SYDNEY — “The US has a Christian fundamentalist government in power… George Bush's fundamentalist plutocracy is the main danger to us. Terrorists aren't the danger, asylum seekers aren't the danger. They are the danger.”

These words set the tone for dissident journalist John Pilger's appearance at Gleebooks on August 17. In Sydney to publicise his latest book, The New Rulers of the World, Pilger spoke to the audience of 300 about the main issues addressed in his book: the “war on terrorism” (which he pointed out was an oxymoron of “Orwellian proportions”), the Australian government's treatment of refugees and the situation in Palestine.

Pilger revealed that a new film he has made, Palestine is Still the Issue, will be screening on SBS in October. “It has the same title as a film I made in the 1970s. The startling thing is how little things have changed since then. However, some things have changed, in that there is greater suffering and greater resistance in Palestine.”

As far as the Howard government's unconditional support for Bush's proposed war on Iraq was concerned, Pilger maintained that “our own regime's obsequiousness and absurdity is something which should be mocked around the world… The fact that Australia is supporting an attack — it's not a war with, it's an attack on — 22 million men, women and children in Iraq, is a grotesque absurdity.

“The aim is to get another Saddam Hussein in power, one which will be obedient to the US… The last thing the Americans want is any kind of social justice in Iraq.”

Pilger had time to take questions from the audience, and, responding to a question about the treatment of refugees, he said: “I guess you're disappointed about the level of morality of the Australian government. It has none.”

Another audience member pressed Pilger about his attitude to the global justice movement, especially in light of the recent announcement that the World Trade Organisation will hold a meeting in Sydney in November. Pilger replied, “I don't think there's any future in parliamentary politics here or in Britain or anywhere… The anti-globalisation movement around the world is about direct action — and it's working.”

From Green Left Weekly, August 28, 2002.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page. 

Tools

• Bookmark This Page
• Print This Page