EDITORs Andrew Bowman, 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 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, Matt Littler, Cressida Knapp 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 Benyon, 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 Every crisis is an opportunity

06 Letters Jeremy Hardy thinks

08 Plattitudes The world according to Steve Platt

26 Gren Peper Durban: all talked out?

38 Contending for the living Broader horizons

66 Natural born rebel The right to speak up

54 Radical cities: Nablus Sarah Irving suggests simply visiting Palestine can be a radical act

56 Epitaph to a generation Siobhan McGuirk speaks to

John Akomfrah about his new film – and the 2011 riots

58 Hip-hop revolutionaries Jody McIntyre and Pablo avarrete report on Venezuela’s Hip Hop Revolución movement

60 Contradictory Dickens Two centuries on, Terry Eagleton asks how radical Charles Dickens’ work really was

62 Book reviews The Cost of Inequality, Don’t Take No for an Answer, Counterpower, The Assault on Universities,

The Shadow World, The Wretched of the Earth

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 Updates on the pensions fi ght n More on challenges af ter Durban n The latest on the O ccupy movement n D irect action essay competition winner

04 red pepper feb | mar 2012

Red Pepper is on Twitter as @RedPeppermag 10 N30 and after: was that it?

regor Gall analyses the 30 November strikes. Heather Wakefield responds

15 A different kind of Europe Trevor Evans outlines the basis for a progressive pan-European response to the euro crisis. Then Paolo Gerbaudo, Donatella della Porta, Susan George and James Meadway give their views

22 The stability obsession Ian Bruff explores the roots of Germany’s obsession with budgetary prudence

24 Banks: the real stress test

Europe’s fragile banking system is a disaster waiting to happen, says Hugo Radice

41 Twetin’ ’bout a revolution

Newsnight’s Paul Mason, author of a new book on the revolts sweeping the world, speaks to Red Pepper

28 Plan B and beyond Dexter Whitfield says Compass’s alternative economic strategy, Plan B, is not enough

36 Think-tanks’ tangled web Right-leaning think-tanks play a big part in David Cameron’s Tories, writes Hartwig Pautz

44 Policing protest Nina Power explores the significance of the new policing regime facing protesters

46 The students’ moment Student activist Michael Chesum reflects on the state of the fightback

48 Cairo fights Mika Minio-Paluello reports on the recent bloody Egyptian street battles

50 The way we do it Hilary Wainwright says the

Occupy movement and 1960/70s radicals can learn from each other

53 Rights and wrong Peter Aps argues that a ‘British bill of rights’ would be a bad idea

30 Banking’s groundhog day Adam Leaver turns the spotlight on how elite power has foiled financial reform. Jonathan Stevenson responds red pepper feb | mar 2012

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