Zoe Holman is an Australian journalist and author based in Athens and working on social affairs, migration and the Middle East.
Fifty years ago today, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy was established in Canberra. It successfully pushed Australia’s government to establish indigenous land rights in the 1970s and helped create a model for militant action in indigenous rights struggles today.
Wildfires are devastating Greek forests in the worst heat wave in 30 years. Thanks to years of austerity and a right-wing government pushing through further privatizations under cover of the pandemic, even the basic services required to fight the fires are desperately lacking.
Australia has maintained one of the toughest border regimes in the world throughout the pandemic, helping it contain the virus and save lives. But with strict quotas on entry, flights into Australia are a privilege reserved only for the rich.
Australia’s notoriously cruel border regime once made it a human rights pariah among rich nations. Now, its policies of “pushbacks” and long-term detainment have been adopted in Europe.