The New Rulers of the World (Paperback)

~ John Pilger (Author) "When American Vice-President Dick Cheney said that the 'war on terrorism' could last for fifty years or more, his words evoked George Orwell's great prophetic..." (more)
Key Phrases: stolen generation, humanitarian supplies, model pupil, United States, Saddam Hussein, United Nations (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

On the side of the angels. -- Guardian

Rakes the muck on which the power and wealth of states and corporations are founded, and the stench is awesome. -- Irish Times

What makes John Pilger a truly great journalist is his conscience and his bravery. -- Martha Gellhorn

[A] beacon of light in often dark times...his courage and insight a constant inspiration. -- Noam Chomsky

[O]ffers not only research and statistics, but interviews and personal narratives that give a human face to the suffering. -- Socialist Worker, 25 October 2002

Product Description

The award-winning journalist and filmmaker John Pilger selects from his recent Guardian and New Statesman essays on power, its secrets and illusions, for this new collection. The New Rulers of the World tackles the injustices and double standards inherent in the politics of globalization. It sets out to explain something of the "new" order—the unholy alliance of business interests, media magnates and imperial repression—and the importance of breaking the silence that protects great power and its manipulations.

The title is taken from his television film about the mythology of globalization, in which he revealed how General Suharto's bloody seizure of power in Indonesia in the 1960s was part of a Western design that was the beginning of globalization in Asia. In this book, Pilger discloses more of a secret history which saw a million Indonesians die as the price for its mantle as the World Bank's 'model pupil.' He also describes the price paid by the people of Iraq for the West's decade-long embargo of that country. Returning to his homeland, Australia, he looks behind the hype that led up to the Millennium Olympics in Sydney, reflecting on Australia's continuing subjugation of its Aboriginal people. Following the terrorist attacks on America and the bombing of Afghanistan, he looks at the new thrust of American power and its goal of world order, and the propaganda that helps drive it.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Verso (April 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 185984412X
• ISBN-13: 978-1859844120
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #271,502 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

86 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Could it Be? Yes, It's Actual Journalism!!, January 11, 2003

By	Jeremy Raymondjack (Roslindale, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The New Rulers of the World (Hardcover)

Another reviewer said it best: Pilger is like Noam Chomsky, only he's a better writer. Exactly. Pilger's work is an inspiring blend of poingnant personal interviews, on-the-ground examination of "failed states," and laser-like analysis of the Orweillian spin machines of the New Imperialists. There really are sections of this book which will move you to tears.

It is a pathetic testament to the brain-dead nature of homo consumptus that anyone could actually accuse Pilger of "left-wing fundamentalism," or of being obsessed with imaginary conspiracies of the powerful. Clearly these are the ridiculous attestations of folks who get their "news" from corporate talking heads and radio imbeciles. When someone like Pilger comes along and actually does journalism (that is, actually GOES to the places that others only read off of Teleprompters about), the brutality that comes to light is profoundly disorienting. Such is the distance of the rich from the truth.

Please buy this book, especially for the section on Iraq. I defy anyone to read this chapter and then make a cogent case for attacking this country that has been decimated by war, dictatorship, and blockade. The violence of neo-imperial countries like the US and Britain can only survive if their citizens remain aloof and alienated from their brothers and sisters on the ground in the victim states. Pilgers's work explodes that complacency and ignorance. We need a hundred or even a thousand Pilgers.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An indispensable account of globalisation, December 23, 2003

By	Srebrenica Forever (Sweden) - See all my reviews

Pilger offers a detailed and well documented account of gross global injustices and their lingering implications. He explains the underlying causes of poverty and terrorism and asserts that imperialism constitutes the most dangerous threat to international peace and stability. After you finish reading this book you will learn that human lives are not equally important (for example, American lives are much more valuable than those of Afghanistan, Iraq etc). Consider one of the most cynical concepts ever coined- collateral damage which implies that any means justify the end, that is, certain human lives may be sacrificed but only if these lives are not American. September 11 was a horrible tragedy, let there be no doubt about that. Nonetheless, countless tragedies occur every day in other parts of the world of which we hardly even hear, much due to mass medias extreme bias. The images of the two planes crashing into the Twin Towers have been permanently imprinted on our memory. In fact, there are not many people in the world who are not familiar with the September 11 attack. On the other hand, how many people know what happened in Srebrenica in 1995? How many people know or even care about the number of the victims killed (inadvertently or not) by unilateral U.S. interventions? How many people die in Iraq as a result of depleted uranium and the sanctions? These stories are considered to be of minor importance by the mainstream media and are rarely even accounted for in major newspapers. Clearly, some lives are more important than others. Pilger argues that only by eliminating poverty and oppression and by respecting human rights can we obliterate terrorism. If the worlds only remaining superpower shows contempt for international law and treaties, can we expect others to abide by international laws? It would be extremely hypocritical to demand that others respect human rights while simultaneously displaying a flagrant disregard for all international laws. Pilger correctly points out that we have to practice what we preach; failure to do that is indicative of gross hypocrisy and cynicism. This book further exposes gross economic inequalities between the West and the Rest. You will further learn how the World Bank impedes the progress of the developing countries through the imposition of preposterous loan conditions. Not many people know that the U.S. collaborated with Saddam and even vetoed a U.N. resolution calling for a condemnation of Saddam's massacres against the Kurds. When it serves the U.S. strategic and economic interests then collaboration with a tyrant is justifiable. Discover why developing countries become increasingly poorer and how the wealth of the West is constantly increasing. No one seems to think that it is extremely unjust that an executive can make up to 100,000 dollar a month while a great number of people live below the poverty line and do not even have enough food to survive. In fact, did you know that people working for Nike and the Gap in Indonesia receive 1 U.S. dollar a day? Did you know that the working conditions of these people are gruesome? Their employers are apathetic and indifferent individuals who show a flagrant disregard for human suffering! We keep ignoring Pilger's truth at our own peril.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Rule for the Big Boys...., November 6, 2003

By	Joanneva12a (USA) - See all my reviews

John Pilger details in four case study essays, the means by which the strongest western nations hold life and death powers over millions living in the world, and how those powers, through a mixture a of corporate, military, and state "Imperialism" are routinely misused when it's one rule for the "big boys", and another rule for the rest.

Essay one retraces Indonesia's bloody initiation into the global corporate market through the western support of it's murderous dictator, General Suharto, who, after taking control, literally opened the gates to the flood of corporations who took control of the country's vast resources. Billions were "lost" from the "loans" provided by the World Bank and IMF which today are literally impossible to repay. Indonesia's working poor, living on less than two dollars a day, and who work and live in intolerable conditions, have inherited this burden from a regime that was supported by the west for becoming "democratized".

Essay two focuses mainly on the 13 years of economic sanctions imposed on Iraq and the devastating impact on its people. The skyrocketing cancer rate, especially among children, is largely attributed to the 300 tons of Depleted Uranium left to blow in the winds and settle in the drinking water after the Gulf War. The manipulations of the US and Sanctions Committee, which routinely delayed or even denied certain cancer treating medicines, pain killers, or even desperately needed hospital equipment is nothing short of obscene.

Pilger examines the means by which economic and political exploitations have been used over the years to keep the disparity of nations on an uneven keel, and the western public largely misinformed. The contradictions of words versus practice, hypocrisy of policy, and just plain bullying have resulted in the biggest "rigged game" ever with humanity paying the ultimate price.

Finally he examines Australia to reveal behind the modern façade of a wealthy westernized nation, one who ranks among the lowest in the world with respect to infant mortality rate of it's indigenous population, and tries to front an integrated image while the country's Aboriginal people are force to live under apartheid like conditions.

In each essay, the numbers who paid the price are staggering, the story shameful, and as history reveals, nothing short of genocide. By comparison, the carnage left in the wake of the strongest nations corporate, state, and military plunders, backed by the 'moral leaders' of yesteryear and today, makes the world's second baddest boogie man, Saddam, look like a fledgling novice.