Celebrated historian Mike Davis is the author of In Praise of Barbarians, Planet of Slums, Ecology of Fear, and many other influential books. In this provocative talk, he shows that as soon as the fires started, right-wing politicians in San Diego, Sacramento, and around the nation began to apply their spin.

The media coverage has been disgustingly smug. They've glorified the "heroic" Republican leaders of San Diego, contrasting them to "corrupt & ineffective" Black Democrats in New Orleans. They've hammered the theme of homeland security, even implying that undocumented immigrants might be responsible for the fires.

Bush and Schwarzenegger have been scrambling for chances to hug firefighters for the cameras. And every chance they get, they crow about how San Diego's evacuation was "orderly and civilized" (versus some other places). Half the county has burnt to the ground but the politicians and news anchors haven't stopped grinning for a minute. They're trying to spin this disaster as a triumph of Republican values. But it's really a bonfire of right-wing vanities.

Sponsored by Haymarket Books and the International Socialist Organization. Email isosandiego [at] yahoo.com for more information.