Truth to Power – on the point of Debby Monkhouse and all involved in Defend Dorset NHS putting in countless hundreds of hours, over four years, doing everything in their power to try and save Poole A&E, and Poole Maternity.
And whilst latest news is that Poole A&E will relocate to Bournemouth hospital there is hope that a 16 hour a day Local A&E might still be provided for Poole.
And this in the whole context of Truth to Power. In this case the truth that with far longer ambulance journeys from areas west of Poole there will be higher mortality levels. This is clear from all the local and national research. But no less government is going ahead with closure of 24/7 A&E in Poole. A classic case of truth to power. If truth does not win outright then at least power is forced to take note and, we hope, moderate.
And so many other cases in the West stand out over the years – with references and quality documentaries and films :
John Pilger – The dirty war on the NHS … The Great NHS Heist …. Brilliant and great man John Pilger, so many brilliant documentaries … atomic bomb testing on the Bikini Islands in 1950s – never mind the local populations : The Coming war on China .
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange banged up and being destroyed in Belmarsh prison for revealing the truth on so many world issues, not least US gun ships mowing down civilians (“get some”) in Baghdad … collateral murder. The Fifth Estate
Snowden fleeing to Russia for revealing USA NSA mass surveillance (the prism programme) of the US population … Snowden – in exile to this day.
US abduction and torture under Bush and Obama regimes – special rendition – huge efforts put into bringing this to the attention of US Senate from the work of a Senate staffer, Daniel Jones. He worked almost single handedly many hours a day for many years … The Report
Knight Rider news team in Washington – alone in 2003 trying to tell the world there were no “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq, and more than this Saddam Hussein’s Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with Al Quaida terrorism under the protection of Islam fundamentalist Talaban in Afghanistan. But no less US and UK led the war on Iraq and some hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died. Shock and Awe
And the classic and I think first major case Daniell Elsberg revealing the “Pentagon Papers” back in 1971, showing systemic lying through four presidents that Vietnam could be “won”. Very interesting case, Ellsberg had been an officer in Vietnam, then a top researcher in government Rand organisation. But then the horror of Vietnam and he turned. Nixon wanted to have him imprisoned and keys thrown away. But Watergate happened and Nixon was driven out and Dan Ellsberg is giving lectures to this day : The Pentagon Papers – The Post – The most dangerous man in America.
Origin of truth to power : I believe the first usage was in a speech from Professor Irwin Cotler at the Nuremberg Trials in 1945-46 : “It is our responsibility, then, to speak truth to power, to hold power accountable to truth”. I am hard pressed to think of a more powerful statement, all the more so in a world so saturated with lies and propaganda.
And so many more hundreds of thousands of cases world-wide where people try to take on authorities but never even gets as far as any news coverage. But we can I think be sure if we take on major issues there will be costs. People’s health and well-being is damaged, people in this country are reviled and/or hacked and reviled by trash tabloids, and worse again people end in jail, reputations ruined, even murdered. Think only of Ireland …
But then, we might just make a difference … and in this case with the work of DDNHS it would seem to have had some impact in that there is it seems a fair to good chance we will end with at least a 16 hour Local A&E in Poole.
Jeff Williams
Poole
