Pour One Out for John Pilger
January 3, 2024 10:41 AM Subscribe
John Pilger has died at age 84. One of the most strident critics of US and UK foreign policy, Australian journalist John Pilger has died of pulmonary fibrosis.
One of the greats. His book Heroes was a huge influence for me.
posted by night_train at 11:29 AM on January 3 [2 favorites]
posted by night_train at 11:29 AM on January 3 [2 favorites]
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posted by gentlyepigrams at 11:30 AM on January 3
posted by gentlyepigrams at 11:30 AM on January 3
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posted by runincircles at 12:06 PM on January 3
posted by runincircles at 12:06 PM on January 3
Our sympathies go out to his family and Bashar al-Assad.
posted by mittens at 12:08 PM on January 3 [6 favorites]
posted by mittens at 12:08 PM on January 3 [6 favorites]
A qualified . from me
When he was wrong he was very, very wrong.
When he was right, he put most other journalists - and most other people - in their lazy, lazy acceptance of prejudice, injustice, violence and genocide - to shame.
posted by lalochezia at 12:21 PM on January 3 [9 favorites]
When he was wrong he was very, very wrong.
When he was right, he put most other journalists - and most other people - in their lazy, lazy acceptance of prejudice, injustice, violence and genocide - to shame.
posted by lalochezia at 12:21 PM on January 3 [9 favorites]
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I think I was in maybe 8th or 9th grade when, for history class, I did a research paper on Cambodia -- I think I either picked the country at random, or it had been assigned to me, because I didn't know anything about it at the time. As part of my research, I watched his documentary Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia, and it blew my mind. I think that was the first time I was ever exposed to critiques of US imperialism or even the idea that the US could be "the bad guys." I still remember some of the horrific images and the outrage expressed in the film over the callous, illegal, evil bombing campaign of Nixon and Kissinger. It definitely changed me. Just glad he got to live long enough to see Kissinger dead.
posted by Saxon Kane at 12:34 PM on January 3 [6 favorites]
I think I was in maybe 8th or 9th grade when, for history class, I did a research paper on Cambodia -- I think I either picked the country at random, or it had been assigned to me, because I didn't know anything about it at the time. As part of my research, I watched his documentary Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia, and it blew my mind. I think that was the first time I was ever exposed to critiques of US imperialism or even the idea that the US could be "the bad guys." I still remember some of the horrific images and the outrage expressed in the film over the callous, illegal, evil bombing campaign of Nixon and Kissinger. It definitely changed me. Just glad he got to live long enough to see Kissinger dead.
posted by Saxon Kane at 12:34 PM on January 3 [6 favorites]
>When he was wrong he was very, very wrong.
@lalochezia, can you provide an illustrative example?
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 1:03 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
@lalochezia, can you provide an illustrative example?
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 1:03 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
From Wikipedia:
In a February 2016 webchat on the website of The Guardian newspaper, Pilger said "Trump is speaking straight to ordinary Americans". Although his opinions about immigration were "gross", Pilger wrote that they are "no more gross in essence than, say, David Cameron's – he is not planning to invade anywhere, he doesn't hate the Russians or the Chinese, he is not beholden to Israel. People like this lack of cant, and when the so-called liberal media deride him, they like him even more".[95] In March 2016, Pilger commented in a speech delivered at the University of Sydney during the 2016 United States presidential election, that Donald Trump was a less dangerous potential President of the United States than Hillary Clinton.[96]
[...]
In August 2017, in an article published on his website, Pilger wrote that a "coup against the man in the White House is under way. This is not because he is an odious human being, but because he has consistently made clear he does not want war with Russia. This glimpse of sanity, or simple pragmatism, is anathema to the 'national security' managers who guard a system based on war, surveillance, armaments, threats and extreme capitalism". According to Pilger, The Guardian had published "drivel" in covering the claims "that the Russians conspired with Trump". Such assertions, he wrote, are "reminiscent of the far-right smearing of John Kennedy as a 'Soviet agent'".[98]
In an article in The Guardian, John Pilger wrote in May 2014 that Vladimir Putin “is the only leader to condemn the rise of fascism in 21st-century Europe”.[100]
[...]
Pilger quoted in the article a Jewish doctor who had tried to rescue people from the burning trade union building during the 2014 Odesa clashes, and was stopped by Ukrainian Nazis with the threat that this fate would soon befall him and other Jews and that what happened yesterday would not have happened even during the fascist occupation in World War II. This claim was factually false, as several tens of thousands of Jews were murdered in three days in October 1941. It turned out that the man's quote came from a Facebook page that had been identified as a fake before the article was published.[102][103]
posted by Saxon Kane at 1:41 PM on January 3 [8 favorites]
In a February 2016 webchat on the website of The Guardian newspaper, Pilger said "Trump is speaking straight to ordinary Americans". Although his opinions about immigration were "gross", Pilger wrote that they are "no more gross in essence than, say, David Cameron's – he is not planning to invade anywhere, he doesn't hate the Russians or the Chinese, he is not beholden to Israel. People like this lack of cant, and when the so-called liberal media deride him, they like him even more".[95] In March 2016, Pilger commented in a speech delivered at the University of Sydney during the 2016 United States presidential election, that Donald Trump was a less dangerous potential President of the United States than Hillary Clinton.[96]
[...]
In August 2017, in an article published on his website, Pilger wrote that a "coup against the man in the White House is under way. This is not because he is an odious human being, but because he has consistently made clear he does not want war with Russia. This glimpse of sanity, or simple pragmatism, is anathema to the 'national security' managers who guard a system based on war, surveillance, armaments, threats and extreme capitalism". According to Pilger, The Guardian had published "drivel" in covering the claims "that the Russians conspired with Trump". Such assertions, he wrote, are "reminiscent of the far-right smearing of John Kennedy as a 'Soviet agent'".[98]
In an article in The Guardian, John Pilger wrote in May 2014 that Vladimir Putin “is the only leader to condemn the rise of fascism in 21st-century Europe”.[100]
[...]
Pilger quoted in the article a Jewish doctor who had tried to rescue people from the burning trade union building during the 2014 Odesa clashes, and was stopped by Ukrainian Nazis with the threat that this fate would soon befall him and other Jews and that what happened yesterday would not have happened even during the fascist occupation in World War II. This claim was factually false, as several tens of thousands of Jews were murdered in three days in October 1941. It turned out that the man's quote came from a Facebook page that had been identified as a fake before the article was published.[102][103]
posted by Saxon Kane at 1:41 PM on January 3 [8 favorites]
Sympathy for his family, of course, but hard pass on eulogizing him as a great thinker or revealer of truths.
posted by senor biggles at 2:18 PM on January 3 [3 favorites]
posted by senor biggles at 2:18 PM on January 3 [3 favorites]
Peter Jukes says it for me
John Pilger was a journalist and out of respect, one has to be honest. He did wonderful work from the 60s to the early 90s, but like many on the New Left, he was completely befuddled by post-communist fascists like Milosevic. From that flowed the errors around Assad and Putin.
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posted by adamvasco at 2:32 PM on January 3 [11 favorites]
John Pilger was a journalist and out of respect, one has to be honest. He did wonderful work from the 60s to the early 90s, but like many on the New Left, he was completely befuddled by post-communist fascists like Milosevic. From that flowed the errors around Assad and Putin.
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posted by adamvasco at 2:32 PM on January 3 [11 favorites]
Sad. He definitely helped open my eyes but I suspect seeing close up the results of US and UK atrocities polarized him completely.
He should however be praised for his solid stance and support on behalf of his fellow Australian Julian Assange.
posted by adamvasco at 2:44 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
He should however be praised for his solid stance and support on behalf of his fellow Australian Julian Assange.
posted by adamvasco at 2:44 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/face-to-face-with-kim-hill-john-pilger-2003
this interview with john by just-retired Kiwi legend Kim Hill neatly sets out the best and worst of him.
shantih.
posted by Sebmojo at 2:44 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
this interview with john by just-retired Kiwi legend Kim Hill neatly sets out the best and worst of him.
shantih.
posted by Sebmojo at 2:44 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
I met with him several times at various conferences in Asia and Australia. It was nerve wracking. I think he did important work at times, [I taught his documentaries to 17 year olds for a while because I had to, stacked as they were with hyperbole and obvious filmic techniques, and they developed ideas that I happened to agree with] but he was also a notorious brat.
Time after time he brushed off robust examination of his works by his peers or an academic community, in a petulant and at times egregious manner. His disdain for critique was always evident, and amongst any kind of plenary, all panel participants braced themselves for the inevitable ‘Pilgering’ [I think the highly ready-for-this-shit Tony Jones coined that term] when he would literally turn his back on his literary or film-making or academic peers. It was astounding to watch, and embarrassing. His work was sometimes shoddy, [eg with Assange] and when given the opportunity to defend it he fell short by chucking a tanty. [Bali Writers’ Fest in 2012 Keynote was a giant embarrassment, case in point.]
I am sad for his family and for the loss to the Australian community of letters - he did have an important set of things to say at some points and he did it with a lot of cojones
posted by honey-barbara at 4:58 PM on January 3 [8 favorites]
Time after time he brushed off robust examination of his works by his peers or an academic community, in a petulant and at times egregious manner. His disdain for critique was always evident, and amongst any kind of plenary, all panel participants braced themselves for the inevitable ‘Pilgering’ [I think the highly ready-for-this-shit Tony Jones coined that term] when he would literally turn his back on his literary or film-making or academic peers. It was astounding to watch, and embarrassing. His work was sometimes shoddy, [eg with Assange] and when given the opportunity to defend it he fell short by chucking a tanty. [Bali Writers’ Fest in 2012 Keynote was a giant embarrassment, case in point.]
I am sad for his family and for the loss to the Australian community of letters - he did have an important set of things to say at some points and he did it with a lot of cojones
posted by honey-barbara at 4:58 PM on January 3 [8 favorites]
"Old Leftist unable to grasp that nobody else cares about Cold War shibboleths," eh?
It's sad about those guys. Corbyn was another.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 9:29 AM on January 4 [1 favorite]
It's sad about those guys. Corbyn was another.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 9:29 AM on January 4 [1 favorite]
For his entire career he was a consistently strident critic of US and UK foreign policy, despite reality not actually being a Manichean struggle of good against evil with the USA as The Devil. He made the right call on Cambodia because he supported Communist Vietnam against the even worse Khmer Rouge. Oliver Kamm (who I guess could be described as a strident fan of US foreign policy) wrote an interesting obituary/denunciation.
posted by Slogby at 3:11 PM on January 4 [3 favorites]
posted by Slogby at 3:11 PM on January 4 [3 favorites]
Wow, Slogby, that “obituary” was a great read, even if Kramm’s US stridency was indeed obviously present and uh, strident. There were some real pearlers about Pilger’s reactivity and boorishness when asked to provide substantiation, or to tease out the nuances of his topics of focus. Kramm was dead right about Pilger only being in the public for the plaudits, not the parsing of his work. I remember the furious letters he would write whenever anyone critiqued his work. I think he even turned his back on Russell Skelton during a conversation about Timor Leste because he was asked some basic questions that Kramm touches on in his piece.
“… Pilger was not really an investigative journalist at all, for he never did investigations. As a reporter who once worked closely with him explained it to me, Pilger was a polemicist who went out looking for what he wanted to find.”
posted by honey-barbara at 8:31 AM on January 5 [1 favorite]
“… Pilger was not really an investigative journalist at all, for he never did investigations. As a reporter who once worked closely with him explained it to me, Pilger was a polemicist who went out looking for what he wanted to find.”
posted by honey-barbara at 8:31 AM on January 5 [1 favorite]
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