EDITORS Michael Calderbank, James O’Nions, Hilary Wainwright NOT ON THE PLINTH 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 EUROPE CORRESPONDENT Leigh Phillips 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, 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 PUBLISHER Fiona Osler fiona@redpepper.org.uk PRESS OFFICER Clare Woodford OFFICE MANAGER Ian Gollan ACCOUNTS 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, 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 Arafat Khalil

RED PEPPER 1b Waterlow Road, London N19 5NJ tel 020 7281 7024, fax 020 7263 9345 office@redpepper.org.uk www.redpepper.org.uk

SUBSCRIPTIONS Annual rates: UK £29 (students, retired, low wage, unemployed £24), Europe £35, rest of the world £40, institutions £50

‘There are no mistakes, save one: the failure to learn from a mistake.’ Robert Fripp

03 EDITORIAL James O’Nions

06 LETTERSNOTICEBOARD

08 PLATTITUDESThe world according to Steve Platt

18 KNOW YOUR ENEMYMonsanto: Biotech bonanza

62 BOOKSFour pages

of reviews

19 GUERRILA GUIDESDigging the dirt on corporations

27 NATURAL BORN REBELIan Terry on the Vestas occupation

39 ASYLUM WATCHBorder stories

56 MIKE MARQUSEEThe politics of cancer

66 BOOKTOPIALouise Christian

58 JUST SAY YESBRENDAN MONTAGUE meets anti-

corporate pranksters the Yes Men

60 LO-FI VS HI-TECHAMY SPENCER celebrates the

rise of do-it-yourself culture

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 2009. 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

04 red pepper oct | nov 2009

ON THE WEB

Red Pepper is on Twitter as ‘RedPeppermag’

For website exclusives, competitions, reviews,

debates and the quickest way to subscribe

Juan Almendares on social movements mobilising against the coup in Honduras Terror fiction after 9/11 From the burqa

to the burkini: debate on Islam, women and the veil