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« July 2004 | Main | September 2004 » 29 August 'A civilian riding on an ox-cart, just south of Quan Loi Base Camp, was intentionally struck by an American aircraft which came in out of the sky, hit him in the head, and traveled on. The man was killed; the aircraft was never identified ... On one occasion, a North Vietnamese Army nurse was killed by 11th Armored Cavalry troops; subsequently a grease gun of the type used in automotive work was placed in her vagina and she was packed full of grease. On several occasions, enemy graves were violated, their skulls taken out of the graves and used as candle-holders and conversation pieces.' 'We were in a sweep in a rice paddy and the flank man spotted somebody and told him to halt and started running and I fired an M79 over the trees. It went off and the man went down and our Lt. told us to go over there and check and see if he had an ID and find out if he was dead or what was happening with him. We went over there and he was still alive. He was about 70 years old. I believe he was some sort of religious, like a monk or something like that, from his dress. He had an ID card and he was in pretty bad shape so they didn't want to call in a Medivac chopper so they told us to kill him. And the person who did the killing fired about six rounds in him and I had to tell him to stop.' 'I saw one case where a woman was shot by a sniper, one of our snipers. When we got up to her she was asking for water. And the Lt. said to kill her. So he ripped off her clothes, they stabbed her in both breasts, they spread-eagled her and shoved an E- tool up her vagina, an entrenching tool, and she was still asking for water. And then they took that out and they used a tree limb and then she was shot.' These are three snippets from the testimonies of Vietnam veterans who, horrified by what they had seen, and in some cases done, came back to the United States in the late 1960s determined to tell their countryfolk about the realities of their 'noble war' for the liberation of Vietnam. They formed a group called Vietnam Veterans Against the War and you can read more of their testimonies here. A lot of them are horribly disturbing. John Kerry was the leader of this group. His own testimony, probably better-known by hearsay than in detail, can be read here. Contrast all this with the claims of the Bush-supported smear group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that 'our consistent policy was to take every precaution to avoid harming civilians.' It's hard to be inspired by Kerry these days. But having read this I find it hard, too, not to respect the man - or at least the man he was - and to reject the oft-parroted unthinking stuff about him being 'no different' to Bush. To do what the Vietnam Veterans Against the War did back then, in a climate at least as paranoid and 'patriotic' as today's, if not more so, was brave. It's a shame Kerry is too electorally expedient to come out against the Iraq war today - and let's hope some veterans of this one tell the truth about what they did at some stage soon as well. But can you imagine Bush doing what Kerry did back then? Can you imagine him even having the moral imagination to consider it? If nothing else, Kerry appears a bigger man, morally, than Bush. He has also experienced the horrors of war, and it would be nice to think this would make him less keen to inflict it on others than the chickenhawk neo-cons currently occupying the White House. Somewhere in there, John Kerry must have a genuine moral core. That, if nothing else, would make him a departure from what we have at the moment. Posted by paul at 06:00 PM | Comments (0) 28 August In 1936, as the Spanish Civil War was raging, George Orwell was sent a letter inviting him to contribute to a forthcoming book called Authors Take Sides On The Spanish War. His reply is is a lesson to us all in how writers should turn down commisions we don't want. "Will you please stop sending me this bloody rubbish", he wrote back. "This is the second or third time I have had it. I am not one of your fashionable pansies like Auden and Spender, I was six months in Spain, most of the time fighting, I have a bullet-hole in me at present and I am not going to write blah about defending democracy or gallant little anybody." I thought about this stroke of genius today while I was reading a piece by Ian Jack in the Guardian. He was musing on the writers' self-important tendency to imagine that what they jot down actually makes any difference to the outcomes of wars, famines etc. He also noted how easy it is to 'take sides' on something that doesn't require you to do anything yourself. Perhaps, he suggested, instead of mouthing off about war, writers should try 'taking sides' on giant issues of the day that they can actually help to affect. Like climate change, for example. It's easy to see why they don't though. "Which writers", he asks, "would stand up and be counted on global warming if the symposium were entitled 'Authors take sides on their volvo, their second home, their EasyJet flights to Tuscany and their weekly drive to Waitrose?'" Which seems a very good question. Posted by paul at 05:59 PM | Comments (0) 26 August This morning I've been making green tomato chutney. This is both a means of using up my massive over-supply of allotment tomatoes and a displacement activity which gives me yet another excuse not to crack on with the book proposal I'm supposed to be writing. Sigh. I'm currently waiting for it to cool down so I can stick it in jars (the chutney, not the book proposal). I wonder what would happen if I waited too long? Possibly it would ferment and turn alcoholic, which might be an extremely good result indeed. Incidentally, the word for this process is apparently 'zymurgy.' Those of us who work with words appreciate this kind of discovery perhaps more than we should. While I wait, here are two interesting things. Firstly, I have discovered the source of all those curious stickers which have appeared on lamp-posts and traffic lights around my town recently. Anyone else come across these? They say 'OBEY', and they originate here. Culture jamming is alive and well. The other thing is that those of you with tellies might want to join me in watching the 'controversial' Channel Four documentary Edge of the City, at nine tonight. Looks like it could be interesting. We shall see. Posted by paul at 09:58 AM | Comments (0) 25 August I've been meaning to write about the Lobster Liberation Front for ages. I'm sure you read about them in the papers last month. I was planning to get all cross about how these dorks could possibly think it was good idea to sabotage about the only sustainable type of fishing still practised in Europe, trashing the livelihoods of ordinary people while they're at it. Then I was going to throw in some observations about how all the animal rights activists I've ever met are at least one sardine short of a full tin, and that's even on the sliding scale of activist nutiness, which is far to leftfield of even your average loony, as anyone who has met me can testify. But life is too short. And besides, I've just come across what appears to be the original Lobster Liberation Front website (naturally, it originates from California) and it's actually quite funny. Especially the bit about the liberation of Reginald. I wonder whether our West Country cell has been the unwitting victim of an elaborate hoax? It's a well-known fact that all animal rights activists have their sense of humour surgically removed at birth. Glad I haven't got a comment facility on my blog just yet... Posted by paul at 01:55 PM | Comments (0) 24 August In 1996 I wrote a paper for an NGO I was working for about conflict-prevention in Rwanda and Burundi. A bit bloody late you might think, and you'd be right, as the slaughter there was over by the end of 1994. But the point was to ask - as many have been asking since - why it happened and how such a thing could be prevented in the future. Now we have Darfur, in which the situation appears to be very similar: government-sponsored ethnic cleansing, in this case an attempt by extremist Sudanese Arabs to rid their land of black Africans (and then to take that land, and its livestock, for themselves). Mass rape, the murder of children, numbing widespread brutality. As before, we are doing nothing. It would be easy at this point to make a cheap and dark comparison with Iraq, and it wouldn't be unjustified. 'Intervention' in Iraq was a good old-fashioned war for resources and strategic contol of the middle east, poorly disguised as a 'moral' intervention to uphold international law. In Darfur, meanwhile, mass slaughter is going on this very minute, and if ever there were a case for genuine intervention, it's here. We need to tread craefully around this subject, but we need to make sure, too, that 'debates' don't disguise the need for urgent action. It's obvious, in my view, that there is sometimes a case for international intervention into sovereign territories. In the late 1970s, Pol Pot's Cambodia was such a case; it was invaded by Vietnam and its regime toppled for just this reason (the US government, by the way, condemned the invasion). It couold be said that Iraq was such a case in the 1980s (though not in 2003.) Rwanda certainly was in 1994. Darfur is now. What to do? In the long-term, I can't see any alternative to an armed, international peacekeeping force under UN control, able to swoop on places like Darfur when the genuine 'International Community' (not simply the US and UK) decides it is necessary. This is surely the best option, but it's also beset with problems: how could it possibly work without a democratised UN (at the moment, one major nation's veto is enough to stall any such mission, while people continue to die)? How could the UN be democratised without US backing? How would an international army - which would effectively be what we're talking about here - be democratic? What would the criteria for intervention be? These are the questions that need to be answered. But none of them will help the people of Darfur; solutions there need to be instant. Personally I would be more than happy if, instead of sending Jack Straw to Sudan, we sent a few army divisions we'd pulled out of Iraq , with orders to disarm the Janjaweed by any means necessary and protect the innocent civilians they are currently massacring in their beds with the help of the Sudanese army. That would be a genuinely just military intervention and I, for one, would be out on the streets supporting it. Posted by paul at 05:55 PM | Comments (0) 23 August I'm thinking of refitting this blog so that people can comment on it. A couple of readers (yes, it seems that I do have a couple of readers) have suggested this, so I've put my webmaster (my brother) on the case. I like the idea of online arguing, though it does use up a lot of precious time that could otherwise be used for actual real-life arguing instead. On an entirely unrelated matter, does anyone know who that girl is on the cover of Belle and Sebastian's latest album Dear Catastrophe Waitress? It's just that I think I'm in love with her. She must have an email address. Anybody? Posted by paul at 05:50 PM | Comments (0) 19 August Two entertaining things I can recommend for your delectation today. The first is an article from the far-right Heritage Foundation in the US, which is fuming at Hugo Chavez's victory in the Venezuelan referendum the other day. The Heritage Foundation, like all American right-wingers, loves democracy, just as long as it returns fellow right-wingers to power. When it doesn't, it's said to be 'failing' and becomes a 'problem' that needs to be 'solved.' This is a great example of how the extreme right thinks. If 'thinks' is the right word. A lot more fun than that, though, is this musical number, a version of Woody Guthrie's 'This Land Is Our Land,' as performed by George Bush and John Kerry. It made me laugh out loud, several times. Posted by paul at 10:59 AM | Comments (0) 18 August I'm back in town. I spent last weekend at Tinker's Bubble, the ground-breaking low impact settlement down in Somerset. I've never been there before, and it's beautiful and inspiring. Spent the weekend picking apples, clearing ground and collecting wood, and came back with a ton of apples, some herbal teas, a mass of gorgeous unpastuerised cheese and my life slowed down to something nearing a reasonable speed. Everyone works damned hard at the Bubble - twelve hour days of serious physical labour is about the only way you can make a subsistence lifestyle work. Even so, the work seems more grounded and more real than sitting at this desk thinking and banging on. Whenever I go to places like that I entertain semi-serious notions about throwing all this in and joining them. When I was a student I went through a phase of idly thinking about becoming a traveller (many nights in road protest camps fuelled the fantasy). When I spent time in Scoraig, another remote community in Scotland, writing my novel, I almost didn't come back. Now Tinker's Bubble brings the thoughts back up. Something always keeps me here though, and if I'm honest I know what that thing is: ambition. That dreadful, middle-class virtue that's drummed into us all in childhood. There are still things I want to 'achieve.' I still want to be noticed. I wonder if that feeling ever leaves, or whether ambition is something we take to the grave? I hope not. I would be nice to have a few years off at least. Reluctantly, then, it's back to the cyber-world, where I've come across a few recent items that are worth a peek. Firstly, a couple of barneys involving the 'philosopher' Julian Baggini. He's sometimes quite interesting, but he wrote some utter drivel in yesterday's Guardian which I'm almost loath to point you towards. Suffice it to say that our Julian hasn't been keeping up with the last thirty years ecological thinking. I suggest he sticks to the leather armchairs in future. Baggini is also involved in a very interesting debate with Nick Cohen on the openDemocracy site, about whether or not to introduce a law banning 'religious hatred.' Cohen, who is against such a law (as am I) gets the upper hand, in my view. See what you think. Intolerance, by the way, is not limited to religion. Have a look at this story about the over-enthusiastic campaigners who are trying to ban a TV programme before they've even seen it. This sort of thing used to be the preserve of Mary Whitehouse and Co - now the other side has got in on the act. The implications of this seem similar to those of a law banning religious hatred - where is the line to be drawn, and who does the defining? If, in this case, a piece of serious journalism cannot be aired, apparently telling an uncomfortable but important truth (and most important truths are uncomfortable) in case it 'incites' prejudice, what are the implications? Think about it. They aren't nice. This is all getting very serious, so I'll sign off by pointing you towards my website of the week, featuring all the news and updates you could ever want on the life of President Bush's dog, Barney. Bookmark this one: it's a winner. Posted by paul at 01:54 PM | Comments (0) 12 August If you're curious, as I am, to discover just who is profiting from the occupation of Iraq and how, I've come across a website which is a good place to find out. CorpWatch, the San-Francisco based NGO, has set up a 'war profiteers' page, which exposes some of the shady deals going on in Mesopotamia. Take a look here. My favourite is the tale of the North Carolina company which has been given $167 million of taxpayers' money by the US government to 'teach Iraqis about democracy.' So far this appears to have been a less than successful investment. Rumours that Katharine Harris and Jeb Bush were flown in especially to explain the use of 'hanging chads' to both Sunnis and Shiites have yet to be confirmed. Posted by paul at 03:53 PM | Comments (0) 11 August Two interesting pieces of reading to recommend today. Firstly, a fascinating blog, written by a family living in Baghdad, which gives a revealing view of life there under American occupation. This is a genuinely interesting read - there are separate blogs on the site, written by the mother and two children of the family (the father apparently 'is not interested'). A complement to, or maybe a replacement for, the acres of guff written by newspaper columnists every day from their cosy hotel inside the Green Zone. Secondly, a book I'm reading at the moment: The Likes of Us: A biography of the white working class, by Michael Collins. I'm not finished with this yet, but I can heartily recommend what I've read so far. Collins argues that sneering at the white working class is the last acceptable prejudice amongst the liberal intelligencia. The sort of people who would ring the police if anyone told a Paki joke at their dinner party are happy to put the boot into the Chavs instead. Maybe we all need someone to marginalise. Or maybe not. Either way, this is a good read, which tackles head-on some serious issues that aren't discussed enough in mainstream society (or in the media, anyway, which is not the same thing.) Posted by paul at 01:48 PM | Comments (0) 10 August My blogging rate is really dropping. There are many and varied excuses: working in London, the hideous heat, the fact that I've recently started work on a proposal for my next non-fiction book (watch this space) and I'm very excited about it. Today's excuse is that I'm still recovering from Sunday, when I spent nine hours in a kayak with a fishing rod, trying to catch my dinner. I was canoeing arround the Thames and its various hidden tributaries with my friends George Monbiot and Mark Lynas - a literary lunch set if ever there was one, except that in this case we had to catch the lunch. I ended up with a pretty substantial pike and George caught a perch. Surprising how good they taste fried. Don't bother to write to me about animal rights, by the way. I stopped being a vegetarian a few years ago in West Papua, when my adopted tribe insisted that I shot and ate a pig in honour of my visit. There's really no going back to tofu after that. Anyway, this has crippled my weak and feeble legs and back, and they're only just recovering. It's worth it though, just to be on the Thames and its tiny, hidden tributaries, in high summer. It's such a wonderful river, and often overlooked, precisely because it is so well-known. I saw kingfishers, sparrowhawks, herons and any number of weird and wonderful plants and insects that you'd never see from the banks. The history, mythology and potential of the Thames fascinates me, and always has. So much so that it's the basis of my new novel, The Wind Smith, which will be in all good bookshops just as soon as my agent comes back from sunning himself on some Pacific beach and finds me a publisher. The upshot of all this is that I've had no time for blogging. Life's too short. To make up for this, here are a few titbits I've spotted over the last few days: First, some depressing news from Indonesia, where the generals responsible for the 1999 slaughter in East Timor have recently been pardoned. Impunity is alive and well in this militaristic nation, where the army is still very much in control of the political process. Watch out for next month's presidential elections, in which two of the three leading candidates are former generals with blood on their hands. Second, the equally depressing news that Ralph Nader has been accepting money from Republican supporters to promote his election campaign in the US. I heard about this some weeks ago but didn't want to believe it. It seems true though. Bush's boys are funding Ralph in the hope that he'll split the anti-Bush vote and let them back in. Nader is a heroic figure in many ways, but he's really going to fuck this one up big time if he doesn't stop. Now. Lastly, to make up for these two miserable pieces of news, a cheerier item. God is on the side of bankers, stockbrokers, fund managers and business people in general. He wants them to succeed. He wants sound economic management. It is written. Here. More tomorrow. In theory. Posted by paul at 12:44 PM | Comments (0) 4 August You wake up. You drag yourself out of bed. You make yourself some coffee. You pour milk on your weetabix. You open the newspaper. You get CROSS. Quite a lot of days begin like this for me, and this one is no exception. My two reasons to be cross this morning are: One: the Liberal Democrats become the Neoliberal Democrats. Well, OK, this hasn't quite happened yet, but the neoliberal wing of the party has come out with a book proposing a 'policy shift' for the future. It's depressingly stupid, unimaginative and twenty years out of date. I'm no great fan of the Lib Dems, but they are the only major party prepared to occasionally suggest that the market is not a religion. No longer, it seems. The party's 'young Turks' (read: young tossers') say their new proposals represent them 'growing up as a party.' This newfound maturity involves embracing 'choice', promoting the market as a way to solve environmental problems (Jesus, I'd thought we'd nailed this shite years ago) and 'reining back the regulatory state.' Like Tony Blair, the New Liberals use the word 'radical' to describe what are actually deeply reactionary, Thatcherite approaches. I'm very depressed! Not about the future of the Lib Dems particularly, but just about the nature of political discourse in this country - and around the world. Our two main parties are both neoliberal. Both worship the twin 21st century gods of 'choice' and 'the market', their only real squabble being over who will administer our Consumer Society more efficiently. Now our third party has decided, bizarrely, that the way to make itself 'distinctive' is, er, to do the same thing! Democracy is dead. Send no flowers. Two: Harold Pinter, the world's least talented poet since William McGonagall, is to be awarded the Wilfred Owen Prize, for his recent collection of anti-Iraq war poetry - doggerel so bad it makes you want to go and bomb Baghdad. Wilfred Owen! The man would be turning in his grave. Here is one of Harold's finest: Democracy There's no escape. Democracy and poetry in one short morning. I think I need to go for a long, long walk. Posted by paul at 01:41 PM | Comments (0) |