Documentary Series: The Power of Nightmares

Should we be worried about the threat from organised terrorism or is it simply a phantom menace being used to stop society from falling apart? In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares. The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network. But just as the dreams were not true, neither are these nightmares.

The three-part documentary series The Power of Nightmares, screening on SBS Television on three successive Tuesday evenings from July 12 at 7.30 pm, explores how the idea that we are threatened by a hidden and organised terrorist network is an illusion. It is a myth that has spread, unchallenged, throughout politics, the security services and the international media.

At the heart of the story are two groups: the American neo-conservatives and the radical Islamists. Both were idealists who were born out of the failure of the liberal dream to build a better world. These two groups have changed the world but not in the way either intended. Together they created today’s nightmare vision of an organised terror network – a fantasy that politicians then found restored their power and authority in a disillusioned age. Those with the darkest fears became the most powerful.