agents to write reports about Australia’s defence, economic and national security arrangements. Publicity around Csergo’s arrest […]
Are we in a Cold War with China?
Clive Hamilton It is remarkable how entrenched Cold War thinking is, even among those, like the editorial board of the New York Times, who warn against ‘glib invocations of the Cold War’ in United States policy towards China. Like a number of others pushing back against bi-partisan efforts to limit China’s rise to strategic dominance, […]
Plucky country: world now sees Australia in a new light
Clive Hamilton When speaking with analysts and journalists in Europe, I’m surprised to find that Australia is no longer seen as a bit player in the Indo-Pacific region but as a substantial power. They speak of the high regard in Europe for our resolve and express a degree of confidence in our role and abilities […]
Clive Hamilton on life as a provocateur
Podcast interview with Phillip Adams on ABC ‘Late Night Live’, 29 September 2022 Professor Clive Hamilton has spent his life as a cage-rattler, speaking uncomfortable truths that have challenged us to review the way we think about the big issues.
We boomers need to remember our victories
Podcast interview with Angela Catterns & Ian Rogerson, 25 July 2022 Clive Hamilton is one of Australia’s most well-known public intellectuals. He’s a Professor of Public Ethics and is the founder of the Australia Institute. A provocateur since youth he plans to continue challenging baseless assumptions, even when he’s no longer paid to. While he […]
What would it take for antivaxxers and climate science deniers to ‘wake up’?
Published by The Guardian, 13 September 2021 Facts are puny against the carapace of denial when people’s sense of self is at stake. However, in the case of Covid deniers, imminent death seems to do the trick In 1927, an article in the venerable medical journal the Lancet commented on the opposition to smallpox vaccination […]
The Nationals’ climate position has become symbolic posturing and no longer represents Australian farmers
Published in The Guardian, 20 October 2021 The narrative of the beleaguered farmer runs deep in the national psyche. It’s one often weaponised to berate pampered city-slickers who don’t understand what life in the bush—what real life—is about. The National Party has come up with a new twist on the old grievance—farmers have been paying […]
Barilaro’s ‘brumby bill’ has been a catastrophe for the high country
Sometimes sheer bloody-minded politics overrules hard science. A good example is Deputy Premier John Barilaro’s “brumby bill”, passed by the NSW Parliament three years ago. Scientists had been raising the alarm about the destruction of Kosciuszko National Park caused by the explosion in the feral horse population, but Barilaro’s bill vetoed culling. Since then, numbers […]
China’s security threat to Britain’s energy infrastructure
Clive Hamilton After banning Huawei from Britain’s communications system, investment from China in the country’s energy system poses a greater security risk. It’s often said that investment from China should be treated in the same way as investment from other countries. If only it were true. But China is different because businesses in China cooperate […]