Tariq Ali's Blog, page 27

Insight with Tariq Ali: The Obama Syndrome @ the Frontline Club

November 09, 2010, 7pm @ the Frontline Club

Insight with Tariq Ali: The Obama Syndrome

Two years since the White House changed hands, how has the American empire altered? Very little, argues Tariq Ali, apart from the mood music. Ali will be at the Frontline Club to discuss his new book The Obama Syndrome: Surrender at Home, War Abroad in which he slices through Obama-mania, demystifying the narrative arc of redemption.

Contrary to what the world hoped Obama symbolised; redemption of a racist history, the overcoming of adversity, and the hope of a better, fairer future. Ali argues the wind that drove Obama into the White House was really the immaculate symbiosis of big money and big politics.

In this dissection of Obama's overseas escalation and domestic retreat, renowned author, filmmaker and international commentator Tariq Ali asks how the American empire has changed since Obama took control, with military activity in the Middle East more prevalent than during the Bush Era. The hopes aroused during Obama's election campaign have rapidly receded: Obama's failures are paving the way for a Republican surge, while his own supporters become increasingly despondent.

Tickets £12.50. Early booking £10 / £8 concessions

Address:

13 Norfolk Place

London, W2 1QJ

United Kingdom

Tariq Ali: The Obama Syndrome at Café Oto

Tariq Ali analyses Obama's performance at the mid-term elections on November 2, bringing the debate to the excellent, intimate Dalston venue on November 08, 2010, from 8pm.

Political activist, writer, historian and filmmaker Tariq Ali discusses his latest book The Obama Syndrome, a merciless dissection of Obama's overseas escalation and domestic retreat.

What has really changed since Bush left the White House? Very little, argues Ali in The Obama Syndrome, apart from the mood music. The hopes aroused during Obama's election campaign have rapidly receded. Following the financial crisis, the "reform" president bailed out Wall Street without getting anything in return. With Democratic Party leaders and representatives bought by the lobbying system, the healthcare reform bill was quickly eviscerated, public education delivered to the market and the big banks rewarded with light-touch regulation. Abroad, the "war on terror" continues: torture on a daily basis in Bagram, Iraq indefinitely occupied, Israel permanently appeased, and more troops and drone attacks in Af-Pak than under Bush. Obama's failures are paving the way for a Republican surge, while his own supporters become increasingly despondent.

Tickets £4 advance (£5 on the door). Book here.

Cafe Oto 18-22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London, E8 3DL.

V40 Philosophy / Wittgenstein screening at the Tate Modern

In Defence of Philosophy series: Screening followed by discussion with Tariq Ali

Friday 22 October 2010, 18.30 at the Tate Modern

To mark 40 years of independent, radical publishing, Verso is celebrating its philosophy titles with a screening of the Tariq Ali-produced Wittgenstein, Derek Jarman's innovative portrait of Ludwig Wittgenstein.

A seminal thinker of the twentieth century, Wittgenstein's revolutionary ideas have had an impact in disciplines beyond philosophy including psychology, the natural sciences, linguistics, mathematics, logic, art, religion, artificial intelligence and software design.

Derek Jarman's Wittgenstein was to be part of a series for Channel Four entitled The Philosophers, for which the producers had already commissioned four different scripts: Howard Brenton on Socrates, Tariq Ali on Spinoza, David Edgar on Locke, and Terry Eagleton on Wittgenstein.

Jarman's penultimate film is charged with lush and elegant images evoking the philosopher's thinking with his usual mastery.

[image error]The screening is followed by a discussion with the film's producer Tariq Ali and Jonathan Derbyshire, culture editor of the New Statesman.

In collaboration with the New Statesman as media partner.

Tickets: £8 (£6 concessions). For tickets book online or call 020 7887 8888.

V40 Politics / The Obama Syndrome at the Free Word Centre

25 October 2010

What is the future of the American Empire? And Obama's prospects in the mid-terms?

As mid-term elections loom under the shadow of the insurgent Tea Party, join a panel of eminent speakers including Tariq Ali, Mehdi Hasan, DD Guttenplan and Patrick Cockburn to discuss how much Obama's first two years in office will cost him at the most expensive elections in history.

The hopes aroused during Obama's election campaign have rapidly receded-the honeymoon has been short. At home, a Wall Street bailout and thwarted hopes for healthcare and financial reform. Abroad, the "war on terror" continues: Guantanamo the 'broken promise', torture on a daily basis in the horror chamber that is Bagram, and more troops to Afghanistan and more drone attacks in Pakistan than under Bush.

Will the fact that Obama has proved incapable of shifting the political terrain even a few inches in a reformist direction pave the way for a Republican surge and triumph in the not too distant future?

This event chaired by Victoria Brittain, marks Verso's 40th year of independent, radical publishing, and the launch of Tariq Ali's new book The Obama Syndrome. In association with the New Statesman.

Tickets are free, but booking is essential for this event.  Call 020 7324 2570 or email info@freewordonline.com to book .

7.00pm – 8.30pm

Free Word Centre

60 Farringdon Road

London EC1R 3GA

United Kingdom

02079556043

Tariq Ali brings South of the Border to the Bristol Latino Film Festival 2010

Tariq Ali, writer, filmmaker and co-writer of the documentary, chairs a discussion following the screening of Oliver Stone's South of the Border at the Bristol Latino Film Festival 2010.

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There's a revolution underway in South America: Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media's misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents. Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon the exciting transformations in the regions.

Th e Brewery (Tobacco Factory Theatre)

291 North Street, Bristol, BS3 1JP

Map and directions

Tickets sold at the door.

"Only the mood music has changed": Tariq Ali on Obama's presidency

Tariq Ali interviewed by Christian Avard for Huffington Post, October 7, 2010

Is president Barack Obama the change America has been waiting for or is he another corporate Democrat representing elite interests? According to Tariq Ali, very little has chanced between Obama and former president George W. Bush. In his latest book The Obama Syndrome: Surrender at Home, War Abroad , Ali argues that Obama is carrying on the reckless policies of the Bush regime. If Obama continues down this path, the Democratic Party not only face the prospect of the House & Senate in 2010 but also the presidency in 2012. This should be a cause for concern.

I caught up with Ali during his American book tour and here's what he had to say about the Obama presidency.

What do you think are the biggest myths that are being perpetrated about Barack Obama as a president and his policy making?

The myths being perpetrated about him by his enemies are that everything he has done has been incredibly radical. The myths being perpetrated about him by his friends are that this marks a definitive break with Bush-Cheney. Both are wrong. My book stresses the continuities in foreign policy between the Bush and Obama administrations. I argue that all that has changed is the mood music.

This change of mood music is not unimportant because it gets the whole of Europe back on (the U.S.'s) side and some of them were alienated by Bush's disconcerting way of putting it on the line. If he was doing something, he would say "This is how we are going to do it. We are going to take these guys out." Europe found that a bit insensitive whereas Obama coats with it with sugar and honey and does the same thing.

He speaks fine and lofty words but when it comes down to it, the policies are no different. In the cases of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the policies are much more reactionary and worse in the sense that the wars are being escalated. read more

For an extended version of Christian Avard's interview, please visit pulsemedia.org

The Obama Syndrome: A Live Interview with Tariq Ali and Joel Whitney

As part of his tour to launch The Obama Syndrome, Tariq Ali appeared at New York's Asia Society September 17th, 2010 where he was interviewed on stage by Joel Whitney, Founding Editor in Chief of Guernica magazine.

Tariq Ali on Palestine and President Obama

Tariq Ali interviewed by Phillip Adam's for ABC Late Night Live, October 5, 2010

Currently touring Australia to launch The Obama Syndrome, Tariq Ali talks to ABC Late Night Live's Phillip Adams about Palestine and the (dismal) performance of US President Barack Obama. Please visit the ABC to listen to the interview.

'Australia should leave Afghan war' – Tariq Ali on Radio Australia

Tariq Ali speaks to Linda LoPresti on Radio Australia about The Obama Syndrome: Surrender at Home, War Abroad, October 4, 2010

ALI: The Dutch have already done it, the Spanish have been considering it, most of the European countries are extremely nervous and even in Britain there is now a huge debate on how long they can keep their troops in there. So, it can be done quite easily if politicians have the will to do so, but most politicians in the western world allied to the United States find it difficult to disagree with them. In fact, there is a big debate going on within the American military and political establishment as well. General Eikenberry, the US ambassador in Kabul, was opposed to sending more troops and escalating the war, but he lost the fight and Obama went with General Petraeus and sent in 30,000 more troops. So, no country, including the United States, is without debate on this issue.

LOPRESTI: Well, you're very critical of US President Barack Obama's policy on Afghanistan in your book 'The Obama Syndrome – Surrender at Home, a War Abroad'. You're more critical of Obama than of George W. Bush. Why is that?

ALI: Well, I was incredibly critical of George W. Bush. The only point I make in relation to Afghanistan-Pakistan is that Obama has escalated the war and he's been in power now for two years and during the two years he's launched more drone attacks in Pakistan than George Bush did over eight years. So, as far as Pakistan-Afghanistan is concerned, he is worse than Bush in terms of what's going on and you will recall that event when the Iranians killed the demonstrator Neda on the streets of Teheran and the whole world was weeping in public and a moist eyed president appeared on the lawn of the White House to speak to the press corp, that very same day, a US drone killed 50 people, mainly women and children in Pakistan and it was barely reported outside the country. So, that is what we are confronted with double standards every single day.

LOPRESTI: Well, what is your assessment of President Obama. There were very high hopes for him when he took office. You're critical of his policies, especially his foreign policies. Do you think he is a weak president?

ALI: I think he is a very weak president. I think, had he decided to make shifts both on the foreign policy level and at home within the first four to five months of being in power, appeal directly to his supporters, with a majority in the senate and the congress, he could have pushed things through. But essentially he is a machine politician, produced by the Chicago machine, one of the most notorious in the United States, and he capitulates far too easily, so that he has now got himself in a state where he's scared of even taking on the Tea Party people, who are – quite a lot of them – just simply nutty. So he's very, very weak, he capitulated to the insurance companies on the health reform, he's in favour of privatising education, handing over schools in Chicago for instance to the navy and the military, and so there is incredible disillusionment with him. And if he does badly in the mid terms next month, it will not be because his supporters are voting Republican, but because they are staying at home.

LOPRESTI: But he has pledged to scale back combat troops in Iraq.

ALI: Well, Bush had promised that too, there is no big difference. But it is scaling back, it is not withdrawing, and six huge US military bases have been built in Iraq, which will keep between 50 and 60,000 combat troops in that country ready to intervene should they feel the need to do so. Meanwhile, Iraqi oil has been privatised and handed over to oil companies from all over the globe.

Listen to the interview here.

'Talk to the terrorists, 60s activist urges' – Tariq Ali in Australia

Tariq Ali interviewed by Paul Maley for The Australian, October 4, 2010

More than 40 years after the revolutionary convulsions of the late 1960s, British-Pakistani author, activist and polemicist Tariq Ali has lost none of the anger that sent him to the streets in protest over — among other things — the war in Vietnam.

"I don't believe that there's any group in the world which is waging a fight that can't be negotiated with," Mr Ali said yesterday.

In Sydney to address the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, Mr Ali's talk is perhaps the most dangerous of all. Speaking to The Australian before his talk, titled "What we can learn from terrorists", Mr Ali accused the West of ignoring the beliefs and motivations of terrorists.

"I think it's time, as in previous centuries when there were terrorism attacks and people said, 'this is what we want' — especially in Europe and North America — finally after outrages, attention was paid to their demands," he said.

Wouldn't such an approach legitimise, indeed encourage, the use of terrorism? Mr Ali thinks not. "The thing is, you have to ask if it was worth occupying and invading Iraq and killing a million Iraqis," he said.

"Because the fact of the matter is the terror employed by the United States against countries is much, much worse than anything these guys have done."

Mr Ali, who has found acclaim as a writer of fiction nd non-fiction, as a filmmaker and a broadcaster, said the case for modern terrorism was the presence of US troops in the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan and the issue of Palestine.

He praises Bob Brown's Greens for pushing for a parliamentary debate on Afghanistan but considers the ALP to be run by "faceless apparatchiks".

Mr Ali is also part of a gathering backlash of left-wing activists critical of Barack Obama, a theme taken up in his latest book The Obama Syndrome: Surrender at Home, War Abroad.

Mr Ali seems almost broken-hearted at the US President's failure to meet the soaring expectations he set for himself. read more