George Orwell’s 1984

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Dandelion Salad

Originally posted February 7, 2008

Warning

These videos may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

1984 George Orwell (1954)

Emmanuel Goldstein on Sep 26, 2013

BBC Television’s live production of George Orwell’s “1984”. Produced in 1954. Creative Commons license: Public Domain.

Nineteen Eighty-Four is a classic dystopian novel by English author George Orwell. Published in 1949, it is set in the eponymous year and focuses on a repressive, totalitarian regime. The story follows the life of one seemingly insignificant man, Winston Smith, a civil servant assigned the task of falsifying records and political literature, thus effectively perpetuating propaganda, who grows disillusioned with his meagre existence and so begins a rebellion against the system. The novel has become famous for its portrayal of surveillance and society’s increasing encroachment on the rights of the individual. Since its publication the terms Big Brother and Orwellian have entered the popular vernacular.

Lily Pad Roll: The Last Chapter–Persian Paradigm by Gaither Stewart

by Gaither Stewart
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Rome, Italy
June 25, 2017

Lily Pads is a name given to a new and more flexible type of US military base abroad, among the some 1000 US foreign military bases, covering the Earth, but for the most part surrounding Russia and China. Many are near Iran. I gave this title to Lily Pad Roll, the second volume of the Europe Trilogy (The Trojan Spy, Lily Pad Roll, Time of Exile), political novels published by Punto Press, New York. This novel was published in 2012 and is available on Amazon both in print format and Kindle book. The story develops around a young American soldier and communications genius, Elmer Redway, a forerunner of Manning, stationed at an American military base in Bulgaria who finds such astounding secrets of US military crimes that he divulges them to WikiLeaks and elsewhere. When he is discovered he deserts and begins an underground existence in Europe. He is aided by Karl Heinz, a wealthy German journalist (the book’s second major character). The two are together in Berlin when the invasion of Iran gets underway. Though my invasion of Iran is invented, it is quite plausible and could happen this way. Were I to give a title to this chapter, I would most likely call it, Persian Paradigm.

Christopher Hitchens and Michael Parenti Debate: Iraq and the Future of US Foreign Policy (2005)

Image by Eric B. via Flickr

by Michael Parenti
Writer, Dandelion Salad
originally published Dec. 23, 2011
June 24, 2017

Here is a debate held at Wesleyan University in 2005 between Christopher Hitchens and me. Hitchens went to his grave as a supporter of the Bush/Cheney venture. He supported Bush in 2004. His turn to the right (from weak leftish/center) won him the attention of all the mass media, especially Fox and the like, and lecture invitations at fat fees. Others of us were less enthralled about his anti-Islam warrior politics.

Grenfell Tower: A Disaster Waiting to Happen by Graham Peebles

Image by Frank John via Flickr

by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London, England
June 23, 2017

Charred, lifeless and brutal, the hollowed out remains of Grenfell Tower in west London screams of the human agony inflicted when, on 14th June, the building became an inferno.

When The Revolution Comes by Gaither Stewart

Image by Children’s Bureau Centennial via Flickr

by Gaither Stewart
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Rome, Italy
Previously published August 8, 2011
June 22, 2017

The Historical Gastonia Textile Mill Strikes Are Not Forgotten

When in the early part of this millennium I was writing a rather surrealistic novel, ASHEVILLE, about the town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina where I started out my life, I ran into the story of the Asheville-based self-professed Communist writer, Olive Tilford Dargan, of whom I had never heard before. Visiting then her gravesite in the little known Green Hills Cemetery in West Asheville and researching her and her activities I fell into a gossamer review of early 19th century labor struggles in the good old U.S. South.

Closing the Doors of Democracy, by Ralph Nader

Image by Joe Brusky via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
June 21, 2017

In 2006 a book was published called Losing Our Democracy by civic leader, Mark Green. His 21^st book, it was the usual Mark Green brand of meticulous research with memorable examples. One would have thought such an important subject would have received wide coverage and circulation. In fact, it was almost completely ignored by reviewers and the media interviewers. In 2017, the danger of having the door shut on the practice of democracy by its citizens is more important than at any other time in recent history.

Abby Martin: The Roots of the Philippines Trafficking Epidemic, Part 2

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Warning

This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

Dandelion Salad

with Abby Martin

teleSUR English on Jun 20, 2017

In this sequel to The Empire Files’ report on trafficked Filipina domestic workers, Damayan’s Linda Oalican provides a deeper context to the epidemic of human trafficking by guiding us through the history of colonialism, resistance and US domination of the islands.

Self-Defense Is No Defense for US Acts of War in Syria by Finian Cunningham

Image by Alec Perkins via Flickr

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from Strategic Culture Foundation
June 20, 2017

The shooting down of a Syrian fighter jet by US forces this week comes on the back of several aggressive actions by American military on the ground. Taken together the US actions mark an alarming escalation of intervention in the Syrian war – to the point where the Americans can be said to be now openly at war against Syria.

John Pilger: There Is No Evidence + Vanessa Beeley: Depleted Uranium and White Phosphorus Used in Syria

Image by Alec Perkins via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with John Pilger

vanessa beeley on Jun 19, 2017

He has been defying the Establishment gatekeepers and telling us the truth about what’s really going on in the world for over 50 years. He has covered wars around the world from Vietnam to Iraq, and is also an award-winning documentary filmmaker. For many, John Pilger is the journalists’ journalist, and he came into the Sputnik studio to give us his thoughts on the state of the press today.

Untrump the World — It Won’t Self-Impeach and The Unifying Force of War Abolition by David Swanson

Image by Ben W via Flickr

by David Swanson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Let’s Try Democracy, June 17, 2017
June 19, 2017

Remarks at United National Antiwar Coalition in Richmond, Virginia, June 17, 2017

Did you hear about Trump calling up the mayor of Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay and telling him that, contrary to all appearances, his island is not sinking? I want to focus on one element of this story, namely that the guy believed what he was told, rather than what he saw.

Chris Hedges and Christian Parenti: The Rising Threat of Climate Conflict

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

RT America on Jun 18, 2017

On this week’s episode of On Contact, Chris Hedges discusses the geopolitical consequences of global change with Professor Christian Parenti, author of Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence. RT Correspondent Anya Parampil explores how climate change is increasing tensions between the global north and the global south.

Abby Martin: Sabotage, Not Socialism, is the Problem in Venezuela

Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Abby Martin

teleSUR English on Jun 17, 2017

Today in the corporate media, Venezuela’s economic problems are used to paint the country as a failed state, in need of foreign-backed regime change.

Grenfell Tower: This Is What Austerity Looks Like by William Bowles

Image by Frank John via Flickr

by William Bowles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Investigating Imperialism
London, England
June 17, 2017

‘The Prime Minister, Theresa May, had to [flee] the site of Grenfell Tower yesterday under police guard, BBC News, 17 June 2017

The Abandonment of a Community

To the Barricades Comrades? by William Bowles

Image by duncan c via Flickr

by William Bowles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Investigating Imperialism
London, England
June 16, 2017

“From nowhere, a grassroots power base of [60,000] left-wing activists overturned Blair’s 20-year “New Labour” project, which took the party into the Clintonite center ground, and ultimately to three straight general election victories, No.10 Downing Street, and government. As the leader of Britain’s main opposition, Corbyn is technically the next prime minister in waiting. This is not a trivial achievement.

“It has left his party’s establishment stunned.” –  ‘Momentum: The Inside story of how Corbyn took control of the Labour Party‘, Business Insider, March 3, 2016

Britain’s Gambling Tories Now Risk Irish Peace by Finian Cunningham

Image by Tim Dennell via Flickr

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from Strategic Culture Foundation, June 15, 2017
June 16, 2017

Like a crazed gambler who bet the house – and lost – Theresa May’s Conservative (Tory) government is now doubling down to risk peace in Ireland so that she might cling on to power. Having lost her party’s overall majority in the House of Parliament in last week’s humiliating British general election, May is having to rely on a rabidly sectarian party from Northern Ireland to cobble together a working government.