EDITOR Hilary Wainwright LANGUAGE FUNDI Steve Platt PRODUCTION EDITOR Tom Walker DESIGN & PRODUCTION Tom Lynton www.tomlynton.com POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT Alex Nunns COMMISSIONING EDITOR Lena de Casparis ENVIRONMENT EDITOR Oscar Reyes LATIN AMERICA EDITOR Pablo Navarrete SPORTS CORRESPONDENTS Anne Coddington, Mark Perryman ACTIVISION EDITOR Andy Bowman WEBSITE EDITOR Fiona Osler website@redpepper.org.uk WRITERS Naimi Bouteldja, Nick Buxton, Matthew Carr, Katie Coyne, Mihail Dafydd Evans, Andrea De Cruz, Kate Ferguson, 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 Navarrete, Ilaria Perlini PICTURE RESEARCH Dan Tierney VISUALS Andrezej Krauze, Matt Littler, Martin Rowson, Tim Saunders INTERN Tom Greenwood PUBLISHER Fiona Osler fiona@redpepper.org.uk PRESS OFFICER Clare Woodford OFFICE MANAGER Ian Gollan ACCOUNTS Alice Kilroy, Bob Tydeman SUBSCRIPTION SALES Packpost 01296 489550 ADVISERS 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, Aubrey Morris, Simon Mohun, Harold Pinter, Sheila Rowbotham, Denise Searle, Amanda Sebestyen, Jane Shallice, Aleks Sierz, Kate Soper, Jonathan Steele, Dave Timms, Guy Vincent, Gary Younge, Stuart Weir THANKS TO Glenn Meredith, Arafat Khalil, Jake Smith

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‘In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom!’ J G Ballard

03 EDITORIALHILARY WAINWRIGHT

06 LETTERSAGONY SUBCOMANDAUNTIE

08 PLATTITUDESThe world according to STEVE PLATT

35 DEMOCRACY NOW The party isn’t over

48 NATURAL BORN REBELGuilty as not charged

58 MIKE MARQUSEETom Paine, restless democrat

66 BOOKTOPIABILLY HAYES

67 REARVIEW Rank: picturing the social order

60 PLAYING THE GREAT GAMEThe Great Game theatre production

brings Afghanistan to the fore as one of the central political issues in the coming years. Co-director INDHU RUBASINGHAM reflects on the project

62 INSPIRATIONAL HISTORY, PRACTICAL HANDBOOK

LAURIE PENNY reviews Ireland’s Hidden Diaspora, a book about Irish women’s struggle for reproductive freedom

64 SINGING TO A DIFFERENT TUNERock stars take the power back from the

record companies. By PAUL CAMPBELL

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

04 red pepper jun | jul 2009

ON THE WEB A very dodgy prescription – responses to last issue’s cover feature Gill George looks at how Labour is getting away with dismantling community healthcare. George Berger on what private insurers have done to the Dutch healthcare system