Too Migrant, Too Muslim, Too Loud

The book to read to get a handle of where Australia is today, and how politics works at the state and federal level.

Too Migrant, Too Muslim, Too Loud is a no-holds-barred memoir and manifesto from outspoken senator, trouble¬maker and multicultural icon Mehreen Faruqi. As the first Muslim woman in any Australian parliament, Mehreen has a unique and crucial perspective on our politics and democracy. It is a tale of a political outsider fighting for her right and the rights of others like her to be let inside on their terms.

On offsets:

All this is done under the false promise of the greatest con job in environmental regulation: biodiversity offsetting, which is no more than an accounting trick to justify destruction of nature.

There is a real risk of ‘climate colonialism’ locking away from communities in the global South land which is purchased by the North as carbon offsets. Poor countries cannot simply become ‘offsets’ to allow business as usual for climate culprits.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Western nations that overconsume massively disproportionate quantities of natural resources and have a footprint many times larger than those in the global South don’t intend to change their ways even as they tackle climate change. Complex socio-political dimensions of environmental problems remain unaddressed, as do power structures like racism, sexism, neoliberalism and capitalism. These are uncomfortable truths for the climate movement. Their focus remains, by and large, on technological solutions. Rapid transformation to renewable energy is the mantra. Fossil-fuel corporations are the enemy. I don’t disagree with that—but I want more.