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 Website editor Andy Bowman Commissioning editors Tim Hunt, Siobhan McGuirk Environment editor Oscar Reyes Latin America editor Pablo Navarrete Europe corespondent Leigh Phillips Political corespondent Alex Nunns Activision editor Isabel Parrott 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 Matt Owen TRANSLATORS Una Hamilton, Pablo Navarrete, Ilaria Perlini PICTURE RESEARCH Louise Emily Thomas VISUALS Andrzej Krauze, Tim Sanders, Matt Littler PUBLISHER Fiona Osler fiona@redpepper.org.uk 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, 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, 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 Stuart Hodkinson

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03 Editorial Our right to the city

06 Letters and Noticeboard ...and Jeremy Hardy thinks

08 Plattitudes The world according to Steve Platt

15 Justice gap Justice as rough as ever

16 Asylum watch State-sponsored cruelty

31 Under the radar Manchester rambler

32 Know your enemy No sleep (or soup) for the homeless

34 Mike Marquse Let’s talk utopia

55 Guerrilla guides Edible treasurers

56 Something radical in the state of Denmark

Ronan McHugh finds Copenhagen offers much of interest to visiting lefties

58 Empty tank Social realism was a strong tradition in

British cinema. Clive James Nwonka argues that we need it as much as ever

60 The ladder of escape Michael Calderbank reviews the

Joan Miró exhibition at Tate Modern

66 Talking the talk Chris Browne reviews Violence on Trial

62 Book reviews 33 Revolutions Per Minute, The Fair Trade

Revolution, Treasure Islands, The Devil’s Milk, Why Marx was Right, The Child in the City

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 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 Nick Buxton interviews Tim DeChristopher, the leading US environmental activist facing jail for taking direct action against an oil auction n Watch K atharine Haywood’s short fi lm about the Braz ilian Landless Workers Movement’s energy sovereignty project n L isten to our podcast on the right to the city

04 red pepper jun | jul 2011

Red Pepper is on Twitter as ‘RedPeppermag’ 10 Healthyalternatives olin Leys looks at how Scotland and Wales have rejected marketising the NHS

12 mythbuster: Pensions Richard Minns and Sarah Sexton take on the lies about retirement provision

36 No Tahrir here Leigh Phillips talks to Greek filmmaker Aris Chatzistefanou about the political situation

18 Revenge of the repossessed tuart Hodkinson explores alternatives to the housing crisis

22 Steal this veg Urban agriculture can challenge the priorities of the capitalist city, writes Chiara Tornaghi

24 Roads to fredom Rachel Aldred considers a city humanised by sustainable transport

26 Out of our space! We need to reclaim public spaces,

writes Anna Minton

28 High hopes High-rise homes are derided –

but some show what is possible, argues Owen Hatherley

40 Drug club Nick Buxton examines the experience of cannabis social clubs in Spain

43 Voices from the Tunisian revolution anda Sebestyen meets Tunisian activists and hears their stories

50 Here we go again John Hilary questions Nato’s claims of ‘humanitarian intervention’ in Libya

46 AFTER THE SPRING Sami Ramadani considers the response to the popular uprisings from the region’s dictators and other reactionary forces, as well as role of imperialism

52 FORTY years fre Photographs from Bangladesh’s

1971 struggle for independence

Artist, illustrator, maverick and alleged ex-Hollyoaks cast member Matt Littler is here to help. Matt is happy doing editorial, advertising, special projects or random requests. No mundane options is his mantra. http://mattlittler.com red pepper jun | jul 2011

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