Annie Machon

Libya Interview, RTTV 23 February 2011

My interview for RTTV about the current Libyan crisis:

 

TrebleThink: the new American hypocrisy

George Orwell is just so old-world, retro and quaintly British.  Gone are the days of simple DoubleThink.  The Americans inevitably had to supersize the concept.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was last week speaking at the George Washington University about political activism and freedom of expression:

 

Now we appear to have entered the realm of TrebleThink.

At the meeting Ray McGovern, army veteran, long-term CIA analyst, and now internationally-renowned peace activist chose to exercise his right to freedom of expression by standing up and silently turning his back on Clinton during her speech.

For his pains 71-year-old McGovern sustained painfully injuries while being forcibly removed by nameless "security personnel", before ending up in a tiny police cell.  On his eventual release he had to take a taxi to hospital for treatment.

Hillary Clinton did not even stumble over her words during McGovern's arrest.

The startling hypocrisy of Clinton's speech is clear on three different fronts:

1) She is defending the rights of activists in the Middle East to speak out against corrupt governments, while ignoring the brutalisation of a fellow citizen for silently using those very rights in America.

2) She's doing so while speaking out about the vital role of internet freedoms - indeed standing behind a podium with the words "Internet Freedom" written on it - in informing citizens and spreading democracy.  Yet at the same time a secretly-convened US Grand Jury is frantically scrabbling around for any pretext whatsoever to prosecute Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks.  And yet another is investigating attacks against the collaborating US corporations that pulled the plug on Wikileaks support last year.  Ironically, on the same day as Clinton's speech, Twitter was in court fighting US government attempts to obtain personal information of alleged Wikileaks supporters.  No doubt Clinton would condemn the former Egyptian government if it had done the same thing.

3) And let's not forget that the USA is hosting the UNESCO World Press Freedom Day this year too.  This was announced on the very day Julian Assange was arrested in the UK.

The hypocrisy is flagrant. As I said, welcome to the world of TrebleThink.  You read it here first....

 

Durham Union Society Talk, 16 February 2011

It's a busy couple of months for talks, and I have the pleasure of speaking at the Durham Union Society tomorrow night (16th February).

My talk will be focusing on the modern role of intelligence agencies, the war on terror, what it's like to be recruited to work as a spook, whistleblowing, Wikileaks, police states and civil liberties.  An eclectic mix.

The talk is open to all students, not just members of the Union, so if you're in the area and have the time, do come along!

Cambridge Union Society, 28th January 2011

Well I had a fab time revisiting the old place last week to do a talk at the Union Society - somewhere I spent many happy hours, oh, aeons ago!

Many thanks to Rebecca and the rest of the team for organising and hosting the event, and to Silkie for setting the whole ball rolling.

It was a busy weekend.  The Friday evening began with an all-too-brief appearance at the first meeting of a new group, MI7 - can I say that, or is it a state secret? - organised by Silkie and Charlie Veitch of the Love Police. 

It was strange to go back to the Union as a speaker after so long and so many unusual experiences.  The audience seemed to stay wide awake for my hour-long talk, and the questions afterwards were interesting, lively and varied.  I was also encouraged to see that ideas deemed to be "radical" only a few years ago are now going mainstream.

The next day was taken up with interviews for The Cambridge Student and Varsity student newspapers, Sky 203 Channel,  and a photo shoot with QH Photography for a gallery exhibition in London later this year.

The Cambridge Student journalists gamely allowed the interview to be film by Sky 203 - not the easiest of scenarios.

"Varsity" newspaper did a colourful and intelligent interview - thanks Olivia! - which was rapidly followed on the newspaper website today with this puff piece about MI6. 

I can only assume that this is merely balanced news reporting, especially as the Master of Pembroke College, Chair of the Trustee Board of the Union Society, and former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, will be speaking at the Union in a couple of weeks..... 

Certainly an interesting juxtaposition!

The photo shoot was fun, and the results will be appearing in London at the end of this year.  As you can see from the photo on the left, Huy takes a mean picture.

I also ran into Ryan J-W Smith, who is in the process of completing his intriguing film, 2Plus2Makes4.  Limited private and festival screenings are expected this summer.

The film synopsis asks some fundamental questions:

"How close are we to sliding into Orwell’s totalitarian nightmare, ‘1984’? Controversial, shocking, powerful and honest - starring Tony Benn, Gore Vidal, former MI5, CIA, FBI agents, Senators, Presidential Nominees, etc.  A ‘Must-See’ feature documentary from award-winning filmmaker, Ryan J-W Smith. Smith’s previous films have received 16 International Film Festival Selections, 5 ‘Best Film’ Nominations, and 4 ‘Best Film’ wins."