Antony Loewenstein

“If you are to convince people in our society that they are free, you can’t just censor everything as they did in the Soviet Union, because then everyone knows they’re living in a kind of prison. In our society people are bombarded with business and political propaganda that shapes their assumptions about the world. But they also have access to some honest ideas in comparatively small circulation newspapers like the Guardian and the Independent, and primarily through one or two honest writers like John Pilger and Robert Fisk.

“This acts as a kind of vaccine – tiny doses of dissent that inoculate people against the idea that they are subject to thought control. But the reality is that this dissent is flooded and overwhelmed by propaganda that keeps us thinking the right way, keeps us passive and in line. By the way, we don’t intend to suggest that this is the result of any kind of conspiracy. It happens as a kind of side-effect of the media’s pursuit of maximised profits in a state-capitalist society.”

Through its regular media alerts, Medialens has tackled the mainstream media’s failure on issues such as Iraq, climate charge, Afghanistan and rampant imperialism. I’ve been reading for years and humble beginnings have turned into a moderately successful, pro-active media group. The BBC and Guardian used to ignore their questions and requests, and even this has changed. Citizen activism is having an effect and the mainstream media ignores it as their peril.

Israel’s security is clearly a major factor in this debate. Many leading Americans, Jewish and non-Jewish, believe that the interests of Israel and America coincide. The Jewish state is not the leading factor in shaping US Middle East policy yet maintaining and reinforcing Israel is a clear goal of every US administration.

If the US is damaged from this war, Israel’s hands are equally bloodied.

“A year and a half after Poland’s EU accession ‘love thy neighbour’ is still the rule put into practice by many Poles not only towards their closest neighbours but also other fellow EU member states – shows the latest opinion poll by CBOS research centre.

“According to the survey, every other respondent in Poland likes the Italian and the English (52 and 50% respectively), while almost half of the general number of them like the Spanish and the Czech. As for other attitudes, 70% of Poles continue to express negative feelings towards Arabs, 65% of respondents show dislike towards Roma people while 62% towards the Romanian.”

A British journalist based in Warsaw explains some possible reasons behind rising anti-US feeling:

“If George W. Bush is stuck for a few ideas for Polish Christmas presents this year, then may I suggest that a plane ticket to Washington, but without the usual queue at the Embassy in Warsaw for a visa, would slip inside the Polish stocking very nicely.”

“ABC Television will launch a reality program next year – and has pegged its relevance to Sydney’s recent race riots.

“Family Footsteps will be a four-part television series taking second and third generation Australians back to their ancestral roots.

“While the riots that swept across Sydney’s beaches have eased, December Films producer Tony Wright says Family Footsteps is very relevant to this generation.

“‘There is no denying Family Footsteps comes at a time when race relations in Australia is being tested,’ he said.

“‘A lack of understanding and appreciation of the rich cultural tapestry that makes up this country is, I believe, at the heart of the misunderstandings.’

“The White House asked the New York Times not to publish this article, arguing that it could jeopardize continuing investigations and alert would-be terrorists that they might be understand scrutiny. After meeting with senior administration officials, the newspaper delayed publication for a year to conduct additional reporting. Some information that administration officials argued could be useful to terrorists has been omitted.”

We now learn, furthermore, that Bush himself called the Times publisher and executive editor to the White House and begged them not to run the story. They clearly refused but questions remain.

Bush probably knew that he would be exposed as a law-breaker, massively over-stepping his constitutional rights and leading to further erosion of his non-existent credibility. But what of the Times? They need to come clean and explain why they held this explosive story for one year, what sections, if any, were excised and whether they have actually gained any experience from the Judith Miller saga.

“Religious fundamentalists now have the upper hand. The secular and nationalist candidate backed by the US and Britain was humiliatingly defeated.

“The Shia religious coalition has won a total victory in Baghdad and the south of Iraq. The Sunni Arab parties who openly or covertly support armed resistance to the US are likely to win large majorities in Sunni provinces. The Kurds have already achieved quasi-independence and their voting reflected that.

“The election marks the final shipwreck of American and British hopes of establishing a pro-Western secular democracy in a united Iraq.

“Islamic fundamentalist movements are ever more powerful in both the Sunni and Shia communities. Ghassan Attiyah, an Iraqi commentator, said: ‘In two and a half years Bush has succeeded in creating two new Talibans in Iraq.’”

Iraq has become an inspiration to one major country in the region: Iran.

- A fascinating study of American Jews reveals strong opposition to the Iraq war, a majority who have never visited Israel – though profess strong love for the Jewish state – and a massive number of Democrats.

- Evo Morales, the winner of Bolivia’s presidential election, has called George W. Bush a “terrorist” and claims the Iraq invasion was an example of “state terrorism.” Imperialism now has many foes in Latin America.

- Foreign nations have issued travel advisories against Australia in the wake of the recent Sydney race riots, while politicians continue to debate the level of racism in the country.

- Whatever happened to the black box recorders on the doomed planes that hit the World Trade Centre on 9/11?

- Andrew Bartlett discusses the limits of free speech in the blogosphere. I increasingly have the view that censoring any comments is counterproductive and against my belief in free speech, no matter how offensive a statement may be. Thoughts?

- The Guardian reports:

“Health officials in Brazil have launched an investigation after claims that at least 10 impoverished Brazilians from an Amazon village may have contracted malaria while being used as human ‘guinea pigs’ during a study by an American university.”

“You look at these documents, and you think, wow, we have really returned to the days of J. Edgar Hoover, when you see in F.B.I. files that they’re talking about a group like the Catholic Workers league as having a communist ideology.”

“Steven Spielberg has hired the public relations consultant who is spearheading Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon’s re-election campaign to promote his film “Munich“, about the hunt for the Palestinians responsible for the hostage crisis that led to the deaths of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics.

“The film, which has already been lambasted in Israel for its perceived sympathy for the Palestinian cause, will be promoted to Israelis by Eyal Arad before its release in January.

“Mr Arad has been a member of the Likud party for almost 30 years. His first big political client was the former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. He then took his skills to Mr Sharon. He is considered one of the advisers closest to Mr Sharon and was instrumental in the prime minister’s creation of a new party, Kadima.”

Perhaps Arad could also resurrect the fallen careers of Saddam Hussein and Corey Feldman.

“What is it about Israelis that makes them smile when Palestinians rejoice at the misfortunes of the Jews?

“What is it about the people of this country that gives them a feeling of validation when newscasters describe gunmen of the Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza firing in the air and handing out baklava and candies to celebrate word of Ariel Sharon’s stroke?

“What is this masochistic revelling in the darkly ironic and the painfully ambivalent, the perverse surge of pleasure in the sense that all is somehow right in the world when the childish behaviour of a few members of the other side confirms one’s deepest fears and, yes, unspoken racism.”

“Saddam Hussein’s weapons experts, known as Dr Germ and Mrs Anthrax, are being released by US forces, an Iraqi lawyer has said, and the US military confirmed several “high-value detainees” were being freed.

“The US State Department said Rihab Taha, who was dubbed Dr Germ by the popular press in the West and admitted to producing germ warfare agents, was released because US forces could not justify keeping her as a security threat.”

The evidence against Taha must have been either non-existent or pathetically weak. One more “threat” is reduced to insignificance.

“Maariv reported last week on a survey which found, not surprisingly after five gruesome years of Palestinian Arab belligerence, that topping the “most hated” list for nearly all Israelis were Palestinians. But 67 percent of leftists hated “settlers” even more than Palestinians.

“Besides settlers, the Orthodox, haredim, leftists and Arab Israelis also scored high on being despised.”

Many in the Palestinian community equally hate Jews and Israelis, not least because of the brutal occupation.

There will be no peace until this hatred is eradicated or largely reduced. The current path is unlikely to achieve either.