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© REVIEWS FREEDOM NEXT TIME Americans for 50 years. The remaining by John Pilger Chagossians are fighting to return to their Bantam/Transworld Publishers/Random homeland and are awaiting the results of the House, London, 2006 British High Court's judicial review of the ISBN 0-9750769-5-7 (356pp tpb) government's use of the royal prerogative Availability: http://www. that has so far prevented their return. booksattransworld.co.uk Pilger also sets his sights on the plight of [rvestizative journalist John Pilger speaks _ the Palestinians, revealing new findings that out again for oppressed peoples in their expulsion from their land and homes Freedom Next Time. In his introduction he was planned and executed in the months and argues that imperialism is still alive and weeks before Israel's establishment in May well, though the emperor is dressed up in a 1948. He documents the conditions follow- new brand of ideology and is out to save the _ing "liberation" in post-British India, in Third World from itself. He warns that the post-apartheid South Africa and in Bush government is now an imperial dicta- Afghanistan that allow imperialism in a dif- torship operating behind a democratic ferent guise to flourish and ensure that free- fagade. And the British government is not dom remains an elusive dream for most of much better, now that domestic criticism of the population. Another powerful exposé. its imperialist actions is punishable under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act ARMED MADHOUSE that was enacted on 1 January 2006. The by Greg Palast inuw ONACD Dutton/Penguin, USA, 2006 HN Pll EFA ISBN 0-525-94968-2 (360pp hc) uw Availability: http:/Avww.penguin.com Fe corporate fraud investigator turned journalist Greg Palast has put out his first book since his 2003 The Best Democracy Money Can Buy (see 9/06), which spilled the beans on vote theft in the 2000 US presiden- tial election. In chapter 4 (The Con) of Armed Madhouse, he exposes the 2004 elec- tion theft from Kerry and predicts the 2008 election will be a worse travesty, with four million ballots going missing, and he ; describes how it will be done. ot Dp bs dort fi The key theme in this book is class war- fare, and Palast is determined to break the decisions of these and other so-called demo- _ media's embargo on discussion of this cratic governments have a distinctly fascist touchy subject. While he is entertaining, tinge about them, Pilger declares, quoting he's also deadly serious about revealing how other thinkers who argue in a similar vein. the movers and shakers have created "the The new style of imperialism can cause dis- | moved and shaken" through a "billion-dollar senters at home to be rounded up just as eas- _ fear industry". His Fear chapter reveals ily as it can justify innocent people in for- more of the neo-cons’ cons before and after eign lands to be rounded up. 9/11 in the war-on-terror industry. His Flow To illustrate his point, Pilger turns to the chapter discusses the Iraq war as a means of experiences of several suppressed peoples. _going after oil in order to lift up OPEC. First up is the outrageous case of the Chagos In The Network, Palast describes the world islanders, who were forced from their “unin- as a company town with its tidal flow of apaed aera Paradise in the mid- petro-dollars and electro-dollars and S to mid-177Us to make way lor a explains why the Venezuelan president and strategic US military base on Diego "class warrior" Hugo Chavez is such a threat Garcia—a base from which air strikes have tg the Saudi—Houston cartel. In The Class been launched on Afghanistan and Iraq in War, Palast shows up more bad-case scenar- recent years. Pilger recounts the sad stories 9. of out-of-control government and "cor- of some surviving islanders who were poratopia", such as poor kids sorted out by despatched by the British government to the performance testing in the classroom, Seychelles and to Mauritius. He exposes the employees done over by Enron's pension conspiracy between the British and US gov- plan and New Orleans citizens abandoned. ernments and the secret agreement they Palast d with classified : signed in 1965, which created a new British alast, arme wil c asst ted governmen| documents and "liberated" secret corporate colony (in return for independence in f ds i dine the al Mauritius) which was then leased to the plans, succeeds in sounding the alarm. FREEDOM NEXT TIME by John Pilger Bantam/Transworld Publishers/Random House, London, 2006 ISBN 0-9750769-5-7 (356pp tpb) Availability: http://www. booksattransworld.co.uk [rvestisatve journalist John Pilger speaks out again for oppressed peoples in Freedom Next Time. In his introduction he argues that imperialism is still alive and well, though the emperor is dressed up in a new brand of ideology and is out to save the Third World from itself. He warns that the Bush government is now an imperial dicta- torship operating behind a democratic fagade. And the British government is not much better, now that domestic criticism of its imperialist actions is punishable under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act that was enacted on 1 January 2006. The COHN PILGER decisions of these and other so-called demo- cratic governments have a distinctly fascist tinge about them, Pilger declares, quoting other thinkers who argue in a similar vein. The new style of imperialism can cause dis- senters at home to be rounded up just as eas- ily as it can justify innocent people in for- eign lands to be rounded up. To illustrate his point, Pilger turns to the experiences of several suppressed peoples. First up is the outrageous case of the Chagos islanders, who were forced from their "unin- habited" Indian Ocean paradise in the mid- 1960s to mid-1970s to make way for a strategic US military base on Diego Garcia—a base from which air strikes have been launched on Afghanistan and Iraq in recent years. Pilger recounts the sad stories of some surviving islanders who were despatched by the British government to the Seychelles and to Mauritius. He exposes the conspiracy between the British and US gov- ernments and the secret agreement they signed in 1965, which created a new British colony (in return for independence in Mauritius) which was then leased to the NEXUS + 73 AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2006 www.nexusmagazine.com