tilting at windmills

Music:

Eclectic

Movies:

We. Featuring the words of Arundhati Roy
Last month (April '07) I was pointed in the direction of this absolutely superb video… how its managed to elude my notice so far I really don’t know.
Essentially its a “fast-paced 64-minute documentary that covers the world politics of power, war, corporations, deception and exploitation… It visualizes the words of Arundhati Roy, specifically her famous “Come September” speech, where she spoke on such things as the war on terror, corporate globalisation, justice and the growing civil unrest.“
Although I’d heard of her previously (particularly during all the antiwar stuff I was doing prior to Bush’s invasion of Iraq) I can’t recollect ever having seen her on the screen or wherever.
Now I have… I’m totally enamoured! Ms Roy’s presentation is superb and her “presence” (even through the medium of a miserable .wmv file) comes across really strongly. I cannot now imagine anyone presenting this vitally important subject-matter more compellingly.
The video’s a definite “must see” (if you haven’t done so already) and I’m sure that both the hardened activist and those new to the experience of “politicisation” (as the Met Police recently complained about!) will find it equally informative.

Breaking The Silence - Truth and Lies in the War on Terror (HQ) by John Pilger
John Pilger dissects the truth and lies in the 'war on terror'. Award-winning journalist John Pilger investigates the discrepancies between American and British claims for the 'war on terror' and the facts on the ground as he finds them in Afghanistan and Washington, DC. In 2001, as the bombs began to drop, George W. Bush promised Afghanistan "the generosity of America and its allies". Now, the familiar old warlords are regaining power, religious fundamentalism is renewing its grip and military skirmishes continue routinely. In "liberated" Afghanistan, America has its military base and pipeline access, while the people have the warlords who are, says one woman, "in many ways worse than the Taliban". In Washington, Pilger conducts a series of remarkable interviews with William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, and leading Administration officials such as Douglas Feith, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and John Bolton, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. These people, and the other architects of the Project for the New American Century, were dismissed as 'the crazies' by the first Bush Administration in the early 90s when they first presented their ideas for pre-emptive strikes and world domination. Pilger also interviews presidential candidate General Wesley Clark, and former intelligence officers, all the while raising searching questions about the real motives for the 'war on terror'While President Bush refers to the US attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq as two 'great victories', Pilger asks the question - victories over whom, and for what purpose? Pilger describes Afghanistan as a country "more devastated than anything I have seen since Pol Pot's Cambodia". He finds that Al-Qaida has not been defeated and that the Taliban is re-emerging. And of the "victory" in Iraq, he asks: "Is this Bush's Vietnam?

Ludicrous Diversion - 7/7 London Bombings Documentary
On the 7th of July 2005 London was hit by a series of explosions. You probably think you know what happened that day. But you don’t.
The police have, from the onset of their investigation, chosen to withold from the public almost every bit of evidence they claim to have and have provably lied about several aspects of the London Bombings.
The mainstream news has wilfully spread false, unsubstantiated and unverifiable information, while choosing to completely ignore the numerous inconsistencies and discrepancies in the official story.
The government has finally, after a year, presented us with their official ‘narrative’ concerning the event. Within hours it was shown to contain numerous errors, a fact since admitted by the Home Secretary John Reid. They have continuously rejected calls for a full, independent public inquiry. Tony Blair himself described such an inquiry as a ‘ludicrous diversion’. What don’t they want us to find out?

David Ray Griffin - 911 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions
A lecture by David Ray Griffin about the "9/11 Commission Report" and his latest book " The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions".
Here he debunked the entire Kean Commission and the report as an enourmous lie through omissions.

Loose Change 2nd Edition Recut
Dylan Avery, Korey Rowe, and Jason Bermas bring you the most powerful 9/11 documentary yet.

September 11 Revisited
"It has been over 5 years since the worst terrorist attack to ever hit America, but has the story really been told?... Were explosives used to bring down the building?"

America Freedom to Fascism Authorized version
America: Freedom to Fascism is a compelling and troubling account of how the wealth of our nation was silently passed from its citizens to a handful of powerful bankers in 1913. That's the year the Federal Reserve Act and the 16th Amendment were introduced, giving a privately held corporation the means to control our finances while ensuring its interest payments through the strong arms of the newly-formed Internal Revenue Service. Ever since then, Russo suggests, Americans have been gradually conditioned to accept fewer freedoms and a lower standard of living... all the while considering debt and servitude as distinctly American values.
Russo's first and most cogent point is simple: Americans are not required to pay a federal income tax. That's a bold statement to make, as few people believe that such a fraud could be perpetrated for so long. Russo... interviews members of the tax honesty movement as well as disenfranchised IRS agents who agree that no law on the books conjures up a requirement to send the government part of one's hard-earned paycheck. Russo then showcases court cases where those accused of tax evasion have won precisely because the prosecution cannot provide evidence of a legal federal income tax law.
It's shocking to have it hammered into your head over and over that you've thrown your money away for nothing, but repetition is good; it helps knock loose the deeply entrenched belief that we owe a portion of our livelihood to our government.

Books:

Web of Deceit
by Mark Curtis "The title of activist-historian Mark Curtis's book tells it all: "Web of Deceit. Britain's Real Role in the World". It is worth quoting immediately from the foreword by journalist John Pilger: "Mark Curtis's brilliant, exciting and deeply disturbing book unwraps the whole package, layer by layer, piece by piece. Not since Noam Chomsky's Deterring Democracy, has there been such a disclosure, whose publication could not be more timely"...
...in the prelude to the US-led invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq, a largely uncritical mass media has relayed great swaths of US and UK government rhetoric, distortions and lies, while consigning great chunks of history and relevant context to Orwell's infamous 'memory hole'. As Curtis observes, "the British public has been subject to a [propaganda] campaign of perhaps unprecedented heights in the post-war world.
Curtis's book is an essential tool in helping to counter such propaganda by boosting public understanding of how elite state-corporate power is shaping the world along lines of injustice, cruelty and suffering. 'Web of Deceit' deserves a very wide readership indeed."
Full Review
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Hidden Agendas
by John Pilger
In this powerful book (written in 1998), journalist and film maker John Pilger strips away the layers of deception, dissembling language and omission that prevent us from understanding how the world really works.
From the invisible corners of Tony Blair's New Britain to Burma, Vietnem, South Africa and the illusions of the 'media age', power, he argues, has its own agenda. Unchallenged, it operates to protect its interests with a cynical disregard for people - shaping, and often devastating millions of lives.
By unravelling the hidden histories of contemporary events, Pilger allows us to read between the lines. He also celebrates the eloquent defiance and courage of those who resist oppression and give us hope for the future. Tenaciously researched and written with passion and wit, Hidden Agendas will change the way you see the world.
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Heroes: