Aug 1, 2008
[This essay was published in 2008 in A Time To Speak Out, the Independent Jewish Voices initiative published by Verso.] “Fear the Lord, my son, and the king, and with dissidents do not mingle.” (Proverbs 24, 21) The recent emergence of Jewish dissent on Israel has been met with fierce hostility by established Jewish organisations… Read more
May 17, 2008
New Humanist, May-June 2008 Israel’s 60th birthday is being celebrated lavishly in Britain. The programme includes a gala fund-raising dinner at Windsor Castle in the presence of the Duke of Edinburgh, a variety show at Wembley Stadium and street parades in London and Manchester. Meanwhile, Palestinians and their supporters will be recalling the same event… Read more
Apr 5, 2008
Versions of this article appeared in The Hindu and The Guardian’s Comment is free It’s testimony to the awkward power of Martin Luther King’s life and work that so much effort has gone into sanitising his memory. Today he’s commemorated as an apostle of social harmony, a hero in the triumphant march of American progress…. Read more
Apr 1, 2008
Red Pepper, April-May 2008 The Mysterious Chemistry of Social Change: the USA 1968 in Retrospect The last thing the legacy of 1968 needs is nostalgic commemoration. Even as it was happening, it was being packaged for consumption. Nor should we celebrate it in the name of some abstract spirit of resistance. It was a year… Read more
Jan 27, 2008
Versions of the article below appeared in The Guardian and The Hindu This week marks the 40th anniversary of an event that seemed to turn the world upside down. In the early hours of 31 January 1968, soldiers of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam and the Army of North Vietnam launched what came… Read more
