Overland literary journal > Articles by: Michael Brull

Author archives

Michael Brull

Michael Brull is a columnist at New Matilda. He’s written for other publications including Fairfax, the Guardian, Crikey, Tracker and the Indigenous Law Bulletin.

Articles by Michael Brull:

20 June 201926 July 2019 · Politics

On the death of Mohamed Morsi

Michael Brull

In 2011, Egypt was a country that offered hope to people across the region, and across the world people were inspired. Millions took to the streets, at considerable risk, and for too many, at considerable cost. In just two and a half years, the fight for democracy was reversed, if not entirely defeated.

Published in Overland Issue 228 Spring 2017 · The Middle East

Saudi Arabia, Qatar & us

Michael Brull

On 5 June, a kind of mini-crisis struck the Middle East: Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), broke ties with Qatar. Saudi Arabia, the only country to share a land border with Qatar, announced they were closing the border. Other Arab countries declared that they would expel their Qatari inhabitants and diplomats and blockade Qatar until it submitted to their demands; delivered a few weeks later, the demands included shutting down the Doha-based news organisation Al Jazeera, severing ties with Iran, limiting ties with Turkey and ‘ending interference in sovereign countries’ internal affairs’.

30 June 201726 July 2017 · The future

The battle for the Greens

Michael Brull

It seems the Greens don’t do politics so differently after all.

9 May 201630 June 2016 · History

The left and anti-Semitism

Michael Brull

Arguing over whether criticising Israel or Zionism is a form of racism is an almost insane inversion of reality: 58 per cent of Israelis think Israel practices apartheid in some (or many) ways. Israel has ruled over millions of Palestinians since 1967 without granting them basic civil or political rights. Jewish settlers in the West Bank have rights under Israeli law denied to Palestinians living in the same territory.

Published in Overland Issue 217 Summer 2014 · Politics

A tale of two settler colonies

Michael Brull

Australians should be well positioned to understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

24 June 201427 June 2014 · Politics

On the Greste case

Michael Brull

Australian journalist Peter Greste, who works for Al Jazeera, has been sentenced to seven years jail in Egypt, along with other reporters at the news agency. In a quick response to the convictions, I want to comment on the Australian reaction, the broader nature of Al Jazeera's reporting in Egypt, and put the case in the context of the military coup last year.

20 June 201424 June 2014 · Politics

What the West has wrought in the Middle East

Michael Brull

Iraq is back on the mainstream media’s map, after having fallen off it for years. The oppressive government of Nouri al-Maliki interested few, and a survey last year finding that some 460 800 Iraqis died because of the 2003 invasion sunk without much attention.

5 May 201412 May 2014 · Main Posts

Andrew Bolt: exposed by his own freedom

Michael Brull

The state of debate over the amendments to the Racial Discrimination Act suggested by Attorney General George Brandis continues to be bleak. Most recently, two people from the Human Rights Law Centre happily wrote that while they opposed bans on street preachers in Rundle Mall in Adelaide they supported bans on protesters harassing women seeking abortions. They […]

25 March 20141 April 2014 · Main Posts

Fiddling while Palestine burns

Michael Brull

It seems to me that, now, it is taken for granted that Israel treats the Palestinians badly in some quarters, and instead of discussing this further, trying to persuade the unconvinced, many have moved on to discussion of BDS. Public panels are often devoted to this subject, and many writers are intensely concerned about things like the cultural boycott, which had an unusually high profile victory recently in relation to Scarlett Johansson.

4 November 201311 November 2013 · Politics

Anti-Semitism at Bondi

Michael Brull

The original posting of the ABC news story on Facebook has been deleted, most likely because of the deluge of racist responses. These ranged from suggestions that the Jews deserved it and that there should be no Jewish Australians anyway because we’re one nation to the suggestion that the Jews deserved it because of Israel, countered by brisk accusations about the problems with Muslims and so on.

23 October 201329 October 2013 · Politics

The media and the Intervention

Michael Brull

At one stage, it seemed that both parties were making noises distancing themselves in some way from the Intervention. The ALP criticised the initial roll-out of the Intervention, and said it would build a new relationship with Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. Coalition spokesman on Indigenous Affairs, Senator Nigel Scullion made comments critical of the Intervention too. Perhaps somewhere, opposition to the Intervention in public consciousness was sinking in, and its opponents had made some gains.

28 August 20133 September 2013 · Politics

This election day, very little is actually up for vote

Michael Brull

For a leftist, what hope can there be for an election? Either the ALP will win, or the Coalition will. On leftist issues, the results will be disastrous. On foreign policy, the differences are negligible. Both parties favour strong alliances with Anglo-US imperialism, their wars, puppet states and bombings. On asylum seekers, there’s been a race to find somewhere below the gutter by both major parties.

29 May 20132 June 2013 · Politics

Education and indoctrination

Michael Brull

Ben Zygier was born in suburban Melbourne in 1976. In 2010, he died a secret prisoner, about whom the Israeli military censor prevented the media from writing. How did this happen?

21 May 20137 June 2013 · Writing

The convictions of journalists

Michael Brull

A couple of weeks ago, ABC’s Jonathan Green wrote an article about journalism. In it, he claimed that ‘journalism is a trade in which personal conviction is one of two things: an irrelevance or a death sentence. Journalism tainted by conviction just isn’t. That’s the simple truth of it.’ I suspect among many journalists there is a seductive appeal to this kind of claim. They like to think of themselves as dispassionate and objective, pursuers and reporters of Truth.

5 April 20132 June 2013 · Culture

My coming out story

Michael Brull

In January, I asked Stella Young, editor of Ramp Up, to define disability. I was facing drastic surgery, which would result in me wearing a stoma bag for at least three months. I wasn’t sure if wearing a stoma bag would make me a person with a disability.

19 December 201219 December 2012 · Reading

Best of 2012: From Brull’s bookshelf

Michael Brull

Other folks at Overland have been talking about books they enjoyed this year, and I recommended books last year, so thought I’d do it again – this time before Christmas.

22 November 201222 November 2012 · Main Posts

A new form of ‘supporting’ Israel

Michael Brull

Israel has not even needed a pretext for its latest murderous rampage. It simply assassinated a Palestinian, triggering predictable retaliation, and the response from Western intellectuals, pundits and governments has been that Israel has a right to defend itself.

16 November 2012 · Main Posts

On the proposed royal commission into the sexual assault of children

Michael Brull

In the wake of reporting about the alleged involvement of Catholic Church officials in the sexual abuse of kids, we now appear to have before us a proposed royal commission into sexual assault of children in relation to institutions in Australia. This seems an immensely broad inquiry.

25 October 2012 · Politics

More on A Decision to Discriminate

Michael Brull

Last week, I reviewed A Decision to Discriminate, by Michele Harris, seeking to put its findings and quotes in context. This week, I thought I’d provide a selection of quotes from the book, to give a sense of what it actually shows.

19 October 201219 October 2012 · Reviews

Stronger Futures and Aboriginal disempowerment

Michael Brull

However, less attention has been paid to the considerable evidence that there is strong Indigenous opposition to the Intervention and its assorted measures. One underappreciated contribution in this regard is Paddy Gibson’s important paper, Return to the Ration Days, which features dozens of interviews with Indigenous people living under the Intervention.

17 September 201217 September 2012 · Politics

Offending Muslims is different: on the Sydney protests

Michael Brull

A 2011 survey found that NSW had ‘the highest levels of anti-Muslim attitudes (54.4 per cent). Anti-Muslim sentiment in Sydney's central-west corridor ... ran as high as 60 and 61 per cent.’ Only a few months ago, a bipartisan parliamentary inquiry into Australia’s acceptance of culturally diverse communities found that, in the words of the Australian reporter, there was a ‘crisis’ over Islam, with ‘the largest issue facing the nation’ being ‘the acceptance of Muslims.’

5 September 201210 September 2012 · Politics

The last acceptable prejudice

Michael Brull

Edward Said once said: ‘Malicious generalizations about Islam have become the last acceptable form of denigration of foreign culture in the West; what is said about the Muslim mind, or character, or religion, or culture as a whole cannot now be said in mainstream discussion about Africans, Jews, other Orientals, or Asians.’

8 August 20128 August 2012 · Main Posts

Right turn: the Australian Jewish News

Michael Brull

Many years ago, I used to write angry letters to the Australian Jewish News. To their credit, they ran some of them, mostly unedited. The op ed pages were never worth reading, but the letters pages were kind of lively.

11 July 20129 August 2023 · Politics

In memory of Yitzhak Shamir

Michael Brull

Right-wing even for Likud, he objected to the peace treaty with Egypt, resisted any concessions to Palestinians, was foreign minister during the Sabra and Chatila massacres, prime minister during the First Intifada, and categorically opposed the Oslo agreements and Netanyahu’s imaginary devotion to them.

8 June 20128 June 2012 · Politics

What Western double standard? Syria and Bahrain

Michael Brull

When it comes to the mass uprisings in the Arab world, much of the Australian media has followed the US agenda. Our media pays close attention when an anti-US government faces mass protests – like in Iran.

16 April 201216 April 2012 · Politics

On Atheism and the Left

Michael Brull

I have long been meaning to write about atheism and the Left. The Q&A with Dawkins and Pell, and Jeff Sparrow’s long and thoughtful essay are as good an opportunity as any.

9 March 201228 March 2012 · Main Posts

Defamation Laws: the real threat

Michael Brull

The Coalition has decided that freedom of speech needs protecting in Australia. They would remove the provisions of the Racial Discrimination Act which criminalise acts which are likely to ‘offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate’ on the basis of race: specifically, to only ban humiliation and intimidation.

1 February 201226 March 2012 · Main Posts

A reply to Windschuttle

Michael Brull

There are more important issues to deal with right now. The ridiculous overreaction to protesters (rightly) chanting ‘shame’ and ‘racist’ at Tony Abbott (and seemingly also Julia Gillard) has been discussed, among other places, at Newmatilda, and at Crikey. However, I’ve gotten into an argument with Keith Windschuttle. To which he replied. So I thought […]

30 December 201126 March 2012 · Reviews

Brull’s bookshelf

Michael Brull

I’m not a Christian, so I didn’t think of doing this earlier and saying ‘go and get these for Christmas for your pinko friends’. But the end of the year is as good a time as any. So, I thought I’d recommend some books. I just read it, so this one’s first: Bleeding Afghanistan, by […]

2 December 201126 March 2012 · Main Posts

A reply to CIS on the Intervention

Michael Brull

At first I didn’t think it was worthwhile responding to Sara Hudson’s response to me on the Intervention. I thought it was pretty insubstantial, and its ad hominem tone seemed to me suggestive that replying would reduce the issues to one of personalities, rather than the issues. However, I then decided that some comments may […]

20 October 201126 March 2012 · Main Posts

Occupy Sydney so far

Michael Brull

I got to Occupy Sydney at about 8pm on Monday night and stayed for about an hour and a half. I jotted down some things on a pad of post-its, and took a few photos. I went feeling sceptical about it, and didn’t leave feeling particularly reassured. When I was there, there were about five […]

13 October 201126 March 2012 · Main Posts

The Bolt decision

Michael Brull

By now, oceans of ink have been spilled over the decision against Andrew Bolt. In commenting on the case, I would like to draw out some relevant issues that I think have not been adequately discussed. As I have repeatedly written at ABC Drum and elsewhere in defence of Bolt’s right to be disgusting, I’m […]

7 September 201127 March 2012 · Main Posts

For non-legals: a guide to the High Court’s ruling

Michael Brull

Introduction I think generally the law is under-understood. Experts comment on it, because they’re the only people who understand it. Often, they do not explain much. When they do, they are generally very diplomatic and civil when commenting publicly. There is a convention that it is necessary, if not merely important, to be deferential whenever […]

29 August 201127 March 2012 · Main Posts

Beyond the headlines in Israel and Palestine

Michael Brull

A neat story for the latest round of bloodshed in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories would run something like this: Palestinian terrorists attacked Israeli civilians. Eight Israelis were killed, and Israel responded with strikes that killed Palestinians believed to be responsible for the terrorism. A neat story of terrorism and counter-terrorism where Israel defends […]

18 July 20112 April 2012 · Main Posts

The friends and enemies of feminism

Michael Brull

Feminism in Australia has many enemies. Some of them are more or less open opponents. For example, there is Miranda Devine. She complains about the ‘elitism, condescension and moral rootlessness’ demonstrated by the inexplicable opposition of many feminists to Sarah Palin. She has also complained about its devotion to ‘such trivial pursuits as trying to […]

11 July 20112 April 2012 · Main Posts

Israel’s triumph over Gaza and the flotilla

Michael Brull

After the Camp David negotiations broke down, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak declared that ‘we have no partner for peace’, and the Israeli public lurched to the Right. Despite promising signs of Israeli and Palestinian negotiators approaching agreement at Taba (unilaterally ended by Israel), the Israeli public elected Ariel Sharon. The Israeli public no longer […]

23 June 20111 June 2012 · Main Posts

My Limmud Oz speech

Michael Brull

I’d like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and pay my respects to their elders past and present. When explaining why BDS advocates were banned from presenting at Limmud Oz, the Executive explained that ‘the BDS campaign is an attack on Israel’s basic legitimacy and harms […]

Published in Overland Issue 203 Winter 2011 · Main Posts

Response

Michael Brull

Perhaps the most astonishing thing in Tietze’s essay is his dismissal of ‘a naïve adherence to secularism as a progressive force in the modern world’. It reminds me of Emma Goldman’s meeting with Lenin, during which he informed her that ‘free speech … is, of course, a bourgeois notion’.

Published in Overland Issue 203 Winter 2011 · Main Posts

Michael Brull versus Tad Tietze, ′That political Islam is not a friend of the Left′

Michael Brull

The Left should be firmly and unapologetically secularist. The Left, rightly in my view, has historically stood for classical Enlightenment values of rationalism. We should support people thinking for themselves, rather than believing in irrational and empirically dubious dogmas. We should support people challenging undeserving authorities, rather than offering them deference or outright obedience.

20 May 201120 May 2011 · Main Posts

No loyalty, no presentership

Michael Brull

Limmud Oz, for those who don’t know, describes itself as: Limmud-Oz is a major Australian Jewish community-wide conference and festival celebrating Jewish learning and creativity. Limmud-Oz is a unique, volunteer-led, cross-communal and multi-generational event, catering for the broad diversity of opinions within the wider Jewish community. Limmud-Oz is just one of over 50 similar events […]

12 May 20111 June 2012 · Main Posts

The death of Osama bin Laden

Michael Brull

In October 1998, Eqbal Ahmad, a brave Pakistani secularist reminisced: In 1985, President Ronald Reagan received a group of bearded men…They were very ferocious-looking bearded men with turbans looking like they came from another century. President Reagan received them in the White House. After receiving them he spoke to the press. He pointed towards them, […]

4 May 20111 June 2012 · Main Posts

Goldstone’s bias pt 2: intentionality and evidence

Michael Brull

In his op-ed for the Washington Post, Goldstone made the remarkable claim that if he had known during his investigations ‘what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document’. This was supported by two primary claims in support. The first: ‘While the investigations published by the Israeli military and recognized in […]

27 April 20111 June 2012 · Main Posts

Goldstone’s bias

Michael Brull

Richard Goldstone’s recent op ed in the Washington Post has caused a flood of discussion of what we call the Goldstone Report. I think there are three issues relating to the report and its current fallout worth considering. In this post, I will address the bias of Goldstone and the report. In the next, I […]

18 April 20111 June 2012 · Main Posts

Joe Hildebrand: right-wing spambot

Michael Brull

Back in the day, it was considered desirable to offer arguments about people you had political disagreements with. You know, factually grounded premises, logically sound conclusions, that type of thing. However, if you produce content for Murdoch, there’s a much easier way to win arguments. Fabrication. Take the case of Joe Hildebrand. He’s a hilarious […]

12 April 20111 June 2012 · Main Posts

Bombing Libya

Michael Brull

I am probably not the only person on the Left unsure of the correct response to the no-fly zone imposed on Libya. I know many people very strongly oppose it. Among these is As’ad AbuKhalil, who I do not always agree with, but always consider very carefully. In the other camp of supporters of the […]

1 February 20111 June 2012 · Main Posts

Some dreadful Australian commentary on Egypt

Michael Brull

First, take David Burchell: There have been only two popular ideologies of consequence in the Middle East since colonialism’s squalid death in the 1950s: Soviet-style authoritarianism, with its specious liturgy of anti-colonialism, and the grand, exultant nihilism of the Muslim Brotherhood and its fellow extremists. Now let’s think about a few popular ideologies since the […]

15 December 201016 December 2010 · Main Posts

WikiLeaks and Honduras

Michael Brull

While many voices are currently being raised in Australia in defence of WikiLeaks, it has its critics. Luke Walladge, for example, describes Mr Assange as a ‘dangerous anarcho-Marxist with paranoid tendencies’. WikiLeaks is an ‘agenda-driven group of deceptive megalomaniacs’, and ‘the latest disclosure of information has the potential to disrupt the diplomatic processes that help […]

10 December 201010 December 2010 · Main Posts

The Communist Puritan: It is good to die for the revolution

Michael Brull

The life of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara has lately been receiving revived interest. There were the movies about parts of his life: Motorcycle Diaries, and the two-part Soderbergh movies, featuring four hours of Che as a guerrilla. These were followed by the revision and updating of Jon Lee Anderson’s massive, authoritative, and highly praised biography, Che […]

7 December 20104 December 2023 · Main Posts

In praise of Climate Camp

Michael Brull

On Saturday morning, two activists at Camp for Climate Action chained themselves to Xstrata Ravensworth Coalmine. They were arrested for their action. On Sunday, over 150 activists pushed over a fence to block the train lines running to Bayswater coal-fired power station. The most recent count is 73 activists arrested, including an 88-year-old man. We […]

23 November 201020 July 2012 · Main Posts

Telling you what you don’t want to hear

Michael Brull

When Norman Finkelstein was denied tenure at DePaul, a number of academics held a forum, ‘In Defence of Academic Freedom’. By far, the most brilliant speech was by philosophy Professor Akeel Bilgrami. He explained his view, which I’d long held intuitively: that it is the responsibility of the intellectual to be unpopular. I can find […]

18 November 2010 · Main Posts

Malalai Joya, Tanya Plibersek, Labor, etc

Michael Brull

Tuesday evening, Malalai Joya gave a talk at UTS. She’s a small woman, and her English is a bit unsteady. Her manner was generally not as fiery as her language. What she said, however, radiated the defiance that makes her such an inspiring person. Whether denouncing the ‘mafia puppet government’ of Karzai, or the fundamentalist […]

22 October 2010 · Main Posts

In praise of angry feminists

Michael Brull

One of my most cherished friends is an angry feminist. Of all the people I know personally, she has probably had more influence on the way I understand the world, and particularly issues relating to gender, than anyone else. She could well be surprised to learn of this. We’ve argued about these issues many, many […]

1 October 20101 October 2010 · Main Posts

Andrew Bolt is not happy

Michael Brull

Andrew Bolt is not happy with what I wrote in response to the suicide of Josefa Rauluni. He says I’m either a ‘liar’ or ‘simply ignorant’. I wrote that our politicians and corporate media peddled hatred and fear against asylum seekers, which created the conditions that caused Rauluni’s death. I made up a megaphone speech, […]

22 September 2010 · Main Posts

RIP Josefa Rauluni

Michael Brull

Two days ago, Josefa Rauluni, a Fijian asylum seeker, was killed. The newspapers reported he ‘fell’ from a roof, before quoting those who knew it was a suicide. Josefa pleaded with the government not to deport him. They didn’t listen. He jumped from the roof a few hours before they were going to expel him […]

2 September 20102 September 2010 · Main Posts

The more things change

Michael Brull

So far as I know, the only people who have analysed and criticised Justice Martin’s sentencing remarks on the white men who beat Kwementyaye Ryder are Chris Graham, and me. This case should provoke soul-searching. We should ask why it happened. We should ask how it could happen that a judge would respond in the […]

11 August 201012 August 2010 · Main Posts

Hasbara: explaining the actions of the Israeli government

Michael Brull

In The Iron Wall, Oxford Historian Avi Shlaim describes Operation Kinneret. On 11 December 1955, a paratroop brigade, led by Lieutenant Ariel Sharon, attacked a Syrian military installation. The Israeli army killed 50 Syrians, and took 30 Syrian prisoners, suffering six deaths and ten injuries in the process. Shlaim writes that this was ‘an unprovoked […]

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14 May 201030 April 2020 · Main Posts

Top blokes, totally out of character: when five white men beat an Aboriginal man to death

Michael Brull

Those are the facts. Justice Martin then had the task of interpreting them. He concluded that this ‘crime is toward the lower end of the scale of seriousness for crimes of manslaughter’.

Published in Overland Issue Print Issue 198 Autumn 2010 · Main Posts

But what about Zionism?

Michael Brull

In the dispute between Curthoys and Altman over responses to Zionism, I sympathise with both positions, albeit with reservations. On the one hand, Altman’s seems more moderate and cautious. Yet he dismisses calls for a boycott of Israel. To me, this is unreasonable. I agree that the campaign for boycotts, divestments and sanctions (BDS) is likely to be ineffective in the struggle for Palestinian rights, and I have argued this at length elsewhere.