Plus ca change, plus ca la meme chose<\/em>\u00a0my cuz Romain explains.\u00a0 But, at this intersection\u00a0of 2017 New World Order Ave. and What Now? Street, we’re likely to see more change\u00a0<\/em>than la meme chose.<\/em><\/p>\n Blum and I have broken bread together, attended anti-war rallies, sometimes seeing eye-to-eye and sometimes “I”-to-“I.”\u00a0\u00a0In a recent piece by Theodore\u00a0Sayeed, Blum is described as a kind of living encyclopedia\u00a0of the “peace movement”: http:\/\/mondoweiss.net\/2017\/01\/william-dissident-style\/<\/a><\/p>\n That’s a tribute to his careful research in books like\u00a0“Killing Hope,” “Rogue State,” “Freeing the World” and others.\u00a0 At 83, Bill has\u00a0“been around,” been a witness-insider and witness-outsider to great events.\u00a0 In the following interview\/dialogue, we’ll mesh and un-mesh world views now\u2014GC<\/p>\n *****************<\/p>\n 1. GC: <\/strong>Bill, let’s start with a general overview of What Now? Street–where we are\u00a0at the second monthof the Trump Administration. Frankly, I don’t remember this country feeling more divided–and with various elements, more divisive–than at any time since the Vietnam War era.\u00a0 I\u2019m wondering: How do we get rid of the stupidity in our elections and political life?<\/p>\n BB:<\/strong> There’s no way known to 21st century man. \u00a0We just have to keep these facts of life in mind\u2014these limitations–and build them into what we say and do.<\/p>\n 2. GC:<\/strong> Can you tell me about a situation in your experience when things seemed as bleak as now, when so many seemed as dispirited\u2026. What did you read then? What\/who inspired you? Words of wisdom–your own and others. (I was moved by your recent Anti-Empire Report [https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/02\/the-anti-empire-report-148\/<\/a>] in which you quoted Phil Ochs. I don’t think I ever appreciated Ochs so much. There were many good, real artists then\u2026, and I’m sure many fell by the wayside in my consciousness.) That’s what I’m talking about: What kept you going in the past, what keeps you going now? What words, music, personalities?)<\/p>\n BB:<\/strong> In the 60s the Vietnam War depressed me on a daily basis. \u00a0I could hardly read or watch the news. What kept me going was the anti-war movement. \u00a0It was all completely new to me–my last job had been with the State Dept, hoping to become a Foreign Service Officer (sic!<\/em>). \u00a0Suddenly, I had a new purpose in life–lots of new friends\/comrades, more sex than ever, marijuana, rallies in DC and NY; reading about socialism, mainly written by Trotskyists\u2026. I don’t have a similar environment now because I’m too critical of progressives; too many of them are uninformed, anti-communist, anti-Russia, too politically correct, and they can’t cut their umbilical cord to the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n 3. GC:<\/strong> The Iranian site where I recently posted my response to Ayatollah Khamenei’s speech [linked to here at Veterans News Now]: http:\/\/www.veteransnewsnow.com\/2017\/02\/09\/1014051we-thank-trump-for-exposing-the-reality-of-the-u-s-ayatollah-khamenei\/ <\/a>has great interest in seeing this interview with you. You wrote me that you basically agreed with my viewpoints about Hillary-Russia and Trump-Iran dangers. Can you go farther\/deeper–cite examples? (An editor in Iran writes me: \u201cI\u2019d like to know his views regarding the revolution in Iran and how the revolution could change contemporary history. Also, what’s his take on the leadership of Ayatollah Khamenei and the way he has led Iran in the past 3 decades standing against the pressures from the US?\u201d<\/p>\n BB:<\/strong> I am not enough of a student of Iranian matters to comment on such things. Also, I’m an atheist who does not enjoy immersing himself in religious matters too much. But I certainly support Iran in its struggle with the Yankee dinosaur. They can never let their guard down in dealing with Washington.<\/p>\n 4. GC:<\/strong> Theodore Sayeed wrote a laudatory piece about you http:\/\/mondoweiss.net\/2017\/01\/william-dissident-style<\/a>, citing your decades-long achievements as writer\/journalist\/historian\/activist. Many who know the range of your work will agree with Sayeed\u2019s appraisal. However, there is one article you wrote last summer\u2014\u201cPolitical correctness demands diversity in everything but thought\u201d–which follows you around like a bad odor: http:\/\/www.informationclearinghouse.info\/article45285.htm. <\/a>In fact, it was quoted at length in the comments section of Sayeed\u2019s article. You wrote therein: \u201cIt\u2019s not easy for an old anti-imperialist like myself, but I support Western military and economic power to crush the unspeakable evil of ISIS.\u201d And: \u201cmy readers, and many like them, have to learn to stop turning the other cheek when someone yelling \u2018Allahu Akbar\u2019 drives a machete into their skull.\u201d T.S. Eliot wrote about \u201cvisions and revisions.\u201d I wonder if you\u2019d care to rephrase your expressiveness here?<\/p>\n BB:<\/strong> No! \u00a0In fact, my next Anti-Empire Report (early March) returns to this theme with no apologies. You better get a can of deodorizer spray!<\/p>\n 5. GC:<\/strong> A follow-up point\u2026. I had the pleasure and honor of meeting Johan Galtung (and his wife, Fumiko) last year. Johan is considered the founder\/father of the modern academic discipline of \u201cPeace Studies.\u201d I know he respects you as a thinker and vice versa. What techniques of dialogue do you endorse to move us beyond another century of war\/destruction and madness? How do we free ourselves of these imbroglios?<\/p>\n BB:<\/strong> If you mean techniques of dialogue with those in power… it ain’t gonna happen. And, if it did, it would mean that those in power had selected their audience.\u00a0 Only a revolution can produce the changes you speak of.\u00a0 And that ain’t gonna happen in my or your lifetime.\u00a0 Wish I could be more positive.<\/p>\n 6. GC:<\/strong> I\u2019ve asked you about favorite \u201cartists\u201d–people who \u201cinspired\u201d you (like Phil Ochs, et. al.). Recently, you told me you like to read Robert Parry of Consortium News. Can you tell me why? Who else? (You can guide many younger people now\u2014point them in the right direction.)<\/p>\n BB:<\/strong> Parry shares my politics very much and is even more knowledgable about many such matters than I am.\u00a0 He’s also a lot younger, so he has more of the energy needed to go back in time and remind us of all the relevant things.\u00a0 And he writes with great clarity.<\/p>\n 7. GC:<\/strong> We\u2019re about 5 weeks into the most contentious Presidential Administration in my memory! Now, let\u2019s say, in some Wonderland, Trump creates a Cabinet post for you\u2014\u201cMinister of the Left\u201d (and, equally miraculously, Congress accedes). How would you advise him to proceed? How should the Left proceed?<\/p>\n BB:<\/strong> Until very recently I assumed (wishful thinking?) that Trump had a Left side that, once he was in power, would show his true self.\u00a0 But with each General and Goldman-Sachs appointment he makes that assumption becomes harder to maintain.\u00a0 I no longer have much hope for him except– maybe– he won’t go to war with Russia and won’t close down RT [the \u201cRussia Today\u201d news channel and site] in the US.<\/p>\n 8. GC:<\/strong> It seems to me there is a real schism between what I call the \u201cOld Left\u201d and the \u201cNew Left\u201d\u2014or, the \u201cHollywood Left.\u201d What\u2019s your take on that? Any way to heal the rift?<\/p>\n BB: <\/strong>The issues for me are still the same: capitalism has outlived its usefulness and has to be replaced by a socialism that could amaze people everywhere, if the capitalist powers dared to allow it the breathing room it would need.\u00a0\u00a0 This has never happened before;\u00a0every attempt at socialism has been invaded, overthrown, destabilized, or otherwise had life made impossible for it by the capitalist powers.\u00a0 No exception.<\/p>\n 9. GC:<\/strong> What keeps you awake at night? What worries you most now? (Not personally, but collectively?)<\/p>\n BB:<\/strong> The environment can explode in countless different ways.\u00a0 Even if the environmentalists’ theories are wrong\u2026we’ll only waste time and money by following them.\u00a0 But, if we follow the conservatives and do nothing, and they’re wrong, we’ll lose everything; i.e., the world.<\/p>\n 10. GC:<\/strong> I asked you before, what has kept you going. And I just asked you about your concerns now. Let\u2019s take it one step further. A few years ago, I read a fascinating book by futurologist Ray Kurzweil, \u201cThe Singularity Is Near\u201d\u2014in which K. meditated on how developments in genetics, nano-technology, robotics and virtual reality would fundamentally change our world in 2030. Can you imagine the world in 2030? Is it possible to have a positive vision of the world then?<\/p>\n BB:\u00a0<\/strong>No\u2026, no\u2026.\u00a0 I tend to avoid futuristic stuff; tough enough trying to understand the present and predicting an election.<\/p>\n _______________________________________<\/p>\n I first met writer\/journalist\/historian\/thinker\/activist William [Bill] Blum 11 years ago. Blum and I have broken bread together, attended anti-war rallies, sometimes seeing eye-to-eye and sometimes “I”-to-“I.” In a recent piece by Theodore Sayeed, Blum is described as a kind of living encyclopedia of the “peace movement.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-transcend-members"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87423\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/gary-corseri-150x150.png\")
<\/a>Dr. Gary Steven Corseri is a m<\/em>ember of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment.<\/a> He<\/em> has published and posted articles, fiction and poems at hundreds of venues, including,<\/em> TMS (Transcend Media Service<\/a>)<\/a>, The New York Times, Village Voice, Redbook Magazine and<\/em> Counterpunch.\u00a0 He has published 2 novels and 2 collections of poetry, and his dramas have been produced on<\/em> PBS-Atlanta and elsewhere.\u00a0 He has performed his poems at the Carter Presidential Library and Museum and has taught in universities in the US and Japan, and in US public schools and prisons.\u00a0 Contact: Gary_Corseri@comcast.net<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"