Think Again

On this special International Women's Day program Jennifer talks with Lida Hazara, founder of Women for Change, which has helped countless Afghan women find their way after migrating to Australia, including meaningful employment. Many Afghan people have evidently settled in well over time, making enormous contribution to Australian society. At the same time Lida reminds us that the situation of gi...

Jacques speaks with Hill, who presents an alternative Jewish perspective on the current Gaza crisis, a perspective we don't hear in the mainstream, including its long history starting from the 1800s. Jewish activists like Hill, who 'dare' to raise their voices are often viciously attacked by Zionists who too-often conflate critique of Israeli politics and Zionism with anti-semitism or being anti J...

The elimination of Palestinians from their land has been openly talked about and planned by Zionists and Israeli leaders for a long time, dating from the late 1800s and throughout the twentieth century, up to today. That plan ran alongside the earlier imperial British and present US interests to gain and maintain a foothold in that politically volatile but economically vital region. Jennifer and J...

Jennifer and Jacques re-visit the devastating situation in Ukraine, which the US and its allies dropped that country in. While the west has now shifted its attention and resources elsewhere, the mainstream media complies and does the same. The US plan to kill more Ukrainians Jeffrey D. Sachs   Feb 10, 2024 https://johnmenadue.com/the-us-plan-to-kill-more-ukrainians/How the West Brought War to Ukra...

Jacques and Jennifer continue their commentary on the escalating crisis in Gaza. The United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that there is a risk of genocide by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza and that Israel has the responsibility to prevent acts of genocide by its armed forces. Meanwhile the United Nations is undermined again, by powers not wishing to comply with intern...

Jacques and Jennifer talk about the history of the idea and establishment of a Zionist Jewish state. They begin with the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE, and cover developments in the 1800s and 1900s up to the turbocharging of the idea by a colonialist British Empire looking out for its own interests in the middle east. They cover the devastating developments in 1948 and again in 1967 with Palestinian...

Jennifer and Jacques cast their eye over the 'mess' that was 2023, and how we are managing (or not managing) our affairs in Australia. They reflect on the true reformist, ex-PM Gough Whitlam, and how rare such inspiration and meaningful programs are today in a world of 'hollowed out parties, sound bites, and 24-hour news cycles'.Some insights are drawn from the US predicament as described by Rick...

Jennifer and Jacques talk about some stories that may help us understand our times and think about doing things differently as a society, such as: 'The Hare and the tortoise', 'The emperor has no clothes', and 'The story of King Midas'. They finish up by talking about Donald Trump's 'The art of the deal', as discussed by Aboriginal author, Tyson Yunkaporta, in his latest book: 'Right story, wrong...

Jeremy Walker from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) shines a light on the Atlas Network, an internationally coordinated body that has been working behind the scenes for many years to shape public opinion and government policies that favour corporate interests and profits. (We have been referring to the role of the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) played in the NO campaign during the V...

Jacques interviews Antony Loewenstein, investigative journalist and author of the book, 'The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel exports the technology of occupation around the world' (Published by Scribe - 2023), which meanwhile won the Walkley Award for a 'book written by a journalist'.Trying to gain a better understanding of the Gaza disaster is stifled, on the one hand, by accusations of ‘antisem...

Many of us worried about what we humans are doing to Mother Earth – and to ourselves, of course - have wondered about the paradox of our continuing dedication to ‘economic growth’ and our knowledge of what this growth is doing to Earth and ourselves…  Indeed, the assumed need for ‘growth’ remains a seeming unchallengeable postulate of our economic system, commentators confirming it for all kinds o...

 Jacques talks with Jack Manning Bancroft about his new book: Hoodie economics: Changing our systems to value what matters. (Published in August 2023 by Hardie Grant Books - Richmond/Melbourne)'Hoodie Economics' is not your regular economics book... Jack Manning Bancroft, founder and CEO of te mentoring program AIME pulls apart what 'people in suits' might think of as economics, and presents a rev...

In a world where Artificial Intelligence seems to be intruding into so many aspects of our lives, Jennifer and Jacques challenge common notions of what AI is, especially the idea that it is 'intelligent' at all. (Clue - it just fakes intelligence).They explore the myriad dangers of delegating decision-making affecting humans to the computational power of AI. ReferencesKohler A 2023, 'AI's dangers:...

Jennifer and Jacques discuss how the tide is turning against neoliberalism, the discredted doctrine that what is good for big business is good for everyone. Part of the neo-liberal 'package' introduced in the early 1970s, was a conservative reaction against the cost of welfare and a push for greater accountability and evaluation of outcomes. While Jacques and Jennifer are in favour of evaluation i...

Jacques and Jennifer pull together some reflections on the failure of the Voice referendum, which proposed an Aborginal Voice to Parliament. What does it say about Australia, and where do we go from here?

Jordy Silverstein, Jewish historian, writer, and Executive Member of APAN, provides some history and context to help us understand the current unfolding tragedy in Gaza. Her reflection and analysis takes us beyond the one-sided, 'goodies and baddies' narrative provided in our mainstream media, and she provides some ideas for standing up for Palestinian civilians who are currently under siege and s...

 Marie Brennan and Lew Zipin talk about their research and action-research projects with schools and universities. They present a direction for education that is intertwined with commmunities - with students researching issues that matter to them, while drawing from a range of sources and 'knowledges', and forming relevant relationships in the process. This is contrasted with the current top-down,...

Jacques and Jennifer talk about some of the big money forces and secretive arrangements behind the right-wing No campaign, agitating against an Aboriginal advisory group to the Australian Parliament. Neoliberal  'think tank' Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) has played a key strategic role in the No campaign, to maintain the pro-business (as usual) status quo. CIS is part of a global network of...

Jacques talks with Dr Kate Shaw, an urban geographer at the University of Melbourne, about the 'bombshell' announcement for an overhaul of social housing by outgoing Premier Dan Andrews. Again: lots of tinkering at the edges of the 'problem'... trying not to antagonise the real estate industry and those who really benefit from the 'crisis' ... and even get the 'Murdoch-cracy' and Nine-Entertainmen...

Troy McDonald is a Director on the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria, which provides a representative Aboriginal Voice to the state government, that is creating pathways for Treaties and Truth-telling. Troy describes how the Assembly works, and how it might show the way for a Voice to Parliament at a national level. This is particularly relevant for the upcoming referendum for a national Voice o...

While a lot of people are apparently worried about tampering with the Australian Constitution in enshrining an Aboriginal Voice to parliament, Jennifer and Jacques discuss how we don't actually follow our Constitution for the most part. It is an anomolous document that embeds our subjection to a distant monarch and says nothing about democratic processes. Alongside our Constitution we have the Wes...

Marie Brennan has been Professor at several universities  and has researched and written about the dire changes in our university system since the 90s. She outlines the moves to a more commercialised, top-down management model, in which academic staff have less say, and many have become demoralised and burnt out. This is a gender equity issue, as many of the casual staff left carrying the load are...

Jay Coonan from the Antipoverty Centre talks about the research report he co-authored, Punishment for profit. The report highlights how billions of government dollars are paid to corporate entities, supposedly to help unemployed people into work. Instead they punish and bully people they are meant to support, and force them into meaningless activities under the threat of losing Centrelink payments...

Jacques and Jennifer revisit Africa and the centuries-long pilfering of its goods and resources by western nations (presumed to be more 'developed'). They expand on this, and talk about the use of certain African nations as a 'tip' for consumer rubbish from the west. To keep their advantage, western nations exercise deep (anti-democratic) interference in local African politics. References:Hickel,...

Jacques interviews Lucinda Holdforth about her book: 21sr-Century virtues: How they are failing our democracy.