The Asia Society, in association with Verso Books, Guernica, and NYU’s Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, presents a live interview with Tariq Ali and Guernica Founding Editor in Chief Joel Whitney on Friday, September 17.
What has really changed since Bush left the White House? Very little, argues Ali, apart from the mood music. The hopes aroused during Obama’s election campaign have rapidly receded — the honeymoon has been short. Following the financial crisis, the “reform” president bailed out Wall Street without getting anything in return. With Democratic Party leaders and representatives mired in the corrupt lobbying system, the plans for reforming the healthcare system lie wrecked on the Senate floor. Abroad, the “war on terror” continues: torture on a daily basis in the horror chamber that is Bagram, Iraq occupied indefinitely, Israel permanently appeased, and more troops to Afghanistan and more drone attacks in Pakistan than under Bush. The fact that Obama has proved incapable of shifting the political terrain even a few inches in a reformist direction will pave the way for a Republican surge and triumph in the not too distant future.
Tariq Ali is an esteemed historian and novelist whose lecture “Obama’s War” was published in Guernica in June.
The interview will be held on September 17th from 6:30pm – 8:30pm at the Asia Society,
725 Park Avenue, NY, NY. Tickets are ten dollars for Asia Society members, twelve dollars for students with ID and seniors, and fifteen dollars for nonmembers. For more information, please visit the Asia Society’s website.
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