Tariq Ali Helps Celebrate Media Alliance's 30 Years at the Brava! Center in San Francisco

Tariq Ali, David Barsamian, and the Kronos Quartet Celebrate Media Alliance's 30 Years at the Brava! Center in San Francisco.

The presentation titled "Alternative Radio: Another World Is Possible" was given in the form of a significant live radio broadcast-- on stage at the historic and beautifully restored Brava! Center for Women and the Arts located in the Mission District of San Francisco. The evening outside was typically beautiful and weather-perfect. I wondered if Ali, in the course of his whirlwind travels (he had lately come from Chicago), had paused to notice the crescent moon silently rising above the neighborhood before he entered the theater.

The presentation was divided into two hours of conversation between David Barsamian and Tariq Ali about current world affairs. Musical interludes provided by the highly acclaimed Kronos Quartet, a gifted ensemble of string musicians, marked the changing topics which ranged from an overview of hopeful events in Latin America to somewhat dire prognostications that a turbulent future is likely when Americans become aware of the total failure and misadventure of their leaders' imperialistic policies overseas.

The first hour's conversation centered mostly to the topic of Latin America. Tariq Ali daid he had visited Venezuela seven times and first met Hugo Chávez in 2003. He said Chávez uses his country's oil wealth to help the poor: transforming their lives for the better. He mentioned that unlike the United States where the media largely supports Bush uncritically, Venezuela's media is strongly opposed to the popular Chávez. He pointed to this as symbolic of Chavez's tolerance and of his interest in building a more solid and healthy democracy.

Ali agreed with Barsamian that Hugo Chávez represents something different in the way of leadership. "Chávez reads a lot of books," Ali stated plainly. "He is a reader who likes Mark Twain, Martin Luther King [Jr.], and Noam Chomsky." He pointed out that Chavez has provided a copy of Cervantes' work to every household in Venezuela-- which puzzles and confounds the Washington establishment which would prefer its adversaries to have tastes which can be manipulated.

Ali explained why powerful interests feared the election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico-- less because Obrador is perceived as a radical (he is a moderate), but because his victory would appear to be a victory for Venezuela's Chávez who is detested by those that favored Felipe Calderón. Ali believes that the election was stolen in Mexico-- and mentioned how normally respected election observers (example, Jimmy Carter) were kept away.

It is very serious, he said, when people can't choose their leaders with elections-- if they can't they will eventually resort to other means.


Ali then described the history behind Evo Morales' amazing election victory in Bolivia. Most amazing, said Ali, was that Morales was an indigenous Bolivian-- a "first" in Latin America which greatly upset the ruling oligarchies. He described the Bolivians' fight for water, the incendiary death of the seventeen year old boy Victor Hugo Daz, (Barsamian reminded the audience of how the San Francisco business Bechtel was involved in pricing water), and the mass movements that resulted in Morales' ultimate victory.

Ali then recited a poem by the poet Jaime Saenz:

If you have nothing to eat but garbage, don't say a word.
If the garbage makes you sick, don't say a word.
If they cut off your feet, if they boil your hands, if your tongue rots, if your spine
Splits in two, if your soul fines down to nothing, don't say a word.
If they poison you, don't say a word, even if your bowels slide from your mouth
And your hair stands straight up; even if your eyes well with blood, don't say a word.
If you feel good, don't feel good. If you fall behind, don't fall behind. If you die,
Don't die. If you're sad, don't be sad. Don't say a word...

Tariq Ali said that Evo Morales was the the Bolivian peoples' answer to Saenz's poem.

About Cuba's leader, Fidel Castro, Ali remarked how he has become almost too old for Washington to demonize. (Hugo Chávez appears to be taking on that role.) Ali explained that his publisher (Verso) feared that the illustration on the cover of his new book Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of Hope (which features portraits of Castro, Chávez, and Bolivian leader, Evo Morales) would become obsolete because many thought Castro would die recently. Tariq Ali had joked that Verso might have to add a halo to Castro's portrait-- which they did anyway.

Ali said he surprises many people when he tells them that he had only just recently visited Cuba for the first time, joking that he had avoided going there because he prefers to avoid "fads." More seriously, he added, he had avoided Cuba because he deplored Castro's alliance with Leonid Brezhnev. Nevertheless he said that it is understandable that many in the world have a love affair with Cuba-- especially for the education and medical aid it gives its people and exports to others (including the United States-- notably by a travel loophole once granted to some U.S. medical students by the insistence of Colin Powell).

As an aside, David Barsamian asked Ali to tell the audience about how Rolling Stone Mick Jagger came to dedicate the song "Street Fighting Man" to Ali. That led Ali to remark how a major difference between activism against the Vietnam War was different from today because culture and political activism where more intertwined.

Tariq Ali then discussed Brazil and its president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Lula, said Ali, found success through union organizing (despite being from the working class with a poor education). Lula however, he said, took a wrong turn by capitulating to demands from the IMF rather than addressing the needs of the poor in Brazil. The result, according to Ali, is that Lula's government has become very corrupt, and Brazilian society has become very ugly. Hugo Chávez summed up the situation best, said Ali, by telling Lula to his face that the United States would not even bother to try to overthrow him (because it already had from Brazil what it wants). Chávez's government has helped Argentina out in the past, and would be more interested in helping Brazil, if only Lula would refocus his priorities on helping the poor.

In the second hour of the evening's presentation at the Bravo! Center, David Barsamian and Tariq Ali turned their attention to the Middle East and the United States itself.

Here is a brief rundown of some of the things Tariq Ali said:

Lebanon:

He agrees with investigative journalist Seymour Hersh that the main reason for the U.S.-aided Israeli invasion (planned for 6 months) was to take advantage of the vacuum left by Syrian troop withdrawals. The invasion's aim was to destroy Hezbollah. The invasion failed for two reasons: it underestimated the Hezbollah's popularity (even among Christians), and because the youth being recruited into the Israeli army are more "globalized"-- less indoctrinated, and "not attuned to becoming part of the Israeli War Machine."

Palestine:

Hamas was Israel's and the United States' unwanted winner of elections, to which Palestine is made to suffer brutal daily consequences. "Gaza is a ghetto under siege... the innocents that are killed every single day are of no interest to the U.S. mainstream media."

The PLO should dissolve because a Two State solution (with a separate Palestinian state) has become an untenable idea.

Afghanistan:

The Occupation Regime is failing in every way. Afghan tribes cannot be domineered and have historically and will continue to resist occupation. The Occupying Powers (principally the Americans and British) are resorting to reactionary and indiscriminate bombing which inflames resistance... and occupying forces are now beginning to (or will soon) negotiate with the Taliban. The puppet, Hamid Karzai, appears to be an ever more bewildered figure on the world stage, and will likely soon flee. Tariq Ali noted how ludicrous it was that one of the flimsy reasons given for the Occupying Powers imposing themselves on Afghanistan was to "liberate women." Ali pointed out how virtually all factions on the U.S. "wanted list" today were once allies of the U.S.

Iraq and Iran:

The war in Iraq was pursued for more than oil (oil can always be bought): it was pursued mainly to create a "model state" in the region that would extend the United States' sphere of influence.

Ali said that he does not think the U.S. will invade Iran. He said that the U.S. military has no illusions about the catastrophic consequences an invasion would entail and ultimately will block any wild ideas coming from the government's more crazed neocons.

What America Needs:

An effective opposition party needs to be nurtured.

An alert and vigilant press is needed.

"9/11," (paraphrasing) "the work of those who wanted to end U.S.influence in their countries," was used by the U.S. govrernment to pursue imperial aims and allowed torture to be legalized. Ali noted how Americans have lost their rights of habeas corpus. Ali explained his indignation that Lynne Stewart should be targeted and unjustly jailed.

Ali recalled how past Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Văn Đồng had told him that "the Road to Watergate ran through the roads of Vietnam." He then enigmatically suggested that the current regime will meet widespread rebellions when the truths about it are revealed to the American people.

Links:

Media Alliance:
http://www.media-alliance.org/

Kronos Quartet:
http://www.kronosquartet.org

David Barsamian:
http://www.alternativeradio.org

Tariq Ali:
http://www.tariqali.org

This report is unedited. Hopefully this presentation will soon be available and broadcast-- it is impossible to convey Tariq Ali's and David Barsamian's wit which should be heard. The passionate and expertly performed music by the Kronos Quartet brought standing ovations and exhuberent "bravos."

Please direct corrections and criticisms to the comments below.