Myth, Propaganda and Disas­ter., was written as the terrible drama of our times unfolded, from the ghastly events of September 11, 2001 through to the invasion of Iraq in search of non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction, resulting not only in the death of at least 3,000 Iraqis, but the destruction of the United Nations and the fa­tal undermining of international law. The world we live in is now a far more dangerous place, and the terrorist crisis isn’t the only thing worrying people. What we’re worried about now is the appalling threat of unrestrained power being exercised by an administration so deeply steeped in cynicism one barely believes a single thing coming out of it. What we are worried about now is the terrible erosion of democratic principles and basic legal rights being committed in the name of democracy and justice, threatening to turn us all into prisoners of the state for our own safety. What we’re worried about now is that the freedom the war on terror is intended to protect is being crushed by the very effort to protect it. And it is not merely the hysterical or easily frightened who are concerned about such things; it’s the likes of Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer who are warning of a terrible threat to democracy in America. And if American democracy falls, Australian democracy will soon follow, for we are now well and truly within the American orbit, and standing proudly by a man whose idea of leadership is striding across an aircraft carrier in the costume of a top gun on his way to glory. These are dangerous times, difficult times, times in which the blow-torch of history is being applied to each and every one of us; and as we wither in the heat of this crucible we entering, what we need to remember is that the impurities of our spirits will be burnt away, and we will be revealed to ourselves and to our children as we truly are. Let that truth be one from which we will not wish to avert our eyes, and let us shine in the flames that are igniting our lives.

STEPHEN SEWELL