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Distant Voices
Throughout his distinguished career as a journalist and film-maker, John Pilger has looked behind the 'official' versions of events to report the real stories of our time.The centrepiece of this new, expanded edition of his bestselling Distant Voices is Pilger's reporting from East Timor, which he entered secretly in 1993 and where a third of the population has died as a result of Indonesia's genocidal policies. This edition also contains more new material as well as all the original essays - from the myth-making of the Gulf War to the surreal pleasures of Disneyland. Breaking through the consensual silence, Pilger pays tribute to those dissenting voices we are seldom permitted to hear.
397 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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About the author
John Pilger
34 books365 followersJohn Richard Pilger was an Australian journalist and documentary maker. He had twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award, and his documentaries have received academy awards in Britain and the US. Based in London, he is known for his polemical campaigning style: "Secretive power loathes journalists who do their job, who push back screens, peer behind façades, lift rocks. Opprobrium from on high is their badge of honour."
Pilger had received human rights and journalism awards, as well as honorary doctorates. He was also a visiting professor at Cornell University in New York.
Pilger had received human rights and journalism awards, as well as honorary doctorates. He was also a visiting professor at Cornell University in New York.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 1, 2021
A thought provoking book. Essays on s wide range of subjects. The first Gulf War and the hypocrisy of the US and UK. The massacre of conscripts on the Basra Road. The Kampuchea or Cambodia genocide. The manipulation by America to support Pol Pot along with the UK after Vietnam invaded. Newspapers in the UK mostly mouthpieces for whatever was told them.
Pilger fails to mention that the leader installed by the Vietnamese was ex-Khmer Rouge and amazingly is still the leader today. He also leads a very corrupt Government. The essays are interesting in that almost 30 years later little has changed. Iraq is still a mess. The mainstream press with few exceptions have become lapdogs of governments. The worse thing is the 24 hour news channels listening to botox reading teleprompter morons. Why can we just have an hour long news instead of continuous repetition with little intelligent analysis. Media moguls control public information via the media. Billionaires rule the world with politicians in their pockets.
Next week in the UK the right to publicly demonstrate becomes next to impossible with introduction of legislation to ban noise at demonstrations. Nowhere have I seen this reported in the mainstream media. Aside from a soft interview with Andrew Marr where the Tory minister refused to define what was meant by noise or disruption therefore deliberately leaving it vague. Rupert Murdoch has won.
Pilger fails to mention that the leader installed by the Vietnamese was ex-Khmer Rouge and amazingly is still the leader today. He also leads a very corrupt Government. The essays are interesting in that almost 30 years later little has changed. Iraq is still a mess. The mainstream press with few exceptions have become lapdogs of governments. The worse thing is the 24 hour news channels listening to botox reading teleprompter morons. Why can we just have an hour long news instead of continuous repetition with little intelligent analysis. Media moguls control public information via the media. Billionaires rule the world with politicians in their pockets.
Next week in the UK the right to publicly demonstrate becomes next to impossible with introduction of legislation to ban noise at demonstrations. Nowhere have I seen this reported in the mainstream media. Aside from a soft interview with Andrew Marr where the Tory minister refused to define what was meant by noise or disruption therefore deliberately leaving it vague. Rupert Murdoch has won.
June 29, 2016
This one is hard to put a rating to and three is pretty parsimonious of me. A lot about the book is still relevant and well worth reading even after all this time. Some of the earlier sections contain repetition with two or more articles written about the same thing so that you get overloaded and they lose punch (but they are very punchy articles to begin with). I would love to dismiss a lot of what Pilger says as paranoia and go back to a more naive and secure view of the world, but sadly a lot of this stuff is corroborated widely enough, essentially unless you are determined not to you can tell he is telling the truth.
At times his language is sort of sensationalist (but then he is a journalist), and he talks a lot about people (mostly men, mostly I dare say white men) who he really admires (although there is one tribute to his parents, mainly focussing on his mum). He gratuitously describes every little girl as "pretty" and every young woman as "beautiful" (oh please) and he verges on narcissism at times as well as constantly promoting his movies in a braggy way (I dare say they are probably excellent documentaries for all that).
There is much about his voice that irritates me, but the substance of what he is saying is very important and the way he finishes on racism (against Indigenous Australians) in this country is particularly astute. I remember growing up in the 90s, hearing names like "Khmer Rouge" and "Pol Pot" bandied around and now thanks to Pilger I know more about what all that was about. And yet there is not just 90s stuff, the first half of the book holds many observations that are chillingly true and relevant for today. Since neoliberalism is a project that is not completed and not yet inevitable, it is past time we read and were informed by long-time critics such as Pilger.
Another plus is that he is equally critical of left and right-wing extremists. None of what he says is about wings, it is about human rights. So a lot of excellent observation and analysis and some irritating traits. But more good than not.
At times his language is sort of sensationalist (but then he is a journalist), and he talks a lot about people (mostly men, mostly I dare say white men) who he really admires (although there is one tribute to his parents, mainly focussing on his mum). He gratuitously describes every little girl as "pretty" and every young woman as "beautiful" (oh please) and he verges on narcissism at times as well as constantly promoting his movies in a braggy way (I dare say they are probably excellent documentaries for all that).
There is much about his voice that irritates me, but the substance of what he is saying is very important and the way he finishes on racism (against Indigenous Australians) in this country is particularly astute. I remember growing up in the 90s, hearing names like "Khmer Rouge" and "Pol Pot" bandied around and now thanks to Pilger I know more about what all that was about. And yet there is not just 90s stuff, the first half of the book holds many observations that are chillingly true and relevant for today. Since neoliberalism is a project that is not completed and not yet inevitable, it is past time we read and were informed by long-time critics such as Pilger.
Another plus is that he is equally critical of left and right-wing extremists. None of what he says is about wings, it is about human rights. So a lot of excellent observation and analysis and some irritating traits. But more good than not.
July 29, 2019
I get the distinct impression that throughout his distinguished career as a journalist and film-maker, John Pilger has tried to look behind the 'official' versions of events to report the on the truth the age we live in.
The centrepiece of this new, expanded edition of his bestselling "Distant Voices" is his reporting from East Timor where (at the time of writing 1993) a third of the population had died as a result of Indonesia's genocidal policies - supported of course by the US.
This edition contains new material as well as all the original essays - from the myth-making of the Gulf War to the surreal pleasures of Disneyland. Breaking through the consensual silence, Pilger pays tribute to those dissenting voices we are seldom permitted to hear.
A must read for anyone who wishes to see beyond the lies fed to us by the media.
The centrepiece of this new, expanded edition of his bestselling "Distant Voices" is his reporting from East Timor where (at the time of writing 1993) a third of the population had died as a result of Indonesia's genocidal policies - supported of course by the US.
This edition contains new material as well as all the original essays - from the myth-making of the Gulf War to the surreal pleasures of Disneyland. Breaking through the consensual silence, Pilger pays tribute to those dissenting voices we are seldom permitted to hear.
A must read for anyone who wishes to see beyond the lies fed to us by the media.
April 4, 2008
The main reason I bought this book (and Noam Chomsky's "Rogue State") was because I was fascinated and wanted to know what 'actually' happened in Timor. Having heard a third hand account from friends who went there as the "Observers" at the time of the Public Opinion's Poll time, I found some of the stories just didn't match... hence the book(s). I'd have to say that it's an eye opener and quite a horrifying account of what the military can do... and how 'filtered' the news actually came to the rest of the Indonesians. Or how one-sided were the stories that came back... Some things just don't match up. Though after I read this I discussed the book with a very good friend whose uncle was involved in the army and was assigned there... and sadly, it seemed like us Indonesians really are not what I have always thought of all of us to be... we are no gentle people afterall when it comes to war. Whatever the reason, whatever the provocation, "We" are not un-capable of comitting a massacre(?!). The three stars given are actually only for the Timor part of this book, as to be honest I have hardly read the rest of the journalism stories that he's written in this volume... maybe I should, maybe I will... one of these days, perhaps.
April 23, 2013
A real eye opener into what's really going on as regards the foreign policies of the British and US governments.
February 22, 2018
A journalist whose work I have admired and been inspired by for many years. Essential reading on things that should be headline news but rarely are.
October 14, 2022
During my youth and for some time John Pilger was a giant of investigative journalism - the world he wrote in, the papers he wrote for, everything has changed so much that one can't helping looking at him and his writing almost as a voice from another world. He is someone I respect but he is that stage were the memories of even people like me who grew up with him are fading. He seems so much a voice from the past. For younger readers - at least two generations of them since he was a household name I wonder will he have any worth?
That is why I don't know what to rate him. Is he still relevant? I don't know. He was a powerful voice of his generation. But voices like his are now gone and it is impossible to imagine any journalist being taken seriously by governments because of the numbers of his readers and their belief in him.
That is why I don't know what to rate him. Is he still relevant? I don't know. He was a powerful voice of his generation. But voices like his are now gone and it is impossible to imagine any journalist being taken seriously by governments because of the numbers of his readers and their belief in him.
April 5, 2019
Pilger is an excellent journalist, not only a powerful writer but also someone who dares to go places no-one else would go (or say almost no-one). Two main parts of the book are focused on East Timor and Cambodia, though there's a lot more to this book, so don't expect that to be the main theme. One aspect of Pilger's writing I particularly admire is that even though the majority of his coverage is extremely depressing and sad with all the worst of humanity coming out, he maintains his hopeful tone in a realistic way. I'll rate this book at least 4.5 stars, owing to its depth, narrative and extreme amount of work carried out over so many years.
February 3, 2024
Staggeringly truthful and honest.
I chose to rate this excellent account of truth and accuracy because John Pilger has struggled all his life to increase awareness of the injustice served to many nations during his career as a journalist, and he succeeded. He made a few enemies but those people who opposed him were, and some still are selfish , power seeking and have no conscience. He will always be remembered for his truth.
Elise_broughton@hotmail.com
I chose to rate this excellent account of truth and accuracy because John Pilger has struggled all his life to increase awareness of the injustice served to many nations during his career as a journalist, and he succeeded. He made a few enemies but those people who opposed him were, and some still are selfish , power seeking and have no conscience. He will always be remembered for his truth.
Elise_broughton@hotmail.com
August 27, 2023
Pilger's writing is nothing but compelling, quite intense at times, and not always an easy read but worth the effort. Although these essays date from the early 90's, it's quite shocking and sad that they still resonate today.
August 25, 2025
One of my oldest and best friends? NEIL broatch gave me this book a long time ago to read, when I think we were still doing our A-levels. One of the best political journalists ever. Here Are the best bits:
They also understood - unlike many of us in the West - that state power in the democracies is enforced not with ranks but with illusions, notably that of free expression:
It is clear that in the summer of 1990 George Bush believed that Saddam Hussein - his man', the dictator he backed against the mullahs in Iran and trusted to guard America's interests - had betrayed him. It also seems clear Bush believed that if his appeasement of Saddam ever got out, the invasion of Kuwait might be blamed on him personally - hence the magnitude of his military response. To cover himself, the price was carnage, which he described as 'the greatest moral crusade since World War Two' - January 17, 1992 to May 1992
Elizabeth, aged three, and Lito, aged two, were two of these children. Eddie took Elizabeth to the local hospital when her diarrhoea 'would not stop'. The hospital said they would take the child, but Eddie would have to buy the medicines in the market. Health care accounts for 3 per cent of the national budget. The cheapest he could find cost forty pesos. So he scavenged for a day and got it. But Elizabeth was now seriously ill; and so, too, was Lito whose stomach had distended in a matter of days. Teresita told me how she watched horrified as worms emerged from the mouth of her skeletal child. On the day they buried Elizabeth, in a cemetery occupied mostly by the unmarked graves of children, Lito died too.
Clinton's expressions of concern for 'human rights' are reminiscent of those of President Carter, who described 'human rights' as 'the soul of [American] foreign policy's
Like the dissident writers of the former Soviet empire, he returns in most of his work to a fundamental theme of morality: that Americans, and by implication those of us living within the American orbit, are subject to 'an ideological system dedicated to the service of power' which has no notion of conscience, and demands of the people apathy and obedience (so as] to bar any serious challenge to elite rule
'Sure, I am an extremist, because a moderate is anyone who supports Western power and an extremist is anyone who objects to it.
Norodom Sihanouk is much romanticised by Westerners, who describe his rule as la belle époque. On his throne Sthanouk knew how to patronise and manipulate foreigners; he was the reassuring face of feudal colonialism, a colourful relic of the French Empire, a 'god-king' who was his country's leading jazz musician, film director and football coach.
But there was another Cambodia beneath the lotus-eating surface of which foreigners were either unaware or chose to ignore. Sihanouk was a capricious autocrat whose thugs dispensed arbitrary terror. His dictatorial ways contributed to the growth of the communist party, which he called the Khmer Rouge.
On April 17, 1975, the first day of Year Zero, the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh and marched the entire population into the countryside, many of them to their death. Generally, people did as they were told. The sick and wounded were dragged at gunpoint from their hospital beds; surgeons were forced to leave patients in mid-operation. On the road, a procession of mobile beds could be seen, with their drip-bottles swinging at the bedposts. The old and crippled soon fell away and their families were forced to go on. Ill and dying children were carried in plastic bags. Women barely out of childbirth staggered forward, supported by parents. Orphaned babies, forty-one by one estimate, were left in their cradles at the National Paediatric Hospital without anyone to care for them. The Khmer Rouge said that the Americans were about to bomb the city.
They also understood - unlike many of us in the West - that state power in the democracies is enforced not with ranks but with illusions, notably that of free expression:
It is clear that in the summer of 1990 George Bush believed that Saddam Hussein - his man', the dictator he backed against the mullahs in Iran and trusted to guard America's interests - had betrayed him. It also seems clear Bush believed that if his appeasement of Saddam ever got out, the invasion of Kuwait might be blamed on him personally - hence the magnitude of his military response. To cover himself, the price was carnage, which he described as 'the greatest moral crusade since World War Two' - January 17, 1992 to May 1992
Elizabeth, aged three, and Lito, aged two, were two of these children. Eddie took Elizabeth to the local hospital when her diarrhoea 'would not stop'. The hospital said they would take the child, but Eddie would have to buy the medicines in the market. Health care accounts for 3 per cent of the national budget. The cheapest he could find cost forty pesos. So he scavenged for a day and got it. But Elizabeth was now seriously ill; and so, too, was Lito whose stomach had distended in a matter of days. Teresita told me how she watched horrified as worms emerged from the mouth of her skeletal child. On the day they buried Elizabeth, in a cemetery occupied mostly by the unmarked graves of children, Lito died too.
Clinton's expressions of concern for 'human rights' are reminiscent of those of President Carter, who described 'human rights' as 'the soul of [American] foreign policy's
Like the dissident writers of the former Soviet empire, he returns in most of his work to a fundamental theme of morality: that Americans, and by implication those of us living within the American orbit, are subject to 'an ideological system dedicated to the service of power' which has no notion of conscience, and demands of the people apathy and obedience (so as] to bar any serious challenge to elite rule
'Sure, I am an extremist, because a moderate is anyone who supports Western power and an extremist is anyone who objects to it.
Norodom Sihanouk is much romanticised by Westerners, who describe his rule as la belle époque. On his throne Sthanouk knew how to patronise and manipulate foreigners; he was the reassuring face of feudal colonialism, a colourful relic of the French Empire, a 'god-king' who was his country's leading jazz musician, film director and football coach.
But there was another Cambodia beneath the lotus-eating surface of which foreigners were either unaware or chose to ignore. Sihanouk was a capricious autocrat whose thugs dispensed arbitrary terror. His dictatorial ways contributed to the growth of the communist party, which he called the Khmer Rouge.
On April 17, 1975, the first day of Year Zero, the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh and marched the entire population into the countryside, many of them to their death. Generally, people did as they were told. The sick and wounded were dragged at gunpoint from their hospital beds; surgeons were forced to leave patients in mid-operation. On the road, a procession of mobile beds could be seen, with their drip-bottles swinging at the bedposts. The old and crippled soon fell away and their families were forced to go on. Ill and dying children were carried in plastic bags. Women barely out of childbirth staggered forward, supported by parents. Orphaned babies, forty-one by one estimate, were left in their cradles at the National Paediatric Hospital without anyone to care for them. The Khmer Rouge said that the Americans were about to bomb the city.
August 25, 2013
Pilger has written many books and they are all important works. I have singled this one out as it is a good start to his work and the world that surrounds us. It not only covers issues in Britain, his adopted home, and Australia, his native land, but more importantly international events, many of which Pilger has witnessed first hand. Special place is given to East Timor which was visited by Pilger and there is a revisit to Combodia.
Pilger's documentary 'Year Zero' about the Pol Pot regime made his name. Pol Pot was in fact allow to die in relative peace in the jungle not so long ago. He was obviously nicer to his people than Saddam Hussein. The West of course always hunts down dictators and genocidal maniacs.
If you have not read much quality journalism then this will answer you prayers. Many articles in this book are also found in other works of his such as 'Hidden Agendas'. Pilger's documentaries as well as speeches are enlightening, empowering if not depressing revelations of how the West has really gone about dealing out democracy around the world.
Pilger is up there with Chomsky.
Pilger's documentary 'Year Zero' about the Pol Pot regime made his name. Pol Pot was in fact allow to die in relative peace in the jungle not so long ago. He was obviously nicer to his people than Saddam Hussein. The West of course always hunts down dictators and genocidal maniacs.
If you have not read much quality journalism then this will answer you prayers. Many articles in this book are also found in other works of his such as 'Hidden Agendas'. Pilger's documentaries as well as speeches are enlightening, empowering if not depressing revelations of how the West has really gone about dealing out democracy around the world.
Pilger is up there with Chomsky.
November 17, 2016
It's kind of strange how it is at the same moment a little dated and at the same time bang up to date. The same problems; the same circumstances,; just different places and different people.
Pilger is a valid voice chipping away at the pillars of the establishment and one of the few voices out there making a coherent (though generally ignored) plea in the darkness for both the left and humanity in general. His writing is always interesting.
This covers a broad range of subjects and is like Heroes.
Pilger is a valid voice chipping away at the pillars of the establishment and one of the few voices out there making a coherent (though generally ignored) plea in the darkness for both the left and humanity in general. His writing is always interesting.
This covers a broad range of subjects and is like Heroes.
January 19, 2012
Smashes open some pretty grim patches of Australian inequality like a watermelon off a bridge. This book should be added to the high school curriculum to give the other side to the sanitised version taught in schools...at least, it was 25 years ago when I was still in school! Top read.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews