From the ABC [Australia] on John Pilger, award-winning journalist, author, film-maker and commentator, speaking at the Byron Bay Writers Festival recently:
"The world, according to expat Australian journalist, author and filmmaker John Pilger, is a consistently dark and disappointing place. Delivering the keynote address at the Byron Bay Writers Festival, Pilger takes aim at various Australian and world political leaders on the left and the right.
George W Bush was a "criminal on a magnitude we can't imagine". The military is at the centre of American government. Barack Obama is nothing more than a brand. And, no more than a "cigarette paper" separates the major Australian political parties.
"The rulers of the United States at every level are so far to the right, so extreme from the views of the population, that any kind of formal democracy, that is those elected representing the people, has virtually ended," is how Pilger sees it. But, he saves some of his strongest words for Australia's political leaders, claiming Australia has become a satellite state of America.
"If this is going to be a socially and culturally proud society ... two things have got to happen. First, nationhood has to be given back to the first Australians - second, (we need to) start speaking as a nation, not as a satellite state of the US." Other subjects in the wide-ranging discussion include drone warfare, Julian Assange, asylum seekers and mandatory detention. Pilger gets a standing ovation from the Byron audience and a "ten out of ten and a koala stamp" from his questioner, ABC Radio National stalwart Phillip Adams."
George W Bush was a "criminal on a magnitude we can't imagine". The military is at the centre of American government. Barack Obama is nothing more than a brand. And, no more than a "cigarette paper" separates the major Australian political parties.
"The rulers of the United States at every level are so far to the right, so extreme from the views of the population, that any kind of formal democracy, that is those elected representing the people, has virtually ended," is how Pilger sees it. But, he saves some of his strongest words for Australia's political leaders, claiming Australia has become a satellite state of America.
"If this is going to be a socially and culturally proud society ... two things have got to happen. First, nationhood has to be given back to the first Australians - second, (we need to) start speaking as a nation, not as a satellite state of the US." Other subjects in the wide-ranging discussion include drone warfare, Julian Assange, asylum seekers and mandatory detention. Pilger gets a standing ovation from the Byron audience and a "ten out of ten and a koala stamp" from his questioner, ABC Radio National stalwart Phillip Adams."
Go here to read or listen or view Pilger's full talk.
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