War With No End (Paperback)

by John Berger (Author), Naomi Klein (Author), Hanif Kureishi (Author), China Mieville (Author), Arundhati Roy (Author), Ahdaf Soueif (Author), Joe Sacco (Author), Haifa Zangana (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
John Berger, Naomi Klein, Arundhati Roy, Joe Sacco and others examine the consequences of the "War on Terror."

On October 7th 2001, US-led forces invaded Afghanistan, marking the start of George Bush and Tony Blair's "War on Terror". Six years on, where have the policies of Bush and Blair left us? Bringing together some of the finest contemporary writers, this wide-ranging anthology, from reportage and "faction" to fiction, explores the impact of this "long war" throughout the world, from Palestine to Iraq, Abu Ghraib, the curtailment of civil liberties and manipulation of public opinion. Published in conjunction with Stop the War coalition and United for Peace and Justice, it provides an urgent, necessary reflection on the causes and consequences of the ideological War on Terror.

About the Author
John Berger's books include Ways of Seeing, Here Is Where We Meet and, most recently, Hold Everything Dear. Naomi Klein is the author of the bestselling No Logo. Hanif Kureishi is the author of Buddha of Suburbia and wrote the screenplay for the Oscar-nominated film Venus. China Miéville is a best selling science fiction writer; his many books include Perdido Street Station. Arundhati Roy is the author of many books including the Booker Prize-winner The God of Small Things. Ahdaf Soueif is the author of the Booker-shortlisted The Map of Love. Joe Sacco's works include Palestine, Safe Area Gorazde, and But I Like It. Haifa Zangana is an Iraqi-born novelist and artist; her Interrupted Struggle: A Short History of Women in Iraq is forthcoming in Fall 2007.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Verso (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844671844
• ISBN-13: 978-1844671847
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #751,984 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful collection from the anti-war movement, December 10, 2007

By	William Podmore (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This useful anthology gives some idea of the vast range and depth of the US and British anti-war movements. It explores the impact of the `war on terror' from Palestine to Iraq, and looks at the US and British states' attacks on civil liberties and on public opinion.

In her excellent contribution, Arundhati Roy claims that capitalism undermines not national sovereignty, but democracy: in fact it undermines both. She rightly links the `war on terror' to the economic system that drives it, and points out that capitalism's international bodies, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation are all undemocratic, anti-national and secretive.

The best-researched piece is by Naomi Klein, author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine. She calls our current system `disaster capitalism'. She observes that after 9/11, Israel increased its military spending by 10%, financed by social services cuts. This increase funded 350 new hi-tec firms specialising in security, surveillance and weapons: one firm is revealingly called `Instinctive Shooting International'. Israel now holds six counter-terrorism conferences a year, and Forbes Magazine calls it `the go-to country for anti-terrorism technologies'.

Similarly, in the USA the Spade Defense Index, for defence, security and aerospace stocks, has risen by 15% every year since 9/11. Firms profit from the destruction caused by the wars that their states begin, then they profit again from contracts for rebuilding, then profit again by not actually rebuilding anything. Klein has rediscovered Lenin's insight that "war is terrible - and terribly profitable."

5.0 out of 5 stars We need peace, justice, equality and civil liberties, November 18, 2008

By	Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book contains 9 texts by 9 different authors and one excellent anti-war strip by Joe Sacco. All the texts treat different aspects of power (war) relations in our modern world.

Power, free markets, democracy
For A. Roy, power is the crucial political, economic and social factor in human affairs.
Private corporations use their power through the Free Market doctrine to undermine democracy: `Today Corporate Globalization needs an international Confederation of corrupt and authoritarian governments in poor countries. It needs a press that only pretends to be free. It needs courts that pretend to dispense justice. It needs nuclear bombs, standing armies, sterner immigration laws to make sure that it is only money, goods, patents and services that are globalized.'

War
N. Klein lambastes the war and disaster profiteers.

War on Terror
For J. LeBlanc and P. Bennis, the War on Terror is a smokescreen for US military aggression in order to gain full spectrum world dominance. The weapons of mass destruction are in the US, not elsewhere.
For T. Nguyen, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni goes after colleges and universities which are described as working against the interests of Western civilization because they are weak in the War on Terror.

War in Iraq
H. Zangara unveils the resistance of the majority of the Iraqi people against the US occupation and its puppet regime. They see control of Iraqi oil as the only reason for this occupation. She draws our attention to the systematic (!) murder of academics, journalists and clerics, the gagging of the media and the lack of freedom of speech in Iraq. But the Iraqi people, of whom 650,000 died (the equivalent of 7 million US citizens), continues to resist through the cultural sector.
L. German remembers the fact that the war created 4 million Iraqi refugees.
The `September 11th Families' stress rightly that the brutality of Saddam Hussein's regime does not justify the brutality, death and destruction visited upon Iraq and its citizens.

The Palestine question
For A. Soueif, as long as `ordinary citizens are not allowed to live their daily life in a human way, the influence of the world's only superpower will be proved to be irredeemably malign.'

This book with its sometimes belligerent attacks on current international policies, is a must read for all those interested in the world we live in.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars War with No End, February 9, 2008

By	Yvonne Wall (Maryland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It is a great and very easy book to read. I respect the Authors and what they have written.