Cultural Capital

Reflections on books and the arts from the New Statesman culture desk

John Pilger's books of the year

Find out which books make up the NS columnist's "moral and intellectual survival kit".

By Daniel Trilling Published 25 November 2010 16:18

We've asked friends and contributors of the New Statesman to tell us their favourite books of 2010. You can read the full list here, but we'll also be publishing selected entries on Cultural Capital over the next few days. To begin with, here is John Pilger's pick:

In another year distinguished by the silence of fiction writers about rapacious wars and a society at home assaulted by extremists in power in Westminster - a silence exemplified by the Man Booker Prize short-list and its compromise winner - three books are a blessed relief. The first is Secret Affairs: Britain's Collusion with Radical Islam by the historian Mark Curtis (Serpent's Tail). Excavating long forgotten official files, Curtis illuminates the darkest corners of Britain's critical role in the rise of islamicism as a means of blocking Arab nationalism and guarding western "interests". He explains much about the current colonial adventures. In Newspeak in the 21st Century (Pluto) by David Edwards and David Cromwell, the editors of the website Medialens.org brilliantly decode the propaganda that so often passes for news and give us with an A to Z of how corporate journalism demonises "our" enemies, from Venezuela to Iran. My other choice for finding out how power works is Noam Chomsky's latest bonfire of the illusions and falsehoods that masquerade as public policy. This is Hope and Prospects (Haymarket Books). All three books provide a moral and intellectual survival kit in these extraordinary times.

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Tags: Books of the Year 2010 Books

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20 comments

Fri, 2010-11-26 00:07 — erddlin

====== http://www.tinyurl.com/23wkoeq ====

Fri, 2010-11-26 02:33 — do jams (not verified)

Looks like NS has a resident troll, Sam is deficating on every article, and now i look a few trolls are present.

Newspeak in the 21st Century is on my list anyway, i shall look into the others

Fri, 2010-11-26 03:27 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

do jams: You can usually spot the troll because he/she can't spell, use capital letters properly and frequently is unable to produce grammatically correct sentences.

e.g. i, deficating, 'and now i look a few trolls present'

Are you sure you are up to reading?

Thu, 2010-11-25 17:01 — Sam Dale (not verified)

You are such a bore John. So angry, bitter and negative. I enjoyed the Finkler Question and the Booker list. Why does everything have to be about the big bad West? Can you enjoy nothing unless it supports your point of view? Such a chore, such a bore.

Thu, 2010-11-25 17:20 — Tim Horan (not verified)

Good job, John. Love that "angry, bitter and negative" stuff; i.e., real-world writing.

Thu, 2010-11-25 17:59 — RJD

Thank god for J Pilger, Britain's own Noam Chomsky. If it wasn't for Pilger and Chomsky I'd still be a snotty nosed brat sucking hard on my Finkler Question pacifier.

Thu, 2010-11-25 18:07 — Hans Castorp (not verified)

So, no books on anything actually happening now then. Or anything beyond the usual po-faced thundering hymn of doom.

The first book being more fodder for Pilger's cringing post-imperial guilt and ammunition for more foolish assertions that, because "we" helped institute these people, they are all "our" fault, so "we" should not try to do anything about them.

The second is a sordid work of hackery from an organisation with a consistent record of islamist apologetics and who dogwhistle to the Lauren Booths of this world and the scumbags for whom they apologise by replacing "Jew" with "Zionist".

The third is at least a recognition of the man from whose diminishing shadow Pilger periodically snipes, though the title misleads the reader into thinking the book is something other than a litany of woes about the Great Satan. How tiresomely inevitable Pilger recommends the latest Chomsky. A sufficiently broad insight into a man of narrow reading and opinion.

This triptych of stale, biased, boring work does little to dispel my impression of Pilger as a self-righteous, myopic, error-prone, effete, anachronistic hack whose best days - such as they were - are very far behind him.

This Thanksgiving, it's time for the NS to spare pardoning this cantankerous old turkey, and dish him up to the Morning Star, anti-Israeli giblets and all.

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Fri, 2010-11-26 04:59 — wuyu40

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Fri, 2010-11-26 05:13 — do jams (not verified)

1:30 in the morning do you think i care about spelling!

Teh good thing abuot teh english language is anyone with an IQ above 10 can work out teh meaning even with a few spelling or gramatical mistakes

nice try though!

Fri, 2010-11-26 05:17 — do jams (not verified)

And so the troll exposes themselves Mr. Divine. Note: Discard all future comments by Mr. Divine et al

Fri, 2010-11-26 07:05 — Dan (not verified)

@RJD: agree with you 100 %, except Pilger is an Aussie

Fri, 2010-11-26 07:06 — Mike Lidgley (not verified)

If Pilger is angry, good on him! We all should be, given the mountain of hypocrisy and injustice allowed to carry on, due to the apathy and ignorance all around us. Uncovering, explaining, revealing is not negative - far from it. What is depressing is that some people criticize him for his strengths. Greatly positive and important work. More power to your elbow, John!

Thu, 2010-11-25 20:55 — Mangrove Pierce (not verified)

Boring ,myopic effete, error prone,self righteous. Enough about you Hans, anybody else want to contribute to this debate on John Pilger`s reading list.I must appologise though to everybody else.After this diatribe of mine , Hans will now spend the rest of the comments page getting ohh so serious and ohh so intellectual ,while the rest of us giggle and laugh out loud at his uptight, rather sad sense of his own importance.No wonder he doesent like John Pilger he might well at times embody all these faults but at least he actually means something.

Fri, 2010-11-26 16:56 — xixidada87

Best regards for you all,

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Thu, 2010-11-25 21:19 — Attrition47

To Hans (knees and boomps-a-daisy), when you've finished bleating why don't you get to the facts of the case?

Mon, 2010-11-29 17:48 — stevem1

When I see a personal attack I know the writer has lost the argument.So many rightwing posters do this and the above examples are no differant.

Fri, 2010-11-26 10:41 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

do jams: I usually hang out on the Laurie Penny blog. A thicko troll like yourself is welcome to try me on.

You are indeed right: a person with a high IQ can usually work out that another person is a thicko because of his/her pathetic English and left-wing airhead Pilger views.

Laurie Penny ... if you dare!

Thu, 2010-11-25 22:26 — Mr. Divine (not verified)

@Hans: Great comment and beautifully written.

John Pilger, " A cantankerous old turkey'

To me, John Pilger is an enemy of the left. And anyone who supports his lies are also enemies of the left.

Mon, 2010-11-29 23:27 — John Trouble (not verified)

Anyone who has read and understood the work of the three authors of the recommended books would notice that Hans Castorp has clearly not read or understood the work of the three authors. What an incredible idiot.