Book Review: The New Rulers of the World by John Pilger

John Pilger is an Australian investigative journalist and documentary film-maker who lives in London. In this book, Pilger exposes the myth of globalization. He gives a detailed analysis of the events in Indonesia.  He reveals how General Suharto came to power in 1960s due to western agenda which marked start of the imposition of the ‘global economy’ upon Asia.

The author brings to light the nature of modern imperialism. He unveils its secrets and illusions. Pilger states that about a million people died in Indonesia because of the World Bank’s ‘model pupil’. Atrocities of the western powers in Iraq also covered. With that, he also discusses the subjugation of the Aboriginal people in Australia.

Pilgers says that a sophisticated system of plunder has forced more than ninety countries into ‘structural adjustment’ programs since the eighties, widening the divide between rich and poor as never before. According to him this results in a world where an elite of fewer than a billion people controls 80 per cent of humanity’s wealth. The author objects to the West’s claims of furthering development of the poor world. He says that although members of the United Nations have agreed that the rich countries should give a minimum of 0.7 per cent of their Gross National Product in genuine aid to the poor world, Britain gives just 0.34 percent and the United States barely registers, with 0.19 (p. 121).

Pilger believes that ‘when great truths are omitted, myths take their place, and the nature and pattern of great power are never explained to the public’ (p. 128). He criticizes the academic hierarchy by mentioning the politics departments. As per Pilger, in these departments the task of liberal realists is to ensure that western imperialism is intercepted as crises management, rather than the cause of the crises and its escalation. By never recognizing western state terrorism, their complicity is assured. To state this simple truth is deemed unscholarly; better to say nothing (p. 156).

Writing about the Aboriginal population the author states that the life expectancy of the Aborgines is up to twenty-five years shorter than whites, lower than in most countries and matched only in India and Central Africa (p. 165). Pilger’s solution for the Australian tragedy is through justice and political will.