Fatima Bhutto: America's Moral Hypocrisy
- 9 years ago
Fatima Bhutto: America's Moral Hypocrisy
Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Sydney Writers Festival
In the Opening Address at the 2011 Sydney
Writers Festival, Fatima Bhutto, scion of the Pakistani political
dynasty, addresses the current state of her country. Her talk focuses
on Pakistan’s love/hate relationship with the United States and, in this
way, reminds us of their parallel "nervous breakdowns."Pakistan is, at once, a country plagued by natural disasters, endemic
political corruption, religious fundamentalism and is claimed by many
to be the central headquarters of Islamist terrorism. Bhutto sees this
condition Pakistan suffers as a plain result of crippling
conspiracy-theorizing and manifesting as paranoiac nuclear armament.But Bhutto finds not all the fault lies at home. She speaks to the
West’s hypocrisy with regards to its aggressive “freedom fighting”,
including its ever-mounting use of Drone strikes under Obama’s
presidency and the civilian casualties which are beyond measure.Bhutto is an activist on many fronts, but has no desire to run for
political office ... understandable perhaps when four of her close
relatives were lost to political violence and assassination.Fatima Bhutto is an Afghan-born Pakistani poet and
writer. She studied at Columbia University and the School of Oriental
and African Studies at the University of London. Bhutto is the
granddaughter of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and niece of
Benazir Bhutto. She graduated from Columbia University in 2004,
majoring in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, and from the School
of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in 2005 with a Masters in South
Asian Government and Politics. Her books include Whispers of the
Desert, 8.50 am 8 October 2005 and, most recently, Songs of Blood
and Sword. She is a regular contributor to the New Statesman, The
Daily Beast and The Guardian.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Sydney Writers Festival
In the Opening Address at the 2011 Sydney
Writers Festival, Fatima Bhutto, scion of the Pakistani political
dynasty, addresses the current state of her country. Her talk focuses
on Pakistan’s love/hate relationship with the United States and, in this
way, reminds us of their parallel "nervous breakdowns."Pakistan is, at once, a country plagued by natural disasters, endemic
political corruption, religious fundamentalism and is claimed by many
to be the central headquarters of Islamist terrorism. Bhutto sees this
condition Pakistan suffers as a plain result of crippling
conspiracy-theorizing and manifesting as paranoiac nuclear armament.But Bhutto finds not all the fault lies at home. She speaks to the
West’s hypocrisy with regards to its aggressive “freedom fighting”,
including its ever-mounting use of Drone strikes under Obama’s
presidency and the civilian casualties which are beyond measure.Bhutto is an activist on many fronts, but has no desire to run for
political office ... understandable perhaps when four of her close
relatives were lost to political violence and assassination.Fatima Bhutto is an Afghan-born Pakistani poet and
writer. She studied at Columbia University and the School of Oriental
and African Studies at the University of London. Bhutto is the
granddaughter of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and niece of
Benazir Bhutto. She graduated from Columbia University in 2004,
majoring in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, and from the School
of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in 2005 with a Masters in South
Asian Government and Politics. Her books include Whispers of the
Desert, 8.50 am 8 October 2005 and, most recently, Songs of Blood
and Sword. She is a regular contributor to the New Statesman, The
Daily Beast and The Guardian.