Kym Robinson | The Libertarian Institute

Australia’s History of Benevolent Fascism

by Kym Robinson | Dec 1, 2021 | Featured Articles

You can read Part I of this essay, published in September 2021, here. Australia has had a history of complicated relationships between the governments that ruled over its vast sunburned lands and the individual citizens subject to such rule. The states and territories of Australia have had a degree of autonomy when it comes to how they may exercise control over the individual. The police have been an integral tool for these state governments to violate human rights and individual freedom. As is always the case a context of crisis is used and even when emergency powers are not directly cited,...

The War on Drugs for Her

by Kym Robinson | Oct 14, 2021 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles

She had just turned fifteen. She was a good girl, though some of her friends had a wilder side. They did like to party. She was excited to attend a music festival, a large one geared to people under eighteen. While she was there the police were conducting an operation to curb the use of recreational drugs. Twenty or so teenagers, including herself, had been taken almost at random by the police officers. It was a hot day, so she had worn very little. As she was taken away she was roughly handled. The police officers accused her of being in possession of drugs, a girl who had not even tried...

The Exchange: A Citizen and a State Agent in Victoria, Australia

by Kym Robinson | Oct 5, 2021 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles

Footage of police violence and the tantrums of the mob during the recent lockdown protests, not just in the Australian state of Victoria but the world over, depict a division between the powerful armed professionals of the government and the angry rage from some parts of the citizenry. The narrative can suit ones own partisan bias, media habits, and how much the lockdown has influenced you. Captured recently was an interaction between police and the citizen dissenters. It is a human moment. Behind the dark military armor, the helmet, and the badge lurks a man. Alongside him an almost naked...

The Benevolent Fascism of Australia, Part I

by Kym Robinson | Sep 9, 2021 | Featured Articles

Australia is in the news. The images of police officers imposing themselves on the citizenry has drawn the attention of international critics. It has also raised admiration for those who have big government inclinations. Some have declared that Australia has fallen as a free society, that it should now be considered a police state. Australia, however, already had a history as a police state. The balance between individual freedom and an overbearing government has been one of constant, uneven sways over time and it usually takes a crisis to bring down the full weight of authoritarianism. And...

Child Killer

by Kym Robinson | Sep 2, 2021 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”- Howard Zinn It is hard to imagine that a healthy mind would consider the murder of a child to be a justifiable action. It is the frightening action of monsters, the child killer. Not much is more pariah in a civilized society than such a being. As one series of wars slowly wind down, the drums beat to the distant call of likely more wars. It is the routine conduct of some nations to always be in a state of war, always to be "over there." And no matter how many innocent are killed, how many children are murdered,...

The Philosophy of No One

by Kym Robinson | Jul 20, 2021 | Featured Articles

Philosophy is that ancient gift that speaks to us despite the distance of time. The wisdom and perspective of those long dead carry words of weight and understanding that allows us to find a commonality with a past that is beyond imagination. It can allow us better reflection for now, and to grant us a perspective of scale. The human condition is universal, unconstrained by place or time. It is a constant of all culture and race. The wise thoughts and timeless ponderings from those who lived and have been long dead are a testament that in time, we too shall be dead. Our lives can be as...

How Will Australia Remember Julian Assange?

by Kym Robinson | May 20, 2021 | Featured Articles

“Never believe anything until it’s officially denied."- Claud Cockburn This year's ANZAC day has passed in Australia. It is a national religious holiday where many give thanks for the sacrifice of Australian combatants that served, died, and were injured in the nation's many wars during its young history. It is a time for reflection, when Australians remember their national war heroes, those who fought for empire in far away lands, from arid deserts to terrifying jungles, against foes from all over the world. It is the popular belief that those who fought did so with freedom in mind....

Self Defense, Martial Arts, and the Individual

by Kym Robinson | Mar 19, 2021 | Featured Articles

Self defense is the instinct of all living things. The need to live and survive when attacked. It is only through the insulation of civilised comfort that we tend to ignore the reality of life and neglect the need for self defense. Forgetting that people and beasts do lurk which can do us harm. Fortunately most of us will never be in situations where we are required to defend ourselves. But that does not mean that danger does not lurk close by or in the distance. The nature of the threat is not always the brutish fiend hiding from within the shadows or a pack of wild dogs roaming with a...