EDITORs Michael Calderbank, James O’Nions, Hilary Wainwright copywrangler Steve PlattPRODUCTION EDITOR Tom WalkerDESIGN & PRODUCTION Tom Lynton www.tomlynton.com POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT Alex Nunns commissioning EDITOR Lena de CasparisEnvironment EDITOR Oscar Reyeseurope corespondent Leigh PhillipsLATIN AMERICA EDITOR Pablo NavarreteSPORTS CORRESPONDENTS Anne Coddington, Mark Perryman Activision editor Andy BowmanWEBSITE EDITOR Fiona Osler website@redpepper.org.ukWRITERS Naima Bouteldja, Nick Buxton, Matthew Carr, Katie Coyne, Mihail Dafydd Evans, Nick Dearden, Andrea D’Cruz, Kate Ferguson, Gemma Galdon Clavell, Jan Goodey, Ben Hayes, Keith Hayman, Stuart Hodkinson, Solomon Hughes, Zoe Jewell, Mathew Little, Vittorio Longhi, Enzo Mangini, Siobhan McGuirk, Roz Paterson, Laurie Penny, Jon Robins, Angela Saini, David Sambrook, Chris Sands, Sally Tallant, Graham Usher, Derek Wall, Jonathon Wright TRANSLATORS Una Hamilton, Pablo Navarrete, Ilaria PerliniPICTURE RESEARCH Dan TierneyVISUALS Andrzej Krauze, Martin Rowson, Tim Saunders PUBLISHER Fiona Osler fiona@redpepper.org.ukpress officer Clare WoodfordOffice MANAGER Ian Gollanaccounts Bob TydemanSUBSCRIPTION SALES Red Pepper office: 020 7281 7024, office@redpepper.org.ukADVISERS Anthony Arblaster, David Beetham, Huw Benyon, Roy Bhaskar, Victoria Brittain, Sue Bowen, Tony Bunyan, Louise Christian, Tony Cook, Jeremy Corbyn MP, James Curran, Larry Elliot, Diane Elson, Max Farrar, Nigel Fountain, Trevor Griffiths, Barbara Gunnell, Nigel Harris, Billy Hayes, Pete Jenner, 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 THANKS TO Arafat Khalil, Tom Jeffery, Kate Ferguson

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‘Everything can change at any moment, suddenly and forever.’ Paul Auster

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: COMAG Specialist Division, Central Way, Feltham, Middx TW14 0RX (020 8844 1000) 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 2009. 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

04 red pepper dec | jan 2010

03 EditorialJames O’Nions

06 LetersNoticeboard

08 PlatitudesThe world according to Steve Platt

29 Natural born rebelBreaking rank

39 Asylum watchEnforced destitution

42 Democracy nowBest left unsaid

43 Know your enemyPR for the rich

49 Under the radarOpening the gates

66 BoktopiaTrevor Griffiths

52 Beating Burma’s blackoutThe new film Burma VJ is sparking

new solidarity efforts with the Burmese people’s struggle for freedom. Siobhan McGuirk investigates

54 Did you kiss the dead body?Rajkamal Kahlon looks at how

autopsy reports from US military bases and prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan can become art

56 Epic dramaWith a new adaptation of Mother

Courage and Her Children at the National Theatre, Steve Platt assesses Bertolt Brecht’s legacy 58 Everyone does everything

James O’Nions meets two members of Italian novel-writing collective Wu Ming

61 The inner OtherMichael Calderbank reviews

Angels of Anarchy, a major exhibition of women surrealists at Manchester City Art Gallery

62 Bok reviewsFour pages of reviews

Red Pepper is on Twitter as ‘RedPeppermag’

ON THE WEB

Coverage of the Copenhagen climate summit as it happens 14 Anti-capitalism: alive and wellJohn Hilary examines the victories and challenges of the

global justice movement’s decade since Seattle

10 An ability to persuadeFrom the Birmingham Six to the family

16 Reinventing democracyMariane Maeckelbergh argues that of one the

movement’s key innovations has been its approach to democratic decision-making

30 Home-grown in LebanonResponding to the discussion on political Islam in the

last issue of Red Pepper, Bilal El-Amine considers the experience of Hizbullah

32 What’s left in Eastern EuropeLeigh Phillips spoke to Stefan Zgliczy ´nski and

Jane Hardy about whether the left can get out of its post-Soviet doldrums in the region

19 Transitional demandsSarah Irving investigates the transition movement and its

local-level fight using the power of community

22 Unions se gren light on climateChris Baugh explains how unions are to responding to the

urgency of climate change with an agenda of ‘just transition’

of Jean Charles de Menezes, radical barrister Michael Mansfield has represented them. Jon Robins met himCoverPhotograph by Jess Hurd/ Report Digital

24 ESAY: Climate indebtedA transfer of wealth and power from global North to South is

essential to averting climate catastrophe, argues Tim Jones

34 Chemical criminalsTwenty five years ago, the world’s worst industrial disaster

took place at Bhopal in India. Rajwinder Sahota visits

36 The community revolutionPablo Navarrete and Steve Ellner look at popular

democracy taking root in Venezuela’s barrios

40 Equality of lifeMatt Sellwod spoke to Richard Wilkinson, whose

book The Spirit Level makes a powerful evidence-based case for equality

44 Conservatives 2.0With the Tories still setting the political agenda in the

run up to the election, Alex Nuns looks at what a Cameron government might actually have in store for us

46 All together nowWith public sector spending cuts the new orthodoxy,

the trade union movement needs to mobilise a stronger counter-attack, argues Heather Wakefield

50 Busting the straitjacketRolling back the new ‘common sense’ of spending cuts

might seem a difficult job, but it’s not impossible, argues Mike Marqusee

dec | jan 2010 red pepper 05