I put to you that the United States is without doubt the greatest show on the road. Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be but it is also very clever. As a salesman it is out on its own and its most saleable commodity is self love. It’s a winner. Listen to all American presidents on television say the words, ‘the American people’, as in the sentence, ‘I say to the American people it is time to pray and to defend the rights of the American people and I ask the American people to trust their president in the action he is about to take on behalf of the American people.’
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It quite simply doesn’t give a damn about the United Nations, international law or critical dissent, which it regards as impotent and irrelevant. It also has its own bleating little lamb tagging behind it on a lead, the pathetic and supine Great Britain.
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How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal? One hundred thousand? More than enough, I would have thought. Therefore it is just that Bush and Blair be arraigned before the International Criminal Court of Justice. But Bush has been clever. He has not ratified the International Criminal Court of Justice. Therefore if any American soldier or for that matter politician finds himself in the dock Bush has warned that he will send in the marines. But Tony Blair has ratified the Court and is therefore available for prosecution. We can let the Court have his address if they’re interested. It is Number 10, Downing Street, London.
Did I pique your interest enough? Please do me a favor and watch Harold Pinter’s Nobel Speech or read it online. It’s well worth your time. What starts off as a slow recollection of his life and works gather momentum and almost explodes with unflinching energy towards the end. There is such tremendous power at the disposal of writers and poets, something that has already been brought to the foray, thanks to Pablo Neruda in his poem I’m Explaining a Few Things. I wish many more would utilize this power to give fuel to their thoughts and guide others in the right direction.
Hey thanks for digging that one out…
Balu- Sure!
Do read the transcript…it’s a great read.
Read half yest need to complete it now!
Nice! even though that speech did seem a little boring in the beginning, but the way he talked about his plays and all is also fun. I never really thought about plays like that..never really thought the concept of characters developing themselves. But it seems all so true now. Badhiya read.
Powerful. It’s a great read especially his proposal for President Bush’s speech.
Balu- Are you treating this like a school assignment? Heh.
Ish- Yes, it starts off very slowly and you don’t even know what he is going to talk about. You really need to credit him for the fact that he used the most important 45 mins. in his literary career to highlight the wrong doings in this world and made many people aware of the mishappenings. Definitely one of the best speeches that I’ve ever heard.
Ashish- Yes, it’s very powerful.
I was completely blown off by the last 20 minutes of the lecture, when he openly criticizes US and his nation, UK. Takes a lot of guts to do something of that sort, esp. if it a Nobel Acceptance Speech.
I am her lamb. Can’t wait to see where the future of this country will be.
Yes, will be quite interesting to wait and watch. But what do you think will really happen? Nothing will change.
Thanks for commenting and welcome to my blog- Ruhi