John Pilger: 'I have watched the political ground shift beneath my feet'

He has pursued almost a crusade, a missionary like zeal against the Western world, its inadequacies and corruptions, for almost 40 years. Few politicians of recent times have escaped the withering criticisms, the icy blast of his rhetoric. He once disparagingly called South African former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel "a long haired biker of the 1980s". 

Maybe, just maybe the driving force for journalist John Pilger's life work in exposing the rogue activities of politicians and countries, rooting out the tragedies from which he alleges their policies too often flow, come from his mother, back in Australia more than 50 years ago.

Pilger still recalls asking her about some wealthy people whom they saw one day in the expensive Belle View suburb of Sydney where, as he puts it now, the "robber barons" of Australia lived. "I grew up in pretty humble circumstances near the best beach in the world, Bondi, in Sydney. What my mother said one day was, 'These people are not better than us, just better off.'" More...

Don't miss:

1. Pilger:How Hollywood manipulates public opinion...
2. Fisk: When did we stop caring about civilian deaths during wartime?
3. South Africa; poor whites, rich blacks...