More on Nigeria’s Hidden History By William Bowles

24 June 2006

Harold Smith, who died 3 January 2010 is almost unknown except for the few who are aware of his courageous and lifelong struggle to expose the murderous duplicity of British Imperialism in Nigeria. Smith, in 1960 then a novice, young colonial administrator in Nigeria, attempted to expose the rigged and phony ‘independence’ that the British had foisted on the Nigerian people. I wrote this back in 2006 and given all the current events in Africa, I felt it worthwhile reprinting it. There is also a followup piece, ‘Hidden histories confirmed: So much for the ‘Mother of Parliaments’‘, that I wrote a couple of years later. You can find a tribute page to Harold here. WB

What is going on in Libya? By William Bowles

29 August 2011

29 August 2011

Some Tweets on ‘African Mercenaries’

J0nblaz @al_Jamahiriya @journalist92 This what we mean by Black Libyans being pursued & executed by NATO rabble terrorists! goo.gl/tkaDP

MikePrysner Rebels are correct; many Black Africans being lynched in #Libya were “hired by #Gaddafi.” They’re called immigrant workers, not mercenaries, about 3 hours ago

Africa Bound By William Bowles

2 December 2008

F. William Engdahl’s essay on AFRICOM, ‘AFRICOM, China, and Congo Resource Wars’, prompted me to go through my archives and dig out a piece I wrote back in June of 2005, reproduced below, for it compliments the machinations of the imperial powers exposed in Engdahl’s essay as they attempt to extend their control of Africa’s vast resources by looking at how the Western ‘intelligentisa’ misrepresent Africa to us and in so doing supply the ammunition that justifies the existence of AFRICOM.

Failing to make the right connections By William Bowles

7 August 2007

I’m torn, really torn between trying to keep up with the deceptions the corporate press keep feeding us and wanting to ignore the entire sorry mess completely, but well you know how it is, almost without exception, everyday there’s a story that grabs my attention because it represents all that’s wrong with the way events and their causes are reported.

The Independent on 4 August ‘07 had a major story on bottled water titled ‘Bottled Out’ about a campaign currently being waged in New York and other US cities to ban the bloody things, the rationale being the amount of energy taken to produce and ship the plastic bottles the H20 comes in (bottled water is more expensive than petrol). With revenues totaling $11 billion in 2006, it’s really big business (especially for the two major distributors and marketers, Pepsico and of course, Coca Cola).

From ‘al-Qu’eda’ to ‘Abductions’-the deceptions continue By William Bowles

17 May 2007

It’s ages since I’ve dumped on my favourite newspaper, the Independent for its ‘news’ coverage but I broke down and bought the damn thing because of what I found on the front page this week.

Under the head of “An American Nightmare” (15/5/07) we read that US troops have been “kidnapped” by “al-Qu’ida”. It’s not clear who holds the by-line for the front page, either Rupert Cornwall or Patrick Cockburn, not that it matters either way as on turning to page 2 we find that both are singing from the same song sheet.

Lies by Omission By William Bowles

6 October 2006

“An increasing number of people see a dark cloud hanging over Europe. They fear that the birthplace of the Enlightenment and the cradle of free speech is being silenced by the growing assertiveness of an intolerant strain of Islam.” — The Independent Editorial, Wednesday, 4 October 2006.

The London Independent’s editorial headed “Beware loose talk about a clash of civilisations” boggles the mind and my pen trembles and threatens to skitter right off the page of my ‘little red note book’ as I transcribe the words from this misleading and dangerous distortion of the facts.

Independence Day By William Bowles

4 June 2006

There could be no better exemplar of the mindset of the servants of capital than yesterday’s (3/6/06) editorial in the London Independent.

Titled ‘A protracted and messy conflict, with its myriad dark corners’, at first reading it would seem to be a condemnation of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, but a closer examination reveals anything but.

Bush-whacked? Not by the media that’s for sure By William Bowles

2 February 2006

Now as regular readers maybe aware I often have a go at the Independent for its crass and often just plain inaccurate reportage but in the edition of 31/1/06 it outdoes itself in deception, myopia and dissembling regarding the Bush presidency and its significance for those of us living in the real world.

Africa Bound By William Bowles

6 June 2005

Kwame Nkrumah and Martin Luther King

Africa’s winner-takes-all politics lies at the heart of everything that has gone wrong with Africa… It is the reason why it has fallen behind the rest of the world economically, the reason for its wars and poverty.
Richard Dowden, director of the Royal Africa Society and former Africa editor of the Independent. The Independent, 1/6/05, p.2

The statement above pretty well sums up the Western propaganda line on Africa, the alleged ‘basket-case’. That it’s written by the director of the Royal Africa Society and former Africa editor for the Independent speaks reams about the interlocking nature and hence common ideological thrust that the Western ‘intelligentsia’ peddles to the ‘masses’ about how Africa got to be where it is today.

Fallujah: Unpacking the press destroying the myths By William Bowles

12 November 2004

Western press coverage of the horror that is Fallujah has with the odd exception been nothing short of outrageous in its distortions and blatant propagandising. Even where it purports to be critical of the US in its destruction of Fallujah and its inhabitants, the sub-text continues to push the Western line of ‘foreign militants’, ‘mistakes’ and in the case of the following story, as some kind of retribution for the deaths of four US mercenaries and the beheadings by the mythical Abu al-Zarqawi.