Apr 1, 2011
CONTENDING FOR THE LIVING Red Pepper, April-May 2011 On a bright winter morning we made a pilgrimage to the hill of Al Rabweh, on the outskirts of Ramallah, where the poet Mahmoud Darwish is buried. An ambitious memorial garden is planned, but at the moment it’s a construction site littered with diggers and cement mixers…. Read more
Feb 1, 2011
CONTENDING FOR THE LIVING Red Pepper, February-March 2011 A body of antiquated dogma and myth, a source of repression, paean to patriarchy, bulwark of hierarchy. That’s how many would summarise the Bible, and there are more than enough juicily quotable Biblical passages to justify that view. But there’s much more to this book – or… Read more
Oct 1, 2010
Contending for the Living Red Pepper, October-November 2010 The fact that Stagecoach, a milestone in the development of the Western and the first complete masterpiece of its director, John Ford, begins with the announcement that “Geronimo has jumped the reservation” and the Apache are “on the warpath” may be enough to put many off the… Read more
Aug 1, 2010
Red Pepper, August-September 2010 Mike Marqusee reviews Against the Wall: The Art of Resistance in Palestine by William Parry (published by Pluto Press) When the state of Israel began constructing its “separation barrier” through the West Bank, it never anticipated that the wall would become a living gallery of resistance, crowded with images and words… Read more
Apr 25, 2010
A new poem by Mike Marqusee published in the Norwich Writers’ Circle Annual Anthology The urbs on the hill The urbs on the hill is primitive: a density of angles, shadow slicing shadow, rooftops stilled in the dance of unplanned geometry, denizens safeguarded, except from each other. It’s a compact masterpiece. The sculpture of generations,… Read more
Feb 16, 2010
The Guardian, 16 February In my case, the past is literally “another country”. I spent my first 18 years in the US, moved to Britain in 1971, and have been ensconced here ever since. But I applied for British citizenship only a few months ago. It’s been a curious exercise. I’ve spent a good deal… Read more
Feb 1, 2010
CONTENDING FOR THE LIVING Red Pepper, Feb-March 2010 This article has appeared in a revised form on The Guardian’s Comment is free website. Flamenco is a name widely known but a music little understood, at least beyond its Andalusian heartland. Forget about Hollywood images of flounces and castanets. Even the bravura solo guitarists and dance… Read more
Jan 12, 2010
The Guardian, Comment is free 12 January 2010 Visiting friends in Delhi, I found the local media celebrating India’s performance at Copenhagen, from which it had emerged unburdened by the slightest commitment to reducing carbon emissions. This “climate nationalism” seemed particularly grotesque given that north India’s river systems are threatened by receding Himalayan glaciers and… Read more
Dec 29, 2009
Using the martial metaphor for something as complex as cancer makes the disease ripe for political and financial exploitation The Guardian Tuesday 29 December 2009 For the extensive web-feedback to this article go to Comment is Free. Obituaries routinely inform us that so-and-so has died “after a brave battle against cancer”. Of course, we will… Read more
