Archive for September, 2014

Episode 67: Antony Loewenstein on Australian Troops in Iraq – Wait, Haven’t We Seen This Before?

Posted: September 28, 2014 in Uncategorized
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Listen to this episode and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. You can also listen to this episode on Stitcher, Cyber Ears or download it on Archive.org (31MB). 

We’re joined by awesome independent journalist Antony Loewenstein (@antloewenstein). He discusses Australian troops set to enter Iraq and Syria, his article ‘Of course Australia is going back to Iraq: That’s how a US client is expected to behave’, hysteria about terrorism in Australia and the poor state of (most of) the Australian media. You can hear more from Antony Loewenstein on our 41st episode.

We also draw on The Hunger Games to question whether this truly is a “humanitarian” mission, especially after Australia recently cut all foreign aid to Iraq. We discuss the reactions to the military intervention from different states at the UN security council and the need for UN reform. We also analyse whether the proposed air strikes are terrorism, according to s1 of the UK Terrorism Act.

Other issues covered on the episode are: Thai people read George Orwell’s book 1984 in public (as a form of protest against the dictatorship), “biological” sex as a social construct, and another direct action in Melbourne – this time activists take on Lockheed Martin. You can hear more about direct action on our 65th episode.

This episode is brought to you by “Timothyyy!!”. Thanks a lot to “Timothyyy!!” for becoming a member of our show – you can become a member and sponsor an episode too.

Clips:

Nerina Pallot ‘Everybody’s Gone to War’, The Hunger Games ‘Catching Fire’, Interview with Antony Loewenstein, Lowkey ‘Terrorist’, Peep Show ‘Series 7, Episode 2’, Lowkey ‘Cradle of Civilisation’.

You can listen to a short (10 minute) version of this episode, which features a shortened version of our interview with Antony Loewenstein, here: Antony Loewenstein On Australian Troops Back In The Middle East. You can subscribe to these short versions of our episodes through Omny.

Episode 66: Farangs in Thailand – Military Coups and Kathoeys

Posted: September 20, 2014 in Uncategorized
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1984

George Orwell’s book 1984 has been banned in Thailand. This image is from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

Listen to this episode and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. You can also listen to this episode on Stitcher, Cyber Ears or download it on Archive.org (36MB). 

On this episode we discuss our recent trip where us farangs (the Thai word for people of European origin) visited Phuket in Thailand. Just before we got to Thailand there was a military coup and the new regime has banned George Orwell’s book 1984. We cover this, as well as having a discussion on representative versus direct democracy. We also discuss kathoeys (who ‘are born physiologically male but, as one Thai saying goes, “have a female heart” ‘) and avoiding transphobia in feminist movements. We explore the relationship people have with animals in Thailand compared to Western countries, travelling as vegans and anti-consumerists, and skin whitening products being sold in the supermarkets (rather than the tanning products sold in the West). Also covered is the books we read while we were away: Atheism – The Case Against God and Buddhism Without Beliefs. You can view some of our photos from our trip here.

There is also further discussion on direct action and Israel/Palestine – the topics covered on episode 65. On Israel/Palestine, we mention the indefinite ceasefire that has been agreed to, the open letter signed by 327 Jewish survivors and descendants of survivors of the Holocaust calling for an end to the ‘ongoing genocide of Palestinian people’, and try and work out where to now for the movement for justice for Palestine? On direct action, we talk about direct action during the Vietnam War (as discussed in the book Occupy Everything: Anarchists and the Occupy Movement). We also mention Dan discussing direct action for refugees – you can hear more from Dan on episode 61. We recommend people check out Team Earthling animal rights podcast – specifically their episodes on ableism (including covering direct action and ableism), their crossover episode with us (which included a discussion on violence and non-violence), and their episode on teen veganism (which has an interview we did for their show).

This episode is brought to you by “Mr Mcgee”. Thanks a lot to “Mr Mcgee” for becoming a member of our show – you can become a member and sponsor an episode too, as well as getting a Progressive Podcast Australia iron-on patch!

Clips:

Lily Allen ‘The Fear’, Man on the Moon ‘Last Scene’, Aphrodite ‘One Man Woman, Two-Timing Man’, The Office (UK), Myq Kaplan ‘Buddhism, Feminism and Math’ from the album ‘Small, Dork and Handsome’, The Chaser’s War on Everything ‘Hillsong Church Parody – Praise the Lord’, Austin Powers, Sydney Anarchist Media ‘Anarchist Reflections of Villawood Protest to Refugee Transfers’, Propagandhi ‘Haillie Sellasse, Up Your Ass’.

You can listen to a short (8 minute) version of this episode, which features our discussion on kathoeys in Thailand, here: Kathoeys in Thailand, Challenging Gender Norms and Opposing Transphobia. You can subscribe to these short versions of our episodes through Omny.