Media Things: History

Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam

2006-09-08T18:22:48-08:00

A history of militant fundamentalism in Islam: We hear more about Muslim extremists than ever before, but Kepel argues that the terrorism seen today throughout the world results from the failure of Islamic fundamentalism and not its success. Beginning his history with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran, Kepel details the rise of Islamism as an alternative to the nationalist visions of the postcolonial Islamic world. Although the growth of this new kind of Islam among poor and bourgeois alike was indeed astounding for a time, these groups met with little political success. Covering the entire Islamic world, from Malaysian extremists to bin Laden and the Taliban, Kepel exposes a pattern of failure. The inability of Islamic militancy to sustain popular support and implant its impractical ideology (which failed spectacularly in Afghanistan) resulted in increased militancy and the tolerance of terrorism. Fascinating despite its copious detail, Kepel's history has a wider focus than Ahmed Rashid's Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia and more analytical depth than Robin Wright's Sacred Rage: The Wrath of Militant Islam (1986). The first in-depth history of political Islam appropriate for newcomers to Islamic history. -- Booklist

Gilles Kepel, Anthony Roberts (Translator)

The War on Freedom: How and Why America was Attacked, September 11, 2001

2006-09-08T17:59:05-08:00

The news behind the events; the news mainstream media isn't reporting: The most complete book I know of, summarizing the relevant background and foreground intersecting upon the events of September 11... -- Barry Zwicker, Vision TV Insight

Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed

Silent Night, Holy Night: The Story of the Christmas Truce

2005-12-30T03:46:00-08:00

The third of three books written about the Christmas Day Truce of WWI. For the full story see this entry.

Stephen Wunderli

Christmas Truce: The Western Front December 1914

2005-12-30T03:43:15-08:00

The second of three books about World War I's Christmas Day Truce. For the full story see this entry.

Malcolm Brown, Shirley Seaton

Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce

2005-12-30T03:36:47-08:00

One of three books about the impromptu WWI Christmas Day Truce. Here's the story: GLW: The soldiers' Xmas truce http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2002/480/480p21.htm BY PHIL SHANNON It was the war that was supposed ``to be over by Christmas''. It very nearly was. A spontaneous soldiers' truce broke out along the Western Front on Christmas Eve 1914, four months after the start of hostilities. ``Peace on Earth'', ``goodwill to all men'' -- British, French and German soldiers took these usually hypocritical Christmas sentiments for real and refused to fire on the ``enemy'', exchanging instead song, food, drink and gifts with each other in the battle-churned wastes of ``no-man's land'' between the trenches. Lasting until Boxing Day in some cases, the truce alarmed the military authorities who worked overtime to end the fraternisation and restart the killing. Stanley Weintraub's haunting book on the ``Christmas Truce'' [Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce] recounts through the letters of the soldiers the extraordinary event, routinely denigrated in orthodox military histories as ``an aberration of no consequence'', but which was, argues Weintraub, not only a temporary respite from slaughter but an event which had the potential to topple death-dealing governments. With hundreds of thousands of casualties since August from a war bogged down in the trenches and mud of France, soldiers of all countries were tired of fighting. There had already been some pre-Christmas truces to bury the dead rotting in ``no-man's land'' but these truces had needed the approval of higher authority. ``Soon'', however, ``few would care about higher authority'' as an unauthorised and illegal truce ``bubbled up from the ranks''. The peace overtures generally began with song. From German trenches illuminated by brightly lit Christmas trees would come a rich baritone voice or an impromptu choir singing Silent Night (Stille Nacht). Other carols and songs floated back and forth over the barbed wire. A German boot tossed into the British trenches exploded with nothing more harmful than sausages and chocolates. Signs bearing ``Merry Christmas'' were hung over the trench parapets, followed by signs and shouts of ``you no shoot, we no shoot''. The shared Christmas rituals of carols and gifts eased the fear, suspicion and anxiety of initial contact as first a few unarmed soldiers, arms held above their heads, warily ventured out into the middle to be followed soon by dozens of others, armed only with schnapps, pudding, cigarettes and newspapers. The extraordinary outbreak of peace swept along the entire front from the English Channel to the Switzerland border. Corporal John Ferguson, from the Scottish Seaforth Highlanders shared the pleasant disbelief -- ``Here we were laughing and chatting to men whom only a few hours before we were trying to kill''. Uniform accessories (buttons, insignias, belts) were swapped as souvenirs. Christmas dinner was shared amongst the bomb craters. A Londoner in the 3rd Rifles had his hair cut by a Saxon who had been his barber in High Holborn. Helmets were swapped as mixed groups of soldiers posed for group photographs. Some British soldiers were taken well behind German lines to a bombed farmhouse to share the champagne from its still intact cellar. Soccer matches were played in `no-man's land' with stretchers as goalposts. Bicycle races were held on bikes with no tyres found in the ruins of houses. A German soldier captivated hundreds with a display of juggling and magic. ``You would have thought you were dreaming'', wrote captain F. D. Harris to his family in Liverpool. The high command ordered the line command to stop the fraternisation. Few line officers did or could. The truce momentum could not be arrested. Deliberate or accidental breaches of the tacit truce failed to undermine it. Stray shots were resolved by an apology. If ordered to shoot at unarmed soldiers, soldiers aimed deliberately high. Sergeant Lange of the XIX Saxon Corps recounted how, when ordered on Boxing Day to fire on the 1st Hampshires, they did so, ``spending that day and the next wasting ammunition in trying to shoot the stars down from the sky''. By firing in the air, as the sergeant noted with approval, they had ``struck'', like the class-conscious workers they were in civilian life. They had had enough of killing. Military authorities feared fraternisation -- a court-martial offence, punishable by death, it weakens ``the will to kill'', ``destroys the offensive spirit'', saps ``ideological fervour'' and ``undermines the sacrificial spirit'' necessary to wage war. It was politically subversive -- ``A bas la guerre!'' (``Down with the war!'') from a French soldier was returned with ``Nie wieder Kreig! Das walte Gott!'' (``No more war! It's what God wants!'') from his Bavarian counterpart. After ``mucking-in'' with British soldiers, a German private wrote that ``never was I as keenly aware of the insanity of war''. Soldiers reasserted their shared humanity -- Private Rupert Frey of the Bavarian 16th Regiment wrote after fraternising with the English that ``normally we only knew of their presence when they sent us their iron greetings''. ``Now'', we gathered, ``as if we were friends, as if we were brothers. Well, were we not, after all!''. If ordinary soldiers acted on these sentiments, a big danger loomed for governments and the ruling class. If left to themselves, the soldiers would have been home from the shooting war by Christmas all fired up for the class war at home. As Weintraub says, ``many troops had discovered through the truce that the enemy, despite the best efforts of propagandists, were not monsters. Each side had encountered men much like themselves, drawn from the same walks of life -- and led, alas by professionals who saw the world through different lenses''. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the Sherlock Holmes creator, who had turned from jingoistic imperialism to spiritualism after the death of his son in the war, shot an angry glance to military and civil authority -- ``those high-born conspirators against the peace of the world, who in their mad ambition had hounded men on to take each other by the throat rather than by the hand''. The high command on both sides were desperate to restart ``the war that had strangely vanished''. Replacement troops with no emotional commitment to the truce were rushed in. The 2nd Welsh Fusiliers who had not fired a shot from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day were relieved without notice, an exceptional practice. Sometimes threats were necessary -- when German officers ordered a regiment in the XIX Saxon Corps to start firing and were met with replies of ``we can't -- they are good fellows'', the officers replied ``Fire, or we do -- and not at the enemy!''. To prevent further spontaneous truces after 1914, the British high command ordered slow, continuous artillery barrages, trench raids and mortar bombardments -- immensely costly of lives but effectively limiting the opportunities for fraternisation for the rest of the war. To discourage others, conspicuous disciplinary examples were made of individuals. For organising a cease-fire to bury the dead, which was followed by half an hour of fraternisation in ``no-man's land'' with no shooting for the rest of Christmas Day 1915, Captain Iain Colquhoun of the 1st Scots Guard was court-martialled. Merely reprimanded, the message was nevertheless clear for career-minded British officers. Tougher medicine was needed when French soldiers refused to return to the trenches at Aisne in May 1917 -- 3427 courts-martial and 554 death sentences with 53 executed by firing squad were necessary to crank-start the war on this sector of the French front. Repression from above won the day against the Christmas Truce of 1914 but it was the lack of soldiers' organisation from below that stifled the potential for turning the truce into a movement to stop the war. On the eastern front, on the other hand, fraternisation and peace were Bolshevik policy and in Germany, it was mutinies by organised sailors and home-based soldiers, which finally put paid to Germany's war effort. Weintraub has resurrected a beautiful moment in history, made all the more beautiful in the darkness of the carnage that was to follow when four more years of war took the lives of 6000 men a day. Far from a ``two-day wonder'', the Christmas truce ``evokes a stubborn humanity within us''. As folksinger John McCutcheon put it in his 1980s ballad Christmas in the Trenches, the war monster is a vulnerable beast when the common soldier realises that ``on each end of the rifle we're the same''.

Stanley Weintraub

The Fever

2005-01-07T01:16:59-08:00

This little play, Wallace Shawn's monologue of 112 pages, rocked me when I first encountered it at the Vancouver Fringe Festival sometime in the mid '90s. Perhaps I'll add some commentary later, but for now, try these links: A reading by the author, Wallace Shawn Analysis/Review Review: performance at the fritz theatre, san diego, CA, 19 April 99 which provides the most erudite observation of the meaning underlying this play: "Shawn's theater is not of didacticism, but of dialectic, of disturbing questions posited to provoke us rather than simple answers to soothe." Keep that in mind when reading the reviews by Library Journal and Publisher's Weekly on Amazon.com, which are in stark contrast to those by readers.

Wallace Shawn

In Flanders Fields and Other Poems

2004-11-11T16:11:12-08:00

In Flanders Fields In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. I have heard it referred to as an anti-war poem; it is not. Note the admonishment to "take up our quarrel with the foe," and the warning that failure to do so will make the death of fallen ones in vain. However, it is honest about war, and its affects. That, at least, is appropriate for this day and, in the case of a "just war" (if we can agree that such a thing exists), In Flanders Fields is noble as well.

John McCrae

In Flanders Field: The Story of the Poem

2004-11-11T16:03:52-08:00

An acclaimed introduction for young readers to the poem, World War II, and war generally.

Linda Granfield, Janet Wilson

Development as Freedom

2004-10-14T04:24:16-08:00

According to reviews I've read, be prepared to question your understanding of "freedom." Consider which freedom is the most valuable: to speak freely or to feed your family. For example, in dealing with enemies (say, Pol Pot, or Maoist China), we properly attribute to them deaths caused by starvation, disease, overwork, etc., insofar as these result from institutional structures and political choices. That's quite independent of intention. Thus in the Black Book of Communism, compiled to demonstrate the evil of our enemies and very highly praised in the West (here too), they estimate 100 million deaths from 1917 to the end of the century, the largest component being the famine in China in the late 1950s, maybe 25 million. No one claims that it was intended or planned. The most serious studies do regard it as criminal, attributing it to the sociopolitical system that prevented information from reaching the center in time to do anything -- studies by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, notably. The very same studies, in the same books, conclude that democratic capitalist India alone was responsible for 100 million deaths that were avoided in China from independence in 1947 to 1979, attributing the difference to sociopolitical structures. That half of the studies is ignored in the West. -- Noam Chomsky Chomsky further observes that if a Black Book of Capitalism were compiled, "the death toll would be colossal." And here's a review from Publisher's Weekly: When Sen, an Indian-born Cambridge economist, won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Economic Science, he was praised by the Nobel Committee for bringing an "ethical dimension" to a field recently dominated by technical specialists. Sen here argues that open dialogue, civil freedoms and political liberties are prerequisites for sustainable development. He tests his theory with examples ranging from the former Soviet bloc to Africa, but he puts special emphasis on China and India. How does one explain the recent gulf in economic progress between authoritarian yet fast-growing China and democratic, economically laggard India? For Sen, the answer is clear: India, with its massive neglect of public education, basic health care and literacy, was poorly prepared for a widely shared economic expansion; China, on the other hand, having made substantial advances in those areas, was able to capitalize on its market reforms. Yet Sen demolishes the notion that a specific set of "Asian values" exists that might provide a justification for authoritarian regimes. He observes that China's coercive system has contributed to massive famine and that Beijing's compulsory birth control policyAonly one child per familyAhas led to fatal neglect of female children. Though not always easy reading for the layperson, Sen's book is an admirable and persuasive effort to define development not in terms of GDP but in terms of "the real freedoms that people enjoy." Economic theory is something I need to understand more, particularly regarding the ethics which are typically implicit in the implementations of both governments and world bodies such as the WTO and agreements such as the GATT.

Amartya Sen

Voices of a People's History of the United States

2004-10-06T06:25:35-08:00

The long-awaited primary-source companion to A People's History of the United States. For this new book, Zinn and Arnove have selected testimonies -- speeches, letters, poems, songs, memoirs, protests -- from our rich history of resistance. Here, in their own words, are: Frederick Douglass, Bob Dylan, Fannie Lou Hamer, Cesar Chavez, George Jackson, Helen Keller, Public Enemy, Patti Smith, Tecumseh, Eugene Debs, Angela Davis, Rachel Corrie, Martin Luther King Jr., and hundreds of others.

howard zinn, anthony arnove

The Sorrows of Empire

2004-09-27T19:53:24-08:00

I saw Chalmers Johnson in the film Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear and the Selling of American Empire, in which he spoke compellingly concerning the processes by which American foreign policy has elevated American reach and power to global proportions. So, into my reading list goes this book. The following description from The American Empire Project site. In the years after the Soviet Union imploded, the United States was described first as the globe?s "lone superpower," then as a "reluctant sheriff," next as the "indispensable nation," and now, in the wake of 9/11, as a "New Rome." Here, Chalmers Johnson thoroughly explores the new militarism that is transforming America and compelling its people to pick up the burden of empire. Reminding us of the classic warnings against militarism--from George Washington?s farewell address to Dwight Eisenhower?s denunciation of the military-industrial complex--Johnson uncovers its roots deep in our past. Turning to the present, he maps America?s expanding empire of military bases and the vast web of services that supports them. He offers a vivid look at the new caste of professional warriors who have infiltrated multiple branches of government, who classify as "secret" everything they do, and for whom the manipulation of the military budget is of vital interest. Among Johnson?s provocative conclusions is that American militarism is putting an end to the age of globalization and bankrupting the United States, even as it creates the conditions for a new century of virulent blowback. The Sorrows of Empire suggests that the former American republic has already crossed its Rubicon--with the Pentagon leading the way. "Chalmers Johnson's relentless logic, authoritative scholarship, and elegantly biting prose distinguish The Sorrows of Empire, like all his other work. Anyone who reads it will have a much sharper sense of the costs of America's new world-girdling commitments--and I hope it is widely read." --James Fallows, Author of Breaking the News...Read reviews Chalmers Johnson, president of the Japan Policy Research Institute and professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego, is a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times and The Nation. His previous books include MITI and the Japanese Miracle. He lives in Southern California.

Chalmers Johnson

Al Qaeda

2004-06-30T10:22:02-08:00

An exchange in chomskychat, a premium service for ZNet Sustainers. At 09:00 AM 6/29/2004 -0400, you wrote: From: znetchomskychat Listmanager Sent: Monday, June 28, 2004 7:39 PM Subject: No Topic From: "Brandon Young" >1) The propaganda machine seems to have created a link >between al Qaeda and Sadamm (besides the CIA) even more so >now. Daily there are reports of "terrorists" and thier >plans to halt democracy. Just wondering besides the claims >that this resistance is al Qaeda, what evidence is there >for such a propaganda achievement? Reply from Noam Chomsky: The notion "al-Qaeda" is almost meaningless. If you're interested in something serious about it, read Jason Burke's book Al Qaeda. As he points out, it's a "network of networks," with many independent groups in loose or no communication with one another. However, it is clear enough that as anticipated, the Iraq invasion stimulating the growth of such networks, around the world, even turning Iraq itself into a terrorist center for the first time. All that aside, occupying forces commonly describe resistance as terrorism. The Nazis and the partisans, for example. However, all of this has no bearing whatsoever on the alleged link between al Qaeda and Saddam.

Jason Burke

Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East

2004-06-16T09:15:45-08:00

A recommendation gleaned from the chomskychat forum on ZNet.

Rashid Khalidi

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

2004-05-31T12:19:14-08:00

Adapted from the novel of the same name by Milan Kundera this film features Daniel Day Lewis, Juliet Binoche and Lena Olin, the two women in their breakout performances. This was not a simple adaptation by any means. Kundera's text uses breaks in the narrative to further illuminate both his characters and his themes, at one point discussing how and why the author made explicit choices in developing the central character of Tomas (Daniel Day Lewis' role in the film). Fortunately, the filmmakers chose to ignore this brave narrative reflexivity which works so well in the novel and concentrate instead on the characters, story and themes in more cinematic terms. Set initially in the Prague Spring, in the heady days of free speech and political possibility and closing after the crushing Soviety invasion, this is on the surface a lusty story of lust and love, politics and passion. However, as the title implies, what Kundera was really after was meaning, and the filmmakers were wise to follow his lead. Yes, we can excape an oppressive country, live free and accumulate both success and wealth, but if there is no personal meaning in such a carefree existence are we not, in fact, lost? If we sacrifice our sense of place, belonging, commitment and passion, what remains? The unbearable lightness of being. Kundera and the filmmakers conclude that being happy is dependent on the passion one has for life and for people, and on the acknowledgement of one's connnections to being, both culturally and socially. Without these an easy existence is an empty one.

Philip Kaufman

Anarcho-Syndicalism

2004-05-31T01:04:58-08:00

Recall that Parecon (Participatory Economics) represents one option to Capitalism now that Communism is dead. Anarcho-Syndicalism is a second option. The full text of this book is available online, here.

Rudolf Rocker