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.
Jun 8, 2010
The World Cup and the pleasures of neutrality The Guardian, 8 June 2010 With the football World Cup pressing hard on us and England mania on the rise, spare a thought for those of us who are not England supporters. Though we go largely unnoticed in the England-centred media coverage, we’re here and we’re a… Read more
Jun 3, 2010
Wednesday’s Commons debate on Gaza was a remarkable illustration of just how weak Israel’s position has become in this country, as in others. Hague’s statement was probably more forceful than David Milliband’s would have been were he still Foreign Secretary. But it was strongly criticised as not going far enough by at least twenty MPs… Read more
Jun 1, 2010
A preview of the World Cup M Magazine (India), June issue If in the course of a visit to planet earth, an intelligent being from another world attended the great sporting spectacles on offer here, he she or it, without the aid of a translator or explainer, would quickly grasp the essentials of football (even… Read more
CONTENDING FOR THE LIVING Red Pepper, June-July 2010 Back in August, in the wake of BNP success in the Euro-elections, Red Pepper ran a debate about anti-fascist strategy. Although a good start to a necessary discussion, too much of it was polarised between an attack on and a defence of existing strategies and structures. While… Read more
May 8, 2010
Frontline (India) 8 May 2010 An abbreviated version of this article has been published on the Guardian’s Comment is free website. In the flush of its success, the IPL was held up as the face of the new, thrusting, ambitious India and its swelling status. “It is a global representation of India,” Lalit Modi argued,… Read more
Apr 29, 2010
Comment is free The Guardian 29 April The letter in today’s Guardian from writers and journalists calling for a Lib Dem vote is a particularly dispiriting example of the superficiality of the liberal wing of the British intelligentsia. In forming their opinion, they seem to have relied entirely and uncritically on the picture of British… 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
Apr 17, 2010
17 April, The Guardian, Comment is free It started on a low – with all three leaders defining “immigration” as a problem and promising “tougher” action – and it didn’t get much better. From the economy to Afghanistan to “law and order” there was an unspoken consensus upheld by a host of unasked questions. In… Read more
