Tariq Ali, the internationally renowned author and campaigner, will be in Derry this Thursday to launch his new book ‘Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes’.
Ali is the author of many books including Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity (2002), Bush in Babylon (2003), Conversations with Edward Said (2005), Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis Of Hope (2006), The Duel (2008), The Obama Syndrome (2010), and The Extreme Centre: A Warning (2015).
Ali’s introduction to the book contends, “The modern Churchill cult is out of control, closing down debate and encouraging support for twenty-first-century wars.
“The wartime leader has become a household god for many, preserving an antiquated vision of Britain still shared by all three parties.
“Yet, was he anything more than a plump carp happy to swim in the foulest of ponds to defend the Empire?
“Churchill himself never bothered to conceal his passionate defence of the British Empire or its attendant racism.
“On a more personal level, his complacent self-belief influenced his every step and frequently tripped him up.
“As the head of the British Navy during the First World War, he was responsible for a series of calamitous errors that cost thousands of lives.
“His attempt to crush the Irish nationalists left wounds that have yet to heal.
“His attacks on striking workers in Glasgow and Tonypandy, his posturing when calling in the army to burn two anarchists in London’s East End, his vicious propaganda during the General Strike were not forgotten or forgiven.
“Even during the war against Germany, the most revered period of his career, Churchill’s crimes abroad continued, including the brutal assault on the Greek Resistance, the Bengal Famine that cost over 3 million Indian lives, the all-out assault on civilians in Dresden and Hamburg, and the insistence on the use of nuclear weapons in Japan.
“Postwar, he continued to cause harm in Iran and Kenya. His is a terrible record.”
The book launch will be held in St.Columb’s Hall at 6.30pm this Thursday, October 6.
The Rebel Books hosted event is free and open to the public.
Signed copies will be available.
The Derry meeting will be followed by book events in Belfast on October 7 and Dublin on October 8.
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