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  • Ruby Bridges, Barbara Anderson, Mrs Ackerman and Me

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    We recognize Ruby Bridges for her life's work as a civil rights leader and activist; we find an unsightly caricature of Ruby's historic walk through a snarling angry crowd with new education secretary Betsy DeVos depicted as Ruby. This depiction exemplifies how little understanding of race discrimination in America has been attained ..

    But for racial subjugation Ruby Bridges would not have needed federal marshals to escort her to attend a heretofore segregated public school in New Orleans. But for racial animus she would not have been taught in an isolated setting by Barbara Henry; whose integrity led her to offer this brave child the best education she could provide her. That teacher Barbara Henry, and her student, Ruby represents the best of the American legacy. This Bridges experience is captured too in a retrospective entitled "Lasting Impact", which summarizes the historical effect of this heroic act.

    Today, Segregation is illegal in America and no longer happens. A large amount of racism has left our society, however, not all of it has been eliminated. Hopefully one day, racism will be a subject only spoken about in history textbooks.

    DeVos' caricature of Bridges is classic to American culture. This cultural practice is summarized in the following quote from Bridget Cooke's "Fixing Racial Representations of African- Americans at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893". This excerpt explains causations for the use of stereotypes to minimize the positive reality of African descent Americans. Whites created the culture of segregation in large part to counter black success, to make a myth of absolute racial difference, to stop the rising. Racial essentialism, the conception of sets of personal characteristics as biologically determined racial identities, greatness in popularity among whites in tandem with the rise of the new black middle class and its increasing visibility, especially in cities.

    This American legacy extends to me as well, in Los Angeles, California where I was born. I am more than a decade older than Ruby but attended integrated schools. I too had boosts from my nurturing family as well as key teachers along my way.

    In John Muir Junior High School where I attended school, someone would always manage to treat me of my bus ticket book leaving me with a miles long trudge to school. Enter my Barbara Henry, Mrs. Ackerman. Mrs Ackerman was my science teacher who was a German immigrant. She would look for me on my march to school and offered me that much appreciated ride to school.

    Then she would allow me early access to her classroom. During these early morning sessions she taught me a means of recognizing my own exceptional intelligence through a mini astronomy lesson where she gave me the eagle's view of my ability to extrapolate. I would leave John Muir and go on to graduate cum laude from high in a class of 1200. This led to a scholarship to college.

    In the fifty-eight years since these mornings with Mrs. Ackerman I have shown my passion for this American legacy serving students and staff in a way that led to:

    First woman of my hue to become a high school principal in the state of Colorado

    Winner of the following distinctions

    Milken National Educational Leader

    Outstanding Individual in Schools for the state of Colorado

    Educator of the Year

    Election to the School Board the first of my hue and female in over 140 years

    Post Retirement:

    Fellowships to Harvard

    More to tell. For now thank you colleagues Ruby, Barbara, Mrs Ackerman

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    Source by Delia Armstrong-Busby

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  • Terrorism – A Threat to Global Peace

    Terrorism – A Threat to Global Peace

    ABSTRACT

    Nowadays, no one seems to be saved in the world. Terrorism, an ugly development which has compelled the world leaders as well as the public figures to spend millions of dollars beefing up their security, has become a global threat. Amidst this seemingly tight security and threat, thousands of innocent souls have lost their lives to the annihilation called terrorism.

    Statistically, it has been proved that no country of the world is exceptional to terrorist attacks. Pius Odiaka writes on the palpable fear pervading world following the series of bombings in some countries. He declares in the Guardian Newspaper, Friday, July 29th, 2005, (page 24) that “No part of the world has been left without terrorist bloodshed. From Kenya, Algeria, Egypt in Africa to many countries in the middle East and the Gulf; Indonesia, Philippine, Pakistan and India across Asia; Washington and New York in America; Spain and now London in Europe, many innocent souls have been sniffed out of existence.”

    The paper will present how terrorism is a threat to Global Peace. It will enumerate the category of acts of terrorism. It will also examine the causes and implications of terrorism in human advancement especially in the area of peace building and keeping. Above all, it will provide recommendations by referring to the United Nations recommendations for a global counter-terrorism strategy. It concludes by affirming that the global peace can only be achieved if the world- the leaders and the followers-condemn terrorism in all forms and ramifications, and act unconditionally and justly in their quest to providing everlasting solutions to peace, as it constitutes one of the most serious threats to global peace and security.

    Introduction

    In human history, terrorism is widely recognized as the world most famous enemy of mankind. As history itself will admit that terrorism is annihilation with far-reaching and destructive effects, it is the cruelest of crimes against humanity. Its remains have turned neighbours into enemies and have made our societies and the whole world unsafe for living. Its aims and applications are global and uncompromising. Neither terrorism nor is perpetrators are new. Even though it has been used since the beginning of recorded time, not history itself can keep, with precision, the number of lives and properties lost to terrorism.

    No doubt, terrorism with its destructive power has reshaped the world we live in. We now live in the world characterized by rising violence and conflicts. This, in turn, has led to the world of growing mistrust, fear, division and represents a significant new threat to international justice, peace and security. This ugly development thus made Amnesty International to observe in its 2004 Report the lasting effects of the crime on humanity.

    This report and others provide a valid point on how terrorism or terrorist acts have made the world unsafe and how it has threatened global peace.

    Historical Background of terrorism

    It is pertinent to recall that forms of society and governments in the past differ from what they are today, when describing the history of terrorism and the use of terror through time. Not until 1648 (Treaty of Westphalia), there was nothing like modern nation-states. More recent is the state’s monopoly on warfare or interstate-violence. The absence of central authority gave many more players opportunity to participate in the game of warfare. However, this did not make the use of terror a method of affecting a political change. In contrast to the modern era, where only nations go to war, the involvement of players such as religious leaders, mercenaries, mercantile companies, national armies and many more was considered to be lawful and normal.

    Terrorist acts or the threat of such action have been in existence for millennia. So, in narrating the history of terrorism, it is important to talk about the various types of terrorism and terrorist individuals and groups. Below is the summary of the history of terrorism.

    Ancient World:

    Sicarii Zealots

    Political scientists see the radical Sicarii offshoot of the Jewish Zealots as one of the earliest forerunners of modern terrorism. Like modern terrorists, they intended their actions to suggest a message to a wider target audience: in this instance, the roman imperial officials and all pro-Roman and collaborationists

    Al-Assassin

    The Hashshashin (also Hashishin, Hashsshiyyin or Assassins) were an offshoot of the Isma ili sect of the Shiite Muslims. After a quarrel about the succession of leadership in the ruling Fatimide dynasty in Cairo around the year 1090, the losing Nizariyya faction was driven from Egypt. They established a number of fortified settlements in present day Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon under the charismatic leader Hasan I Sabbah.Persecuted as infidel by the dominant Sunni sect in the Muslim world; they sent dedicated suicide murderers to eliminate prominent Sunni leaders whom they considered “impious usurpers.” The sect was decimated by the invading Mongols, their last stronghold being flattened by Hulegu Khan in the year 1272.Many scholars believe the term Hashshashin, a name given to them by their enemies was derived from the Arabic “hassasin(hashish user),which they are alleged to have ingested prior to their attacks, but this etymology is disputed. The sects referred to themselves as al-da-wa al-jadida, which means the new doctrine, and were known within the organization as Fedayeen.

    Seventeenth century

    Gunpowder Plot (1605)

    On November 5, 1605 a group of conspirators, led by Guy Fawkes, attempted to destroy the English Parliament on the State Opening, by detonating a large quantity of gunpowder secretly placed beneath the building. The design was to kill King James1 and the members of both houses of parliament. In the resulting anarchy, the conspirators planned to implement a coup and restore the Catholic faith to England. However the plan was betrayed and then thwarted.

    Eighteenth century

    1.Sons of Liberty

    The Sons of Liberty were an underground group opposed to British Rule in the colonies, who committed several attacks, most famous among these was the Boston Tea Party. No one was killed or seriously injured by any action that was taken.

    2.The Terror (1793-1794)

    The Reign of Terror ( September 5 1793- July 28 1794) or simply The Terror ( French: la Terreur) was a period of about eleven months during the French Revolution when struggles between rival factions led to mutual radicalization which took on a violent character with mass executions by guillotine.

    The victims of the Reign of Terror totaled approximately 40,000.Among people who are condemned by the revolutionary tribunals, about 8 percent were aristocrats, 6 percent clergy 14 percent middle class, and 70 percent were workers or peasants accused of hoarding, evading the draft, desertion, rebellion, and other purported crimes.

    Nineteenth century

    1.Anarchism

    Anarchists was the most prolific terrorists of the 19th century, with the terroristic tendencies of both nationalism and political movements of Communism or fascism still in there infancy. The disjointed attacks of various anarchists groups lead to the assassination of Russian Tsars and American Presidents but had little real political impact.

    2.Tsarist Russia

    In Russia, by the mid-19 th century, the intelligentsia grew impatient with the slow pace of Tsarist reforms, which had slowed considerably after the attempted assassination of Alexander II of Russia. Radicals then sought instead to transform peasant discontent into open revolution. Anarchists like Mikhail Bakunin maintained that progress was impossible without destruction. With the development of sufficiently powerful, stable, and affordable explosives, the gap closed between the firepower of the state and the means available to dissidents. The main group responsible for the resulting campaign of terror-‘Narodnaya Volya’ (people’s will) (1878-81) – used the word ‘terrorist’ proudly. They believed in the targeted killing of the ‘leaders of oppression’; they were convinced that the developing technologies of the age-symbolized by bombs and bullets- enabled them to strike directly and discriminately.” People’s Will”, possessing only 30 members, attempted several assassination attempts upon Tsa. Culminating in the assassination of Tsar Alexander II on 13 March 1881, killing the Tsar as he was traveling by train.

    3. Irish Republican Brotherhood

    In 1867, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a revolutionary nationalist group with support from Irish-Americans, carried out attacks in England. These were the first acts of “republican terrorism”, which became a recurrent feature of British history, and these Fenians were the precursor of the Irish Republican Army. The ideology of the group was Irish nationalism.

    4. Nationalist terrorism

    The Fenians/IRA and the IMRO may be considered the prototype of all ‘nationalist terrorism’, and equally illustrate the (itself controversial) expression that “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter’. At least one of these groups achieve its goal: an independent Ireland came into being. So did an independent Macedonia, but original IMRO probably contributed little to this outcome. Some groups resorted to the use of dynamite, as did Catalan nationalists such as La Reixa and Bandera Negra.

    5. John Brown

    John Brown was an abolitionist who advocated armed opposition to slavery. He committed several terrorist attacks and was also involved in an illegal smuggling of slaves. His most famous attack was upon the armory at Harpers Ferry, though the local forces would soon recapture the fort and Brown, trying and executing him for treason. His death would make him a martyr to the abolitionist cause, one of the origins of American Civil War, and a hero to the Union forces that fought in it.

    6. Ku Klux Klan (1865)

    The original Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was created after the end of the American Civil War on December 24, 1865, by six educated middle-class confederate veterans from Pulaski, Tennessee. It soon spread into nearly every southern state of the United States. The Klan has advocated for what is generally perceived as white supremacy, anti-Semitism, racism, anti-Catholicism, homophobia, and nativism. They have often used terrorism, violence and acts of intimidation such as cross burning to oppress African Americans and other groups. The name ‘Ku Klux Klan’ has been used by many different unrelated groups, but they all seem to center on the belief of white supremacy. From its creation to the present day, the number of members and influence has varied greatly. However, there is little doubt that, especially in the southern United States, it has at times wielded much political influence and generated great fear among African Americans and their supporters. At one time KKK controlled the governments of Tennessee, Indiana, Oklahoma and Oregon, in addition to some of the southern U.S legislatures.

    Twentieth century

    Suffragette, Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand (1914), KKK(1915),Irgun (1936-1948), World War II, Nationalism and the End of Empire,Cold War proxies,,IRA,,ETA, Aum Shinrikyo (1984-1995), Achille Lauro Hijacking (1985), Lockerbie bombing (1988), Umkhonto we Sizwe (South Africa 1961-1990), PLO (1964-c.1988), Columbian terrorist groups, Munich Massacre (1972),Matsumoto incident(1994), Sarin gas attack on Tokyo subway(1995),and Oklahoma City bombing (1995) are types of terrorism and individual terrorists and groups that operated in the twentieth century.

    Twenty-First Centuries

    The well-celebrated September 11 (2002) attack and the Beslan school siege are recent terrorist attacks of the twenty-first century.

    Terrorism: Definition of a Phenomenon

    As clearly stated above, terrorism has established itself as a world phenomenon before 1648. But then, it becomes imperative to look into the true meaning of the term.Although providing a definite definition for it has been accorded with series of controversies, etymologically, the term emanates from Latin, “terrere”, meaning “to frighten” via the French word terrorisme, which is often associated with the regime de la terreur, the Reign of Terror of the revolutionary government in France from 1793 to 1794.The Committee of Public Safety agents that enforced the policies of “The Terror” were referred to as ” Terrorists”.

    The English word “terrorism” was first recorded in English dictionaries in 1798 as meaning “systematic use of terror as a policy”. The Oxford English Dictionary still records a definition of terrorism as “Government by intimidation carried out by the party in power in France between 1789-1794.

    The controversial issue is that the vocabulary of terrorism has become the successor to that of anarchy and communism the catch-all label opprobrium, exploited accordingly by media and politicians.The difficulty in constructing a definition which eliminates any just cause for terrorism is that history provides too many precedents of organizations and their leaders branded as terrorist but who eventually evolved into respected government. This has applied particularly to national liberation movements fighting colonial or oppressive regimes, engaging in violence within their countries often as a last resort. Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya spent years of his life lobbying the British government before his involvement with the Mau Mau rebellion. Nelson Mandela, a hero in his continent and beyond, is another convicted “terrorist” belonging to this class.

    Before making a valid point, it is important to say that this piece would like to consider further statements and criticisms on the issue and recognized that there are other valid arguments on these controversial issues. However, they are not within premises of this paper.

    Arriving at a universally accepted definition of terrorism which narrows down to a specific method of conducting violence instead of “all its forms and manifestations” or which makes it possible to refer terrorist acts to an international court, as for genocide and other war crimes or which makes it impossible for individual countries to outlaw activities they choose to classify as terrorism perhaps for their own political interest is a great challenge in the study of terrorism.

    While the United Nations has not yet accepted a definition of terrorism, the UN’s “academic consensus definition,” has been put forth for consideration. And they are available for public evaluation.

    In final analysis, although, it is not clear the actual number of definitions of terrorism; but it is clear that terrorism does not have respect for human lives and values. It has claimed thousands of lives of innocent souls, rendered millions of people homeless and economically handicapped. Alas, it is clearer that terrorism has turned our world into a place conducive for its existence and spread.

    Effects of terrorism on global peace

    Indisputably, terrorism is a threat to global peace. As it thrives well in a world such as ours- where violation of human rights, rising violence and conflicts, ethnic, national and religious discrimination, socio-economic marginalization and extreme ideology, dehumanization of victims are prominently in practice, it has succeeded in disregarding human lives and values, launching war on freedom and peace, multiplying violence and conflicts, and posting challenges of solving the problem of injustice, insecurity and declining economy.

    Recommendations

    In accordance with the United Nations in a report titled: Uniting Against Terrorism-Recommendations for a global counter-terrorism strategy, this paper hereby presents the following recommendations;

    (1)All stakeholders-the leaders and the followers, individuals and institutions must dissuade people from resorting to terrorism or supporting it.

    (2) All stakeholders, in all ways and at all levels, must deny terrorists the means to carry out an attack by:

    – denying terrorists financial support.

    -denying terrorists access to deadly weapons, including weapons of mass destruction.

    – denying terrorists access to travel.

    -denying terrorists access to their targets and their desired impact.

    (3) All stakeholders, in all capacities, must deter States from supporting terrorists groups.

    (4) All stakeholders must develop State capacity to prevent terrorism by:

    – promoting the rule of law and effective criminal justice systems.

    – promoting quality education and religious and cultural tolerance.

    – countering the financing of terrorism.

    – ensuring transport security.

    – preventing terrorists from acquiring nuclear, biological, chemical or radiological

    materials, and ensuring better preparedness for an attack with such materials

    -improving the defense of soft targets and the response to their attack.

    – promoting United Nations system-wide coherence in countering terrorism.

    (5) All stakeholders, collectively, must defend human rights in the context of terrorism and counter- terrorism.

    Even though my recommendations are fashioned out of United Nations recommendation for a global strategy, they represent a holistic and realistic approach to fighting or countering terrorism. However, if these recommendations are given the opportunity to operate or if implemented and executed properly and continuously, they are effective strategies of countering terrorism and, at the same time, ensuring a world free of violence and conflict, violations of human rights, ethnic, national and religious discrimination, political exclusion, and socio-economic marginalization

    Conclusion

    As you will agree with me that terrorism affects all of us, our approach to fighting or countering terrorism and ensuring a safe and peaceful world must be collective. However, it is worth noting that the world leaders, followers and stakeholders have vital roles to play in the fight against terrorism and in achieving our goals of global peace and security.

    For the world leaders and stakeholders, these roles transcend attending or organizing world summit, conferences, seminars, e.t.c on the topic, and consenting to Global strategy to counter terrorism on papers. They need to commit more resources, at all levels, to the cause, be more sincere and objective in their judgments, more practical in their approach, and create enabling environments conducive for justice, conflict resolutions, human right protection, equality, stability, unity, prosperity, tolerance, peace and security.Above all, they need to promote and support ultimately because that have respect for human lives and values.

    For followers and individuals, we need to carry out the message beyond conferences that terrorism is inexcusable and unacceptable. We need to engage in one- to -one education or group discussions enlightening ourselves on the devastating and destructive effects of terrorism on our lives and values, and emphasizing that terrorism is not an effective way of championing a cause, whether political, religious or otherwise. We must recognize that peace is the most precious need of humanity.

    Source by Azeez Olawale-Arish Yusuff

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  • Apartheid in South Africa – Documentary on Racism | Interviews w

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  • Why African Americans are dying at higher rates from Covid-19

    Why African Americans are dying at higher rates from Covid-19

    Why African Americans are dying at higher rates from Covid-19 1

    WASHINGTON: The new coronavirus isn’t biased about who it infects – so why does data emerging from some states suggest that African Americans are bearing the brunt of the pandemic in the US?

    Experts say blacks are disproportionately impacted by underlying health conditions linked to poverty, face discrimination in medical care, and are more likely to work jobs that require them to leave their home.

    “We know that blacks are more likely to have diabetes, heart disease, lung disease,“ the nation’s top doctor, Surgeon General Jerome Adams told CBS News on Tuesday.

    These chronic illnesses, which are in turn linked to poverty and structural racism, can lead to more serious forms of the COVID-19 disease.

    Adams, who is himself black and has high blood pressure and asthma, added: “I represent that legacy of growing up poor and black in America.

    “And I, and many black Americans, are at higher risk for COVID.”

    – Emerging trend –

    There is no nationwide data available on COVID-19 cases by race, but a pattern of over-representation by black Americans has emerged in states or jurisdictions that are sharing the numbers.

    Sixty-eight percent of coronavirus deaths in Chicago have been among African Americans, who make up just 30 percent of the city’s population.

    “Those numbers take your breath away,“ the city’s mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday at a coronavirus briefing. “This is a call to action for all of us.”

    The trend is repeated in North Carolina, Louisiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and the capital Washington.

    Doctor Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told AFP the issue was also linked to social class, with black people more likely to work jobs deemed essential that expose them to potential infection.

    “That population is more public facing,“ he said. “More bus drivers, more people taking public transportation to work, more people providing services in nursing homes, more folks working in grocery stores.”

    – Structural bias –

    The problem is compounded by implicit and explicit bias that African Americans face in the medical system.

    Doctor James Hildreth, president of the historically black Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee told AFP that in his city, most of the initial testing took place at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

    Most of the patients who go to hospital systems like these have insurance, and it was only recently that three assessment centers run by the city of Nashville were built for the underprivileged and minority communities — one of them located at Meharry’s campus and run by its staff.

    “My point is, depending on which community you live in, and whether or not you have insurance… the chances for getting assessed are much less,“ he said.

    What’s more, it’s well documented that when black people seek care, they are less likely to have their symptoms believed or get adequately treated, Doctor Ebony Hilton, an anesthesiologist at the University of Virginia Medical Center told AFP.

    For example, black women are less likely to have their breast cancer mammograms seen by a specialist as opposed to a general radiologist, according to a 2015 Duke University study.

    Black heart patients who present with elevated levels of a group of proteins indicating cardiac injury are also less likely to be seen by specialists, per a 2018 study.

    A civil rights group wrote this week to the US health secretary, Alex Azar, calling on him to “release daily racial and ethnic demographic data related to COVID-19 testing, disease burden and patient outcomes.”

    This, said the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, was necessary to ensure a robust public health response, and to make certain care and testing aren’t being administered in a discriminatory manner.

    The group said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was already collecting the information but deliberately withholding it.

    Hilton stressed that it was in the interests of Americans as a whole to address the problem, because — unlike high rates of heart disease or cancer — a wave of coronavirus spreading through the black and Hispanic population will ultimately impact everyone else.

    “When you have a system that’s not treating these people of lower social economic status and these minority groups, they are then not being tested, they’re sent back home to infect their community,“ she said.

    “Those workers who are now infected are going to the grocery store, and when the upper echelon of America are going to get their food, they will get infected too.” – AFP

    Why African Americans are dying at higher rates from Covid-19
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    https://www.thesundaily.my/world/why-african-americans-are-dying-at-higher-rates-from-covid-19-HX2231768

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  • The Life of Ezra Pound by Noel Stock

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    A review of The Life of Ezra Pound by Noel Stock must begin by acknowledging the phenomenal achievement of its author. It is comprehensive, detailed, forensic, appreciative, critical and illuminating, a massive achievement of analysis, research and insight. At around 200,000 words it is also a commitment, not for the fainthearted or for anyone with only a passing interest in either poetry or the history of the twentieth century. But it is also something else, something that, despite the magnificence of its scholarship, provokes this reader to focus on issues that are external to the text, itself. But more of that later: first, the book.

    Ezra Pound was undeniably one of the greatest figures of twentieth century literature. Unlike his illustrious contemporaries and friends, however, Joyce, Eliot and Yeats among them, his name has seemed to slip from the mainstream since his death in 1972. I read his great achievement, the Cantos, when I was at college. I did not understand them. In some ways they feel less like a work of poetry than a lifetime achievement, a creatively conceived and sometimes over-presented commonplace book into which fell, in poetic form, a distillation, a reflection or sometimes mere mention of whatever disparate material that Pound obsessed over at the time. The Cantos were Pound’s creative life, but we must not forget the massive amount of other material, his journalism, music, prose and economics, for want of a more accurate word.

    Pound was one of the founders and movers of literary and artistic movements: Imagism and the Vorticism among them. They were perhaps not the most enduring of directions. He was American but seemed more at home in England and then Italy, neither of which chooses to honour his achievements on their soil. But what is strongly felt about this man from the start is his conviction of, perhaps his obsession with his own genius. He was utterly sure he would contribute to the arts and perhaps even change their direction. He seemed to consider his legacy immortal, even before it had been created. He felt he was something new, original and enduring. And all this when apparently no-one even wanted to read his material, or formally give him time of day. And not only did he seem to deny his failures, he didn’t even seem to register them. The limitations were always somewhere else. In the early years, he thus seemed like a self-publicist, with is achievements acknowledged before they were achieved, like a modern self-published author who writes five-star, best-seller reviews of his own work. Nowadays, that surely would never do!

    But eventually, perhaps by sheer dogged application alongside considerable talent, Pound received the recognition he thought he deserved, though perhaps never in our own contemporary, blunt instrument yardstick of success – sales. Certain academics loved him. Others did not. He himself had high hopes of a Nobel Prize.

    Noel Stock includes copious quotations from Pound’s verse, always with critical assessment, sometimes with criticism. The Cantos were so far reaching in their intellectual coverage that it may appear from the outside that no-one without the full gamut of requisite skills would understand them. And given that these skills comprise, amongst other things, a knowledge of Dante and medieval Italian poetry, Confucius, Mencius and Lao-Tze in the original Chinese, troubadour songs in their original langue d’oc, Noh theatre texts in Japanese, Pound’s own experimental English, besides knowledge of the Classics and their metres, one might presume that there might be few modern readers of his work. This is probably accurate. But there is more to the modern shunning of Pound’s work than its overtly elitist intellectual demands. And it is here that this review needs to diverge from literature, poetry and indeed Ezra Pound, himself, to address the related concepts of fascism and racism.

    The main reason why today Pound’s name remains passé is his espousal of fascist ideas and his overt antisemitism. He went to live in Italy. He regarded Mussolini as rather a good thing. In Italy at the time he was hardly alone in this belief. He adopted Hitler’s aggressive antisemitism because he was fundamentally opposed to capitalism, if it meant what he saw as a banking and economic system dominated by Jews, the foundation of this belief being a bank owned by the Rothchild family. He also took to broadcasting pro-fascist propaganda (in Italian and English) on radio during World War II.

    Normally, my reviews are consciously detached. I try to review the book, not myself. Likes and dislikes are, to me, wholly nebulous and indefinable and even passing whims that are always less significant than considerations of communication or achievement of ends. In the case of The Life of Ezra Pound, the subjective “I” must be included, since our appreciation or not of this poet’s writing now seems to depend wholly on our individual take on his politics, despite his being be neither analytical or pro-active in his views, as this biography clarifies. In some ways, his politics were as transient as his current interests, as expressed in the meanderings of the Cantos. But what now can we make of Pound? Should we even try to understand him? Is dismissal the preferred option? I would say that he is worth the effort. Not the use of “I”! And this is not because I think Pound is a particular genius, overlooked or even readable. And I certainly do not see his actions as pardonable! And here I beg your pardon for making this book review become something personal, something about me and not about the book, but I assure you it is relevant. Please exit here if you are wary of the personal.

    I remember in the recent past a well-known British television presenter saying on-air that the music of Wagner was not played in her household because of the composer´s antisemitism. I remember another celebrity saying that antisemitism was the flavour of Wager´s age, and that rejection of the composer´s work on those grounds alone ought to prompt a similar rejection of everything artistic or otherwise that came out of mid-nineteenth century German culture.

    In the not too distant past I re-read Adam Smith´s Wealth of Nations. In my review I concentrated on those aspects of the analysis that might contradict the completely neo-liberal interpretation of the work. I was perhaps wrong to do so, but I wanted to challenge the idea that there is just one way to read Smith´s notion of free trade. Embedded within Smith´s thesis, however, are assumptions about human progress and worthiness. The Hindoo, the Mussulman and even the Catholic have their place in history and civilisation, but the heathen is judged to be a primitive sub-human. I do not recall Smith referring to ´The Buddhist´, but that may be my own failure of memory. In today´s politics, how many of the neo-liberal, perhaps neo-conservative supporters of their own notions of Smith´s concepts of free trade also regard those not associated with an organised great religion as both uncivilised and sub-human? And, given that the assumption appears to run throughout the work, should that alone disqualify Smith´s views on other subjects or his contribution to economics? Another position that almost dominates sections of The Wealth of Nations is that there is no economic activity that is or could be greater than the total that describes the state. How many of these same free marketeers would share Smith´s oft-stated revulsion of the very idea of a transnational corporation, which he regarded as necessarily market-distorting and almost automatically corrupt? This is recognized in antitrust and anti-monopoly legislation, but how often is this side of Smith´s work quoted? My point here is that we can choose to be selective, and usually do.

    I am tempted here to introduce the composer Anton Webern into the argument. A member of the second Viennese School, Webern espoused the atonalism of his associate, Schoenberg. Webern was perhaps the artistic opposite of Ezra Pound, being prone to destructive self-criticism and a desire for an extreme succinctness of expression. But Webern, like Pound, thought that fascism might be more sympathetic towards “high art” to which he aspired than the mechanisms of capitalism that concentrated on what it could sell. He thus initially espoused fascism, eventually to his own and his associates´ cost.

    After this considerable diversion, there is eventually a moral, and that is to beware anyone touting answers, especially those based on interpretations of the past in anything other than its own terms. Which brings me to Brexit! It might seem quite a jump, but it does follow. Trust me!

    I have recent personal experience, albeit apocryphal, that suggests the prime motivation among the British working class leave voters who surely swung the referendum result was “getting rid of all the foreigners.” I use quotes to emphasise that this was expressed to me personally and verbatim, with stress on the “all”. I had just finished The Life of Ezra Pound and I felt immediately a strange yet strong link with Pound´s antisemitism, which was founded on nothing less than trying to find someone to blame.

    Perhaps we should not judge Wagner, Adam Smith or even Ezra Pound using the moral perspective of our own time. For if we did that, and rejected any espousal of either racism or religious bigotry, how much of our human past would we retain? And, given the above Brexit opinion, is the moral perspective of our time significantly different from that of the 1930s, or even the 1850s, or 1770s or indeed any other time in our conflict-ridden blame game of history?

    The Life of Ezra Pound is a forensic biography of a poet. It describes a life lived in its historical and cultural context. Like all books committed to communicating its subject, it is a masterpiece that takes the reader way beyond the confines of its subject and thereby achieves a permanent relevance. Revisit this past. We must never deny it existed or forget its consequences. But it reminds us that as individuals, communities and societies, there is no rule that precludes the repetition of error. And neither is there any rule that insists that a current moral ground need be any higher than any other existing folly, contemporary or past.

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    Source by Philip Spires

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