Pinter Slates Bush and Blair

[Intifada]

George W Bush and Tony Blair must be held to account for feeding the public "a vast tapestry of lies" about the Iraq war, writer Harold Pinter said.
The playwright launched a scathing attack on US and UK politicians in his lecture as winner of this year's Nobel Prize for Literature.

Most politicians "are interested not in truth but in power and the maintenance of that power", the 75-year-old said.

His speech was pre-recorded as Pinter was admitted to hospital this week.

'Live in ignorance'

Pinter, 75, whose plays include The Birthday Party and Betrayal, was announced the winner of the $1.3m (£740,000) cash prize in October.

On Wednesday his lecture, entitled Art, Truth and Politics, studied the importance of truth in art before decrying its perceived absence in politics.

He said politicians feel it is "essential that people remain in ignorance, that they live in ignorance of the truth, even the truth of their own lives".

Pinter said the US justification for invading Iraq - that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction - "was not true".

"The truth is something entirely different," Pinter added. "The truth is to do with how the United States understands its role in the world and how it chooses to embody it."

Pinter said that since World War II the US government "supported and in many cases engendered every right-wing military dictatorship in the world".

"I refer to Indonesia, Greece, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Haiti, Turkey, the Philippines, Guatemala, El Salvador and, of course, Chile."

'Bleating lamb'

He added: "You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good."

Referring to Blair's support for the US-led war on Iraq, Pinter described the "pathetic and supine" Great Britain as "a bleating little lamb tagging behind (the US) on a lead".

He called for President Bush and Prime Minister Blair to be "arraigned before the International Criminal Court of Justice".

"But Bush has been clever," Pinter said. "He has not ratified the International Criminal Court of Justice."

Nevertheless he added that "thousands, if not millions" of people in the US were "sickened, shamed and angered" by their government's actions.

"As things stand they are not a coherent political force - yet."

Publisher Stephen Page will accept the Nobel Prize for Literature on Pinter's behalf on Saturday.


BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4505874.stm)

I saw the lecture on TV about an hour ago.

Truly brilliant.

It is a massive shame that he is so ill.

You can see it through a link provided in the BBC article.

[Amusing Scrotum]

Pinter is a fucking idiot.

He was a conscientious objector during the 40's and he described British soldiers fighting the Nazi's as wearing a "shit-suit." He is on Slobodan Milosevic's defence team which calls for Milosevic's release on the grounds he is not guilty, and; he voted for Thatcher.

Though his speech was good.

[Sir Aunty Christ]

Originally posted by Armchair [email protected] 8 2005, 02:14 AM
Pinter is a fucking idiot.

He was a conscientious objector during the 40's and he described British soldiers fighting the Nazi's as wearing a "shit-suit." He is on Slobodan Milosevic's defence team which calls for Milosevic's release on the grounds he is not guilty, and; he voted for Thatcher.

Though his speech was good.
He voted for Thatcher? I thought he was verrry left-wing. I know Tom Stoppard's an apologist for the old bat, but Pinter?

[RedStarOverChina]

Noble Price is a joke. I dont know why many lefties are in awe of the people who win this little competition among the bourgeoisie elites.

[Amusing Scrotum]

He voted for Thatcher?

Johann Hari's article in the Independent on Tuesday said he did. I have no particular reason to doubt this, Hari is a truthful writer.


I thought he was verrry left-wing.

Apparently he used to fight with "Mosleyites" in his youth and he's done some decent things. Work with the Sandinistas, the Cuban solidarity appeal etc.

Though he doesn't have a very nice opinion of the British poor.


I know Tom Stoppard's an apologist for the old bat, but Pinter?

I don't think he's an "apologist." He just voted for the "old bat."


Noble Price is a joke. I dont know why many lefties are in awe of the people who win this little competition among the bourgeoisie elites.

Indeed Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize in 73' and I think Hitler and Mussolini were once nominated.

[Intifada]

Pinter is a fucking idiot.


That is your view.

I wouldn't agree entirely.


he voted for Thatcher.


Indeed, in 1979, he voted for Thatcher.

He claims it was in protest against a strike at the National Theatre, which was ruining a production he was director of. He has since described the vote for Thatcher as "the most shameful act of my life".


Though his speech was good.

Which is why I posted this.

[Amusing Scrotum]

That is your view.

I wouldn't agree entirely.

I think describing men fighting the Nazi's as wearing "shit-suits" rules someone out for any praise in my book.


Indeed, in 1979, he voted for Thatcher.

He claims it was in protest against a strike at the National Theatre, which was ruining a production he was director of. He has since described the vote for Thatcher as "the most shameful act of my life".

An injury to one is an injury to all. In other words, he was a scab.

Though his remorse is commendable.

[Intifada]

I think describing men fighting the Nazi's as wearing "shit-suits" rules someone out for any praise in my book.


I agree.

I would like a link to that story though.

Pinter has, however, done some praise-worthy things in his life. For example, telling it like it is about Bush and Blair.


An injury to one is an injury to all. In other words, he was a scab.


Undeniably, yes.

[Amusing Scrotum]

I would like a link to that story though.


Originally posted by Johann Hari+--> ( Johann Hari)Pinter often fumes about tyranny, but equally fumes about people who resist it. During the Second World War, Pinter called the British Army uniform ”a shit-suit” (his talk is filled with faeces) and during the war against the Nazis he declared, “I am never going to put a shit-suit on for anyone.” Just a few years later, Europe was being threatened to the East by a Stalinist tyranny that had already murdered 30 million people, and the Labour left – led by Nye Bevan – was (rightly) supporting the airlifts to occupied Berlin. But Pinter called this “ridiculous”. When he was called up for army service, he became a conscientious objector, deriding the people backing free Berlin as “fools.”[/b]

(Emphasis added.)

Link (http://www.johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=741).

Also from that article.


His reason for comparing himself to a homeless person? When he was a student at RADA, he would skive off (because it was “full of poofs and ponces”) and wander the streets “like a tramp.” Yes Harold, just like a tramp.

(Emphasis added.)


Socialist Review
As a young man, Pinter had to be bailed out of a jail term for his refusal to wear the 'shit suit', as he called army uniform, during post-war national service. He and his friends in Hackney had numerous run-ins with fascists, and Pinter famously punched an anti-Semitic loudmouth who was spouting racism in a bar.

(Emphasis added.)

Link (http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=9586).


Pinter has, however, done some praise-worthy things in his life. For example, telling it like it is about Bush and Blair.

Part of his speech, where he blathered on about "Great" Britain and our "national conscience" was "turdlike." He seemed to forget, Britain never had a "conscience" with regards our foreign adventures and what he was saying "reeked" of nationalism.