Your Questions to John Pilger

BBC World Service ^ | 5/8/07 | Paul Coletti

[Paul Coletti]

Dear Freepers,

A few months ago a bunch of you helped me out with a thesis on Rathergate:

I want to thank you all. I have another favour.

The BBC's World Have Your Say is a topical call-in show and tonight we have John Pilger on air live between 6pm and 7pm BST (London time).

I know many Freepers have views concerning Mr Pilger's comments on the US and its role in the world but tonight we're talking about Latin America.

If you'd like to take part live on air as a caller then this link will take you to World Have Your Say's website - our contact details are there.

Alternatively, if you'd like to come on air call us on +44 207 557 0635 anytime today and we'll arrange it.

You can also e-Mail worldhaveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

Looking forward to hearing from you.

[Paul Coletti]

John Pilger will be appearing on World Have Your Say tomorrow, Wednesday 9th May. He'll be talking about his new film: The War on Democracy which comes out on June 15th and takes a look at Latin America. The man himself says: "I’ve long regarded Latin America as the source of hopes of freedom from poverty for the very poor, and the current, extraordinary rising of millions against the old order is defying all the stereotypes."

If you have a question you'd like Mr Pilger to answer then please let us know by posting on this site, joining the debate over on bbcnews' main debating arena 'Have Your Say', sending us an e-Mail or texting us on +44 77 86 20 60 80.

Here are just a few of his most memorable and inflammatory quotes:

"While we abhor and condemn the continuing loss of innocent life in Iraq, we have no choice now but to support the resistance." Interview with Pip Hinman.

"The only war dead whom Australians had never mourned were found right under their noses: those of a remarkable indigenous people who had owned and cared for this ancient land for thousands of years." The Guardian

"Until recently, the British were unaware that their government was one of the world’s most consistent abusers of human rights and backers of state terrorism." The New Statesman.

"Under Hugo Chávez, Venezuela is the first major oil producer to use its oil revenue to liberate the poor." Guardian.

"Were it not for Blair's epic irresponsibility, the Londoners who died in the Tube and on the No 30 bus almost certainly would be alive today." The New Statesman.

The Film The scribe from 'Down Unda' has covered everything from South America to the USA to East Timor to the Middle East to his home country of Australia to feminisim and even the joys of swimming.

In his new film, The War on Democracy, he turns his steely eye on Latin America's socialist revolution which he sees as a beacon of hope for the rest of the world.

"The rise of Hugo Chavez and of the social movements that produced him and Evo Morales in Bolivia, and their equivalents throughout the continent, have demanded our attention. It’s such a positive story, contrasting with the bleak view of the world presented in the ‘mainstream’,"

Do you think what's happening in Latin America is a paragon for the rest of us? Is Hugo Chavez's Venezuela a beacon of democracy? Do you share John's mistrust of 'mainstream' media?

Let us know. We look forward to hearing the debate.