Politics

Dec 27, 2005

Free speech and the war on terror

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 25 December Two pieces of legislation currently wending their way through Britain’s Parliament illustrate how the war on terror is being used to dismantle the very freedoms it’s supposed to secure. Both criminalise the expression of ideas and neither is likely to deal effectively with the problem it purports to… Read more

Nov 27, 2005

Saga of an on-going crime

BOOK REVIEW: Secrets and Lies: The True Story of the Iraq War by Dilip Hiro (Politico’s, ?9.99 paperback) The Spokesman, Issue 88, November 2005 In August 2003, the Bush administration published its “100 Days in Iraq” report, declaring confidently: “Most of Iraq is calm, and progress on the road to democracy and freedom not experienced… Read more

Revisiting recent history

WHEN Bill Clinton told a group of students in Dubai recently that the Iraq war had been a “big mistake”, champions of the current White House occupant were quick to accuse him of hypocrisy. For once, they had a strong point. To be clear, Clinton’s criticism was confined to the conduct of the war, not… Read more

Nov 10, 2005

Fallujah: a name that will live in infamy

The Guardian, 10 November [Below is the complete article; an edited version appeared in The Guardian.] One year ago this week, in the wake of Bush’s re-election, US-led occupying forces launched a devastating assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah. The mood was set by Lt Col. Gary Brandl: “The enemy has got a face…. Read more

Oct 30, 2005

Empire of denial

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 30 October DURING the heyday of British, French, Belgian or Portuguese colonialism, if you asked the citizens of London, Paris, Brussels or Lisbon whether their countries were the seats of great transcontinental empires, they would have answered “yes”, unhesitatingly, and most would have taken pride in the fact. But stop… Read more

Oct 16, 2005

Some crucial distinctions

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 16 October The High Holy Days celebrated during the past fortnight are the premiere events in the Jewish calendar. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, accompanied by exuberant blowing on the ram’s horn, is followed by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, marked by fasting and prayer. These are the… Read more

Oct 2, 2005

Blair sidesteps reality – with BBC help

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 2 October TONY BLAIR has dismissed opposition to his Iraq policy as the province of “urban intellectuals”. A strange comment from the Prime Minister of one of the most urbanised societies on earth. But then he also managed to ignore the latest opinion poll showing that 57 per cent of… Read more

Sep 18, 2005

Victimised by Katrina

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 18 September “Well, it thundered and lightenin’d and the wind began to blow There’s thousands of people ain’t got no place to go Backwater blues done called me to pack my things and go Cause my house fell down and I can’t live there no more … ” BESSIE SMITH,… Read more

Sep 4, 2005

Outside agitators

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 4 September Throughout the 1960s, volunteers who joined the struggle for African-American civil rights in the US southland were denounced as “outside agitators”. The white establishment accused them of stirring up the local blacks, who of course would otherwise have remained content with their lot. Despite its dubious history, the… Read more

Aug 7, 2005

Who’s making excuses now?

Level Playing Field The Hindu, 7 August “The Bombers Are Among Us!” the hoardings across London screamed. It’s the kind of headline that generates heat but not light. And it’s typical of the obstacles Londoners have to negotiate as they struggle to make sense of recent events. The rapid sequence of fearful happenings has bewildered… Read more