Anti-war – Page 2 – Mike Marqusee

Apr 1, 2008

1968: the mysterious chemistry of social change

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

Tet 40 years on

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

Oct 7, 2007

Evading the Invasion

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 7 October Who’s being invaded by whom? From the headlines in Britain’s most popular newspapers, and statements from politicians, not least government ministers, you’d think the country was about to be swamped by an alien horde, a wave of immigrants threatening its culture, public services and safety. In his speech… Read more

Jul 15, 2007

Britain in Iraq; Iraq in Britain

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 15 July The British government response to the failed terrorist actions in London and Glasgow was markedly more measured than in the past. The “war on terror” rhetoric was toned down, there was no threat of yet another round of anti-terror laws, and greater care in speaking about and to… Read more

May 6, 2007

Good riddance Tony Blair

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 6 May After ten years as Prime Minister, Tony Blair faces the end of the road, and for most of us in Britain, his resignation will come not a moment too soon. A man elected in 1997 because he was portrayed as moderate, prudent and sincere has become a by-word… Read more

Apr 22, 2007

Iraq: resistance and occupation

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 22 April ON April 9, the fourth anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein, more than a million demonstrators took to the streets of Najaf, Kut and other cities of the Iraqi south, chanting, “Yes! Yes! Iraq, No! No! America.” Amid an ocean swell of green, white and red Iraqi… Read more

Jan 14, 2007

Behind the Iraq “surge”

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 14 January It beggars belief. After nearly four years of occupation, resulting in the deaths of 650,000 Iraqis, the US and its British lapdog have decided that the only remedy for the Iraq debacle is more of the same. Despite a clear-cut desire on the part of the majority of… Read more

Nov 5, 2006

Nightmare figures all too real

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 5 November Whenever scientific research produces results that are inconvenient to people in power, they seek to deny, discredit or downplay them. On October 12th, The Lancet, one of the medical world’s most respected journals, published a peer-reviewed study conducted by Johns Hopkins University’s School of Public Health, one of… Read more

Nov 1, 2006

Veiled threats

Red Pepper, November 2006 Open hostility to multi-culturalism used to be the preserve of the nationalist right, but since 9/11, it’s flooded the mainstream and bamboozled more than a few who proudly declare themselves liberals. In recent months, it’s been noisily blamed for homegrown terrorism and the alleged “self-segregation” of minority groups, damned as a… Read more

Sep 17, 2006

Misbegotten Afghan adventure

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 17 September NEARLY five years after the U.S.-led coalition dispatched the Taliban and proclaimed a new dawn for Afghanistan, foreign troops are waging a full-scale war against insurgents said to control as much as half the country. Meanwhile, millions of Afghans face starvation, and the development and democracy promised by… Read more