This week saw demonstrations in Argentina to mark the 32 anniversary of the military coup on March 24, 1976. Many thousands “disappeared”; meaning they were kidnapped, tortured, killed and then dumped by the military. Many are at the bottom of the South Atlantic, their bones mingling with the dead of the Belgrano, where their bodies were thrown overboard erasing their fate. Countless revolutionaries, activists and trade unionists died in this dirty “Dirty War”.
Harold Pinter’s 2006 Nobel Laureate speech placing US imperialism on the level of other modern barbarisms deserves to be seen and read. It is a speech that will live on long after Pinter as will much of his work. He is a fearless artist and human being
His work has taken me places few authors have. Opening up Pinter can be a bit like staring at the bottom of mug just drained of mushroom tea: Where will I be in a few minutes? What doors will I be asked to walk through? How scary might it be? Is there an exit? And before you know it, you’re in it.
Here then is Pinter’s “Don’t Believe Them.” It is dedicated to the Madres de Plaza de Mayo. Pinter gives voice, righteous and defiant, to the dead. In only one short minute it demands attention (Pinter’s poem begins at the 52 second mark).
Don’t believe them.
Rustbelt Radical 