JOHN PILGER AND THE ‘THOUGHT-FREE’ TEMPLATE

John Pilger
This week there were two articles in the Guardian’s ‘Comment is Free’ space, one by John Pilger, [1]the other by Volodymyr Ishchenko[2] respecting the situation in Ukraine. Reading both pieces one enters two very separate worlds. Pilger’s world a paranoid vision of an all-powerful evil American Empire, ably assisted by its European allies, that pulls strings that stretch across the planet, manipulating proxies from Taiwan to Tirana. The Ukraine being the latest theatre of the American struggle for world hegemony. It is a world view barely distinguishable from that of Alex Jones, renowned conspiracy theorist.[3]
Thus we have John Pilger on the Maiden protests in Kiev and across the Ukraine.

‘In February, the US mounted one of its proxy "colour" coups against the elected government of Ukraine; the shock troops were fascists...’

Leaving aside the slur against the Maiden activists, -yes far right groups were involved, yet those from countries with a free press all reported they represented a tiny minority- the important point to note is that for Pilger the activists on Maiden Square have no free will, along with those who have fought for basic freedoms from Georgia to Libya, they are mere puppets acting out an agenda agreed in Washington.
US Puppets on Maidan 
 Pilger goes on to provide a crude, distorted and ahistorical encapsulation of the 20th Century history of the Ukraine.

‘Some 30 million Russians died in the invasion of their country by Hitler's Nazis, who were supported by the infamous Ukrainian Insurgent Army (the UPA) which was responsible for numerous Jewish and Polish massacres. The Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, of which the UPA was the military wing, inspires today's Svoboda party.’

(Incidentally, Pilger’s figure of 30 million would have to include Ukrainians, since no separate figures were collated for the individual component states of the Soviet Union, millions of Ukrainians died fighting the Nazi’s. Pilger either wittingly or not is being misleading).
 The suffering of the Ukrainians under Stalin are well recorded, I touched upon them in my last article, and it is this suffering that provides the historical context of the limited support that the Germans, who presented themselves as liberators, enjoyed in the initial period following invasion.[4] This is the context not the justification, though Pilger abandons any attempt at balance or nuance as he seeks to slur the protesters on maiden square who are dismissed with the single phrase, ‘Washington's putsch in Kiev.’ Pilger of course provides no evidence for this characterisation, he feels no need, already basking in the warm glow of millions of fellow travellers nodding assent to his paranoid characterisation.
However if he feels no need to provide nuance and context when speaking of those who toppled the nauseatingly corrupt regime of Viktor Yanukovich, he feels no such lack of generosity when explaining away the actions of Vladimir Putin.

‘Since Washington's putsch in Kiev – and Moscow's inevitable response in Russian Crimea to protect its Black Sea fleet – the provocation and isolation of Russia have been inverted in the news to the "Russian threat".’
[My emphasis] 

Putin you understand, following ‘Washington's putsch – and note the sleight of hand here, no mention of annexation of Crimea, which prior to March this year had been part of another sovereign state, - is merely seeking to protect the Black Sea Fleet, though Pilger again finds it unnecessary to provide any evidence that the position of the Black Sea fleet was threatened in any way. It was of course under no threat.   
 The logic of Pilger’s position is that we, and more importantly the citizens of countries such as Georgia, Estonia, Moldova, should accept the fact that they live within the Russian sphere of influence, we should keep our noses out, what goes on there is none of our business.[5]
The dishonesty, distortion and naked propagandising here would not shame a leaflet put out by some ‘Marxist-Leninist’ far left sect.  Pilger however has been a significant campaigning journalist in his time. I grew up on his fine reporting for, amongst others, the Daily Mirror and independent television, from Vietnam and Cambodia. Now eaten away by anti- Americanism and captured by a paranoid world-view, his reporting is now worthless. He has discovered the joy of the ‘thought-free’ template, this will provide an instant explanation of every international development, dispensing with the need for subtly, nuance or an understanding of local complexities.

Volodymyr Ishchenko 
The contrast with the piece by Ishchenko could not be starker. Here is a genuine piece of nuanced analysis, the writing of someone who understands the complexities on the ground. Compare Pilger’s analysis with Ishchenko’s:-

 ‘’The anti-Maidan protests cannot be supported wholeheartedly and without reservation. Like Maidan they are diverse. Some people support joining Russia, some support more local autonomy within the Ukrainian state. Russian far-right nationalists, who are no better than the Ukrainian nationalist Svoboda or Right Sector, participate in the protests together with leftist organisations. The public in eastern and southern Ukraine is split. Simultaneously, with anti-Maidan rallies and seizures, demonstrations in support of the new government and a united Ukraine take place.’

While you might agree or disagree with the points Ishchenko makes you know you are reading someone openly engaged in a process that has involved actual thought, as opposed to Pilger’s robotic anti-American rant.
Finally, respecting the Ukraine I can only concur with Ishchenko’s summary, ‘…it would be better to support progressive wings of both Maidan and anti-Maidan, and try to unite them against the Ukrainian ruling class and against all nationalisms and imperialisms on shared demands for social justice.



[3] For a glimpse of Jones’s world view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgBq6q4x8Fw (Mind you the Bilderberg group may not be a secret cabal ruling the world but it is sufficiently anti-democratic, elitist and even sinister to merit serious attention).
[4] It is also true that some Ukrainians, Lithuanians Latvians and indeed Russians committed atrocities against the Jews and other minority groups. As indeed did some Frenchmen, Belgians and Croats. Some Russians too fought for Germany. If Pilger wants to explore the nature of Russians who fought with the Germans against Stalin he should read up the career of Andrey Andreyevich Vlasov, tough I suspect that the nuance’s and complexity of Vlasov’s career may be too much for Pilger.
[5] I have pointed out before, see http://alextalbot.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/thoughts-on-crisis-in-ukraine.html.
The grotesque irony of some imagining themselves on the Revolutionary Left embracing 19th Century realpolitik! It is also worth noting the way in which Pilger throws out the numbers of Soviet, (not Russian), dead as a moral justification for Russian domination of the region. The citizens of countries like Estonia and Lithuania, invaded by Russia in 1939, and not regaining their independence until 1991, witnessed the attempted erasure of their countries culture and saw their finest and brightest murdered or despatched to Siberia to ensure this Russian hegemony. They had good reasons for seeking NATO membership, which enjoys great popular support in these countries. This of course counts for nothing with Pilger. (Now if they were Nicaraguans, subjected to the less than cuddly embrace of Uncle Sam, then he would become exercised). 
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