EDITORs Michael Calderbank, Sarah-Jayne Clifton, Emma Hughes, James O’Nions, Hilary Wainwright his and that Steve Platt PRODUCTION EDITOR Tom Walker DESIGN & PRODUCTION Tom Lynton Commissioning editorS Tim Hunt, Siobhan McGuirk Environment editor Oscar Reyes Latin America editor Pablo Navarrete Europe corespondent Leigh Phillips economics editor Andrew Bowman Political corespondent Alex Nunns Admin andVolunter Co-ordinator Kitty Webster Student Co-ordinator Tom Robinson WRITERS Kevin Blowe, Naimi Bouteldja, Nick Buxton, Sue Branford, Matthew Carr, Lena de Casparis, Katie Coyne, Mihail Dafydd Evans, Nick Dearden, Andrea D’Cruz, Kate Ferguson, Gemma Galdon Clavell, Ben Hayes, Stuart Hodkinson, Mathew Little, Grace Livingstone, Vittorio Longhi, Enzo Mangini, Donald Morrison, Roz Paterson, Laurie Penny, Mark Perryman, Jon Robins, Angela Saini, Chris Sands, Lorna Stephenson, Graham Usher, Derek Wall ONLINE AUDIO PROJECT Sean Gittins PRES OFFICER Jordan Kenny TRANSLATORS Una Hamilton, Pablo Navarrete, Ilaria Perlini PICTURE RESEARCH Louise Emily Thomas VISUALS Andrzej Krauze, Tim Sanders, Edd Baldry, Cressida Knapp, Martin Rowson advertising Siobhan McGuirk ads@redpepper.org.uk bokkeper Matt Barker acounts Bob Tydeman SUBSCRIPTION SALES Packpost 01296 489 550, office@redpepper.org.uk ADVISERS Anthony Arblaster, Arafat Khalil, David Beetham, Huw Beynon, Roy Bhaskar, Victoria Brittain, Sue Bowen, Tony Bunyan, Louise Christian, Tony Cook, Jeremy Corbyn MP, James Curran, Larry Elliot, Diane Elson, Max Farrar, Natalie Fenton, Trevor Griffiths, Barbara Gunnell, Nigel Harris, Billy Hayes, Pete Jenner, Davy Jones, Penny Kemp, Bruce Kent, Hugh Kerr, Richard Kuper, Michael Kustow, Colin Leys, Su Maddock, Michael Mansfield QC, Martin McIvor, Simon Mohun, Sheila Rowbotham, Denise Searle, Amanda Sebestyen, Jane Shallice, Aleks Sierz, Kate Soper, Jonathan Steele, Dave Timms, Guy Vincent, Gary Younge, Stuart Weir

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03 Editorial Building a new world

06 Letters, Noticeboard Jeremy Hardy thinks

08 Plattitudes The world according to Steve Platt

34 Natural born rebel We stood because ye stood

37 Under the radar To exist is to resist

52 Mike Marquse Beyond church and state

54 Justice gap Caught in the dragnet

58 Neighbourhoods of noise Anna Gurney offers a guided tour to resistance past and present in Barcelona

60 Well tuned Johnny Lynch (aka The Pictish Trail)

says artist-run record label Fence is staying true to its roots

66 Feminism for all Lola Okolosie on the first

Go Feminist conference

62 Book reviews Debt: the first 5,000 years,

Social movements and leftist governments in Latin America, Rare Earth, Ghosts of Afghanistan, Palestinians in Israel, Woman on the Edge of Time

Red Pepper is a member of INK, the Independent News Collective, trade association of the UK alternative press www.ink.uk.com

Red Pepper is published by Socialist Newspaper (Publications) Ltd (Reg. No. 02644973, VAT No. 507 5026 20) and printed by Cambrian Printers Ltd, Aberystwyth. Distribution: Native PS, Unit 9, Lidget Hill, Pudsey, Leeds LS28 7LG (0113 290 9509) and Central Books, 99 Wallis Road, London E9 5LN (020 8986 4854). Red Pepper accepts no responsibility for unsolicited material. Only ­submissions with SAEs will be returned. © Socialist Newspaper (Publications) Ltd 2011. All rights reserved. ISSN 1353-7024.

Red Pepper’s cover is FSC certified stock and paper stock comes from sustainable forestry. All inks are soya oil based and print cartridges recycled n Interview with Richard Wilkinson n Richard Kuper on meat production n Wisconsin one year on n More on the continuing fi ght for the NHS

04 red pepper apr | may 2012

Red Pepper is on Twitter as @RedPeppermag 10 Reclaiming the Olympics John Hilary looks at the corporate commercial bonanza of London 2012 sponsorship

11 Lords of the rings Murray Worthy reveals some of the dirty secrets of the 2012 sponsors

13 The end of the NHS as we know it Colin Leys outlines what the passing of the health bill means. Plus, Lancet editor Richard Horton, Dr Jacky Davis and GP Jon Tomlinson call for the fight against it to go on. Cover photograph by Rob Pinney

48 Breaking up is good to do

John McAllion makes the socialist case for an independent Scotland

50 A voice for the north Paul Salveson pushes for devolution in the north of England

24 It’s all at the co-op Jim Keogan reports on how co-ops are combining economic resilience with egalitarianism

30 A bank worth backing hristopher Hird looks at how the Co-op Bank has fared in the financial crisis

33 co-operatise the state ?

Can the co-op movement be one source of alternatives to marketisation? Hilary Wainwright explores

26 Essay A different way of doing things obin Murray explores the potential of co-ops to form the basis of an alternative economy

17 Grece: More than a demonstration, less than a revolt Alex Nunns reports from Athens on the human consequences of austerity, and how it is being resisted

20 Argentina: Que se vayan todos!

Francesca Fiorentini looks back at the movements that emerged from Argentina’s debt crisis

38 false spring? Sami Ramadani argues that counter‑revolution has gained the upper hand in the Arab world

41 Whose strets? Our strets! Josh Healey reports on the strength and challenges of Occupy Oakland

44 Which way for the first Gren-led council?

Red Pepper brings together Green councillors and Green Left activists to debate the Brighton budget red pepper apr | may 2012

05