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.
Oct 1, 2004
India Today Travel Plus, October 2004 Don’t go to Sicily expecting the civilised charms of Tuscany or the aesthetic refinement of the great Renaissance capitals. This is a different world, haunted by a past of great antiquity, riddled with tragedy. Here the boundaries between east and west, Europe and Africa, Christian and Muslim are blurred…. Read more
Sep 30, 2004
Nottingham Open Poetry Competition 2005, Merit Prize The tractor tire, with its man-eating tread, wrestles with the wrought-iron plough whose elegant incisors blunt themselves against the chrome-stripped car door. In a poplar-sheltered hollow, these rootless things sink into the leafmould. Propane gas cylinder and knotted blue hose-pipe, bicycle seat and grinning radiator. Dragged from afar,… Read more
Sep 20, 2004
Mike Marqusee looks at the challenge facing the British anti-war movement. Labour Left Briefing, October 2004 Of the many lies we were told about this war, perhaps the biggest was that it came to an end in the spring of 2003. As predicted, the wages of occupation have been death and destruction, mounting by the… Read more
Sep 4, 2004
WhatsonUK, September 2004 For many years it seemed all but invisible. For a few months after 9/11 you’d be forgiven for thinking it had been utterly extinguished. But the other America, the dissident America, was always alive and over the last two years it’s been kicking with increasing force and rising impatience. On 15th February… Read more
Jul 21, 2004
The Guardian, 21 July 2004 There was a time when English cricket lovers would anticipate a visit by the West Indies with a mix of trepidation and excitement – trepidation at what their fast bowlers and batsmen were likely to do to England’s cricketers and excitement at the invigorating spectacle they offered. But when the… Read more
Jul 13, 2004
My Favourite Cricketer: Mike Marqusee on Javed Miandad Wisden Cricket Asia, August 2004 For those of us who prefer a dash of the anti-hero in our heroes, Javed Miandad was never less than a compelling cricketer. Millions in Pakistan gave their hearts to him, while others in England, Australia and India found him supremely irritating…. Read more
Jul 1, 2004
Red Pepper, July 2004 “I didn’t plan to make the film. I’m not a director, I’m an actor,” says Mohammad Bakri, describing the genesis of Jenin Jenin. “The story was like this. I was standing with a colleague of mine, an actress, with a group of Arab and Jewish demonstrators at Jenin checkpoint. It was… Read more
Jun 26, 2004
The Guardian, 26 June, 2004 Review: Why Arnold Matters: The Rise of a Cultural Icon by Michael Blitz and Louise Krasniewicz, Basic Books After Arnold Schwarzenegger’s election victory in California, no one wants to be caught under-estimating the power of celebrity. But there’s a danger of over-estimating it, and of over-simplifying it, too. Why Arnold… Read more
May 31, 2004
Prepared for the Radical Activist Network (London), spring 2004 [In response to a discussion on Palestine, I prepared notes on some of the questions that had arisen relating to Judaism, Jews, Zionism, and anti-semitism. ] The Israel lobby routinely deploys the charge of anti-semitism against supporters of the Palestinians, and uses the sufferings of Jews to justify… Read more
May 20, 2004
Keynote for Red Pepper, June 2004 The images of occupying troops torturing and abusing Iraqi detainees are a challenge to every British and US citizen. These horrors are being perpetrated in our name, and unless we act to stop them, we are culpable. But to stop them, we have to understand them, along with the… Read more
