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Antony Loewenstein

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Antony Loewenstein
Born1974 (age 49–50)
Occupation
Citizenship
GenreNon-fiction
Subject

Antony Loewenstein (born 1974) is a freelance investigative journalist, author, and film-maker based in Sydney. He describes himself as a Jewish atheist, and is known for his criticism of the treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli Government. His grandparents had escaped the Holocaust in Nazi Germany, but Loewenstein decided to take up German citizenship as an adult.

His 2023 book, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World, won and was shortlisted for several global literary awards.

Early life and education

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Antony Loewenstein was born in Australia in 1974. His father's parents left had left Germany and Austria just before World War II, but many members of their family had been killed in the Holocaust.[1]

Loewenstein became a German citizen, while maintaining Australian citizenship, as an adult in 2011, "as a way to rightfully re-claim our birthright", to honour his family that Germany, and to be allowed to work in European Union countries. However, he said in 2013 that he feels neither Australian nor German, describing himself as a "non-practising Jewish atheist currently based in Sydney".[1]

Career

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Loewenstein has written for a number of publications, including The Guardian,[2] and Sydney Morning Herald.[3]

Loewenstein contributed a chapter to Not Happy, John (2004) which highlighted the growing disenchantment with Ausralian prime minister John Howard. His 2006 book, My Israel Question, was a best-seller and short-listed for a 2007 New South Wales Premier's Literary Award. The book was criticised in a review in Australian Jewish News.[4]

He is the co-editor with Ahmed Moor of the 2012 book After Zionism: One State for Israel and Palestine which includes essays by Omar Barghouti, John Mearsheimer, Ilan Pappé, Sara Roy, and Jonathan Cook, among others.[5]

With South African film-maker Naashon Zalk, Loewenstein was co-director of a 2019 Al Jazeera English documentary on abuse of the opioid drug tramadol in Nigeria, West Africa's Opioid Crisis.[citation needed] He appears in the 2019 documentary, This Is Not A Movie, about The Independent's Middle East correspondent, Robert Fisk.[citation needed] His 2019 book, Pills, Powder and Smoke, is on the global 'war on drugs'.

Loewenstein co-founded Independent Australian Jewish Voices (IAJV).[6][7]

He won the 2019 Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize, one of Australia's leading peace awards, for his work on Israel/Palestine.[citation needed]

In 2021, he co-founded Declassified Australia with fellow journalist Peter Cronau. The news website critically reports on Australia's relations with the world.[8] He and UK film-maker Dan Davies co-directed the Al Jazeera documentary Under the Cover of Covid.[9][10]

In 2023, he published The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports The Technology Of Occupation Around The World, in the UK, US, and Australia, with multiple, translated editions. It was a long-list finalist in the 2023 Moore Prize For Human Rights Writing, and a best-selling book across the world.[11][12][13] In November 2023 Loewenstein was awarded, in partnership with Banki Haddock Fiora, the Walkley Book Award for Longform Journalism for the book.[14] The book won the People's Choice award[15] and was also shortlisted for the 2024 Victorian Premier's Prize for Nonfiction[16] and the Nonfiction Book Award at the 2024 Queensland Literary Awards.[17]

In 2024, he released a podcast series, The Palestine Laboratory, with the US outlet, Drop Site News.

Bibliography

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Author
  • My Israel Question: Reframing The Israel/Palestine Conflict. Melbourne University Publishing. 1 September 2009. ISBN 978-0-522-85945-4.
  • Profits of Doom: How vulture capitalism is swallowing the world. Melbourne University Publishing. 1 August 2014. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-0-522-86723-7.
  • The Blogging Revolution. Jaico Publishing House. 2012. ISBN 978-81-8495-286-5.
  • Profits of Doom. Melbourne University Publishing. 6 May 2024. ISBN 9780522866827.
  • Disaster Capitalism: Making a killing out of catastrophe. London New York Verso Books. 2015. ISBN 978-1-78478-116-3.
  • Pills, Powder, and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs. Scribe. 2019. ISBN 9781925713367.
  • The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel exports the technology of occupation around the world. Scribe. 2023. ISBN 9781922310408.
Contributor
Editor

References

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  1. ^ a b Loewenstein, Antony (23 September 2013). "How I, an Australian Jewish-atheist, became a German citizen". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  2. ^ "Antony Loewenstein". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  3. ^ "Antony Loewenstein". SMH. Archived from the original on 2 February 2024. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  4. ^ Questioning Israel (28 July 2006) Archived 27 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Antony Loewenstein, Ahmed Moor, After Zionism: One State for Israel and Palestine Archived 20 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Saqi Books, (28 August 2012), ISBN 0863568165 ISBN 978-0863568169
  6. ^ Andra Jackson, New group takes on Jewish lobby Archived 24 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, The Age, 6 March 2007
  7. ^ Australian Jewish leaders blast new NGO as anti-Zionist Archived 25 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine, The Jerusalem Post, accessed 15 September 2012.
  8. ^ "Declassified Australia - About". Declassified Australia. Archived from the original on 11 October 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  9. ^ "Under the Cover of Covid". blackleaf-films.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 December 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  10. ^ "Under the cover of COVID". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  11. ^ "The Palestine Laboratory: How technology helps Israel cosy up to the world's autocrats". Middle East Eye. 14 June 2023. Archived from the original on 1 October 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  12. ^ "The Palestine Laboratory". Australian Institute of International Affairs. 17 July 2023. Archived from the original on 18 November 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  13. ^ "News". www.cgmoorefoundation.org. Archived from the original on 3 October 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  14. ^ "68th Walkley Awards winners announced". 23 November 2023. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  15. ^ Heath, Nicola (1 February 2024). "Debut poet takes home $125,000 in prize money for a verse novel that almost wasn't published". ABC News. Archived from the original on 3 February 2024. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  16. ^ "Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2024 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 19 December 2023. Archived from the original on 19 December 2023. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  17. ^ "Queensland Literary Awards 2024 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 1 August 2024. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
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External videos
video icon Book Discussion on Disaster Capitalism, C-SPAN, 8 October 2015
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