A review of “The Other” by Ryszard Kapuściński (2008)
February 10th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
In so many disciplines – philosophy, anthropology, psychology, sociology, politics – there is a fundamental difference between the Self and the Other. This slim volume of just 80 pages of text on the Other brings together an English translation of six thoughtful and enlightened lectures and essays by the renowned Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuściński with an introduction by Scottish journalist Neal Ascherson.
There are many ways of distinguishing the Other and Kapuściński focuses on race, nationality and religion, while other ways would include gender, sexual orientation, and ableism.
Kapuściński (1932-2007) travelled extensively in Africa, Asia and Latin America and this book critiques the Western idea of the Other: the non-European and non-American idea that the Other is inferior and indeed dangerous. This Western-centric approach has been increasingly challenged as, in the second half of the 20th century, two-thirds of the world’s population was liberated from colonial dependency and as, since the advent of modern electronic communications, the word of nations has become a global village.
Kapuściński subscribed to the view that “there are no superior or inferior cultures – there are just different cultures which satisfy the needs and expectation of their members in different ways”.
Kapuściński underlines that fundamentally there are three possibilities when a man encounters the Other: “he could choose war, he could fence himself behind a war, or he could start up a dialogue”. He views it as a moral imperative to take the last of these three courses – to engage in dialogue wherever and whenever possible.
I am with Kapuściński on this which is why I love living in a city like London, travelling to other countries, and learning about other cultures.
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So when will Boris Johnson actually leave 10 Downing Street?
February 10th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
For months now, almost every day has seen a new scandal associated with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Government. Surely his time is up?
Last weekend, I had a friendly bet with a good friend. My friend said that Johnson would be gone by Wednesday, but I thought that he wouldn’t. So it’s Thursday and Johnson is still in No 10.
I rarely make political predictions and, when I do, I’m usually wrong = but let me try …
I think that Johnson is going to survive the Metropolitical Police enquiries and the Sue Grey report, but that the killer blow will be the local government elections when Tory MPs will finally understand that Johnson is now a vote-loser big time.
So I venture to suggest that Boris will announce his departure some time over the weekend of 6-8 May. Let’s see …
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
How did the Third World War begin?
February 9th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
The key event was the Moscow Conference of 2022.
After months of Russian troop build-ups on the borders of Ukraine, a conference to resolve the crisis was convened in Moscow. It was the proposal of the two western attendees: French President Emmanuel Macron, who was about to face a re-election battle, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was under heavy attack domestically for his flouting of covid rules. The eastern attendees were Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose massive military forces stood ready to invade Ukraine, and the Chinese President Xi Jinping, who was encouraged to be there by the French and British who thought that he would be a restraining influence on Putin.
Representatives of the Ukrainian Government were in a Moscow hotel but Ukraine was not represented at the conference. All the four attendees judged that having the Ukrainians there would make it harder to reach an agreement.
In fact, the Moscow Agreement was concluded quickly. It was determined that Russia would occupy the swath of Ukraine located between the Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, and the Donbas region, already occupied by Russian-backed insurgents. Putin insisted that this would be the limit of his territorial aspirations. Pressure from France, Britain, Germany and the USA forced the Ukrainians not to oppose this further occupation in the interests of world peace.
Less than a year later, however, Russian forces occupied the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv which was only a short distance from the Russian military and the whole country rapidly came under Russian control. NATO forces did not intervene on the grounds that Ukraine was not a member of NATO.
Another year later, Russia occupied the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and took over the eastern half of Poland including the capital Warsaw. These four countries were NATO members, but American public opinion – still substantially influenced by the failed invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq – was overwhelmingly opposed to the United States entering a third European war and the US Congress and even President Joe Biden did not feel able to act against such opinion as they approached the elections of 2024.
Emboldened by Russia’s success, President Xi mobilised air, land, and sea forces to take the island of Taiwan which had been an integral part of China until the end of the Second World War. Both political and public opinion in the US viewed this Chinese threat as different from the Russian aggression. It was seen as a key move in China’s wish to replace the USA as the leading global power and as such it was to be opposed. The US Navy immediately deployed a large battle group close to Taiwan.
A crisis conference was convened in Washington DC between the Americans and the Chinese. Senior Chinese diplomats attended the event and insisted that President Xi wished to resolve the crisis peacefully. While the conference was still sitting, China launched a hypersonic missile attack on the US fleet which largely obliterated it. Next day, it launched an amphibious attack on Taiwan.
Over the next few days, China’s success was the green light for North Korea to invade South Korea and for Pakistan to invade India’s part of Kashmir.
And so the Third World War began …
This scenario is not a prediction. It is a warning.
If you know something about the outbreak of the Second World War, the scenario may bring to mind certain events from 1938-1941. It is meant to do so – for two reasons.
First, it should be a reminder that the Munich Agreement of 1938 should never have been instigated and signed by Britain and France. The Czechoslovaks should have been supported in resisting a Nazi invasion. The Agreement did not buy us time to re-arm as suggested by the new film “Munich: The Edge Of War”.
Second, it should be a reminder that, the sooner one stands up against a totalitarian regime intent on creating a ‘sphere of influence’ by military force, the better. We cannot change history; we can shape the future.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (6)
A review of the new film “Munich: The Edge Of War”
February 9th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
Before I saw this film, I had read the novel by Robert Harris on which it is based [for review click here] and I had read (twice) a detailed examination of the Munich Agreement of September 1938 by Robert Kee [for review click here], so I was very familiar with the subject material. Nevertheless, I found it an entertainingly enough film which is very faithful to the novel (Harris was an executive producer) and near enough to the actual history.
It posits a scenario in which British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain – an excellent performance by Jeremy Irons – might have been persuaded not to sign the Munich document through the concerted actions of two one-time university friends: Hugh Legat (George MacKay), a member of the British Diplomatic Service, and Paul von Hartmann (Jannis Niewöhner), an official in the German Foreign Ministry.
It looks as if the film is pitched as much to the German/Austrian market as that of Britain & the USA, since this is an Anglo-German production in which all the German characters are played by German actors who actually speak German (so lots of sub-titles) and shooting was in Germany (Munich & Potsdam) as well as Britain (Liverpool).
This competent work has two flaws, one general to much of Harris’s work and one particular to this film. The general problem is that, in most of the historical novels by Harris, we know how it all ends so there is no real sense of excitement (the exception was “Fatherland” ).
The particular objection is the statement at the end: “The extra time bought by the Munich Agreement enabled Britain and her Allies to prepare for war and ultimately led to Germany’s defeat”.
As Kee writes: “The argument often subsequently put forward in justification for Munich, to the effect that it gained time, was not immediately widely used and only really began to take shape retrospectively after Hitler’s entry into Prague and the eventual outbreak of war itself”.
If Munich gave Britain and France extra time to prepare for war, why was the Nazi blitzkrieg of 1940 so outstandingly successful?
Posted in Cultural issues, History | Comments (0)
The 10 Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and my reviews of six of them
February 8th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
- “The Power Of The Dog” – my review here
- “West Side Story”
- “Belfast” – my review here
- “Dune” – my review here
- “Licorice Pizza” – my review here
- “King Richard” – my review here
- “CODA”
- “Don’t Look Up” – my review here
- “Drive My Car”
- “Nightmare Alley”
My main disappointment? Only one nomination for “House Of Gucci” – my review here.
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A review of the new film “The Power Of The Dog”
February 6th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
In a career of 30 odd years, New Zealander Jane Campion has only directed eight feature films and one of them was the wonderful “The Piano”. There has been a period of 12 years between “Bright Star” and “The Power Of The Dog”. This latest work, which she both wrote and directed, is a kind of western set in Montana in 1925 but it is really a tale of repressed sexuality based on a cult novel and therefore can be compared to “Brokeback Mountain”.
The archetypal art house movie is one with slowness and opacity and this film is very slow (indeed glacial) and very opaque (starting with the title itself). Furthermore I found the the sudden transformation of the central wounded character unconvincing. However, the acting, most notably by the English Benedict Cumberbatch, is distinguished and the cinematography – it was actually shot in New Zealand – is wonderful. Whatever I think, the critics have lauded this film and it is set to win many awards.
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Word of the day: diegesis
February 1st, 2022 by Roger Darlington
This is a narrative or plot, typically in a film.
The only place that I’ve heard the word is on my film course.
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A review of the new film “Belfast”
January 31st, 2022 by Roger Darlington
My first visit to Belfast was the week after the troops were put on the streets in August 1969. Subsequently my work in the House of Commons and the Northern Ireland Office took me there some 30 times and I met all the leading local politicians from Ian Paisley to John Hume.
As a result, I’ve tended to stay away from films about the Troubles, but writer and director Kenneth Branagh’s black & white homage to the city of his childhood is more a coming-of-age story rather than an examination of the conflict itself, so it bears comparison with “Hope And Glory” and “Empire Of The Sun”.
The casting of the Protestant family is wonderful. Jude Hill as the nine year old Billy – the personification of Branagh himself in this semi-autobiographical tale – is an absolute delight. His parents are played by Jamie Dornan (himself from Belfast) and Caitriona Balfe (best known as a model), while his grandparents are portrayed by veteran actors Ciarán Hinds (another Belfaster) and Judi Dench.
In spite of the discrimination and violence on display, the story is told with compassion and humour and the evocation of period and setting is well-done. However, the messaging is not exactly subtle: for instance, the minister’s sermon comes over as a parody and the visual and aural references to the film “High Noon” are overdone.
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A review of the film “Personal Shopper”
January 30th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
I much admired “Clouds Of Sils Maria” which was both written and directed by the French Olivier Assayas with the American Kristen Stewart in an important support role. In “Personal Shopper”, again Assayas is both writer and director and this time Stewart is the leading actress.
The story is set largely in Paris although, in the main, the dialogue is in English. In this supernatural psychological thriller, Stewart takes the eponymous role as both aide to a supermodel and a psychic seeking to make contact with her recently deceased twin brother.
The film divided the 2016 Cannes Film Festival: on its initial screening, it was booed but, at its official premiere, it received a long standing ovation and won the Best Director prize. Generally I don’t like movies featuring the supernatural, but here Stewart – who is rarely off the screen – gives an impressive ethereal performance.
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A review of the important book “Seven Ways To Change The World” by Gordon Brown
January 29th, 2022 by Roger Darlington
In these troubled times when so many are depressed and even in despair about our world, it is a rare pleasure to read a book that addresses head-on most of the major problems that we face, that describes the challenges so eloquently and offers solutions that are so practical, and that is imbued with such optimism and hope.
The author spent 13 years as Chancellor of the Exchequer and then Prime Minister in the United Kingdom and is now something of an elder statesman and the timing of his work could not be better coming in the middle of the most severe global pandemic for a century.
What are the seven problems that Brown addresses in a series of individual chapters?
- How can we combat global pandemics like Covid-19 and transform global health through a more equably-funded World Health Organisation?
- How can we revive the global economy in a way that achieves greater growth, addresses poverty, and avoids recessions?
- How can we resolve the climate emergency and achieve a zero-carbon future through measures like carbon pricing?
- How can we unlock the potential of the world’s billions through a revolution in education at each stage of childhood and adulthood?
- How can we achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals of 2015 by reducing both absolute poverty and relative inequality?
- How can we abolish tax havens so that corporations and the rich pay fair taxes that enable governments to fund much-needed public services?
- How can we prevent nuclear proliferation and reduce the existential risk of nuclear war?
For all the merits of Gordon Brown’s tome of almost 500 pages, he needed a good editor or, if he had one, he needed to have listened to that editor. Too often, he is repetitive and meandering and every chapter could have been shorter and should have ended with a summary of his actual proposals.
The last two chapters – on the conflict between the USA and China and on the the need to turn nationalism to patriotism – are worthy but could have been saved for a different book.
However, the central message of the work – global problems need global solutions – may seem self-evident but his arguments are compelling and his proposals are both radical and realistic.
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