Columns by Mike Marqusee

Aug 1, 2014

“Let others talk of glory, let others celebrate the heroes who are to deluge the world with blood…They know not what a cottage is. They know not how the poor live…”

Mike Marqusee’s latest column for Red Pepper celebrates William Frend, a radical who deserves to be better remembered. Contending for the living Red Pepper, August 2014 The 35-year-old Cambridge lecturer William Frend was putting the finishing touches on ‘Peace and Union’, his pamphlet on political reform, in early 1793 when the hostility between Britain and… Read more

Jun 1, 2014

A level playing field? Global sport in the neo-liberal age

Contending for the living Red Pepper, June-July 2014 One of the hallmarks of the neo-liberal age has been the exponential expansion of commercial spectator sport – in its economic value, political role and cultural presence. All of which will be thrown into high relief during the coming World Cup. In recent years, the industry has… Read more

Jan 31, 2014

Past visions, future dreams

Contending for the Living Red Pepper, February-March 2014 Last spring, I made the steep climb to the mountainside entrance to the Cuevas de Covalanas, one of several caves in the Cantabrian region of northern Spain decorated with pre-historic paintings. I had seen reproductions of this type of art in books, but nothing prepared me for… Read more

Dec 1, 2013

How the left supported ethnic cleansing

Contending for the Living Red Pepper, December 2013 The British left has made some terrible errors in its time but surely few more appalling than its 1948 support for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their own land. Today the left is attacked for “singling out” Israel for criticism but historically its record is the… Read more

Sep 26, 2013

A party to dream of

Contending for the Living Red Pepper When the left alternative goes unvoiced, the real choices unposed, democracy is drained of content, writes Mike Marqusee. That’s why we need a new party of the left I’m one of the thousands who signed up to the Left Unity appeal issued by Ken Loach in March. I did… Read more

May 2, 2013

Rescatar el pasado para construir el futuro

Spanish translation of Red Pepper column ’1200 BC: The world’s first industrial action … rescuing the past for the future’ Translated for Rebelión by Christine Lewis Carrol La ciudad de Luxor, en el sur de Egipto, fue noticia en Gran Bretaña a finales de febrero con ocasión de la muerte de 19 turistas en un… Read more

Apr 6, 2013

From the pyramids to Tahrir Square

The Hindu 6 April, 2013 Like travellers since Alexander, we started at the pyramids. After a spell in Cairo’s medieval quarter, followed by a visit to the New Kingdom tombs and temples in Luxor, we ended in Tahrir Square, where we joined thousands in a demonstration against President Morsi and his government. On the eve… Read more

Apr 1, 2013

1200 BC: The world’s first industrial action … rescuing the past for the future

Contending for the living Red Pepper, April-May 2013 The city of Luxor in southern Egypt made the headlines in Britain at the end of February, when 19 tourists were killed in a hot air balloon accident. That tragedy will compound the woes of Egypt’s tourist industry, once a major source of employment and foreign currency,… Read more

Feb 1, 2013

The man who went beyond a boundary

CONTENDING FOR THE LIVING Red Pepper, February-March 2013 When CLR James’ Beyond A Boundary was first published fifty years ago, the sociology of sport and the politics of popular culture had no place in the academy or on the left. The book had to create its own subject, define a new field of intervention. James… Read more

Jan 11, 2013

Atreverse a fracasar, atreverse a ganar

“Dare to fail, dare to win” Spanish translation (for Rebelion) of Red Pepper column on “Success, failure…” En la lucha por el cambio social, el éxito y el fracaso son a veces difíciles de determinar. Sólo si aceptamos que podemos fracasar asumiremos los riesgos que podrían conducir a un mundo mejor. Traducido para Rebelión por… Read more