from Mike Carlton ….

John Pilger: Apartheid Did Not Die

Video

Apartheid Did Not Die is a 1998 Carlton Television documentary, written and presented by John Pilger, which was directed and produced by Alan Lowery, which provides analysis of South Africa's then new, democratic government.

There was a time young Americans would stitch a Canadian flag on their backpacks and pretend to be Canadian so they would not be blamed for the awful things being done by their government.

It may now be time for Australian travellers to pretend to be New Zealanders, though the flag trick would probably not work.

His smile was like sunshine, but Nelson Mandela was made of steel. It was his strength of character, repeatedly tested throughout his long and impossibly full life, that made him one of the towering political figures of our time.

No secret, compelling need for inquiry

The Abbott Family

from Crikey ….

the war on whistleblowers – it’s come to Australia …..

Some of Tony Abbott's most controversial speeches have been airbrushed from Coalition history since the election, including a 2009 speech in which he backed a carbon tax, and a 2004 speech in which he described abortion as ''a question of the mother's convenience''.

Discovering the Power of People’s History – and Why it is Feared Today

State governments are guaranteed less than 20 per cent of the funding promised under the schools deal ripped up by the Abbott government, the Australian Education Union says.

The federal government said last week it would honour only one year of the school funding agreement, and allocate $230 million in 2014 to states that did not sign up to the scheme.

A temporary treaty fix - designed to unlock a huge gas field for Woodside Petroleum - has expired. This could unravel decades of Australia’s scheming both with its tiny new neighbour Timor-Leste and its largest, Indonesia.

from foreign policy

American Foreign Policy in the Age of Leaks

Inequality can be social, economic and democratic, but at its heart it is about the exercise of power, who has it and who doesn't, writes Tim Dunlop.

Trade Ministers from the 12 TPP countries will meet in Singapore on December 7-9 to make decisions about the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP).