Politics

Rachel Kushner’s revolutionary spy novel reflects on our hurtle towards extinction

-Alex Howard,Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Rachel Kushner ranks among the finest novelists working today. The recipient of several major literary awards and a former Guggenheim Fellow, Kushner, who has a background in political economy and United States foreign policy, uses her fiction to explore the historical and geopolitical pressures that bear down on and determine everyday life and patterns of social behaviour. “What is shaping people? What are the pressures that delineate how they think, act, speak?” These are some of the questions she poses in her body of work. Her new novel, Creation Lake (2024), is longlisted for this year’s Booker Prize and tackles the topic of ecological terrorism. Clearly inspired by influential spy and crime writers like John le Carré and Jean-Patrick Manchette, it subverts genre conventions and playfully challenges reader expectations. A touch more tonally measured than her previous novels, Creation Lake is by far Kushner’s most accomplished and engrossing work to date. We get a sense of the scale and depth of Kushner’s interests in her debut novel, Telex from Cuba (2008). Set in the years leading up to the Fidel Castro helmed revolution of 1959, the novel interrogates questions of gender and the brutalities of colonialism, and sheds fresh light on what now seems, somehow, to be a long-distant, half-forgotten historical moment. Kushner’s interest in explosions of revolutionary fervour and periods of social upheaval carries over into her geographically and temporally expansive second book, The Flamethrowers (2013), an exhilarating account of radicalism, motorcycle racing and avant-gardism that unfurls against the politically charged backdrop of 1970s Italy. After addressing the interwoven issues of inequality and mass incarceration in contemporary America with her third novel, The Mars Room (2018), set in a women’s prison, Kushner shifts her focus back to Europe in her audacious new page-turner. Taking part in troubled times “All my life […]

An exposé of whatever-it-takes culture, Eric Beecher’s The Men Who Killed the News is an idealistic book for the times

Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, The University of Melbourne Disclosure statement Denis Muller was a colleague of Eric Beecher’s at The Sydney Morning Herald in the 1980s. Eric Beecher is a rare beast: a combination of journalist, media owner and idealist. In 1984, aged 33, he became the youngest-ever editor of the Sydney Morning Herald and he has worked around the world as a journalist. He is currently chair and the largest shareholder in Private Media, owner of several Australian news websites, including Crikey. With The Men Who Killed the News, he has produced a book that is at once a cry of indignation at the media’s abuse of power and an attempt to chart a future for journalism. The cry of indignation comes first. In a pacey compression of press history going back to the late 19th century, Beecher vividly illustrates how newspaper moguls from William Randolph Hearst in the 1880s to Rupert Murdoch today have cynically debased the profession of journalism in pursuit of wealth and power. He draws on a wide range of histories, creating a kind of one-stop shop for the reader who wishes to understand how public trust in the media has eroded to the point where Donald Trump is able to make the “fake news” label stick. The men who killed the news belong to two technological ages. The first belong to the age of industrialisation, which enabled the rapid daily production of tens of thousands of newspapers and the creation of a vast monopoly on public access to news and information. These men include not just Hearst and Murdoch, but Joseph Pulitzer, Henry Luce and A.O. Sulzberger in the United States, and Lords Beaverbrook, Rothermere and Northcliffe in Britain. The second belong to the age of the digital revolution, which has created two behemoths whose power is greater by several orders of magnitude […]

Series a mismatch of events put together quickly

Remember a couple of years ago, the ABC released a series on the Murdoch dynasty? Are you currently watching Nemesis, another ABC series, this time on political leaders from 2014 in Australia? The compilation of both is similar; bits and pieces, reflections from foes and friends that, overall, don’t do a whole lot when some notable events were taking place in Australian history. This may have been the best way to explain the key events over the past nine years but the series, Nemeses, so far shows little to inspire the would- be politician or prime minister of the future. Overall, production and presentation are lazy. Watching Turnbull’s facial expressions and Morrison’s nonchalant answers to questions is so boring and the dishonesty is like a haze in the room. The two episodes so far, show the attitudes and self-importance of Turnbull, Morrison and Abbott in blazing glory and how prevalent the old boys club has been in keeping them front and centre. Ironically, it can make the viewer ponder if politics are that big a deal anyway, seeing the events that occur have extraordinarily little reality to their quality of life. Nemeses isn’t the explaining of the big dreams, mountaintops reached and vision for a wonderful future. It doesn’t sell the life of political involvement as particularly worthy, nor does it allow the possibility that a future prime minister is sitting on the back bench, waiting. The ABC needs to be braver.

The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society

A major reappraisal, by Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel-prizewinning economist, of the relationship between capitalism and freedom. Despite its manifest failures, the narrative of neoliberalism retains its grip on the public mind and the policies of governments all over the world. By this narrative, less regulation and more ‘animal spirits’ capitalism produces not only greater prosperity, but more freedom for individuals in society – and is therefore morally better. But, in The Road to Freedom Stiglitz asks, whose freedom are we – should we be – thinking about? What happens when one person’s freedom comes at the expense of another’s? Should the freedoms of corporations be allowed to impinge upon those of individuals in the ways they now do? Taking on giants of neoliberalism such as Hayek and Friedman and examining how public opinion is formed, Stiglitz reclaims the language of freedom from the right to show that far from ‘free’ – unregulated – markets promoting growth and enterprise, they in fact reduce it, lessening economic opportunities for majorities and siphoning wealth from the many to the few – both individuals and countries. He shows how neoliberal economics and its implied moral system have impacted our legal and social freedoms in surprising ways, from property and intellectual rights, to education and social media. Stiglitz’s eye, as always, is on how we might create the true human flourishing which should be the great aim of our economic and social system, and offers an alternative to that prevailing today. The Road to Freedom offers a powerful re-evaluation of democracy, economics and what constitutes a good society—and provides a roadmap of how we might achieve it.

The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky

-by Simon Shuster A monumental account of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the forging of a leader, The Showman provides an insider’s perspective on the war reshaping our world, based on unprecedented access to Volodymyr Zelensky and the high command in Kyiv. Time correspondent Simon Shuster chronicles the life and leadership of Volodymyr Zelensky from the dressing rooms of his variety shows to the muddy trenches of Ukraine’s war with Russia. Based on four years of reporting; extensive travels with President Zelensky to the front; and dozens of interviews with him, his wife, his friends and enemies, his advisers, ministers and military commanders, Shuster tells the intimate and revealing story of the president’s evolution from a slapstick actor to a symbol of resilience. In their most candid accounts of the war so far, members of Zelensky’s inner circle show how the president’s character changed under the strains of leadership and the horrors he witnessed each day. His wife, First Lady Olena Zelenska, describes her escape from Kyiv with their children, her life on the run, and the tensions that emerged in her marriage as she struggled to return to a meaningful role in the administration. Ukraine’s top military commander, General Valery Zaluzhny, shares the untold story of his fraught relationship with the president and the subsequent consequences. Reflecting on their own regrets and critical decisions, Zelensky and his senior aides open up about the causes of the Russian invasion and how it may have been avoided. They describe with astonishing frankness how their peace talks with Vladimir Putin fell apart and how their faith in the U.S. faltered, both under Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The Showman provides the first inside account of Zelensky’s life amid the invasion, offering a clear-eyed view of his failures to prepare for it and his willingness to silence […]

The Squad: AOC and the Hope of a Political Revolution

By Ryan Grim A riveting insider account of the progressive movement in Congress centering A.O.C., Rashida Tlaib, Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, Ayanna Pressley, and Ilhan Omar―their rise, their efforts to set an ambitious agenda for the country, and their struggle to find their footing within the Democratic party. The Squad is the definitive, must-read book about the most exciting figures defining our new era. The story is urgent, and the stakes are high―for the country and the world―and Grim, an experienced political reporter who covered the Squad before they were the Squad, is uniquely qualified to tell it. When Bernie Sanders, an obscure Vermont senator, launched his quixotic 2016 presidential campaign, few could have seen just how radically the Democratic Party would transform in just a few short years―or that such a transformation could be led by a Bronx bartender volunteering for Bernie in her spare time. The world as it was when that campaign began is almost unrecognizable today, and the Squad has both shaped and been shaped by the seismic social, cultural, and political changes underway. Referred to informally as the Squad, led by the preternaturally politically savvy Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the group laid down a marker for an aggressive left-wing agenda. Grim takes you behind the scenes as that new energy makes impact with Washington, and the Squad spends as much time fending off assaults from Donald Trump―who regularly singled them out and led chants of “send them back” at rallies―as they did battling their own party’s sclerotic leadership. As they’ve grown in office, they’ve had to contend with the eternal question that confronts outsiders who power their way into the inside: Are they still radical organisers willing and able to lead a political revolution?

Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right

-Jayne Mayer Why live in an age of profound economic inequality? Why, despite the desperate need to address climate change, have even modest environmental efforts been defeated again and again? Why have protections for employees been decimated? Why do hedge-fund billionaires pay a far lower tax rate than middle-class workers? The conventional answer is that a popular uprising against “big government” led to the ascendancy of a broad-based conservative movement. But as Jane Mayer shows in this powerful, meticulously reported history, a network of exceedingly wealthy people with extreme libertarian views bankrolled a systematic, step-by-step plan to fundamentally alter the American political system. The network has brought together some of the richest people on the planet. Their core beliefs—that taxes are a form of tyranny; that government oversight of business is an assault on freedom—are sincerely held. But these beliefs also advance their personal and corporate interests: Many of their companies have run afoul of federal pollution, worker safety, securities, and tax laws. The chief figures in the network are Charles and David Koch, whose father made his fortune in part by building oil refineries in Stalin’s Russia and Hitler’s Germany. The patriarch later was a founding member of the John Birch Society, whose politics were so radical it believed Dwight Eisenhower was a communist. The brothers were schooled in a political philosophy that asserted the only role of government is to provide security and to enforce property rights. When libertarian ideas proved decidedly unpopular with voters, the Koch brothers and their allies chose another path. If they pooled their vast resources, they could fund an interlocking array of organisations that could work in tandem to influence and ultimately control academic institutions, think tanks, the courts, statehouses, Congress, and, they hoped, the presidency. Richard Mellon Scaife, the mercurial heir to […]

Daniel Ellsberg

-Doug Green, publisher, The Mirror Daniel Ellsberg has died; he was 92 years old. He suffered from pancreatic cancer. A graduate of Harvard, he volunteered to go to Vietnam as a marine, a decision that made him determined to do everything he could to stop the war. His notoriety came from him helping to write – and then releasing in 1971 – The Pentagon Papers, a monolithic 7,000-word, top secret document, which detailed two decades of lies about the war in Vietnam. The papers were released to the New York times and ultimately led to the impeachment of Richard Nixon. The “Plumbers”, set up in the basement at Watergate, was done so to discredit Ellsberg – their primary goal. The White House established this plan to destroy him; however, through their illegal activities and practices Ellsberg was found not guilty of treason. At one stage he was facing prison time of 115 years. In 2003 he wrote a book called Secrets, about his foreign policy career and the FBI undertook a nationwide search for him to no avail. At the same time, he continued to distribute copies of The Pentagon Papers. Funnily enough, Secrets came out in the same year that the false war on Iraq was declared. A documentary about Daniel Ellsberg’s life, ‘The Most Dangerous Man in America’ was released in 2010, nominated for an Academy Award. It is hard to find these days to watch. To the end he was supporting those against nuclear weapons and of Taiwan. He was a long-time friend of Noam Chomsky. He lived by his convictions…the type of person we need more of in the world today.

Johnson at 10: The Inside Story

by Anthony Seldon & Raymond Newell The UK had Magaret Thatcher and Teresa May who held the ship steady for a few years. Tony Blair, an American ‘poodle’, David Cameron ex-PR, and more lately, Lis Trusk, here and gone in five minutes and of course, Boris Johnson, almost as unhinged as that bloke in the USA who was president before this current one. Across Australasia Paul Keating was one of the better leaders, and in Singapore Lee Kuan Yew. But back to Boris… After his dramatic rise to power in the summer of 2019 amid the Brexit deadlock, Boris Johnson presided over the most turbulent period of British history in living memory. Beginning with the controversial prorogation of Parliament in August and the historic landslide election victory later that year, Johnson was barely through the door of No. 10 when Britain was engulfed by a series of crises that will define its place in the world for decades to come. From the agonising upheaval of Brexit and the devastating Covid-19 pandemic to the nerve-shredding crisis in Afghanistan and the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Johnson’s government ultimately unravelled after just three years. This gripping behind-the-scenes work of contemporary history maps Johnson’s time in power from start to finish and sheds new light on the most divisive Prime Minister to have led the United Kingdom since Thatcher. Based on more than 200 interviews with key aides, allies and insiders, Johnson at 10 gives the first full account of Johnson’s premiership, the shockwaves of which are still felt today. There was utter chaos inside 10 Downing Street where Johnson took huge risks with the truth and malleable principles. His ineptness performing the basic functions are here for all to see. -Doug Green, Publisher, The Mirror www.themirrorinspires.com

The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism

From the chief economics commentator of the Financial Times, a magnificent reckoning with how and why the marriage between democracy and capitalism is coming undone, and what can be done to reverse this terrifying dynamic. Martin Wolf has long been one of the wisest voices on global economic issues. He has rarely been called an optimist, yet he has never been as worried as he is today. Liberal democracy is in recession, and authoritarianism is on the rise. The ties that ought to bind open markets to free and fair elections are threatened, even in democracy’s heartlands, the United States and England. Around the world, powerful voices argue that capitalism is better without democracy; others argue that democracy is better without capitalism. This book is a forceful rejoinder to both views. Even as it offers a deep, lucid assessment of why this marriage has grown so strained, it makes clear why a divorce of capitalism from democracy would be a calamity for the world. They need each other even if they find it hard to life together. For all its flaws, argues Wolf, democratic capitalism remains far and away the best system for human flourishing. But something has gone seriously awry: the growth of prosperity has slowed, and the division of its fruits between the hypersuccessful few and the rest has become more unequal. The plutocrats have retreated to their bastions, where they pour scorn on government’s ability to invest in the public goods needed to foster opportunity and sustainability. But the incoming flood of autocracy will rise to overwhelm them, too, in the end. Citizenship is not just a slogan or a romantic idea; it’s the only idea that can save us, Wolf argues. Nothing has ever harmonised political and economic freedom better than a shared faith in the […]

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