Dorothy Brand

I am a shameless fan of the Olympics. Every two years — whether it’s for the Summer or Winter Games — I gleefully tune in to watch the unimaginable, often gravity- and physics-defying prowess of the best athletes in the world. From the parade of nations at the opening ceremonies to the competitive medal counts, from historic moments of political advocacy by athletes to actor Leslie Jones’ hilarious online commentary, I love it all. Even the over-the-top nationalism moves me — a tall order for someone who was stripped of a long-established constitutional right by her government not too long ago and who…

When news broke of a stabbing, and mass killing, at a Sydney shopping mall in which a baby was attacked, right-wing commentators overseas were quick to falsely diagnose the motive. “Another day. Another terror attack by another Islamist terrorist. Six dead, others seriously injured, including a baby,” tweeted the British right-wing commentator Julia Hartley-Brewer. But Hartley-Brewer was wrong. And she later acknowledged the post was incorrect. The motive was not Islamist but an everyday threat for women: gendered violence. It was “obvious” said the New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb, that now-deceased attacker Joel Cauchi, a diagnosed schizophrenic according to his family, had a…