Today I chaired a session here in Jaipur, India at the literature festival with three men who know something about war and conflict. Brit Rory Stewart, New Yorker’s Jon Lee Anderson and the Washington Post’s David Finkel. We faced a packed audience – hundreds in an outdoor tent with overflowing crowds hanging out as far…
Showing all posts tagged Iraq
Jaipur Literature Festival approaches
Sharing and hearing stories and experiences with a global audience is one of the most satisfying parts of my work. In that spirit, I’m honoured to be invited to the Jaipur Literature Festival in India that starts later this week. I’m a guest of the festival and will be involved in two major sessions: Reporting…
War crimes are the secrets nobody discusses
Sick of corporate journalists simply repeating government talking points? Are we “winning” the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? The embedded mindset is alive and well. Dahr Jamail is a notable exception, independent reporter for years. Some choice comments from his recent interview with Truthout: A3N: How do they [mainstream media] address the argument that exposing…
Notes from today’s speech in Sydney to support Wikileaks
Today’s rally in Sydney was a good event, attracting around 1000 people, all of whom wanted to show solidarity with what Wikileaks stands for; transparency and real free speech. My speech addressed the often complicity of the mainstream media in keeping government secrets away from the public. They want to be gate-keepers, close to power.…
Default position of US media elite is to urge violence against everybody
The frequency with which supposedly respectable mainstream commentators write about violence and killing civilians is handily compiled by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Remind me why these cretins continue to be published? Because they beautifully serve US foreign policy: The discussion of violent and paranoid rhetoric in the media is long overdue, whether or not…
Why Wikileaks is so dangerous for the ruling class
Julian Assange speaks exclusively to John Pilger in this week’s New Statesman: I think what’s emerging in the mainstream media is the awareness that if I can be indicted, other journalists can, too. Even the New York Times is worried. This used not to be the case. If a whistleblower was prosecuted, publishers and reporters…
Land of the free, indeed
Wikileaks volunteer Jacob Appelbaum: I dread US Customs more than I dreaded walking across the border from Turkey to Iraq in 2005. That’s something worth noting.
How Australian foreign policy establishment mouths State Department lies
The following points by leading Australian intellectual and academic Scott Burchill is published here exclusively: Below are edited transcripts of two interviews with Lowy Institute’s Michael Fullilove about WikiLeaks, both from ABC TV’s The 7.30 Report. The first is dated 30 November, 2010. The second is from 7 January, 2011. I have removed contributions by…
Killing Afghans should not be cost free
This is what can happen to a privatised mercenary in a war zone. Brutal sentence in a tough land but why should we be so shocked? If we believe in accountability, then justice must be served. Allowing foreigners to escape local laws is one of the major reasons so many Iraqis and Afghans hate the…