Words, UnLtd. November 2002 

THE ENIGMA THAT IS ENGLAND: THE EXPATRIATE RETURNS

by Marta Steele,  October 10, 2002

     ENGLAND is the ultimate oxymoron these days: providing us with the full and accurate coverage our own media attempt to ignore or dilute into virtual trivia. Who broadcast black voters being turned away from the polls in Florida during election 2000? BBC. Who gave us accurate and detailed coverage of the illegal database scam that swiped thousands of votes away from Gore into oblivion? The Guardian, The Observer, the BBC; the independent media here sluggishly followed, with a few camouflaged op ed pieces in The New York Times; and then, in June of the following year, mainstream media finally caught on. So we owe a debt of gratitude to our former oppressors for helping us wage war against our own tyrannical Georges at this point….But meanwhile, within her own borders, against the will of the majority, Tony Blair is supporting George II in this absurd and misdirected response to bin Laden’s attack. We couldn’t find bin Laden (and reports are that the task was left too much to the Afghanis, with our supporting aerial surveillance inadequate to find that needle that is still so well sheltered by the haystack) and so we will punish someone else just to flex our imperialist muscles. That is the best explanation. Most people think it is more of a quest for cheaper oil and more dominion in the Middle East. They also suspect George II of diversion tactics, since he has shown himself so completely inept at governing in peace and would like us all to forget about the Enron debacle and related incidents and the huge economic slump that has resulted.  War is a trump card Rove and others advocated (there is written evidence that Rove inadvertently exhibited): as if human lives were worth nothing compared with keeping an ignorant megalomaniac in power.

     A key figure in disseminating all the vital information we received out of England in the past few and painful years following election 2000 is Greg Palast, a former investigative journalist for The New York Times who left this country in disgust after so many scandals he revealed never made it into print (the Shoreham Nuclear Plant, other instances of racketeering), though the public would have so greatly benefited. BBC and The Guardian and The Observer welcomed his ruthless “muckraking” that stopped short of nothing but ugly truths crippling the masses in favor of the powerful: how easily government agents could be bought off, for instance.  Disguising himself as a businessman, Palast found it so easy to violate air pollution regulations he embarrassed Tony Blair painfully and became the first journalist in the history of England to be denounced in Parliament. In that lawsuits against journalists are legal in England, it is miraculous that he thrived there for as long as he did….

     For the story is that he has returned here, to New York, continuing to work for BBC, The Guardian, CBC in Canada, and ARTE France at times, and closer to home he will film Jeb Bush in Florida this November. He leaves for Florida next week and we will certainly hear all we need to if, despite the large support that was evident for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate McBride the week after he won the primary —when his voter support was already tied with Jeb Bush according to polls— too many of the new voting machines persist in malfunctioning, more illegal databases become evident, and the illegal dynasty is not weakened despite the overwhelmingly evident will of our crippled and suffering democracy, or what is left of it. One of Palast’s key targets is defying the illegality of the double role she played as Attorney General and Bush’s campaign manager for election 2000: Katherine Harris is running for Congress from the butterfly ballot area of Palm Beach and projected to win. At least she will face the enemy head-on and be fenced into further prevarication (see the July 2002 issue of Harper’s magazine, where she answers Palast’s charges and attempts self-defense despite the NAACP victory that conceded the illegality of the $4 million database purchased by her and her coworkers).

     With the return of the relentless Palast, hope also lingers despite the tenacious opposition clinging desperately to power, sparing no brutality in that process.  So few dared protest and attempt to keep our eyes open in those shocking months after election 2000.  He is a journalist, no politician, no font of ideology, but his revelations are like oxygen where others in the US media have succumbed to intimidation and suppression.  “I don’t support particular positions,” he said.  “If my INFORMATION is helpful to activists, well, then I’ve accomplished something.” He refers to himself as “reporter non gratus” in this country.  Let us hope the climate becomes more hospitable. Until then, he is glad to be back.  “I love American,” he told me, “though New York smells worse than I remember.”

     His reason for returning?  To change the world?  Demolish evil in favor of the good? That might be the result, but his immediate, voiced concern is to spare his young children the blight of British accents. Is it too late for that? If they grow up sounding like Winston Churchill, they will have contributed his wisdom back to a media system on the brink of total absorption by Plutos, the wrong god.  Let there be no Armageddon, no Second Coming; an honest journalist who catches on and revives the media back into their true role as impartial reporters of the events without distortion, is good enough for our times. Put religion back into the churches, the objective truth back into reporting, and democracy back where it belongs.

     I asked Greg Palast if he intended to report further on the manifold irregularities and ambiguities surrounding 9/11, an issue I consider paramount.  “Where’s bin Laden, George?” he queried back.  “I just received the PROJECT CENSORED award from California State University for my story with the BBC and Guardian teams on accusations by US intelligence agents that, prior to September 11, Bush blocked the investigation of Saudi Arabian financing of terror. This does NOT mean that Bush knew about September 11 in advance.  It does mean that he went out of his way to protect this family’s financial and political benefactors.”

      Many more awards will follow for this reporter valide gratus hac in patria.

Palast’s best-selling THE BEST DEMOCRACY MONEY CAN BUY:  An Investigative Reporter Exposes the Truth about Globalization, Corporate Cons and High Finance Fraudsters (London: Pluto Press, 2002) will be republished in this country early next year in a new American edition by Penguin Plume with four new chapters and 40 percent new material.

Copyright © Marta Steele 2002. All rights reserved.