A review of Gerald Horne, Jazz and Justice: Racism and the Political Economy of the Music, Monthly Review Press (2019), £22. Jazz has an unfortunate reputation these days.1 It is often seen as “high culture”, something to be respected rather… Continue Reading
A review of Terry Irving, The Fatal Lure of Politics: The Life and Thought of Vere Gordon Childe, Monash University Publishing (2020), £25.99. World-renowned archaeologist, prehistorian and linguist Vere Gordon Childe’s career spanned three decades from 1925 until 1957. He… Continue Reading
The terms “black radicalism” and “racial capitalism” have become buzzwords in the revitalised international discussion about race that has arisen in parallel with the Black Lives Matter movement since 2013. Indeed, the idea that capitalism is inherently linked to racism… Continue Reading
When Aleksander Lukashenko rigged the Belarusian presidential election in August 2020, he expected things to follow a well-practiced pattern.1 After previous elections during his 26 year rule, the Eastern European country’s liberal nationalist opposition would cry fraud at the results.… Continue Reading
On 11 April 1871, three weeks into the life of the Paris Commune, a poster appeared on the walls of France’s capital: Citizenesses, we know that the present social order bears within itself the seeds of poverty and of the… Continue Reading
The news from Palestine, as has been the case for a long while now, is bad and depressing on many levels. The announcement of the “deal of the century” and subsequent gestures from the United States towards Israel, capped off… Continue Reading
On 7 October 2020, following a trial lasting more than five years, a Greek court found the leaders of Golden Dawn guilty of forming and running a criminal organisation. Heralded as the biggest trial of Nazis since the post-war Nuremberg… Continue Reading
The new decade started with the news of flooding in Jakarta, Indonesia that killed more than 60 people and displaced tens of thousands. Caused by extremely heavy rainfall, the effects of the floods were exacerbated by poor infrastructure and the… Continue Reading
Large, youth-led pro-democracy protests hit the Thai military junta in autumn 2020. Crowds of up to 50,000 started to gather around the Democracy Monument in central Bangkok in August. By 19 September—an important anniversary marking a military coup against an… Continue Reading
For several weeks in October 2020, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Nigeria to protest against police brutality. The protests came after news circulated that the federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) had killed a young man… Continue Reading