EDITOR Hilary Wainwright

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WRITERS Naimi Bouteldja, Nick Buxton, Matthew Carr, Katie Coyne, Mihail Dafydd Evans, Andrea De Cruz, Gemma Galdon Clavell, Jan Goodey, Ben Hayes, Keith Hayman, Stuart Hodkinson, Solomon Hughes, Zoe Jewell, Mathew Little, Vittorio Longhi, Enzo Mangini, James O’Nions, Roz Paterson, Laurie Penny, Angela Saini, David Sambrook, Chris Sands, Sally Tallant, Graham Usher, Derek Wall, Jonathon Wright TRANSLATORS Una Hamilton, Pablo Navarette, Ilaria Perlini

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‘We may do whatever we like, providing we can pay the bill.’ Robert Fripp

03 EDITORIAL Parallel worlds 06 LETTERS AGONY SUBCOMANDAUNTIE 08 PLATTITUDES The world according to STEVE PLATT 17 BEHIND THE NEWS The great crime 22 GUERRILLA GUIDE Better campaign meetings

31 NATURAL BORN REBEL Guarding the gulag 32 ASYLUM WATCH Now what? 43 DEMOCRACY NOW Modern liberty 44 UNDER THE RADAR Taking back the streets 66 BOOKTOPIA Roger Lloyd Pack 67 REARVIEW The icemen cometh

53 THIS ARTIST BLOWS The young British-Muslim artist Sarah Maple has been at the centre of controversy since bursting onto the art scene. Interview by ANIKKA WEERASINGHE 57 HEAVY METAL ISLAM MARK LEVINE reports on how music is providing a powerful radical voice for young people in the Muslim world 60 RADICAL MOTOWN Motown marks its 50th anniversary in 2009. FIONA OSLER assesses its impact, while LAURIE PENNY speaks to Mary Wilson of the Supremes

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 2008. All rights reserved ISSN 1353-7024.

Red Pepper cover is FSC certified stock and paper stock comes from sustainable forestry. All inks are soya oil based and print cartridges recycled

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64 PITMEN PAINTERS A group of miner-artists are the subject of a play that has much to tell us about art, culture and the working class, writes STEVE PLATT 10 THE ISRAELI RESISTANCE Israeli opposition to the war in Gaza is growing, writes HANNAH SAFRAN 13 AFTER THE NEOCONS The slaughter in Palestine has breached the walls of the US Israel lobby, says PHILIP WEISS THE US AND ISRAEL Without US support the onslaught on Gaza would not be possible, writes MIKE MARQUSEE 14 DISSIDENT BRITS ANTONY LERMAN reports on UK Jewish opposition to the war in Gaza

18 A COWARDLY FAILURE TO ACT LUISA MORGANTINI condemns Europe’s inaction over Israel and the Palestinians 20 AT THE PALESTINIAN CROSSROADS The Palestinian political movement is at an important turning point, says JAMIL HILAL

23 DOLE NOT COAL Twenty-five years after the start of the miners’ strike, HUW BEYNON reports on two of the areas worst hit by pit closures

26 ALMOST REVOLUTIONARY JOHN MULLEN looks at the new parties on France’s radical left 28 THE REVENGE OF LIFE ILIAS ZIOGAS and AKIS GAVRILIDIS offer interpretations of the rebellion shaking Greece

33 OUR FRIENDS IN THE SOUTH JAMES O’NIONS looks at our global allies in the South 35 AN EXCEPTION TO LULA’S RULE The movement of landless workers in Brazil is a beacon for the left worldwide, writes SUE BRANFORD

38 PRESSURE FROM BELOW The promises and hopes generated by Barack Obama’s election could help to break the grip of politics as usual, says FRANCES FOX PIVEN MEN OF FLINT STUDS TERKEL interviews a General Motors worker in Flint, Michigan, who was part of a 1936 factory occupation

46 ART, TRUTH AND POLITICS HILARY WAINWRIGHT and IAN RICKSON on the politics, plays and life of Harold Pinter 48 A FIGHTER AND A MENSCH JOHN GREEN and DAVID ROSENBURG pay tribute to Aubrey Morris 49 SHADOW ON THE SUN Red Pepper looks back at the life of Adrian Mitchell, our shadow poet laureate

COVER PHOTOGRAPH by Shareef Sarhan

Born in Gaza in 1976, Sharif Sarhan works as an artist, professional photographer and freelance designer. He is a founding member of the ‘Windows from Gaza for Contemporary Art’ group and an active member of the Association of Palestinian Artists www.artwfg.ps/shareef.htm

feb | mar 2009 red pepper 05