Nancy Russell reviews Consciousness Explained by Daniel C. Dennett

Daniel C. Dennett’s book Consciousness Explained, published in 1991, has been at the center of a large body of debate. Aimed at both the lay person and the scientist, the book became a bestseller and was described by the New York Times as one of the 10 best books of that year.

Peter Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History, (London: Macmillan, 2005)

One of history’s greatest mysteries, Peter Heather tells us in his new book, is “the strange death of the Roman Empire.” An up-to-date general study of the fall of the Roman Empire has long been needed. Heather is attempting to fill the gap. He draws on material previously only available in specialist publications to produce a synthesis that takes into account the last 40 years of research into late antiquity.

1. US capital, after 30 years of pounding down the living standards of workers at home and abroad; after driving Latin America into the lost decade of the 1980s, and leading it into the advanced export deprivation of the 1990s; after ruining village, small scale agriculture; after IMF/WB austerity program after austerity program dismantling mine and factory; after a one dozen, two dozen years of NAFTA, the Plaza Accords, the Washington Consensus; after decades of “special zones,” “entrepreneur enclaves,” “development areas,” turning borders and entire countries into maquilladoras, sweatshops, and massage parlors, finally found itself face to face in its home territory with the labor it had imported as the result of the capital it had exported.

Sophie Scholl—The Final Days, directed by Marc Rothemund, reconstructs the last six days in the life of anti-fascist student Sophie Scholl. She was arrested in February 1943 for distributing leaflets at the University of Munich and, together with other members of the student resistance movement Weiße Rose (White Rose), was executed shortly after.

The corporate hijack of water is on and if the current trend continues, India’s water sources will be in private hands before long.

2001: THE old man shuffled his feet, acutely embarrassed. No matter which part of India you’re in, the first thing you do is offer your guests a glass of water. And this was one part of Nallamada in Andhra Pradesh blessed with that element. Things had changed, though. “Please don’t drink it,” he said, finally. “See how it is?” he asked, showing us a tumbler. Tiny blobs of thingummy floated atop a liquid more brown than transparent. But then he brightened up. “Will you have Coca-Cola instead? That, this village has.” And so it did. As in the Aamir Khan ad. The smaller bottle for Rs. 5.

On March 27, Channel 4 News included a report by Washington Correspondent Jonathan Rugman: Hugo to go?

Rugman relentlessly smeared Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, in a piece described by John Pilger as “one of the worst, most distorted pieces of journalism I have ever seen”. (Email to Channel 4 News, copied to Media Lens, March 27, 2006)

The now deceased Catholic spiritualist, Fr. Anthony DeMello, described three acts that human beings find particularly challenging. In no special order they are; to include the excluded; to turn the other cheek and to admit when we are wrong. The inability to exercise these options comes from an over-developed ego deeply entrenched in its illusions. If one is to be an unlearner, one must readily embrace the errors he or she is bound to make on the road to truth. In the case of Peak Oil, it is quite possible that this editor has been wrong.

3. What is Fiction?

All fictions contain some fact. While Hilda Ogden is clearly fictional, such characters do exist. In that sense at least she is something of a truth about the world. Similarly, while Hilda’s home town of Weatherfield is an invention it’s one structured around reality. If nothing else the accents – even if the dialogue is totally fabricated those accents are a true part of Manchester, a truth about the world.

The Magical Transformation of the Supreme War Crime into a “Miscalculation”

The third anniversary of the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq has brought out the very worst in our national news media. Consider an item on yesterday’s Six O’Clock News on BBC1. Diplomatic Correspondent Bridget Kendall declared solemnly:

“There’s still bitter disagreement over invading Iraq. Was it justified or a disastrous miscalculation?” (Kendall, BBC Six O’Clock News, March 20, 2006)

How could the war possibly be justified when the ‘justification’ was said by Tony Blair to be the “serious and current threat” posed by Iraqi WMD? And how can “disastrous miscalculation” be presented as the opposing argument?

Introduction – 2003 And All That

Three years on, it is clear that the case for war against Iraq was based on lies. Despite the cover-ups, insider compromise and silence, there can be no serious doubt that the lies were conscious and carefully planned.

The real target of Western ’intelligence’ was not Iraq, but the British and American public – the goal was to frighten and deceive us to support a war fought for elite interests. It was to persuade us to send our troops to kill and die for profits. It was to persuade us to ignore clear warnings that, in all likelihood, we would be subject to terrorist reprisals. Such risks were clearly deemed a small price to pay for the prize that mattered – control of Iraqi oil and enhanced influence in the region and beyond.