EDITORS Hilary Wainwright, Oscar Reyes

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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

PICTURE RESEARCH Dan Tierney

vISUALS Ros Asquith, Andrezej Krauze, Martin Rowson, Tim Saunders

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THANKS TO Darrell Joyce, Glenn Meredith, Jen Nelson, Paul Woolliscroft

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“The attitude that life owes us something, if not everything, encourages life to thwart our endeavours.” Robert Fripp

03 EDITORIAL A place for the left 06 LETTERS AGONy SUBCOMANDAUNTIE 08 PLATTITUDES The world according to Steve Platt 14 DEMOCRACy NOW Our job as citizens 26 UNDER THE RADAR Wembley with intent 27 NATURAL BORN REBEL Education campaigner Margaret Tulloch

48 THE GENERATION GAP MaRk STeel writes about youth and protest in an extract from his book, What’s Going On?

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 oct | nov 2008

Including poems by aDRian MiTChell and PolaRbeaR , and an extract from The Lamplighter by JaCkie kay

44 ASyLUM WATCH Dead safe: deportations to Iraq 45 GUERRILLA GUIDES Anti-deportation campaigning 53 TEMPERATURE GAUGE Agrofuels: are we winning? 54 KNOW yOUR ENEMy FIT for purpose? 66 BOOKTOPIA Tracy Quan 67 REARvIEW Icons

55 Off THE BALL MaRk PeRRyMan stands up for a game that would prefer him to sit down

57 SOMETHING WORTH fIGHTING fOR A CaRol ann DuFFy poem has been removed by a school exam board. MiChael RoSen thinks poets have a battle on their hands

58 A CULTURAL REvOLUTION anDy CRoFT talks to neil aSTley , founder of Bloodaxe Books, about putting the politics into poetry

60 WELL vERSED John ReTy shares some radical poems from his Morning Star column

62 CARRyING ON fROM THE CHARTISTS The editors of CiTizen 32 explain the importance of combining poetry and activism 16 THE DEATH Of THE INTELLECTUAL TeRRy eaGleTon laments the passing of a critical age 18 BACK TO CLASS The rising price of a degree is hitting some harder than others. lauRie Penny looks at what’s left of higher education 20 BEyOND TOWN AND GOWN Relationships between students and locals can be fraught. Jenny nelSon meets activists who want to break out of the ghetto 23 THE fIGHT fOR THE NUS The National Union of Students’ Blairite leaders are putting it on a path to self-destruction, says hinD haSSan 24 STUDENTS ARE CITIzENS TOO Student activists must look beyond their own problems, argues aleD FiSheR

28 AfTER THE PARTy MaTT WRaCk of the Fire Brigades Union on breaking with the Labour Party – and what happened next 29 RADICAL RENEWAL Multi-party politics is Labour’s only chance of survival, writes PaTRiCk Dunleavy 32 THE BREAK UP Of BRITAIN Independence is rising in Scotland and Wales, and elaine C SMiTh and leanne WooD believe there is no going back – but is the English left ready for it?

36 2014: A TORy DySTOPIA alex nunnS takes us on a trip into the future to see how Britain might look after four years of Conservative rule

42 CLIMATE CAMP IN PICTURES Photographer Daniel TieRney spends a week at climate camp, CaRoline luCaS writes about her experiences there

11 My fRIENDS ON THE LEfT Barack Obama’s base is unique – but they need to stick around after the election, says GaRy younGe

COvER ILLUSTRATION David Warner

46 WHy WON’T NATO DIE? The Russian intervention in South Ossetia was the US’s latest excuse to wheel out Nato and revive the cold war story, says JonaThan STeele

51 BASICALLy. . . JaiMie GRanT meets with veteran peace campaigner Lindis Percy to discuss American bases in Britain

oct | nov 2008 red pepper 05