It's unfortunate that the genre of the whistleblower books is not one that includes lots of titles. What could be more fascinating than the story of a person who was a company insider and is now an outsider, telling all? It's even more interesting when one can read about the internal workings of a powerful multinational company. These companies are secretive and their employees, even the disgruntled ones, are quiet out of fear of the company. In this Internet age, it's easier to be an anonymous whistleblower.

By Dean Thomas

The title of Chip Berlet’s piece in the January 2009 issue of Z Magazine, “Brownshirt Anarchism, Bogus Journalism,” has nothing to do with the article. It is plainly misleading. There is nothing in the article about “brownshirt anarchism.” In fact, Berlet’s article has nothing to do with anarchism. It is mentioned briefly in the beginning to make some broad point without a single fact to back the assertion.

The U.S. government and mainstream media are openly hysterical over the recent turn of events in the Middle East. Continuing Iraqi resistance to the U.S.-British occupation and factional infighting in the democratically-elected parliament, the free and fair election of a Hamas government in Palestine, the threat of Hezbollah-led armed forces in Lebanon, and democratic Iran’s refusal to submit to U.S.-led demands that it renounce its nuclear program: these pose serious problems for the imperium. The Bush administration pursued a policy of invasion, occupation and repression in a self-proclaimed quest to spread Western-style “representative democracy” in the region. And yet now, confronted with the results of democratic elections in Iraq, Palestine, Iran, and Lebanon, it pounds the table in protest and gives Israel the green light to go to war against Lebanon.

Recent years in the United States have seen the growth of more politically left movements in various religious denominations. Some of this is driven by liberals and progressives who are reacting to the rise of the religious right and its influence on religion, culture and politics. The new politically left religious movement are also driven by people interested in focusing on the social justice themes that have been long present in their religions.

The Fifth Estate is one of the longest running anti-authoritarian periodicals in the United States. The magazine has gone through several different phases. Some people prefer the phase in the 1980s and 90s when Fifth Estate was a more theoretical magazine which was cutting important ground on topic like the environment and technology. I prefer the current incarnation of the magazine, which is a more eclectic publication on many topics from a wider range of writers and contributors. Fifth Estate has long been published in Michigan, but recent issues have been published in Tennessee and New York City.