Synopses & Reviews
The award-winning journalist and filmmaker John Pilger selects from his recent Guardian and New Statesman essays on power, its secrets and illusions, for this new collection. The New Rulers of the World tackles the injustices and double standards inherent in the politics of globalization. It sets out to explain something of the "new" orderthe unholy alliance of business interests, media magnates and imperial repressionand the importance of breaking the silence that protects great power and its manipulations. The title is taken from his television film about the mythology of globalization, in which he revealed how General Suharto's bloody seizure of power in Indonesia in the 1960s was part of a Western design that was the beginning of globalization in Asia. In this book, Pilger discloses more of a secret history which saw a million Indonesians die as the price for its mantle as the World Bank's 'model pupil.' He also describes the price paid by the people of Iraq for the West's decade-long embargo of that country. Returning to his homeland, Australia, he looks behind the hype that led up to the Millennium Olympics in Sydney, reflecting on Australia's continuing subjugation of its Aboriginal people. Following the terrorist attacks on America and the bombing of Afghanistan, he looks at the new thrust of American power and its goal of world order, and the propaganda that helps drive it.
Review
[O]ffers not only research and statistics, but interviews and personal narratives that give a human face to the suffering. (Socialist Worker, 25 October 2002)
Review
"John Pilger's work has been a beacon of light in often dark times. The realities he has brought to light have been a revelation, over and over again, and his courage and insight a constant inspiration." Noam Chomsky
Review
"What makes John Pilger a truly great journalist is his conscience and bravery." Martha Gellhorn
Review
Rakes the muck on which the power and wealth of states and corporations are founded, and the stench is awesome. (Irish Times)
Review
Bush is intending to bomb Iraq....If you want to know just how big a mistake that would be, read John Pilger's latest tour de force (New Scientist)
Review
On the side of the angels. (Guardian)
Synopsis
Pilger tackles the injustices and double standards inherent in the politics of globalization and exposes the terrible truth behind the power and wealth of states and corporations.
Synopsis
John Pilger is one of the world's renowned investigative journalists and documentary film-makers. In this fully updated collection, he reveals the secrets and illusions of modern imperialism. Beginning with Indonesia, he shows how General Suharto's bloody seizure of power in the 1960s was part of a western design to impose a 'global economy' on Asia. A million Indonesians dies as the price for being the World Bank's 'model pupil'. In a shocking chapter on Iraq, he allows us to understand the true nature of the West's war against the people of that country. And he dissects, piece by piece, the propaganda of the 'war on terror' to expose its Orwellian truth. Finally, he looks behind the picture postcard of his homeland, Australia, to illuminate an enduring legacy of imperialism, the subjugation of the First Australians.
About the Author
John Pilger has twice won British journalism's highest award, that of Journalist of the Year, for his work all over the world, especially as a war correspondent. For his documentary filmmaking, he has won an American television Academy Award, an Emmy, and the Richard Dimbleby Award, given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, for a lifetime's factual broadcasting. He lives in London.