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Actor Viggo Mortensen: Warrior-King in Lord of the Rings' Middle Earth is Peace Activist on This One
Viggo Mortensen, the actor known by millions for his portrayal of the warrior-king Aragorn in the blockbuster "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, joins us to talk about peace, the ongoing wars in the Middle East, U.S. empire, working with the late historian Howard Zinn, and his response to the growing police boycott of director Quentin Tarantino’s films for speaking out against police brutality. Mortensen is a vocal advocate of progressive causes, using his celebrity to speak out for social justice. On top of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Viggo Mortensen has starred in numerous films including David Cronenberg’s movies "A History of Violence," "Eastern Promises," for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, and "A Dangerous Method," for which he received a Golden Globe Award. Mortensen is also poet, painter, photographer and book publisher who spotlights alternative voices. He is the editor at his own imprint, Perceval Press, which has just reissued the 2003 book, "Twilight of Empire: Responses to Occupation."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Our guest is a world-famous actor from one of the most popular movie franchises of all time, yet box office success is not what’s defined his career. In The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Viggo Mortensen starred as Aragorn, the warrior-king who leads the fight for Middle Earth.
GANDALF: [played by Ian McKellen] Now come the days of the king. May they be blessed.
ARAGORN: [played by Viggo Mortensen] This day does not belong to one man, but to all. Let us together rebuild this world, that we may share in the days of peace.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: "Let us together rebuild this world, that we may share in the days of peace." Viggo Mortensen might have said that in Middle Earth, but it’s a line that applies to him on this Earth, as well. Mortensen is a vocal advocate of progressive causes, using his celebrity to speak out for social justice. Mortensen has appeared in numerous performances of Howard Zinn’s Voices of a People’s History of the United States and is a cast member of the television documentary version of The People Speak. He’ll be reading excerpts from Voices of a People’s History of the United States tonight at Lincoln Center.
AMY GOODMAN: On top of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Viggo Mortensen has starred in numerous films, including David Cronenberg’s movies A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, and A Dangerous Method, for which he received a Golden Globe Award. His most recent films include Far from Men and Jauja.
In addition to his acting pursuits, Viggo Mortensen is a poet, a painter and a photographer. And he is also a book publisher, spotlighting alternative voices. He’s the editor at his own imprint, Perceval Press, which has just reissued the 2003 book, Twilight of Empire: Responses to Occupation. Viggo Mortensen joins us here in New York.
Welcome to Democracy Now!
VIGGO MORTENSEN: Thanks for having me.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s great to have you with us. So, we’re not going to talk about Lord of the Rings right now—
VIGGO MORTENSEN: OK.
AMY GOODMAN: —or History of Violence. We’re not going to talk to you even about your latest film. But we do want to talk to you about this latest book, Twilight of Empire. You’re re-releasing it after 12 years. What is relevant about today, 2015, that actually goes back to 2003, when you first released the book?
VIGGO MORTENSEN: Well, this book, Twilight of Empire: Responses to Occupation, is a book that was published at the moment that we were invading and occupying Iraq under false pretenses, you know, based on a pack of lies. And it’s a collection of essays, reports, even poems, from commentators all over the world—Americans, Iraqis, Canadians, all kinds of people, including yourself. You wrote a really fine foreword for it at the time. And in the second edition, Howard Zinn wrote a very good foreword. And when I reread it recently, and knowing that our stocks were low because, fortunately, the book has sold out a couple times, I thought this book, unfortunately, still holds true. It’s not like you’re looking at like—like many of the things that were said in 2003 do not hold true, have been seen to be inaccurate statements and lies. This book—unfortunately, this story has not changed. It has deepened and has become more complicated.
The consequences of our—of the United States-led unjustified invasion of Iraq are clear for all to see in the region. You know, what is going on now in the Middle East and in West Asia, the problems that we face, have a lot to do with what happened in 2003. And in this new edition, there are two new essays that speak to what has happened since, from Dennis Kucinich, who was a congressman at the time and virtually the only person to stand up in Congress and say, "This is wrong. Anybody can see that the reasons that are being given for this invasion are unfounded," and also Anthony Arnove wrote a fine foreword. And Anthony Arnove is co-author of the book that you mentioned before, Voices of a People’s History of the United States. Both of these books, in a sense, are the real history, and in some cases, unfortunately, the hidden history, of the United States—and in the case of Twilight of Empire, the United States abroad, you know, as it behaves overseas.
And, you know, I was walking—I walked here today, this morning. I had lots of time, and I was thinking. And I heard, on my way down, coming out of a—it was like a radio, I guess, coming out of like a deli or, you know, like a grocery store, the national anthem. I don’t know why it was being played. I don’t know why. And it made me think about the first line of our national anthem, you know, "O say can you see." I thought, "That’s a great line. I love that line." Then I thought about the last two lines, "Land of the free and home of the brave." Those last two lines are the ones that get people up on their feet and make them feel good about themselves and their country. And they’re all fine and good. But "O say can you see" is a question, a really important question. Can you see? Can you bear witness to what is happening? Home of the brave—there’s brave people all over the world. Free? Well, freedom is relative. To be free, you have to work at it. It’s a work in progress. In the United States—in no country is everybody free. You know? It’s why I like the name of this show, Democracy Now! What does that mean? That means that democracy is not a static thing any more than a supposedly good marriage is a static thing. It takes work. You know?
There are people who don’t want to see or who would rather not find out too much about what’s going on in the world, in their country, in their community, within their own families. And then there are people who do want to see, who do want to know, who do want to find out. I’m one of those. Although I do understand that—I understand that people don’t want to see too much. You know, people don’t want to have to think that their police department or their president is committing abuses of power. They don’t want to think that their parents are committing abuses of power. You know, it’s relative.
I think that the opinions that one has, that one can give—you know, there are people who might watch this show and just say, "Well, there’s another jerk from the entertainment business shooting his mouth off." I’m a citizen of this country. I’m a citizen of the world. And as I say, I like to see. And I—and when I find out something, facts that I find interesting or disturbing, I like to share them with my friends, with others. I have as much right as anybody else to do that. How does a democracy work? How does freedom work? It works like that. People talking about what’s going on, people saying, "Did you see that?" You mentioned Quentin Tarantino. He saw, like we all could see, certain things. You know, that doesn’t mean that all cops are bad. He didn’t say that. He just said—
AMY GOODMAN: Well, hold that thought—
VIGGO MORTENSEN: Yeah, yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: —because we’re going to break and then come back to just what Quentin Tarantino said.
VIGGO MORTENSEN: Sure.
AMY GOODMAN: And we want to hear what you say about it. We are talking to Viggo Mortensen for the hour, the Academy Award-nominated actor, editor of Perceval Press, which just reissued its 2003 book, Twilight of Empire: Responses to Occupation. Yes, Viggo Mortensen has starred in many films, including the blockbuster The Lord of the Rings trilogy. This is Democracy Now! We’ll be back with Viggo in a minute. ... Read More →
"You Have to Speak Up": Viggo Mortensen Defends Quentin Tarantino's Criticism of Police Killings
Award-winning film director Quentin Tarantino is refusing to back down from his criticism of police brutality, even as police unions have launched a campaign to boycott his ... Read More →
Actor Viggo Mortensen: On Foreign Policy, Democratic Candidates Aren't Too Far from the Hawks
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have voiced support for President Obama's plan to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan through the end of ... Read More →
Acclaimed Actor Viggo Mortensen on the Pope, Poetry and Art in Politics
Actor, poet, photographer and book publisher Viggo Mortensen, star of the "Lord of the Rings" franchise, reads his poem "Back to Babylon" from his newly reissued book, "Twilight of Empire: Responses to Occupation." Mortensen also shares his thoughts on the progressive bent of Pope Francis and speaking out about injustice while leading a creative life.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, Viggo Mortensen, I’d like to ask you, because a lot of people—of course, you’re a celebrity, you’re a world-renowned actor. But you’re also very politically engaged. So could you say a little bit about what inspired you to become politically engaged in the way that you have?
VIGGO MORTENSEN: I don’t know. I mean, I’ve always been curious. I like to know what’s going on, you know? I mean, I drove my mom crazy probably as a kid by saying, "Why?" And then she would explain it. I’d go, "But why?" You know, then, "What does that mean?"
AMY GOODMAN: Where were you born?
VIGGO MORTENSEN: I was born in New York City and raised all over. My parents moved around a lot, in South America and Scandinavia, where my dad’s from.
AMY GOODMAN: You lived for years in when Buenos Aires?
VIGGO MORTENSEN: Yeah, in Argentina, yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: Let’s go for a moment to the pope. I think we have a clip of the pope during his historic visit to the U.S. in September. Pope Francis, an Argentinian, addressed Congress and spoke out against the global arms trade.
POPE FRANCIS: Why are deadly weapons being sold to those who plan to inflict untold suffering on individuals and society? Sadly, the answer, as we all know, is simply for money—money that is drenched in blood, often innocent blood. In the face of this shameful and culpable silence, it is our duty to confront the problem and to stop the arms trade.
AMY GOODMAN: Pope Francis addressing an unprecedented joint session of Congress. Never before did a pope do that. Viggo Mortensen, you lived, growing up in Buenos Aires, in Argentina. You knew the pope?
VIGGO MORTENSEN: No, but he’s blessed a chapel that I had donated and had built on the grounds of San Lorenzo, the same soccer/football team that he has supported all his life. So we have that in common, and he came and blessed that place. It’s a place that was built, and when we inaugurated it, where I said, you know, "This is a place for all—for atheists, for Jews, for Muslims, even people from other soccer teams that aren’t San Lorenzo." I thought that was fantastic, what he said. And he’s done many things, you know, but he’s going against the current within the church. And it’s amazing, what he’s been saying and many of the things that he’s been doing.
You know, I wish I could say the same thing about Barack Obama in his first and second terms, you know, everything he promised, the changes he promised. It’s not enough to say, "Well, the Republicans stymied me all the way," which is true. There are choices he made, from the people he appointed—you know, criminals from Wall Street right to start with after the 2008 collapse of the economy—and especially foreign policy. You talked about drones. I mean, I could go on and on, and I won’t.
You know, you talked about something about being engaged. There are many ways of being engaged. One is to talk about politics.
AMY GOODMAN: And you speak also, by the way, many languages, right? English, Spanish.
VIGGO MORTENSEN: Yeah, well, I’m interested. I like to know what people are talking about, so sometimes you have to learn other languages.
AMY GOODMAN: What other languages? Your father is from?
VIGGO MORTENSEN: Denmark.
AMY GOODMAN: So you speak—
VIGGO MORTENSEN: Yeah, and I speak French andAMY GOODMAN: Danish, Swedish.
VIGGO MORTENSEN: Once you learn a couple as a kid, then it’s easy to learn others.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s easy for you to say.
VIGGO MORTENSEN: But, you know, this thing about—we can talk about politics and talk about facts. Sometimes—as I said, this book, Twilight of Empire, has not only essays and reports from that moment in 2003, but there are also poems by different people. And I have a poem in here.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Could you please read it, actually, "Back to Babylon," please?
VIGGO MORTENSEN: I’ll take the liberty of reading it, because sometimes you can say things with a poem in a different way. And this is written in 2003 right at the point of the invasion, or just before it; in February of 2003, it was written. And it takes place in Iraq, or what used to be Babylon, you know, that part of the world that’s traversed by the rivers, you know, the Tigris and the Euphrates. Anyway, it’s called "Back to Babylon."
Accept and forget difference or desire that separates and leaves us longing or repelled. Why briefly return to play in broken places, to mock the ground, to collect infant shards, coins, fossils, or the familiar empty canisters and casings that glint from poisoned roots in the blackened dust? We make bad ghosts, and are last to know or believe we too will fade, just as our acrid smoke and those strange flakes of skin and strands of hair will, into largely undocumented extinction. Lie down, lie down; sleep is the best thing for being awake. Do as we’ve always been told and done, no backward glances or second thoughts, leaving sad markers buried in the sand. Sleep now, dream of children with their heads still on, of grandmothers unburdening clotheslines at twilight, of full kettles slow-ticking over twig embers. Ignore boneless, nameless victims that venture out on bitter gravel to claim remains while we rest.
Pay at the window for re-heated, prejudiced incantations. Take them home and enjoy with wide-screen, half-digested, replayed previews of solemn national celebration. Then sleep, by all means; we’ll need all the energy we can muster for compiling this generation’s abridged anthology of official war stories, highlights of heedless slaughter, to burnish our long and proud imperial tradition. At some point, by virtue of accidentally seeing and listening, we may find ourselves participating in our own rendering. Few of our prey will be left alive enough to water the sun with their modest, time-rubbed repetitions, to rephrase their particular, unifying laws. Our version of events has already made its money back in foreign distribution and pre-sales; all victory deadlines must be met.
It can get so quiet, with or without the dead watching our constant deployments. From our tilted promontory we may see one last woman scuffle away across cracked parchment of dry wash beneath us, muttering to herself—or is she singing at us?—as she rounds the sheared granite face and disappears into a grove of spindly, trembling tamarisk shadows lining the main road. We’ll soon hear little other than our breathing, as shale cools and bats rise to feed, taking over from sated swallows. Night anywhere is home, darkness a cue for turning inward, quiet an invitation to review our expensive successes before morning extraction from the twin rivers of our common cradle.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s Viggo Mortensen reading "Back to Babylon," his own writing in Twilight of Empire: Responses to Occupation, a book that has been released after 12 years, released when the U.S. invaded Iraq and now in 2015. In the last few minutes we have together, what words do you have for young artists, actors—you’re a musician, as well, you’re a photographer—who might be afraid to speak out in the way you have? I mean, in a sense, it’s what makes you the Renaissance man you’re described as. You are not only—you know, are involved in all these different fields in the world, but you speak out on many different issues. What about people who are afraid, feel it will destroy their career, that they can never star in Lord of the Rings if they dare to read something like that?
VIGGO MORTENSEN: I don’t know. I think each person has to make their own decisions. You know, each person has to answer the question, "O say can you see?" O say do you want to see? I would say, don’t take no for an answer in terms of career, whether it’s an actor or writer. Someone who wants to be a director, someone who wants to be a journalist, like yourselves, don’t take no for an answer for something you really want to do. Just stick to it. Stick around. You learn a lot by listening to others, by paying attention, by making a conscious effort to see. I understand, as I said before, that people a lot of times don’t want to know, certainly don’t want to speak about what they’ve seen, because it’s unpleasant. It can be depressing when you start to dig around and find out things.
And there is that fear that you speak of. You know, am I going to lose the job? Is my movie not going to be seen by many people? Are people going to hate me? I mean, those things do happen. You know, people are blacklisted. One of the most important activists of the 20th century in the United States was Paul Robeson. And he was someone who spoke truth to power in the way Howard Zinn does and Anthony Arnove and all these people in Twilight of Empire and all these ordinary Americans throughout the history of the United States in Voices of a People’s History of the United States do. Paul Robeson, because when he would go overseas and perform, spoke about U.S. foreign policy and about, you know, the tyrannical aspect of U.S. foreign policy, so the next time he came home, they had his passport taken away. He was not allowed to travel. And he talked about being a member of the U.S. resistance movement, in the same sense that, you know, there were some in France who were part of the resistance movement against the Nazis. When he equated the two things, people were scandalized.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we have to wrap up now. But from Paul Robeson to Viggo Mortensen, we hope we can continue the conversation. Viggo Mortensen is a world-renowned actor, editor of Perceval Press, which just reissued the 2003 book, Twilight of Empire: Responses to Occupation. He will be tonight performing in a reading of Voices of a People’s History of the United States at the Atrium at Lincoln Center. And tomorrow night, Friday night, at 7:00, we’ll be together at Jackson McNally Books—McNally Jackson Books. ... Read More →Headlines:
MSF Report on U.S. Bombing of Hospital: "Attack Was Conducted with Purpose to Kill"
Doctors Without Borders has released an internal report on the U.S. bombing of its hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. The U.S. airstrike on October 3 killed at least 30 people, including 13 staff members, 10 patients and seven unrecognizable victims yet to be identified. Doctors Without Borders has said the strike appears to be a war crime. The new report describes patients burning in their beds, medical staff who were decapitated and lost limbs, and staff members shot from the air while they fled the burning building. The report described doctors and other medical staff being shot while running to reach safety in a different part of the compound. Doctors Without Borders says it provided the GPS coordinates to U.S. and Afghan officials weeks before, and that the strikes continued for half an hour after U.S. and Afghan authorities were told the hospital was being bombed. Doctors Without Borders general director Christopher Stokes said: "The view from inside the hospital is that this attack was conducted with a purpose to kill and destroy. But we don’t know why."
Mexico Supreme Court Opens Door to Marijuana Legalization
In Mexico, the Supreme Court has issued a strong condemnation of the U.S.-backed war on drugs and paved the way for the possible legalization of marijuana. On Wednesday, the court ruled four people who had applied for a license to grow and use marijuana have the right to do so. The case lays the groundwork for future legal action in Mexico that could lead to legalization nationwide. Uruguay legalized marijuana in 2013, and medical marijuana legalization bills are being debated in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Costa Rica. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto spoke after the ruling.
President Enrique Peña Nieto: "The government respects the definitions of the Supreme Court of the nation, and particularly on this issue. I am also clear that this position opens a wide debate for eventually discussing a regulation on the issue of the consumption of marijuana. This means for us that the deliberation now will be about the commercialization for consumption and the legalization of marijuana consumption."
This comes as presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has introduced legislation that would end the federal prohibition on marijuana, allowing states the power to legalize and regulate marijuana in the same way state and local laws now govern the sale of alcohol and tobacco, without fear of federal impediment.
Bernie Sanders Introduces Bill to Ban Drilling on Public Land
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders also introduced legislation Wednesday to ban new drilling on public lands and waters. The Keep It in the Ground Act would prohibit offshore drilling in the Arctic and the Atlantic and stop new federal leases for oil, gas or coal extraction on federal lands. Sanders spoke out Wednesday.
Sen. Bernie Sanders: "So if we are serious about moving aggressively with the rest of the world, we have got to lead. And that says, as Senator Merkley has said so well, that we do not continue to extract fossil fuel from federally owned land. You can’t talk the talk and say, ’I’m concerned about climate change,’ and then at the same time, 'Oh, by the way, we're going to extract huge amounts of oil or coal or gas from federal land.’ You can’t do that."
Romania: Prime Minister Ousted Amid Growing Protests
In Romania, Prime Minister Victor Ponta has resigned amid massive protests over a night club fire that killed 32 people. Following his resignation Wednesday, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Bucharest to demand an end to corruption. One protester told Al Jazeera, "If the system doesn’t remove corrupt people by itself, people will make their own justice. If in 1989 people fought for liberty, in 2015 we are fighting for justice."
Britain Unveils Plan for Sweeping New Surveillance Powers
Britain has unveiled a plan for sweeping new surveillance powers, which include giving the government the ability to monitor which websites people visit. Experts say parts of the new bill go beyond even the surveillance powers allowed in the United States. Home Secretary Theresa May called the new powers "unprecedented," while also promising transparency.
Theresa May: "Mr. Speaker, the legislation we are proposing today is unprecedented. It will provide unparalleled openness and transparency about our investigatory powers. It will provide the strongest safeguards and world-leading oversight arrangements. And it will give the men and women of our security and intelligence agencies and our law enforcement agencies, who do so much to keep us safe and secure, the powers they need to protect our country."
On Twitter, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden said: "By my read, #SnoopersCharter legitimizes mass surveillance. It is the most intrusive and least accountable surveillance regime in the West."
PM David Cameron Says Explosive Device May Have Downed Russian Plane
British Prime Minister David Cameron has said it is "more likely than not" that an explosive device brought down a Russian passenger plane in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula over the weekend. The crash killed 224 people. Britain has suspended flights to and from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Both Russia and Egypt have pushed back against the claim that the plane was bombed. Russia said such theories are "speculation," while Egypt said there is "no evidence" yet to support them. In an audio message, an affiliate of the self-proclaimed Islamic State took responsibility, saying it had "taken down" the plane. Anonymous U.S. officials are now claiming that intelligence suggests the plane was bombed by ISIL or one its offshoots.
Turkey: Magazine Editors Arrested over Election Cover
In Turkey, the editors of left-leaning magazine Nokta have been arrested and charged with attempting to instigate a coup after it published a cover suggesting the results of Sunday’s national election could lead to a "civil war." The party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan regained its parliamentary majority on Sunday. The victory helps Erdogan strengthen a hold on power critics say has become increasingly authoritarian. Nokta editor Ismail Eren spoke out about the magazine cover and his colleagues’ arrest.
Ismail Eren: "We picked our cover with the idea that the results of the election may polarize the country and may bring the people to a breaking point. It was not an insult or a provocation. When you read the story, you can see that it is just the summary of what has been going on. But the prosecutor’s office interpreted that as abetment and decided to take our magazine out of circulation, and they also detained our editor-in-chief, Cevheri Güven, and editor Murat Çapan."
Egyptian Court Postpones Mubarak Trial over 2011 Killing of Protesters
Egypt’s top court has postponed the final trial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak over the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising against his rule. Mubarak was originally sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to murder demonstrators, but a retrial was ordered on appeal. The court has adjourned the retrial until January 21.
Illinois: Police Officer Orchestrated "Carefully Staged Suicide"
In Fox Lake, Illinois, an investigation has found police officer Charles Gliniewicz elaborately staged his suicide in September in order to look like he had been killed in the line of duty. The probe also reveals Gliniewicz stole and laundered money from a police department program for at least seven years. On the morning of September 1, the officer sent word over his radio that he was pursuing three people on foot. Three minutes later, he requested backup. When more officers arrived, they found Gliniewicz dead. The department then launched a massive manhunt, with more than 400 law enforcement officers raking through heavy woods on foot, in all-terrain vehicles and on horseback. The death was originally investigated as a homicide, but on Wednesday the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force commander announced the death was "a carefully staged suicide, [which] was the end result of extensive criminal acts that Gliniewicz had been committing." Before Wednesday’s revelations that the officer had in fact killed himself, his death had been used by police groups to denounce the Black Lives Matter movement. In September, Fox Lake residents gathered after Gliniewicz’s death with signs that read "Police Lives Matter," and the head of the national Fraternal Order of Police told The Washington Post: "There’s a hostile element within the community at large."
AL Court Declares 2nd Mistrial in Case of Cop who Beat Indian Man
Meanwhile, in Alabama, a second mistrial has been declared in the trial of a Madison police officer in a case that left an Indian grandfather partially paralyzed. In February, Officer Eric Parker and other officers approached Sureshbhai Patel as he was taking a walk, after a neighbor called to report a "skinny black guy" in the neighborhood. Dash camera footage shows police slamming Patel from a standing position face-first into the ground. On Wednesday, a judge declared a second mistrial after a jury deadlocked on a single charge against Officer Parker for violating Patel’s civil rights.
Louisiana: 6-Year-Old Boy Dies After Officer Opens Fire on Car
In Marksville, Louisiana, a 6-year-old boy has died and his father is critically wounded after city marshals opened fire on the family’s car. Authorities say city marshals were chasing the father, Chris Few, to serve him a warrant. When Few reached a dead end, he allegedly began to back into the marshals’ car. The officers then opened fire, killing first-grader Jeremy Mardis and critically wounding his father.
Quentin Tarantino Defends His Criticism of Police Brutality
Award-winning film director Quentin Tarantino is refusing to back down from his criticism of police brutality, even as police unions have launched a campaign to boycott his films. Tarantino sparked controversy after he called fatal police shootings "murders" during the Rise Up October rally against police brutality in New York City on October 24.
Quentin Tarantino: "I got something to say, but actually I would like to give my time to the families that want to talk. I want to give my time to the families. However, I just do also want to say: What am I doing here? I’m doing here because I am a human being with a conscience. And when I see murder, I cannot stand by, and I have to call the murdered the murdered, and I have to call the murderers the murderers. Now I’m going to give my time to the families."
Quentin Tarantino defended his remarks on MSNBC’s "All In with Chris Hayes" on Wednesday night.
Quentin Tarantino: "Now, in the case of Walter Scott, who was the man running in the park and was shot in the back, in the case of Sam DuBose, I believe those were murder, and they were deemed murder. And the reason—and the only reason they were deemed murder is because the incidences were caught on video. However, if they had not been caught on video, the murderers would have gotten away with their murder. In the case of Eric Garner, in the case of Tamir Rice, I believe that those were murders, but they were exonerated."
Other prominent cultural figures have come out in support of Tarantino, including Mark Ruffalo, musician Tom Morello, Native American activist and journalist Simon Moya-Smith and author Joyce Carol Oates. We’ll get response from actor and writer Viggo Mortensen after headlines.
George H.W. Bush Criticizes Cheney and Rumsfeld over Response to 9/11
Former President George H.W. Bush has criticized former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld over their hawkish reaction to the September 11 attacks. In a forthcoming biography, Bush is quoted as saying Rumsfeld was "an arrogant fellow" and that Dick Cheney was "iron-ass." The biography, "Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush," by Jon Meacham, will be published next week.
Report: U.S. Military Spends Millions on "Paid-For Patriotism"
Arizona Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain have released a report showing how the U.S. military has spent millions of dollars paying the NFL and other sports leagues for "paid-for patriotism" events and ceremonies. The report documents $6.8 million worth of agreements between branches of the armed forces and sports leagues over the last four years. But it says this amount is only a sliver of the $53 million the military spent on advertising with sports teams during that time.
Protesters Call on NBC to "Dump Trump" from Saturday Night Live Spot
In New York, protesters have rallied outside Manhattan’s Rockefeller Plaza to call on NBC to cancel presidential candidate Donald Trump’s upcoming performance on "Saturday Night Live." A petition to "Dump Trump" has garnered nearly half a million signatures. NBC had previously said it would cut ties with Trump after he called Mexican immigrants criminals and "rapists." But the candidate is now scheduled to guest host "Saturday Night Live" this weekend. Protester Juan Escalante spoke out at Wednesday’s protest.
Juan Escalante: "NBC needs to stand by its previous stance, break all ties with Donald Trump, and they should not have—they should not provide him with a platform to continue to attack our communities, whether it’s Latinos, immigrants or other people. I think what Donald Trump continues to say about immigrants and Latinos is distasteful, it’s insulting. And bottom line, 'Saturday Night Live' should not be trying to make fun of what Donald Trump has said, because when Donald Trump says that he plans to deport 11 million people, he means that. When Donald Trump said that Mexican immigrants are rapists, murderers, drug dealers, he meant that. And there’s no way for them to take those clips and try to repackage them and pass them off as comedy."
NYPD Arrests 50 at Rally for CUNY Professors
Police arrested more than 50 professors and their supporters during a rally for faculty on Wednesday in New York City. Protesters blocked the doors of the administrative offices of the City University of New York in Manhattan in protest of their lack of a contract and low wages. CUNY professors say they have not had a contract since 2010 and have not received raises in six years.
B&H Photo Warehouse Workers Vote to Unionize
Hundreds of warehouse workers for New York City’s B&H Photo Video have voted overwhelmingly to unionize. Wednesday’s 200-to-88 vote to join the United Steelworkers union comes after the warehouse workers organized for more than a year with the support of the group, the Laundry Workers Center. The workers are now demanding a contract that will protect them from what they describe as dangerous working conditions inside B&H’s two Brooklyn warehouses.
Canadian PM Trudeau: New Cabinet is 50% Women "Because It’s 2015"
And Canada’s new prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has announced a new Cabinet in which half of new members are women. One is a former refugee. An aboriginal woman will be minister of justice. An astronaut will be leading the Ministry of Transport. Trudeau answered a reporter’s question about the new Cabinet on Wednesday.
Reporter: "Your Cabinet, you said, looks a lot like Canada. I understand one of the priorities for you was to have a Cabinet that was gender-balanced. Why was that so important to you?"
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: "Because it’s 2015."
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"It's Always the Same War" by Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry give a news conference after a meeting in Vienna on Oct 30. (Ronald Zak / AP)
“To understand the nature of the present war — for in spite of the regrouping which occurs every few years, it is always the same war — one must realize in the first place that it is impossible for it to be decisive.”
— “1984,” by George Orwell
Barack Obama originally ran for president as the anti-war candidate. Now, as his second term winds down, the two George W. Bush/Obama wars are winding up, with a third in Syria. U.S. military forces are deployed elsewhere around the globe, as in drone striking in Yemen and Somalia, adding to the global conflagration. The United States is engaged in endless war.
The crisis of war and the millions fleeing these infernos has reached levels unprecedented since World War II, prompting the United Nations and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to issue what they called an “unprecedented joint warning” for states to end wars, respect international law and aid the 60 million refugees made homeless from recent conflicts.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “The continuing violence is a clear indication that a political solution to the conflict in Syria is desperately needed. The fighting must stop now. There is no military solution to the crisis, not in Syria or anywhere else. From Afghanistan to the Central African Republic, from Ukraine to Yemen, combatants and those who control them are defying humanity’s most basic rules.”
ICRC President Peter Maurer added: “When humanitarian law and principles are disregarded, when humanitarian needs are trumped by political agendas, when access to the wounded and sick is denied, and when security concerns lead to a suspension of operations, people are abandoned, the notion of protection loses its meaning, and humanity is flouted. We ask that states reaffirm our shared humanity by concrete action and uphold their responsibility to respect and ensure respect for international humanitarian law.”
The joint plea of these leaders came shortly after U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter mentioned that the U.S. military would be engaging in “direct action” in Iraq and Syria. White House press secretary Josh Earnest confirmed in a briefing that troops had been deployed to Syria. He said, “The president did make a decision to intensify that support by offering a small number of U.S. special operations military personnel to offer them some advice and assistance on the ground as they take the fight to ISIL.”
The conflict in Syria has become one with numerous internal actors and an increasing number of outside participants, waging proxy wars with conflicting interests. The U.S. and Russia are there, as is Iran and Shiite militias under their control, and their allies from Hezbollah. U.S.-backed Kurdish peshmerga are being attacked by Turkey, a U.S. ally. ISIS, the so-called Islamic State, is fighting the Assad government, but it is also fighting al-Qaida-linked groups like the Khorasan Group and the al-Nusra Front.
“Only by taking stock of the full magnitude of our military failure can we come to an appreciation of the imperative of beginning to think differently about our approach to the region,” Andrew Bacevich told me on the “Democracy Now!” news hour. Bacevich is a retired colonel, Boston University professor and Vietnam veteran. “The alternative, it seems to me, is to recognize that there are some wars that are unwinnable and should not be fought. If there is a solution to the problem, it has to come from nonmilitary means,” he added. Like Bacevich, his son was an Army officer. He was killed while serving in Iraq in 2007.
Finding an end to this ever-widening war is the responsibility of us all.
Back in 2001, when the Bush administration sought congressional approval to attack Afghanistan after 9/11, only one member of Congress voted no, California Rep. Barbara Lee. “September 11th changed the world. Our deepest fears now haunt us. Yet, I am convinced that military action will not prevent further acts of international terrorism against the United States,” she said in her two-minute plea from the House floor. “As a member of the clergy so eloquently said, ‘As we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore.’”
It is much more difficult to wage peace than to wage war.
Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 1,200 stations in North America. She is the co-author of “The Silenced Majority,” a New York Times best-seller.
(c) 2015 Amy Goodman
Distributed by King Features SyndicateWEB EXCLUSIVE
Charlie Savage on Guantánamo’s Future & "Power Wars: Inside Obama’s Post-9/11 Presidency" (Pt. 2)
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