[Peace-discuss] Diana Johnstone's memoir

Fri Jun 26 20:42:11 UTC 2020

 Here’s the review I submitted to Amazon, from whom I bought the book:

Customer Review
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Morton K. Brussel
4.0 out of 5 stars<https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RTEUSWYNEMA0K/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0849SRZTZ> The world since WWII, the Left and the Right. <https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RTEUSWYNEMA0K/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0849SRZTZ>
Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2020
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I've always admired the insightful reports of Diana Johnstone, and looked forward to her presently published Memoirs. However, although I think her Memoirs are intersting and well worth reading, I have some quibles about what she says there. I list them below:

Most importantly, Diana Johnstone is skeptical about the effects of CO2 and the human causes of the increase of CO2, that which results in well established and consequential global heating of the earth system. She implies we should respect the "deniers" of this phenomenon, and even implies that perhaps it is changes in the sun which could be the cause of the heating. That is an ignorant position, and I was stunned to read it in her memoir. She evidently knows little about the science involved. This is a rude blemish originating, perhaps, in her wish not to ignore those who deny what is published in most of our media in general.

At the end of the Memoir, she berates the left as representative of Antifa, but never quite defines Antifa, except that someone, or a group(?), has attacked her (and others') positions on Russia, wars and China. But so far as I can tell, there is no organized Antifa that represents the Left, at least in the USA, even as Mr. Trump castigates them as being behind the current protests. I wish she had named names, been specific.

I also have a problem with her treatment of Yugoslavia and the NATO Yugoslav war, more specifically the attack on Sarajevo by the Serbs. Chris Hedges has affirmed that that was a slaughter by murderous Serbs on a vulnerable population, for no legitimate reason. It was just evil. Hedges was there at the time of the bombardments. But Diane Johnstone greatly underplays that, and I don't know, now, whom to believe. Certainly the western press said it was an atrocity, but one can't trust them, in general. Then there is the question of Srebenica. Here again, it is difficult to get the truth. Johnstone says that it was not genocidal, as the west claimed, because women and children were spared. Does that condone the Serbs?

Johnstone's reflections on other matters are detailed and well worth reading, personal or political. Her opinions on the morass/corruption of western propaganda and policies, are positions staunchly antiwar and invariably in favor of the wellbeing of the common people, not of the corporate wealthy and power elites. She has particular insight about affairs in France, where she's become a citizen, and she gives a sympathetic analysis of the Gilets Jaunes protests. She stands up for nationalism as pride of culture, and chastises the globalization of leaders such as Macron. She outlines how the Greens in Europe have become compromised in their politics and policies. Her initial hopes for them as an influential movement, when she worked for them, were gradually dashed.

I found the prose of her Memoir to be sometimes uneven, but it gets better as the book proceeds. I enjoyed reading it. Her voice is unique, and should be better known.
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byDiana Johnstone<https://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&field-author=Diana+Johnstone&search-alias=digital-text>
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