The shocking reality is that such global arrangements have not only gone unchallenged in the West, it has often been accepted without much opposition in rest of the world too. The conversation between a renowned social critic and an investigative photo journalist offers a painful reflection on how millions of 'un-people', a term George Orwell had coined for people who do not matter, continue to be victims of the neo-colonial whip.

In 173 pages, the conversation traverses across the world to unveil the footprints of imperialist brutality. The facts are devastating and so are the manipulative designs of the powers that be. There is not much to choose between Europe's brutal colonial legacy and America's neo-colonial hegemony. The form may have changed, from armed combat to drone warfare, but the content and the intent remain the same. The West, despite few setbacks, seems to be trying to consolidate its control over the world. It is seemingly not done yet!

The trouble with this otherwise absorbing conversation between two intellectuals who are in the prime of their career is that both have similar insights on the geopolitics of organised crime by the West. Consequently, one doesn't get to the depth of why-the-world-is-the-way-it-is and how-it-could-be-different-from-what-it-is? Exposing the hypocrisy of the imperialist forces, however, the conversation takes a definite shot at the media reinforced argument which presents terrorism in relation to Islamic extremists only. Since terrorism refers to a methodology of using violence and terror to serve political ends, the world ought to be worry more about ‘western terrorism’!

On Western Terrorism: From Hiroshima to Drone Warfare
by Noam Chomsky and Andre Vitchek
Pluto Press, UK
Extent: 192, Price: Rs. 1,022