Thank you Wobbles, rache and barfenzie. I was beginning to think OLO was dominated by the supporters of collapsing capitalism.

Pilger is a great journalist whose humanity and insights into the workings of the world are outstanding. His writing is first class and he asks the questions that the apologists for capitalism hate. So most of the right ( those defenders of discredited neo-liberalism), instead of addressing the issues, resort to abuse.

In the past this might have been enough for propaganda purposes.

But now that the very ideology associated with profit before people is under attack because of the self-evident failures or problems of capitalism, abuse of those who question, criticise and dissent clearly no longer passes muster with many people.

Many want to know what the hell is going on, and why. Pilger is a person who can help us understand the hidden realities and terrors underlying banalities like the war on terror and spreading "freedom" and of course the failed let the market rule approach. This must now include the failed Keynesianism that is coming back into vogue (eg infrastructure projects, Wall St bailouts etc.) Neither neo-liberalism nor Keynesianism address the crisis of profitability, a crisis inherent to capitalism.

As Marx said "All that is solid melts into air."

As one of my comrades said last night to me, before he flies off to London to collect the prestigious Deutscher prize in November for his book Henryk Grossman and the recovery of Marxism, there have been two major political/economic events in his life - the downfall of Stalinism in Europe and the present economic crisis, an economic crisis that as he points out is not just financial but goes to the very heart of the system - profit and the fact that profit rates in major developed countries are low and the massive attacks on workers and their living standards has not changed that.

The task of the Left must be, as Pilger does, patiently explain the real issues to working people and expose the carcass of rotting ideas that its apologists argue and fester in.

Passy “As Marx said "All that is solid melts into air."”

And like Marx himself said “I am not a Marxist.”

So I guess that was just his way of distancing himself from his preaching.

(at least it shows more sense them those who continue to idolize his failed theories a century and a half after his demise).

As to Pilger, he dines out well by being a professional poop peddler.

Thanks Col Rouge.

You just prove my point about the right having only abuse in its arsenal.

Give me Pilger over Albrechtsen any day.

Passy “Thanks Col Rouge.

You just prove my point about the right having only abuse in its arsenal.”

Really… try

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=7864&page=0

the left wing swill had a field day, rolling in the own feces.

Regarding “Give me Pilger over Albrechtsen any day.”

Well my values support the right of free speech and expression for everyone.

It is the left who are so intent on universal equality and conformity, as seen through the control of the press and media under communism (the goal of socialism).

It is the left who demand to limit the right of individuals to express a view contrary to their own.

It is the left who demand to control education and deny people the right of choice over how their children will be educated.

And there is nothing more abusive than denying individual expression, because when that has been eliminated, there is no point to anything else.

Your humbug quotient in on the rise Passy

Thanks again Col Rouge.

Marx made his comment in response to certain groups who claimed to be marxist yet did not understand his basic ideas, and engaged in crude determinism. So it is important to put quotes, indeed analysis, in context.

That is what Pilger does. He exposes and reports on that which the mainstream media leave unsaid. Those who live on a diet of the AFR or the Daily Telegraph (one low brow bourgeois rubbish and the other high brow bourgeois rubbish in the guise of giving working families what they want) will of course find Pilger very different for a simple reason. He tells the truth, not defends the system.

I think that is one reason the internet poses a threat to newspapers. People can participate in "news" and comment on it freely on the net; indeed they can put forward their ideas and mould them based on responses. They are free of and from the satanic mills of the The Australian or the SMH or the Age or the AFR or the Tele or the Herald Sun.

Well said Passy

The newspapers are realising that people's blogs are growing in importance (as is On Line Opinion).

We no longer need to view the people of other continents or religions through the commercial/political reality of the mainstream media. We can talk to people overseas directly even if they are Russians, or Pakistani Army Officers or Indian nuclear weapons specialists.

We bloggers can specialise in important subjects, unfetted by the need to sell newspapers or commercials, or be answerable to government bosses.

And we bloggers can provide, or highlight, information sources to those cruising the net that used to be denied the public or most public servants.

Enlightened journalists are now utilising this information.

The is something that transcends Left or Right labels. This is truly Information Liberation - with no bosses.

Peter Coates