John le Carré (1931-2020) on the Iraq War, Corporate Power, the Exploitation of Africa & More

The world-renowned British novelist John le Carré died on December 12 at the age of 89. Le Carré established himself as a master writer of spy novels in a career that spanned more than half a century. He worked in the British Secret Service from the late 1950s until the early '60s, at the height of the Cold War - which was the topic of his early novels. His later works focused on the inequities of globalization, unchecked multinational corporate power and the role national spy services play in protecting corporate interests. His best-known books include "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" and "The Constant Gardner." Le Carré was also a fierce critic of the U.S. response to the 9/11 attacks and the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq. In 2010, he appeared on Democracy Now! for a rare in-depth interview.
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[@terrylovesenegal]

John le Carré we will truly miss you and your blunt honesty. HUGE LOSS.

[@duncanjgraham4115]

Surely one of the most effective interviews with the Master. Interesting to see how the interviewers position themselves to the side, putting le Carré centre stage: the story being the guest, not the host.

[@Tuxedo2680]

"The shareholder is the excuse to everything" ... War, poverty, injustice, systemic corruption, pathological greed and ultimately, mass extinction.

[@JB-vb6dh]

. . . Ultimately, mass extinction 😳😔

[@JK-gu3tl]

shareholder is as close to a socialist as you can get, ironically.

[@terenceh3661]

@@JK-gu3tl A share holder is as close to exploitation, and modern day slavery as you can get... which equals capitalism. just because you say it, doesn't make it true

[@JK-gu3tl]

@@terenceh3661 Shareholders can hire and fire a board of directors. Nothing close to slavery.

[@terenceh3661]

@@JK-gu3tl Share holders and board of directors, oh please. I am talking about the fundamental roots of slavery, using free labour, plain and simple. When you exploit people to achieve profit, but don't lift a finger yourself, that is economic slavery. There are companies with huge government contracts guaranteed profits, try buying shares into that company... you can't.

[@pb6344]

Thanks for re-airing the interview. Oddly, this is so relevant today. Not much has changed.

[@rumorhasit9506]

It only gets worse!

[@RogerBarraud]

How about now? :-/

[@jonathanevans4133]

The sad loss of an amazing gentleman

[@loop1479]

Everything has changed. Where the facade was we were fighting the evil offshore enemy, WE are now the enemy.

[@BabuSathyanarayana]

Our outrage at the wrongs will hopefully change the future

[@kicka11]

This is the most interesting and insightful interview I’ve seen in many years. What a truly great and ethical man.

[@RoBert-on1kb]

Your ass is ethical.

[@olen2808]

Amy, Democracy Now, Merry Christmas, Thank You for ALL Your Honorable, Humane Contributions as a Good Citizen, a Good Journalist, a Good American.

[@rdpatterson2682]

“Victims never forget, winners do and very quickly.” Remember those words.

[@22grena]

Hence the Irish and the English. Interestingly Cornwell visited West Cork in 2019 to research his Irish roots through his Grandmother and gain Irish citizenship.

[@dvsurvivor8699]

I wrote my comment B4 seeing your... interesting coincidence!

[@josephfigueira813]

The words are not new. The court system is the same. When you are force to accept things we did not do, for plea deal.

[@josephfigueira813]

One question , How do .you sleep and do you ever think about your family you love?

[@tomitstube]

exactly... 9-11 is never talked about in that context. i remember the shock of everyone (american) around me watching those images of the world trade center and pentagon, the real surprise (to me) was just how many people were surprised that anyone could hate us that much. george bush jr. idiotically saying. "they hate our way of life." and if it wasn't self evident that the corporate media had cultivated that ignorance, it should have been even more evident when every corporate network, including the so-called "liberal" ny times and washington post supported the call for war *(with iraq, a country that had nothing to do with it)* 10-1. every voice contradicting (telling the truth) bush/cheney propaganda was quickly suppressed or demonized. it's much worse than "forgetting", it's willful ignorance designed to keep the public clueless.

[@simonrodriguez4685]

Too bad he didn’t give more interviews, he was an awesome interviewee. 6:00 Global money laundering networks. 8:25 Elite treatment 8:58 The bigger the scam the easier the crime. 9:10 But David, you’re not implying that the legitimate economy rests on illegal money, or are you? 14:30 Intelligence, back in the good old days vs. now 15:46 Blair's ultimate sin 16:30 Forgetting: victims vs. victors. E.g. Iran 17:42 Mussolini’s Fascism definition. 17:59 Deep State's fanaticism 20:59 “Those in the know” 21:37 Capsule mentality: the loss of common sense. 22:55 Mass media induced collective delusion. 23:59 Chauvinism out shouting thinking processes. 25:55 Full disclosure of elected officials’ faith beliefs. 27:10 Implications of shock and awe in reality. 27:30 Attitudes towards war: the EU vs. the US. 28:20 Drumming up for war. 29:30 Globalization at work on the ground. 30:18 Corporate power 34:12 In the name of the shareholder. 36:22 Congo’s curse. 37:10 Corruption in the 3rd world.

[@LetiB76]

Thanks for the Awesome breakdown!

[@simonrodriguez4685]

@@LetiB76 You’re most welcomed. I think that we can all contribute for the platform to serve us better.

[@johnhanes5021]

This man helped me clarify a lot of my thinking. I see now that when I was drafted for Vietnam it was all about people in power sacrificing my life to kill people they wanted killed. Everything else I was told was pure sales pitch.

[@StephanieSoressi]

I'm so sorry. It's unforgivable. And I'm so sorry the anti-war movement didn't shield soldiers from the scorn only due those powers that used them. Your heart was in the right place, so I salute you, and thank you for your service. We must not take out our frustration on returning soldiers, willing to die for ideals, used as pawns in unjust wars for rich men.

[@WmGood]

@@StephanieSoressi Stephanie. Your concept of what it was all about in Vietnam and how it was for us when we came home while accurate is not the entire story. The engine behind that war was the Military Industrial Complex which is still very much with us today. Stopping communism was the convenient label a well-worn tact that came about after WWII and the creation of the Cold War. That cabal of corporations who made and supplied war materials and the Pentagon have long been in bed with each other. It's no coincidence that government contractors always have ex and retired military on their boards of directors. US prosperity is based on a constant war footing. The military service draft provided this monster with an endless supply of expendable human fodder. I was one of those young kids who was stupid enough to believe what we were doing was worth while to our nation. The whole thing wasn't well-orchestrated by the politicians and resulted in discontentment by the population aided by a come of age media Those planners based it on the assumption that it would be like WWII where them good ole simple folks would swallow what they were told. They "misunderestimated " a few things. The monster behind all those deaths and destruction in S.E. Asia are still there and ready to go at it again.

[@StephanieSoressi]

@@WmGood i was there.

[@globalwarmhugs7741]

100 % of war is transactional

[@alexgoslar4057]

How true ... How sad.

[@colintook3357]

An interview, an actual intellectual interview. With both sides engaged in reasoned, mature and informed conversation, a rare treat these days. Mr Cornwell had his finger on the pulse, what a loss. RIP.

[@2msvalkyrie529]

Disagree . He wrote a couple of classics early in his career . After that it was simply re- hashed cliche ..

[@peterroycroft]

@@2msvalkyrie529 You've read them all, have you? According to the New Yorker magazine: "Some time after 'A Perfect Spy' came out, in 1986, Philip Roth remarked that it was “the best English novel since the war.” You do realise the cold war ended in the early 90s, so a spy writer couldn't rehash cliche and be taken seriously?

[@ovidiudraghici9941]

@@2msvalkyrie529 You're missing the point of the interview, just like those 65-70% of Americans he mentioned.

[@joefish6091]

One thing I realized reading Davids books is the despair at the world of govt ie politics and spies, Of course its nothing new, Mommsen's History of Rome documents the lunacy of the Roman govt 2500 years ago. Well worth a read, or do the audiobook which is easier, book three and the Punic wars is a good start point. do the chapters on issues in books 1 and 2 but the early history is long and not quite boring but specialized.

[@user-mg1p]

Missing the point. So here is a man with the truth of why we live in a criminal World! They jail you for j walking. Nothing for the Elites billions of drug and laundered money no jail. No wonder there is international crime gang's that are no different to the so called leagal businesses!

[@gladyslustgirdle3004]

Thank you for posting this. I have read some of his books, but never heard him speak. Most impressive, and so very refreshing to hear a speaker who doesn't talk down to his audience.

[@alastairgordon-forbes3139]

What a man. I could listen to him all day.

[@joqiii3]

Have enjoyed his books over the years but never really knew much abou the man until now. What a great thinker. Pleased to see that he and I have the same basic thoughts on religion, corporations, the deep state, Bush and Blair, and how Americans are currently trapped in never ending war and currently governed by religious zealots.

[@user-qc8vj3vp9v]

So so true Mr. Q, your analysis is spot on. 👍🏼💯%. The truth once used to set you free but no more... sadly way too much corruption. For goodness sake.. FREE JULIAN ASSANGE and EDWARD SNOWDEN. Also FREE CHELSEA MANNING.

[@joqiii3]

@@user-qc8vj3vp9v Totally agree!

[@MonaLisa-lu8zi]

Yes. He said "Truth should inform power".

[@2msvalkyrie529]

As deluded as Chomsky .! Or Pilger ..!

[@peterroycroft]

@@2msvalkyrie529 Please explain. How is he deluded?

[@guitpizz]

Amazing to see how he had so many things figured out. I did enjoy many of his novels.... I am only discovering the thinker tonight... stacked with gold nuggets. He was a treasure for the Brits. A man with with humanity and credibility.

[@Enzorgullochapin]

Free Assange! Enough is enough!

[@kidmohair8151]

free Manning! Free Winner! and altho he is not strictly in jail, Free Snowden! Free all political prisoners!

[@fuckfannyfiddlefart]

Brexshit Britain is just a puppet of US corporations and doing their diet work while being ignored by American troops. END US occupation of Britain!

[@scottjp31]

@@kidmohair8151 free popcorn for everyone

[@1982sesh]

All his words in 2010, still holds true today. sad but true

[@melissaverduin3693]

Interesting...we need to just STOP! No more endless wars. No more fighting the rich men's wars! No more divide and conquer! ALL nationalities, creeds,colors, religions, MUST UNITE and say NO MORE WARS FOR PROFITS! We need to heal and feed our communities in ALL of our worlds! Not just the "United" States of America! Enough is enough! Happy holidays....2021 must be better!

[@milmac5052]

👏👏👏👏👏👏✌️❤️

[@WilliamMcGrath_Madrid]

He wasn't a great spy writer, he was a great writer, one of the best.

[@crustyoldfart]

Watching this was a genuine pleasure. A wise and thoroughly decent man skilfully and sympathetically interviewed [ with NO interruptions ]. A rare and rewarding experience.

[@MarysAstrology]

I grew up on John le Carré's books. He's the reason I'm obsessed with espionage stories. I'm so glad he spoke out against Tony Blair and the tragedy of the Iraq war as well as mass media perpetuating propaganda. I've read all of his books and was saddened to hear of his death. Thank you for posting this interview.

[@colinstewart1432]

I completely share your view. One of my favourite ever humans. Read everything he wrote and loved every bit. He should have interviewed Blair and would've destroyed him on the morally questionable impetus to war. Really the problems of today can be traced back to the Blair era and the political abandonment of the UK working class under Thatcher.

[@toddstevens8506]

As long as there are comfortable people out there, criminals will flourish.

[@imagine07018]

As long as there are states, criminals will flourish.

[@kidmohair8151]

as long as the motive is profit, greed and self interest will rule

[@elinannestad5320]

that is elegantly put and I think - ? - original.

[@gumbypokey]

Can we finally admit, as Winston discovered, we are living under "The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism"....In chapter 8, Winston passes by a group of proles who are standing outside a pub and arguing about the Lottery. Winston knows that the prizes are largely imaginary and wonders how the proles can be taken in, but still believes that hope lies in the possibility that they will someday rebel against the Party...the boot is stomping on our faces, as we sit in the Chestnut Tree Cafe...the cognitive dissonance is strong...."under the spreading Chestnut tree - I sold you, and you sold me"...

[@neilpemberton5523]

Lotteries play perfectly into that lie of a working class person being just a millionaire in waiting.

[@dav220]

what a gem! thanks for sharing this Amy! xxx

[@ralphbernhard1757]

The Military Industrial Complex isn't a new invention. Ever since the first metallurgists discovered that it was more profitable to make swords for kings, rather than plows for peasants...

[@ryanhinds5656]

When will mankind do what is right. Some people find it easier to do wrong just for money.

[@mikeoglen6848]

'Money', so they say, "is the root of all Evil today..."

[@deborahcoveney8846]

Pure greed just look at the background of the royal family

[@donaldcook3112]

@@mikeoglen6848 . . . " The 'love of money is the root of (all) evil " ... is the correct expression ; 'money' of itself is neither good or bad , it is , of course , all to do with exactly what we choose to use it for .

[@mikeoglen6848]

@@donaldcook3112 Point taken but I was quoting The Floyd...

[@mikeoglen6848]

@Hello Hello No, greed is never good so don't give me that bull...

[@TheCharleecrat]

this poor man would shit his pants if he knew about the Blackwater pardons. I am glad he was spared this atrosity

[@panthera50]

🎯

[@gumbypokey]

And let's not forget Obama refused to prosecute the torturers...he was alive for that..wonder if he said anything?...

[@erincaitlin1655]

Hallelujah !

[@milansvatek6526]

@charlee mcwhirter Do you think there are vast amounts of money exchanged in the background for services rendered? .or threats on lives? Hard to explain - Martin Scorcese will be depressed that he couldn't come up with a storey like this.

[@sclogse1]

Certainly no poor man. And your verbage suggests idiocy. Projecting onto others is not progress nor any kind of revelatory or creative thinking. It's cheap writing.

[@tylerhackner9731]

Thank you home. Bring troops home. But even then, I don’t see an end to the endless wars we have had since before I was born.

[@EroticInferno]

We have to dissolve Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon or transition them into making systems and items that help people instead of blow them up.

[@jamestcatcato7132]

@@EroticInferno NEVER MIND THE FACT THAT THEY ARE AT THE CENTER, OF THE LOOTING OF THE US TREASURY!

[@jamestcatcato7132]

@Gordon Fornow PNAC, WAS THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF A CRIME SPREE!

[@wordscaninspire114]

Excellent interview. What a privilege to hear him speak so brilliantly. He lived a few miles away from me in Cornwall. I believe I met him once at a local book event.

[@9birdstyle]

Fascinating author. The corruption and criminality that he fictionalised are a matter of fact and embedded into our systems, the fines that these banks are made to pay are purely performative, these are funneled back to them via in the form of subsidies and tax breaks/exemptions

[@judge4all]

An absolutely wonderful chap! RIP

[@lindawolfe2885]

Thank you for this. Thank you for the work you do.

[@jamescampbell5755]

Not like I wasn't trying to point out,only Fascism is growing in the Us,Ooooohhhbbboooyyy

[@thalesnemo2841]

@James Campbell The inverted fascist totalitarian corporate coup d’etat is complete and the master corporate party has won! Since the the 1971 Powell memo is the modern start of the decay of small “d” democracy.

[@erincaitlin1655]

It will take a MOVEMENT to quash it ...

[@suzibikerbabe8073]

A must-hear for all in the U.S. and other so-called democracies.

[@2msvalkyrie529]

Why ? Like Chomsky he was a great supporter of left wing dictators . Basically , anyone anti - American . The idea that he believed in ' Democracy ' is proof that you know nothing about him ! He openly despised Democracy ! !

[@suzibikerbabe8073]

@@2msvalkyrie529 And just where did I say he believed in democracy ...

[@ChechoDrummer]

I remember being stunned by the American Public’s prudish outrage at Janet Jackson’s nipple exposed during half time at the Super Bowl while no one was outraged at the obscene death toll in Iraquí civilian lives which it was at 1,000 dead/day or the billions and billions of dollars spent on an unjustified war.

[@panthera50]

🎯

[@erincaitlin1655]

Yeah, the US puritanical hypocrisy ... What's new ?????

[@mellowInventor]

Nudity is less acceptable than crimes against humanity.

[@FarideLadak]

Democracy Now, thank you for posting and sharing your 2010 Interview with John Le Carré. I recall reading Papillon back in grade 8. No, it was not a course book. I used to raid my sibling’s bookshelf often as I devoured books. John is an an extremely intelligent author and this interview provides perspective on so many fronts. The corporate greed, the laundering of dirty funds by well know banks/bankers. Wars pursued by politicians under false preemptive which have occurred time and again. This is very timely given what we continue to see occurring in Syria, Iran and last but not least, the exploitation of African resources, especially in Congo.

[@biglebowski3961]

Hearing actual truth in this f..ed up world is so refreshing.

[@richardwicks4190]

You won't hear it much on Democracy Now anymore. It's just as much propaganda as MSNBC is. PBS died as a "news" service once Obama entered office and spent 8 years bombing 7 nations.

[@terryallen9546]

@@richardwicks4190 Bullshit.

[@chuckabbate5924]

@@terryallen9546 another turd in the punchbowl right before you wrote

[@jejedesalpes7886]

@@richardwicks4190 Hahaha!

[@joelkavanagh1464]

... victims never forget, winners do so very quickly ) sic! ( ...

[@Pinklatex7]

RIP ❤

[@judyyee4163]

He was a good human. Thank you for this interview .

[@geraldjensen9399]

Thanks Amy. The lies seemed so obvious and the clips of Bush and Blair during the build up to the invasion of Iraq underscore this, it's theatre- salesmanship: the strutting Bush about in Eisenhower jacket, Blair in open collar white shirt, dashing and confident, arms akimbo, shaking hands with British soldiers dressed in camouflage. "The winners quickly forget, the losers never forget." What was Gore Vidal's classic description? "The United States of Amnesia."

[@2msvalkyrie529]

What should Blair have worn ? Top hat and tails ..? ?

[@dragonfly1929]

VICTIMS NEVER FORGET ,WINNERS DO AND VERY QUICKLY..HOW TRUE.

[@nancho77]

Thank you for bring such amazing and revealing interview to the well-known and admired John Le Carre. Merry Christmas Democracy Now. Regards from Peru.

[@AndrewPalme]

What a cool dude I am not a great reader of fiction ,the only fiction I have tried read is the Bible and Rupert Murdoch's nonsense .But will try and read some fiction ,But as you listen to him he is cool man as we say in Jamaica

[@masonainsworth]

Thank you for sharing this. I simply would never have known this about John le Carré

[@clairerobinson7658]

Rest In Peace John Le Carre! My favorite espionage author.

[@highlevelranter8482]

Le Carre 11.45" " Mussolini defined fascism as the moment when you couldn't put a cigarette paper between political and corporate power (he assumed that media power was already his)" In 2021 we have fascism 100% in USA , who'd have thought.

[@abbott790]

Rest in Peace David, a wonderful man of talent, curiosity and compassion xx.

[@allansimoes8338]

Is there any regulatory scrutiny of the RDIF or Swift of the 200 RUSSIAN Oligarchs in the western banking systems . Some of the Oligarchy money has found it's way into Trump Towers via Panama. Allan.

[@gilberttessier1871]

.. meanwhile, Trump's got all of the Deep State actors aligned against him. It seems that the attributed sins of the U.S. Right were actual projections of the Left as things now present themselves.

[@mellowInventor]

Decent humanitarian instincts cannot deeply penetrate a country that has had their critical thinking and initiative trained out.

[@2msvalkyrie529]

Hmm.....yes , he was a great supporter of Maduro and Castro . Both of whom bankrupted their countries and imprisoned their opponents . But , of course , the U S was FAR worse ?!!?.

[@lornadoell]

Since we started living in an agricultural system, where there are cashes of things to horde, guard, trick and fight over, we have been ruled by sociopaths and psychopaths, because they are not restrained by feelings for others. You can ask these people how they would feel if they saw the bits and pieces of humans they have destroyed, but they will not be able to give you an honest answer. They don't feel, and they know that they can't say that part out loud; if they did, the whole game would be up. This terrible game that we are all playing, where the winners are the most vile and disgusting among us.

[@user-qc8vj3vp9v]

Lorna Doell, your analysis is spot on; very accurate indeed. It is so shameful and vile that these so-called leaders who govern our countries, specifically the USA and UK, are extremely vile, hateful, unfeeling, and cause so much violence and destruction around the world on defenseless countries -- yet, go down on their knees nightly praying to a GOD whom promulgates the complete opposite of their uncaring decision to pursue incomprehensible ungodly atrocities. Their day will come... the Universe has a way of humbling scums like these... eventually.

[@philodonoghue3062]

Not exactly “our better angels” sentiments my friend.

[@StephiSensei26]

Fine interview.

[@pennyflynn1748]

I read The Looking Glass War and A Little Town in Germany. Hooked from then on. A brilliant novelist, but also a great teacher of how to think for yourself. The Quiet American by Graham Greene was another post war book written by a clear eyed Writer who knew the facts behind the official history of the West. Le Carré will be sorely missed for his wit and wisdom.

[@musicloverkathy]

I wish you would have stopped calling him "a great spy novelist ". He is simply one of the greatest novelists who ever lived. Calling him a "spy" novelist denotes sleazy thriller writers who have no interest in telling the terrible truths of this century. LeCarre deserves better.

[@fitzbarbel]

Thanks Amy, we all need reminding how Blair used our left for his own right wing purposes, the shitehawk!

[@johnveitch7410]

The Labour party has not recovered from Blair's venality and greed.

[@robsengahay5614]

I must re-read The Constant Gardner. The subject matter is profoundly troubling and the end was both haunting and chilling. A truly great writer and what a superb interview which I had never seen before. Thank you for sharing this in full.

[@nickames3808]

"Occasionally.....WE do Wicked Things.....VERY Wicked Things, INDEED! ...." Control's Initial Briefing Scene tells us how The World Works. WATCH IT on you tube!

[@gulab3483]

What an amazing personality.

[@rumorhasit9506]

America has never been devastated by war as Europe and Great Britain. If we had experienced that, we might think twice about waging war.

[@sclogse1]

Sure, but allowing the Taliban and ISIS to commit their atrocities to civilians isn't so easy either.

[@branduusituuli]

@@sclogse1 much better that those civilians get bombed by western military.

[@user-wi3yx3gy2o]

His work is really good if you are into the spy novel genre. Best English language spy novelist in my opinion.

[@markmalic7450]

The Real C Love this Man Makes me Smile-y

[@NoPrivateProperty]

madness began in 1492, that is when Zinn picks it up in The People's History

[@arcanondrum6543]

@@xSirDudex "Fourteen"-92

[@malcolmneate5852]

What a fascinating interview.

[@nabie981]

What a wonderful intellectual! Huge loss of our mankind. RIP!

[@scottiejohnson2639]

Thanks for this Report! Salute Thanks 🙏🏼

[@scomoore1951]

Very thoughtful interview. Thanks.

[@louannwaters6691]

Loved his books

[@terencewinters2154]

A man searching for and finding his own integrity through the grey areas and the bleak and dark moral conundrums in desperate and not so desperate corners of the world . Did he define his own moral self or those of his characters or both? You have to read him, or Conrad . RIP in peace david cornwell you've made an ascent .

[@charleskesner1302]

Very good interview.

[@xstatic-ow5mz]

"the proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains" marx

[@joefoley1480]

yes you can get newer and heavier chains.... it can always be worse ...

[@lameduck3630]

And their lives.

[@lameduck3630]

is council housing theft?

[@sirpops7]

The president, Who Stole Christmas.

[@chuoni4116]

)),0,,,0)0v9,,vcurves5v5þ5 v,b aàW,aw1zx&sx-%-"'awzÀq

[@wlljohnbey1798]

Great writer... and more importantly, a decent man.

[@stevefrazer9457]

He is a person that every one should listen to and educate yourself about what really happened in iraq

[@dukkhavatta]

Beautiful (the sound of truth). Thank you, Amy.

[@JB-vb6dh]

It’s Great that you replayed this interview. So much of this is still going on or worse today.

[@heyjude9230]

Brilliant man

[@powellp25]

Integrity personified. A man of character. Thanks for this interview. Still so relevant to current events. He articulates well , how leaders fail the corruption test and how their societies suffer as a result.

[@tomsuibney9093]

I withdrew from this life before leaving school. On leaving became a full time alcoholic for a quarter of century, in the last twenty four month i got an old second hand computer & found i had a very stronge conscientiousness a need to find out what had gone on in my absence in the world ,what I've found in these two years is that ignorance is bliss ,the more i learn the more i get depressed , and thats only in a very short time . What sadness this man John le carre has endured being fully conscious of the world around him i cant imagine. ...How many billions $ £ €

[@mick947]

It would of been interesting to hear what he had to say about the expansion of NATO and the Ukrainian war.

[@zoekenny3619]

What a brilliant interview. I haven't read his books yet but I definitely want to now.

[@paladinbob1236]

a great piece of journalism , and david here is spot on with his observations, as perhaps which have proven out in these times, much to our dismay :(

[@guitpizz]

Weird that he needed to use Russian characters back then. Now with Snowden and other guys like him we can use American names to make things closet to reality.

[@petermorron2643]

Wow, what a sharp fellow for 80yrs. Very insightful his comment about how concerning it was to see government, corporate and media act in unison.

[@yttean98]

Excellent interview. Kudos to both interviewers.

[@anarchism]

sound like a man that has witnessed a lot of pain.... i pain for him

[@RusScorpio]

Like many people, I have read and enjoyed John le Carré books. Although, I first heard of him from the fabulous BBC TV series of his spy stories. Your interview with him was excellent and very interesting; you allowed him to develop his responses with very few interruptions and as you were rapping-up the interview, I couldn't help envisioning how much I would have enjoyed the experience if Piers Morgan was the interviewer. We would have been lucky if we managed to get his real name!

[@Bracero1990]

Amy Goodman brought up a really good point how to handle everyones criticism of the bare truth in front of you.

[@pamelafranklin3452]

Rudolph Murdock is A Crimmnal

[@pacerodi]

Thanks DN, for the interview with Le Carre.

[@elinannestad5320]

Yes. Our gift

[@johndavies1336]

Thank you for your brilliant interview, it’s was So enlightening. I have never read any of David’s books but look forward to doing so. Please continue with your revealing and reflective work. ♦️♦️♦️

[@abubakarmohammed1924]

He was a very intelligent person, good men leave this world very early 🤔

[@MrAbuYaz]

He was a hater. Urbane, but nevertheless.

[@MarcStjames-rq1dm]

Tinker tailor soldier spy... smiley's people etc.... one of my favorite writers is John Le Carre'. Always had one of his books in my book bag whilst in High School.

[@karimtabrizi376]

This was 6 years before Brexit. The biggest media lies in uk history. How rescient le carre was

[@oldguy8078]

A true gentleman. More kudos to him because he was from the establishment.

[@DeedUNo]

The Last Great English Moralist

[@dylanemeraldgrey]

"I"m not suggesting we make some sudden lurch into socialism, that isn't the case at all. I think it's more to do with the exercise of individual conscience." He just negated the entire case he built about the unaccountable exercise of corporate power through banks and states, and the individual's role in challenging it. He literally just described a novel he wrote where his two idealized, educated, brits-with-real-values try to exercise their individual consciences to resist corporate power - and they both end up dead. Anyone who knows the history of capitalism - and the part England played in the development of corporate capitalism (e.g., charters, The East India company, its pirates, its navy, imperialism, colonialism) - has to be laughing in disbelief and suffering intellectual (or simply logical) whiplash That is quite the sentence to interject at that particular moment. It's truly a kind of object lesson in generational cognitive dissonance. If he wasn't for fundamentally changing the system he said he feared and was in total opposition to, then he wasn't against it. In other words, no, sorry, capitalism must go. There is no alternative for people who want to stop the insanity, death, and destruction it hath wrought.

[@overtpartisan425]

Good comment, thanks. Revolution towards socialism is the only option and has been for a while. Only the conscious and organized global working class can do it. Socialism is international or it is nothing.

[@baronmeduse]

@@overtpartisan425 Only problem is, as Chris Hedges often says, the broader working class has been pretty much broken and culture neutralised into mindless consumption and media-based trifles. There is some resurgence right now, but it's always the case that we have to reinvent the wheel after letting it fall into obscurity. We keep fighting the same battles. Right now the grip the corporate state has over social control is a massive obstacle.

[@overtpartisan425]

@@baronmeduse Yes, I 100% agree. However, such psychological obstacles, while they may persist for a long time, can also shift very rapidly. Like Lenin said: there are decades in which nothing happens, and then there are weeks in which decades happen. There are times in history when, very rapidly, the people trade pornography for politics in a very explosive way. A problem is that those people who grew up in the decades when nothing happened, became conservative in their consciousness... but the youth will show them! I agree with Chris Hedges most of the time, but his flaw is that he doesn't really envisage a popular revolution and a popular government. He still seems to pin his hopes on the moral and intellectual elite to which he thinks he belongs. His pro-capitalist bias also shines through in his cold warrior remarks "I covered the war in Yugoslavia..." (and I will tell you nothing political about it, except to be afraid of upheaval) and in his occasional vicious sneering against communists, which is a nasty trait that he shares with Chomsky. 'Yes, yes, I'm all for people rising up against the state, but I hate those brutal dictatorial thugs, Lenin and Trotsky! How dare the people have leaders! And, while I criticize the US government, I will still sing praises of American freedom while saying nothing positive ever about the Soviet Union, which was obviously an absolute monstrosity that no-one should support.' That's an anti-communist left-liberal for you! Hedges is really not a revolutionist but, as he himself once stated, actually a conservative - the kind of conservative that wants to conserve the good things while fighting the evil things, who is against war and inequality, etc. Sincere, sympathetic, honest, courageous, but conservative and elitist nonetheless, and therefore ideologically moribund. The socialist youth has the future. Also, the wheel gets reinvented, but every time it is reinvented, it is a better wheel, a bigger wheel, a less obscurantist wheel. The Bolshevik Revolution was on a far higher political and philosophical level than the French Revolution, which was on a far higher level than the English Revolution (17th century), which was on a far higher level than the Reformation, and so on. Bedankt voor het lezen!

[@baronmeduse]

@@overtpartisan425 I'm not a fan of Chris Hedges, just dropping his view of the broken working-class organisation.I agree wholeheartedly with the above, though after so many years of fighting the good fight it's easy to get demoralised.

[@maxykma4122]

An intelligent man speaking with decency. It is rare to find character like him

[@paideia-e9u]

And therefore, our noble people, What is the transcendent wisdom, for the sake of Global Humanity, Oneself, and Immortality, according to the Ancient Secret Chinese Wisdom Tradition; what are the five kinds of the most prosperous, most powerful knowledge and wisdom that every individual could and should possess? Paideia EsotericSociety

[@johnauner671]

The first song I learned was when a diplomat was transferred from New Delhi to the Belgian Congo, 1957 I think. Far across the ocean blue, Kassavoobu waits for you, Bye,Bye Sophie. where the weather's nice and hot, lots of luck, don't get shot, Bye,Bye, Sophie. I don't know about that year's conflict - but most revolutionaries arrive with nice uniforms, Chinese weapons, by plane and try to steal the cobalt.

[@claudedietrich8654]

exceptional, decent and clever man

[@Cassaiuppa]

R.I.P Sir.