"The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear"

Documentaries made by Adam Curtis always seem to take on an impossible task - to connect and cover very different and unique themes in modern politics. As he is both the director, writer, producer and narrator of most of his films he successfully manages to convey his uncompromisingly illuminating and often inspiring insights on the world of politics.

Adam Curtis being interviewed by David Thomson before the showing of Power of Nightmares

"The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear", a three part documentary that was first screened on BBC Two in Autumn 2004 as a series of three one hour, deals with the state of today's world as it is - still polarized between fragmented and often in hostile opposition with the other side. The causes for opposing the other side vary from cultural differences to religious confrontation. One unifying theme that connects these aspects is fear. Fear of the opposing forces consolidates the power of political elites and by exaggerating the level of threat they gain even more power. The documentaries openly question whether the threat of terrorism to the West was a politically driven fantasy and if al-Qaeda really is an organised network.

Cover of the DVD

The documentary shows how two idealistic political groups - the American neo-conservatives and the radical Islamists were left disillusioned by the failure of their liberal dreams of building a better world that they had once envisioned. Or like Adam Curtis explains in the opening sequence of the documentary : "These two groups have changed the world, but not in the way that either intended. Together, they created today's nightmare vision of a secret organized evil that threatens the world, a fantasy that politicians then found restored their power and authority in a disillusioned age. And those with the darkest fears became the most powerful."

Fear was one of the key elements that US administration used when they were gathering allies to support their attack on Iraq. The accusations gathered against Iraq and its dictator Sadam Hussein, that they were supporting and helping the terrorist organization and were manufacturing weapons of mass destruction. After the US invasion to Iraq the US senate conducted an extensive research into the matter and found out that the threat level was greatly exaggerated and the connections between Al-Qaeda’s and Sadam Hussein were nonexistent.

Some important characters from the film (from top right) Leo Strauss, Sayed Kotb, Donald Rumsfeld, (two in center) Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden, William "Bill" Kristol.

This marks a great failure in the ethics of politics as the political power used the threat situation to gain political capital. Furthermore it can be speculated that this cynical step greatly contributed to the alienation of ordinary citizens from political processes as the people became disillusioned about the ethics and integrity of the political system.

Extra materials:

• Here's a nice and thorough session of questions and answers by Adam Curtis regarding the film.
• San Fransisco's International Film Society awarded Adam Curtis with the Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award in 2005 and David Thomson wrote an accompanying essay.
• And all three parts of the documentary are available at google video (part 1, part 2 and part 3).
• A short film by Adam Curtis which he describes as, "a short, and possibly unfair history of the rise and fall of the television journalist as a hero."

Alan Schein / zefa / Corbis

Five Reasons for Economic Optimism

Seriously, there are reasons for optimism — if you're willing to look really, really hard...

by Justin Fox, Time Magazine

1. The Stock Market Is No Longer Overpriced – “The Dow's descent below 7,000—for the first time since early 1997—was greeted with much wailing on Wall Street and in the media.” But this means that the stocks are just about as equally priced as they can be. The same principle did raise the real estate prices through the roof in Estonia as well. JUSTIN FOX says that buying and selling houses does not bring prosperity anymore; work does. But we only just figured that out now.

2. The Government Is On The Case – “Don't laugh. The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve and the White House and Congress really are all working to fix this mess. They're making lots of mistakes. They're doing some things too quickly and many things too slowly.” Even though many of the Eastern European countries are really struggling for survival, the governments have had to work extra-extra hard in order to not let the economy collapse. The state budgets are cut, the opposition parties constantly criticize basically anything that the government proposes as a solution and meanwhile thousands of people are losing their jobs. When (not if) we get through this mess – we should be smarter and stronger altogether.

3. Consumers are Adjusting to the New Economic Reality — and Fast –

Buying, buying, and buying. That is what the Americans and the Europeans cannot afford anymore. The overconsumption led us to the crisis but will prove to be the best lesson in saving. It will teach consumers not to buy things they’ll never ever use anyhow. A good lesson, aye!

4. Reinvention and Change are What the U.S. is All About – “And as the economic crunch goes global, it is becoming increasingly clear that the U.S.—despite being the epicenter of the meltdown—will be far from the worst hit.” Things are not that sunny in Europe though. Many eastern European countries have received help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and some even from neighbor countries. For instance Sweden has come to the rescue of Latvia.

5. O.K. I Couldn't Think of a Fifth Reason – “I also have to admit that as I look back at the first four reasons, they're all exercises in either

a) finding silver linings in really bad news or

b) wishful thinking that has yet to be backed up with hard evidence.”

The only thing we can do during this continuous economical downfall is to have faith in politics. Yes, politics! You didn’t misread. Fortunately or not, it seems to be the only power strong enough to survive a catastrophe like this. Fingers crossed, everyone!