BY GRAHAM MATTHEWS
& NICK EVERETT
There were no spare seats at the Capitol in central Melbourne as 650 people crammed the theatre for an evening with filmmaker and journalist John Pilger on December 15.
The occasion was the big-screen premiere of his latest film, The New Rulers of the World, a case-study of the effects of the IMF and World Bank on the workers of Indonesia. The screening was organised jointly by Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (ASAP) and Green Left Weekly.
The film and discussion was booked-out days in advance, with many of those calling for a booking identified with Pilger's strong stance against the US led war on Afghanistan.
Following the screening of the film, the floor was opened to questions from the audience, chaired by ASAP chairperson Max Lane. At the outset of the discussion, Pilger set the tone with a strong statement linking the fate of the movement against corporate globalisation with the movement against the US-led war on the Third World — the "war on terrorism". He argued that the two movements were inextricably linked, and that those who opposed the kind of corporate tyranny portrayed in his film, must also oppose the war.
Questions and discussion ranged across a wide variety of topics for over an hour. Pilger was asked his opinion on the "fair trade" movement, which he criticised for its general lack of internationalism. He was quizzed on strategies for the anti-corporate movement (he favoured inclusive demonstrations), and asked for his position on the Australian government's treatment of refugees (which he adamantly opposed). He also expressed an unqualified optimism in the abilities of the majority of people to come to progressive conclusions.
At the end of the evening, Lane wrapped up the event, making a request for those attending to donate to the People's Power Fighting Fund to support the work of Indonesian activists and to support the radical press by subscribing to Green Left Weekly. Without letting Lane finish his sentence, Pilger took the microphone and urged the audience to subscribe to GLW. "On the flight down to Melbourne I read an article by Norm Dixon on the situation in Afghanistan", he said."It was the third of a series, and it is among the best things that I have read on the history of that country."
Almost $1000 was collected in buckets for the People's Power Fighting Fund, and 30 subscriptions and more than 100 single issues of GLW were sold on the night.
The Melbourne premiere followed a highly successful premiere screening of Pilger's new film the previous evening at the Valhalla Cinema in the Sydney inner west suburb of Glebe. Sponsored by GLW and ASAP, the December 14 Glebe event was attended by a capacity crowd of 440 people. All 440 tickets had been sold out 10 days prior to the screening, leaving organisers with no choice but to turn away hundreds of people.
Pilger told the audience that although "the film was made prior to the events of September 11, it may as well have been made after. As New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman said, the hidden hand of the market will never work with a hidden fist." Condemning Bush's "war on terrorism" as a fraud, he talked about how the corporate media carefully hid civilian casualties from their coverage and presented a sanitised version of events.
Pilger fielded questions on a wide range of issues, including the war against Afghanistan, the struggle for self-determination in Palestine, the treatment of asylum seekers by the Australian government and the challenges of being a critical, independent journalist in an industry dominated by powerful corporations.
From Green Left Weekly, January 16, 2002.
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