Freedom Next Time - Softcover

Pilger, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0552773328 ISBN 13: 9780552773324

Publisher: Black Swan, 2007

Synopsis

The latest hard-hitting investigative book from the best-selling author of Heroes, Hidden Voices and A Secret Country — fully updated for the paperback edition.

John Pilger here examines five countries, each of which has experienced a long struggle for freedom, where the people, having shed blood and dreams, are still waiting. Afghanistan, Iraq and South Africa had the promise of hope, even an “official” freedom, but these divided societies do not enjoy real freedom. In Palestine, the cycle of violence continues with no resolution in sight. And the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean is a microcosm of the ruthlessness of great powers. Sold by the British to the American military in the 1960s, the island’s indigenous population — descended from slaves forcibly removed to the slums of Port Louis in Mauritius — continues to fight for a return to their homeland. The island remains the United States’s third biggest military base — a base from which the Americans are able to launch attacks against the Middle East.

Once again John Pilger gives voice to people living through momentous times and, in gripping detail, reveals the lives behind the headlines.

About this title

About the Author

John Pilger is one of the world’s pre-eminent investigative journalists and documentary filmmakers. His best-selling books of reportage, which include Heroes and Hidden Voices are, in the words of Noam Chomsky, a “beacon of light in often dark times.” John Pilger grew up in Sydney, Australia and has been a war correspondent and award-winning author and filmmaker.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Well-known journalist and filmmaker Pilger remains faithful to his decades-long quest to penetrate the citadel of political power and show that the emperor isn't wearing any clothes. Reminding readers that "if power was truly invincible, it would not fear the people so much as to expend vast resources trying to distract and deceive them," he surveys five countries where freedom has been deferred. In his first example, Pilger conducts a searing probe into the widely unrecognized fate of the Chagos islanders, who in 1971 were brutally expelled from their homeland through secretive and illegal actions by successive British administrations to make way for a massive American military base at Diego Garcia. Then he examines Israel, which he calls "the undisputed world champion violator of international law" and its brutal grip on the West Bank and Gaza. He also looks at India, a country in which, he argues, the "modern imperial cult of neo-liberalism" has led to increases in poverty. In South Africa, he shows, poverty is rife and whites still own most of the good land, and in Afghanistan, land mines, "gender apartheid" and despotism still reign supreme, despite the American-led "liberation." This highly informed, thoughtful and passionate work is as important a thread in the world's growing tapestry of political counternarratives as those of Dee Brown or Howard Zinn. (Apr.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Black Swan
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0552773328
• ISBN 13: 9780552773324
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400