© Sang Tan/AP PhotoJohn Pilger
In this new essay, John Pilger recalls the 'electric' opposition of writers and journalists to the coming war in the 1930s and investigates why today there is 'a silence filled by a consensus of propaganda' as the two greatest powers draw closer to conflict.In 1935, the Congress of American Writers was held in New York City, followed by another two years later. They called on 'the hundreds of poets, novelists, dramatists, critics, short story writers and journalists' to discuss the 'rapid crumbling of capitalism' and the beckoning of another war. They were electric events which, according to one account, were attended by 3,500 members of the public with more than a thousand turned away.
Arthur Miller, Myra Page, Lillian Hellman, Dashiell Hammett warned that fascism was rising, often disguised, and the responsibility lay with writers and journalists to speak out. Telegrams of support from Thomas Mann, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, C Day Lewis, Upton Sinclair and Albert Einstein were read out.
The journalist and novelist Martha Gellhorn spoke up for the homeless and unemployed, and 'all of us under the shadow of violent great power'.
Martha, who became a close friend, told me later over her customary glass of Famous Grouse and soda: 'The responsibility I felt as a journalist was immense. I had witnessed the injustices and suffering delivered by the Depression, and I knew, we all knew, what was coming if silences were not broken.'
Comment: John Pilger has focused on China, but is the war with normal human beings no matter where they live?
The above article from May 2023 is the last essay he published on Johnpilger.com but John Pilger kept posting comments to his Twitter account until November 2023:
The above article was carried on SOTT IDF knew real Hamas HQ while lying about al-Shifa
See also Renowned Australian journalist John Pilger passes away at 84 which has links to many other articles penned by John Pilger.