William Bowles – Essays
-
Israel – Britain’s Imperialist Rottweiler By William Bowles
Frankly, I am beside myself with despair and anger at the actions of the Israeli government which have, as one commentator put it, more in common with the Nazi onslaught on the Warsaw Ghetto than any nonsense about defending the Israeli people from ‘terrorism’. Continue reading
-
Cockroaches of the World Unite! By William Bowles
There can be no clearer example of the inherently racist nature of Western ‘civilisation’ than the events of the past week. And if anyone doubt the power of language to shape our perception of events let them look no further than the alleged exemplar of ‘objective’ reporting, the BBC and its treatment of the genocidal… Continue reading
-
Connecting the dots by William Bowles
One has to ask the question why the media feels it necessary to ridicule the idea of a conspiracy, especially a government-inspired one. Could it be because it’s just too close to home? Continue reading
-
Law ‘n’ disorder By William Bowles
Far from being secure in its post-Communist world, Capital reveals to all and sundry just how insecure it is. But it is no simple matter to simply dispose of the ‘luxury of democracy’ as and when the State dictates, it has after all spent the better part of a century convincing us that capitalist ‘democracy’… Continue reading
-
Nigeria’s hidden history By William Bowles
This particular history haunts Africa to this day and one that the British Establishment have yet to pay for, for it resulted in the deaths of millions and almost led to the break-up of Nigeria. The results determined the nature of the Nigeria of today including all the talk about post-colonial ‘corruption’. And, it should… Continue reading
-
Death to ‘al-Zarqawi’! Long may he live! By William Bowles
Since the ‘death’ of ‘al-Zarqawi’ reams have been written from both a ‘left’ and right perspective on the significance of his death or even, as I along with other writers have asserted, whether the damn fellow existed in the first place, at least as he has been portrayed. Continue reading
-
Specific intelligence? By William Bowles
Last night (13/6/06) the Channel 4 News report on the invasion by an assault force of more than 250 state employees on the homes of two innocent citizens of this (formerly) green and pleasant land, Mohammed Abdul Kahar and his brother Abdul Koyair, opened with a list of all things reported by the media that… Continue reading
-
Why do we do it? By William Bowles
There must be thousands of us, banging out our ‘blogs’ (damn, I hate this word!). Broadly speaking, we seem to be united by a common ethos, namely justice and a deep commitment to making some kind of positive impact on the way the world is shaped. We identify ourselves by all sorts of names but… Continue reading
-
al-somebody or other By William Bowles
According to reports, the new leader of ‘al-Qu’eda in Iraq’ is Abu Hamza al Muhajir. Apparently a website statement signed by al Qaeda said its council had unanimously agreed on Sheikh Abu Hamza al Muhajir to succeed al Zarqawi. Continue reading
-
Pulling corpses out of the hat By William Bowles
There can be no doubt that the ‘death’ of ‘Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’ is part of a carefully planned disinformation campaign designed to divert attention away from the slaughter of Haditha (and elsewhere), a campaign that the corporate and state media have gleefully participated in. Indeed, ‘al-Zarqawi’ is itself a psy-ops programme in its own right,… Continue reading
-
And now for something completely (in)different By William Bowles
Okay, okay, I know there’s all kind of shit going down. This morning for example BBC Radio 4 News ran a long piece on the reported death of ‘Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, how he was “leader of al-Qu’eda in Iraq” and how, with his alleged death, things would now be different in Iraq. The report by… Continue reading
-
It’s down to Fundamentals By William Bowles
Under the cover of the ‘terrorist threat’, even the vaguest accusation becomes the basis for terrorising entire communities, truly a witch-hunt. Judging by this event, we can expect more of the same over the coming weeks and months, with other, almost exclusively Muslim communities the target of massive swoops by hundreds of police and security… Continue reading
-
Independence Day By William Bowles
There could be no better exemplar of the mindset of the servants of capital than yesterday’s (3/6/06) editorial in the London Independent. Titled ‘A protracted and messy conflict, with its myriad dark corners’, at first reading it would seem to be a condemnation of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, but a closer examination reveals… Continue reading
-
Climate of Fear By William Bowles
So finally, the reality of global climate change hits the media? The BBC for example, is blasting the public with blood-curdling doccies with titles like ‘Climate Chaos’, the series, and they’ve roped in the venerable David Attenborough to host, along with the predictable line-up of ‘experts’ suitably equipped with charts and computer predictions of impending… Continue reading
-
Sitting in the house that Capital built By William Bowles
What an irony therefore, that with the ‘triumph’ of Capital, everything ends up being identical, from the rural backwater of Braga to the malls of Porto. Pizzahut Rules, Okay! Continue reading
-
Dig a deep hole and then lie out of it By William Bowles
Guimarães used to be a centre of the Portuguese textile industry but like many other industrial areas of Europe the manufacturing got relocated to sweatshops in Asia or Latin America, so with the help of lavish EU funding, the place has been transformed into yet another ‘heritage’ site and the neighbourhood in which I found… Continue reading
-
Tony Blair’s Pet Bulldog? The Curious Case of Colonel Tim Spicer By William Bowles
20 May 2006 Tim Spicer (right) is an ex-soldier from the Scots Guards, an elite unit of the British Army, a veteran of Northern Ireland (where he got his OBE) and the Falklands, and he also served in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s. Spicer’s (defunct) company, Sandline International took over from Executive Outcomes (EO) which was… Continue reading
-
Oh my, how things haven’t changed By William Bowles
For those readers old enough (or well up on history) what strikes one about the current situation is just how nothing has actually changed when it comes to how the media covers events of importance, especially when it’s ‘us’ versus ‘them’, the ‘us’ being white, European/American ‘civilisation’ and the ‘them’—well pretty much the rest of… Continue reading
-
Alienated Masses, Alienated Media By William Bowles
The dilemma the independent media confronts is as follows: setting up shop is easy, almost too easy but unlike corporate media websites which not only have the resources to market their online presence along the length of the high street, because they also own and control traditional media; print, radio and tv, they are able… Continue reading
-
Crunch time for capitalism or how the past returns to haunt the present By William Bowles
Computers are wonderful tools—sometimes. A couple of days ago I almost got through writing this piece and inadvertently tossed the damn thing away, back-ups and all! Not having a photographic memory, I was forced to try and reconstruct my original essay which is frankly an impossibility and in any case, it seemed pointless trying to… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 