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February 24, 2011 Tomgram: Engelhardt, Washington's Echo Chamber
[Note for TomDispatch Readers: In the first days of February, I traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to appear with Jeremy Scahill, Nation magazine
blogger and author of the groundbreaking book
Blackwater, in one of a
Lannan Foundation-sponsored series of readings and conversations. This was, in part, to celebrate the publication of my new book,
The American Way of War: How Bush’s Wars Became Obama’s (Haymarket
Books). Following the form of the Lannan series, I first read from my
work for 45 minutes and then had a 30-minute on-stage conversation with
Scahill. That conversation is embedded below, and since the Middle East
was already ablaze, I think you’ll still find it quite relevant. If
you want to see Scahill’s introduction and my reading, you can catch
them by
clicking here. By
the way, anyone still interested in getting a personalized, signed copy
of my book in return for a deeply appreciated $75 donation to this site
should visit the
TomDispatch donation page. Tom]
All-American Decline in a New Worldars, Vampires, Burned Children, and Indelicate Imbalances By Tom Engelhardt
This is a global moment unlike any in memory, perhaps in history. Yes,
comparisons can be
made to
the wave of people power that swept Eastern Europe as the Soviet Union
collapsed in 1989-91. For those with longer memories, perhaps
1968 might
come to mind, that abortive moment when, in the United States, France,
Germany, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, and elsewhere, including Eastern Europe,
masses of people mysteriously inspired by each other took to the
streets of global cities to proclaim that change was on the way.
For those searching the history books, perhaps you’ve focused on the year 1848 when, in a time that also mixed economic gloom with novel means of disseminating the news, the winds of freedom seemed briefly to sweep across Europe. And, of course, if enough regimes fall and the turmoil goes deep enough, there’s always 1776, the American Revolution, or 1789, the French one, to consider. Both shook up the world for decades after. But here’s the truth of it: you have to strain to fit this Middle Eastern moment into any previous paradigm, even as -- from Wisconsin to China -- it already threatens to break out of the Arab world and spread like a fever across the planet. Never in memory have so many unjust or simply despicable rulers felt quite so nervous -- or possibly quite so helpless (despite being armed to the teeth) -- in the presence of unarmed humanity. And there has to be joy and hope in that alone. Click here to read more of this dispatch. |
