Felix Greene

Felix Greene (1968)

Felix Greene (21 May 1909—June 15, 1985) was a British journalist who chronicled several Communist countries in the 1960s and 1970s.

He was one of the first Western reporters to visit North Vietnam when he travelled there for the San Francisco Chronicle in the 1960s. Some of his material has been reproduced for A-Level history, within the Vietnam War topic.

Born in England, Greene first visited China for the BBC in 1957. He later produced documentary films, including One Man's China, Tibet, Cuba va!,, Vietnam! Vietnam! and Inside North Viet Nam. These films have been accused of giving a very rosy and one-sided view of Communist society.[1] Some have argued that Greene purposely hid negative information about the extent of starvation in China.[2] He can be seen as a fellow traveller.[3]

In the 1970s, Felix Greene went to Dharamsala to visit the 14th Dalai Lama, who recalled that after three days of discussion Greene's attitude had changed.[4][5]

Greene was a cousin of the author Graham Greene. He lived in the San Francisco area for twenty years. He died in Mexico of cancer.

Books

  • Awakened China: The Country Americans Don't Know. Garden City, New York, 1961.
  • The Enemy: What Every American Should Know About Imperialism. Vintage Books, New York, 1971.
  • VIETNAM! VIETNAM! In Photographs and text. 1966, Palo Alto, California: Fulton Publishing Company, LCCN: 66-28359
  • A Curtain of Ignorance, Cape 1965. Details of how Communist China was reported in the USA in the 1960s.
  • The Wall Has Two Sides. A Portrait Of China Today, The Reprint Society, 1963.

Felix Greene's films and photos are distributed by Contemporary Films Limited - www.contemporaryfilms.com

Notes

  1. HYPOCRISY IN THE "PEACE" MOVEMENT: A CASE STUDY by Chris R. Tame, 1983/1990, Foreign Policy Perspectives No. 16, ISBN 1-870614-00-3
  2. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444180004578015170039623486?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLESecondBucket
  3. How America Was Misinformed About China, Far East Economic Review, August 29th, 2007
  4. Tenzin Gyatso, Fabien Quaki, Anne Benson. "Power and Values". Imagine All the People: A Conversation with the Dalai Lama on Money, Politics, and Life as it Could Be. p. 17. Felix Green who was quite a close friend to the late Zhou Enlai of China. Mr. Greene had visited China regularly for many years and had great faith in both the country and in Communism. He came to Dharamsala with several films, hoping to show me how happy people were in Tibet, and to explain that things were not as bad as we, the Tibetans in exile, believed. He tried to convince me that everything was okay in my country. We talked and argued for three or four days. After many hours of discussion, he finally changed his attitude on most points. In such cases, a good argument based on sincere motivation can produce a positive result, provided both parties strive to be objective. It is very helpful to talk, talk, talk, until a solution is found.
  5. His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New York, NY - May 22, 2010
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