Obituary William Henry Blum (6/3/33 – 9/12/18)
Leave a comment17/04/2019 by socialistfight
| William Henry Blum (6/3/33 – 9/12/18) Blum described his life’s mission as: “If not ending, at least slowing down the American Empire. At least injuring the beast. It’s causing so much suffering around the world.” In his books and online columns, Blum devoted substantial attention to CIA interventions and assassination plots. Noam Chomsky has called Blum’s book on the CIA, “far and away the best book on the topic.” In an interview with C-SPAN in 2006, Blum stated: “Speaking about U.S. foreign policy, which is my specialty, the authors I would most recommend would be Michael Parenti, Noam Chomsky, Edward Herman, Howard Zinn and Alexander Cockburn. And those famous quotes: The “trickle-down” theory: the principle that the poor, who must subsist on table scraps dropped by the rich, can best be served by giving the rich bigger meals. No matter how paranoid or conspiracy-minded you are, what the government is actually doing is worse than you imagine. From 1945 to 2003, the United States attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements fighting against intolerable regimes. In the process, the US bombed some 25 countries, caused the end of life for several million people, and condemned many millions more to a life of agony and despair. The de facto censorship which leaves so many Americans functionally illiterate about the history of US foreign affairs may be all the more effective because it is not official, heavy-handed or conspiratorial, but woven artlessly into the fabric of education and media. No conspiracy is needed. Propaganda is to a democracy what violence is to a dictatorship. ▲ |
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