max lane

I have never read any book length or other in-depth studies on the history, politics or economics of Libya. The picture I have of the present developments in Libya is made up of a kind of collage of images, gathered from watching and reading the Australian and international mainstream media from the Melbourne Age to Qatar’s Al Jazeera to the New York Times’s International Herald Tribune. Additional information and images are layered over, or is it under, or is it around, this material as a result of scouring the dissident and progressive media for additional data and perspectives. Out of all this, and over the last few months, I become more confident that I have an idea of what is happening – but only insofar as a basic outline goes, and even then, only tentatively. Any perusal of left-wing mailing lists indicates there is a range of interpretations as well as stances among the left, ranging from outright support for the Libyan “rebels” and their NATO allies through to full defence of Kadaffi. One major problem I have had throughout this period is that I have no faith whatsoever in the mainstream media to tell the truth as to what has been happening. The media is, at the best of times, suspect, biased and unreliable, even on facts. But when capitalist governments in Europe, America or Australia are on a war footing, and the media is supporting these governments, the truth goes out the window even faster. John Pilger’s latest documentary “The War You Don’t See” showed starkly the extent of the lies and distortions that the media engages in, including media such as the BBC, when a capitalist government is at war. Yet, not only most of the initial public response, but much of the Left’s response to development’s in Libya relied on “information” blasted out precisely via this media. Read more…

Indonesian politics and Poor People’s Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail by Francis Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward. Read more…