An anthology of Mike Marqusee's selected articles discussing Bob Dylan, the game of cricket, American Civil rights, Jewish identity, William Blake’s art, nationalism, Big Pharma, Labour Party politics, the films of John Ford, Flamenco music, the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, the BDS campaign, Muhammad Ali and Italian Renaissance painting amongst many other topics explored with Marqusee's acute, erude and kaleidoscopic writings.
Dec 1, 2009
CONTENDING FOR THE LIVING Red Pepper, December-January Rolling back the new ‘common sense’ of spending cuts may seem like a difficult job, but it’s not impossible, says Mike Marqusee It’s now clear that cuts in public spending, and resistance to them, will be the stand-out issue in domestic British politics during the coming years. The… Read more
Oct 1, 2009
CONTENDING FOR THE LIVING Red Pepper, October-November 2009 Obituaries routinely inform us that so-and-so has died “after a brave battle against cancer”. I’m waiting for the day I get to read one that says so-and-so has died “after a pathetically feeble battle against cancer… ” One thing I’ve come to appreciate since I was diagnosed… Read more
Sep 18, 2009
Published by Level Playing Field, August 2009. A collection of poems written over the past twelve years. Here are two poems from Saved by a wandering mind: Privatising the underground Riding the thronged tube at dusk he sought above the heads of passengers an emptiness in which he could think simple, impersonal thoughts. This grasping… Read more
Aug 1, 2009
[This essay was published in 2007 in the book Selling US Wars, edited by Achin Vanaik, Olive Tree Press.] I am so terrifed, America, Of the iron click of your human contact. And after this The winding-sheet of your selfless ideal love. Boundless love Like a poison gas. DH Lawrence, “The Evening Land”, 1923 “The… Read more
CONTENDING FOR THE LIVING Red Pepper, August-September 2009 Cricket emerges as the world’s first, modern organised team sport in the late 18th century, and is indelibly marked by that early origin. Its fate was intertwined with the political and economic revolutions of the era, and was shaped from the outset by a paradoxical mixture of… Read more
Jun 1, 2009
CONTENDING FOR THE LIVING Red Pepper, June-July 2009 “This interment was a scene to affect and to wound any sensible heart. Contemplating who it was, what man it was, that we were committing to an obscure grave on an open and disregarded bit of land, I could not help but feel most acutely.” The occasion… Read more
Apr 1, 2009
CONTENDING FOR THE LIVING Red Pepper, April-May 2009 [‘Contending for the Living’ is Mike’s new column for Red Pepper.] Something special took place in Durban in February and though the media have rushed past, we should pause. In solidarity with the people of Gaza, dockworker members of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union… Read more
