La venganza de la historia

by Seumas Milne

Uno de los politólogos británicos más destacados se enfrenta a la década que vivimos peligrosamente ―del 11-S a la primavera árabe, la crisis económica, el auge de China y los conflictos en Oriente Medio― poniendo patas arriba las ortodoxias de la generación anterior. La venganza de la historia, una antología de columnas y artículos de Milne publicados en The Guardian entre 1997 y 2012, supone un severo correctivo al discurso dominante en la primera década del siglo XXI. A través de una narración panorámica, Milne examina las causas de la crisis del crédito y de la Gran Recesión, revela cómo la política de intervención humanitaria es una fallida apropiación del territorio, explica el motor que se halla detrás de la colosal economía china, y descubre nuevos modelos de sociedad que están floreciendo en Latinoamérica. Brillante, audaz y siempre incisiva, esta obra es de lectura obligada para comprender qué ha ido las convulsiones que nos han llevado a la crisis actual, las formas políticas emergentes del futuro, y el declive de Estados Unidos, un imperio global y corporativo que ya no puede actuar con la impunidad de siempre en un «mundo multipolar».

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, War, Economics, Society

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Seumas Patrick Charles Milne is an English journalist and political aide. He was appointed as the Labour Party's Executive Director of Strategy and Communications in October 2015 under Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn, initially on leave from The Guardian. In January 2017, he left The Guardian in order to work for the party full-time. He left the role upon Corbyn's departure as leader in April 2020.

Milne joined The Guardian in 1984. He was a columnist and associate editor there at the time of his Labour Party appointment, and according to Peter Popham writing for The Independent in 1997, was "on the far left of the Labour Party." Milne is the author of The Enemy Within: The Secret War Against the Miners, a book about the 1984–1985 UK miners' strike which focuses on the role of MI5 and Special Branch in the dispute.

Reviews

[Prerna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seumas Milne is a former Guardian columnist, former executive director of strategy and communications for UK’s Labour party and in this book, he adroitly presents some poignant questions concerning the present state of our world. What's more, he has some scathing, honest answers to those questions derived from an analysis of current affairs and major global events of the 21st century. It's not a detailed history book by any means. In fact, it's a well-curated collection of his articles organized under common themes into different chapters.

It's very hard to analyze the present, judge the history we are constantly in the process of creating and then forecast the future. Who is ruling the world in the 21st century? What are the factors secretly at play behind the curtains? Oh, that's simple, says Milne. We have western solipsism, corporate interests favoring governments, and NATO's extraordinary skills to find itself right in the middle of any political unrest in the Middle East and the East to thank for the current torn, sectarian, economically fragile global landscape ruled by the 1%.

Colonial rule and imperialism are still alive, just not in the familiar form of the 20th century. Milne presents a lot of reliable evidence for this. His conclusion is that neoconservatives and neoliberals are the two faces of the same coin, both lobbying for essentially the same autocratic style of government. Liberal interventionist "war on terror" has spawned more terrorists and fueled more hatred. The occupy Wall Street movement, the Arab spring, global political turmoil, increased acts of violence and war did not just descend upon us from a clear blue sky. Milne argues that they are the products of a century of dispossession, powerlessness and selfish western capitalism. And they are not without precedent, resistance has always been the best weapon of the oppressed. Given the current state of world affairs and severe economic inequity, we can expect acts of resistance to increase.

Milne is ruthless in his claims and unapologetic about his own political standing. I found certain chapters harder to read because they are quite UK-focused and my own ignorance prevented me from understanding the deeper significance of Milne's words.

As per an Oxfam report published on 9th September 2020, thirty two of the world's largest companies reaped in a profit $109 billion in the first half of the year. Globally and regionally, we are still reeling from the economic devastation (that is expected to push half a billion people globally into poverty) and national GDP fall caused by the pandemic.
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Jeff Bezos could personally pay each of Amazon’s 876,000 employees a one-time $105,000 bonus today and still be as wealthy as he was at the beginning of the pandemic.

So, some behemoths apparently won the pandemic. Theoretically, there should have been no singular winners in a world ravaged by a global pandemic. Ideally, there shouldn’t be a singular global power or a coalition of a few nation-states that rule over the entire arena of international politics like an indefatigable colossus in the 21st century. Yet, there are winners and losers. Who is winning the battle for the 21st century? 20 years in and it already feels like game over for us, the modern plebeians.

3.5 stars.

[David Kenvyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must-read book for anyone who wishes to understand the politics of the 21st century, the fallacies and frauds that led to the launch of the "war on terror", the collapse of the neoliberal economic experiment, the rise of China, the Arab uprisings, and the response of the USA and its western allies to any challenge to their hegemony. What is even more extraordinary however is that Seumas Milne wrote most of this book as a journalistic response to the events as they were unfolding at the time. The accuracy of his analysis is absolutely breathtaking. As you would expect with a journalist of his reputation, the articles which form the basis of this book were written with intellectual rigour and a clarity of thought that make it easy to understand the arguments that he is putting forward. What we, as the readers, have to remember is that we are reading this with the benefit of hindsight, but that these articles were being written at a time when future developments were not certain. Milne's grasp of history and world politics, however, lead to the correct conclusions about what was likely to happen, based on his own wide knowledge and understanding of 20th century history. This is a book that is not to be missed. If only we could guarantee that those currently in a position of power would read it and draw their lessons from it, we would be living in a much safer world. Sadly, this is not likely to be the case.

[Iris66 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is essentially a collection of Guardian articles written by the author, with an overarching message of "free-market capitalists and politicians in the US/UK have screwed the world". While it touches upon some really interesting topics and concepts, I personally found the format a little confusing and frustrating to read. The narrative flow of a news article doesn't translate too seamlessly to a book, making things like lack of detail on key points or repetition of ideas more of an issue. Milne's ability to predict political events is almost eerie, and he is certainly very skilled at analysis. However, I wish he'd written an entire book rather than just republishing old articles. I recommend familiarizing yourself with topics like neocolonialism and neoliberalism BEFORE you pick this up.

[Madikeri Abu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Revenge of History, is a compilation of essays published over a long period of 10 years by Seumas Milne, UK's labour party chief strategist and a columnist for the daily Guardian.

Those who are interested in the contemporary politics and want to know more about the double standard pursued by the Western countries since centuries in all matters of geopolitics, the hoax and fraud unleashed in the name of 'war on terror', the eclipse of the prowess and hegemony of the West particularly the USA and the UK and at the same time the rise of China in the East, the turmoil in the Mideast and the roles played by the West to perpetuate it, the fall of West backed dictators in the region like Ben Ali of Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen and anti west military rulers like Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and Saddam Hussein of Iraq before and aftermath of the 'Arab Spring', the rise, consolidation and fall of many pro left leaders in Latin America and many, many more events are accurately and unbiasedly analysed by Mr. Milne. His prediction of future political events and development seem almost prophetic and his understanding of the current political history is comprehensive.

This is a must read for all those who are interested to learn more about the double standard and hypocrisy of the the West, their steadfast backing of blood thirsty autocrats all over the world, their false pretense to go to war on flimsy ground (remember Weapons of Mass Destruction in the case of Iraq) against regimes perceived to be anti-west and the consequent death and destruction all over the world, their connivance with despots in the region to profiteer from the inability and misfortune of the deprived populace, the triumph of business deal over the issue of human rights violations... the list is endless.

3.5 Stars.

Favorite Quote:

“It was the United States, after all, which poured resources into the 1980s war against the Soviet-backed regime in Kabul. Bin Laden and his mojahedin were armed and trained by the CIA and MI6, as Afghanistan was turned into a wasteland and its communist leader Najibullah left hanging from a Kabul lamp post”.

[Yağız Ay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essential read for the Corbyn Project. Exicting to see how Milne's ideas are slowly becoming the policies of a potential PM. The book correctly predicted the post-2016 political crisis, and has the response.

[Maddelline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another way of looking at wars (current and passed)

[cj · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this depressing as hell, but as a recap of twenty-first century history, and the impact of neoliberalism and neocolonialism in particular, it's pretty amazing. I'm admittedly predisposed to agree with Seumas Milne on nearly everything, but this still gave me plenty of moments to stop and seriously rethink the ways in which we're taught to understand history in the UK and US, and how this understanding informs our responses to the world right now.

I'm not crazy about the format - a collection of ten years worth of articles, which occasionally get repetitive - but if nothing else, it serves to illustrate the fact that we should always, always listen to this guy, because he ends up being right about everything.

[Doug Piero]

I just read a long excerpt in the Guardian.

It was a little confusing for this American to read, until I remembered to mentally flip Milne's word neoliberal for the American word neoconservative.

For those of us who were standing out on the roadsides in February 2003, calling for the Iraq war to be cancelled, this is recommended, based on the excerpt I read.

I worry Milne may be thinking the neocon agenda is winding to a close, it ain't.

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is something that is a bit too strident for me in Seumas Milne's voice. He is a denouncer but I fear not too much of a thinker. The book is like a Trot poster but with 60,000 more words. He is completely correct in his denunciation of neoliberalism and its violence but I take that as a given.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

An eye opening account of recent history. Milne expounds the West's culpable involvement behind the current socially and economically unbalanced world order. A must read.

[Inna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of Milne's articles from Guardian.

[Saba]

hiytuyrfuy

[Hamish Mack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great stuff

[Martina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essays on the political heritage of the soviet union were particularly good.