First published 2005 by Paradigm Publishers
Published 2016 by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
American voices of dissent: The book from XXI Century, a film by Gabriele Zamparini and Lorenzo Meccoli.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-59451-133-0 (hc.)ISBN 1-59451-134-9 (pbk.).
1. United StatesPolitics and government2001-2. United StatesMilitary policy. 3. PresidentsUnited StatesElection2000. 4. September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001. 5. Civil rightsUnited States. 6. JournalismPolitical aspectsUnited States. 7. Patriotism United States. 8. Petroleum industry and trade-Political aspects. 9. Iraq-Civilization. 10. DissentersInterviews. I. Zamparini, Gabriele, 1968- II. Meccoli, Lorenzo, 1968- III. XXICentury.
E902.A48 2005
973.931dc22
2005008326
Designed and Typeset by Cheryl Hoffman
ISBN 13: 978-1-59451-134-9 (pbk)
Contents
William Blum
Speakers: Darril Bodly, Reed Brody, George W. Bush, Rachel Coen, Beverly Eckert, Amy Goodman, Rev. Peter Laarman, Valerie Lucznicowfka, Arno Mayer, Greg Palast, William Perkins, Katha Pollitt, Dan Rather, Clayton Roberts, Susan Sarandon, Danny Schechter, Dread Scott, Gore Vidal, Howard Zinn
Speakers: Jose Alvarez, Julian Bond, Reed Brody, George W. Bush, Leslie Cagan, Noam Chomsky, Ramsey Clark, Ken Estey, Liza Featherstone, Michael Foley, Cheshire Frager, Curt Goering, Amy Goodman, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Leslie Kaufman, Molly Klopot, Anna Landau, Jessica Lange, Donna Lieberman, Sister Elizabeth Proefriedt, Katha Pollitt, Michael Ratner, Donald Rumsfeld, Rev. Al Sharpton, Pete Seeger, Monica Tarazi, Gore Vidal, Laura Vild, Edmund White, Howard Zinn
Speakers: George W Bush, Leslie Cagan, Noam Chomsky, Rachel Coen, Michael Foley, Curt Goering, Amy Goodman, Larry Holmes, Anna Landau, Arno Mayer, Tony Murphy, Greg Palast, Katha Pollitt, Michael Ratner, Emily Reinhardt, Susan Sarandon, Danny Schechter, Pete Seeger, Norman Solomon, Monica Tarazi, Gore Vidal, Edmund White, Julia Willebrand, Howard Zinn
Speakers: Asif, Phyllis Bennis, Reed Brody, George W Bush, Leslie Cagan, Noam Chomsky, David Cline, Edward Daniels II, Angela Davis, Ossie Davis, Michael Foley, Cheshire Frager, Curt Goering, William Hartung, Larry Holmes, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King III, Rev. Peter Laarman, Nelson Mandela, Rosemary Pace, Greg Palast, William Perkins, Katha Pollitt, Michael Ratner, Emily Reinhardt, Dread Scott, Rev. Al Sharpton, Setsuko Nakamura Thurlow, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Howard Zinn
Speakers: Jose Alvarez, Zainab Bahrani, Harry Belafonte, Phyllis Bennis, George W. Bush, Ramsey Clark, David Cline, Victoria De Grazia, Danny Glover, Curt Goering, William Hartung, Jessica Lange, Hanny Megally, Timothy Mitchell, Roger Normand, Greg Palast, Scott Ritter, Susan Sarandon, Victor Sidel, Norman Solomon, Jacqueline Soohen
Speakers: Jose Alvarez, Reed Brody, George W. Bush, Noam Chomsky, David Cline, Victoria De Grazia, Curt Goering, Arno Mayer, Timothy Mitchell, Roger Normand, Greg Palast, Scott Ritter, Victor Sidel, Norman Solomon, Jacqueline Soohen, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Gore Vidal, Edmund White, Howard Zinn
Speakers: Udi Aloni, Reed Brody, George W. Bush, Noam Chomsky, Victoria De Grazia, Curt Goering, Amit Mashiah, Arno Mayer, Hanny Me gaily, Timothy Mitchell, Roger Normand, Greg Palast, Norman Solomon, Gore Vidal, Howard Zinn
William Blum
You are holding in your hands a book that would make an excellent time capsule; one to be opened, one would hope, in a future time when the United States was no longer on a rampage of imperial war and oppression around the world, no longer acting like a police state at home. This book captures the period of 2000 to 2003, from the highly questioned presidential election of 2000, to the infamous day of September 11, 2001, to the tearing up of the Bill of Rights by the Bush administration, to the historic 2002 and 2003 anti-war demonstrations determined to prevent the mad march to war in Iraq, to the onset of the war as Iraq was bombed and invaded.
Yet the period is more than this: Vietnam, the Gulf War, angry and disillusioned veterans of several wars of the American empire, their wounds and Gulf War syndrome eating away at them Heres David Cline, the head of Veterans for Peace: Well, war is when humans resort descend to barbarism. Its when we go back to barbarism. And and, in the end, war is men, and today, its also women, but its men going out there, from two different sides just trying to kill each other. Can it be put any simpler and more poignantly?
And in each of these wars, there was the routine use of depleted uranium and cluster bombs, two weapons designed by a mad scientist, which in a world not intimidated by the United States would be categorically banned.
Another horror as well: George W. Bush, calling on God to bless American warfare, mouthing one lie after another. And the prices we pay at home to support the military budget, equal to more than $20,000 per hour for every hour since Jesus Christ was born.
Many other bases are touched, including some intriguing history prior to this period about another empire, of the British variety, and its relation to Iraq, and Winston Churchillthe much revered Sir Winstonand his remarkable racism and use of poison gas. And the important previous history between the United States and Saddam Hussein is also included.
Crusading journalist Greg Palast speaks of the election in Florida in 2000, on which he is the leading expert, the election that put George W. into the White House, an election that illegally excluded about 90,000 people of color.
After the terrorist attack of 9/11, it was Christmas every day for the American national-security and corporate elite. All their wish lists were fulfilled, and then some. In short order, they massively increased the military budget; proposed sharp cutbacks of social spending; gave new life to the missile defense program; pushed through obscenely extensive tax breaks for the wealthy; launched efforts to cut back on environmental legislation; unilaterally abrogated a leading arms control treaty; extended the reach of the American empire under the rubric of an anti-terrorism crusade; created a new Office of Homeland Security; greatly increased surveillance and prosecutory powers over the American people, including license to enter their homes virtually at will; incarcerated over a thousand individuals for weeks or months, even years as it turned out, without charging them with a crime, and much more.