Contending for the living

Streets of the imagination October 2011
At the front of the crowd in the ‘Gordon riots’ of 1780, William Blake would have seen much that he recognised in the events of this summer, writes Mike Marqusee

The bedrock of autonomy August 2011
A life beyond illness rests on a delicate and complex web, writes Mike Marqusee

Let’s talk utopia July 2011
It’s utopian thinking, not grim pragmatism, that best informs and inspires the struggle for a better society, argues Mike Marqusee

Palestine’s wandering poet April 2011
Mike Marqusee on Mahmoud Darwish, the poet of the Palestinian people

Biblical justice February 2011
The bible’s social vision isn’t as simple as many think – this contradictory book can be as radical as it is repressive, writes Mike Marqusee

Spreading the pain November 2010
Patients need health workers to take action on their behalf, says Mike Marqusee

An idealist and a sceptic September 2010
In his best work, director John Ford depicted a complex world through the lens of an understated but powerful critique says Mike Marqusee

No turning back August 2010
To respond effectively to the coming onslaught, we will have to engage with a deep crisis of working class confidence. To do so requires not only vigorous, unapologetic counter-propaganda, but collective action

Fighting a protean force June 2010
Pretending that it's not racism that motivates the BNP vote, or that we can defeat the BNP simply by proposing a left alternative, is to misunderstand the nature of racism in Britain today

The left lacuna May 2010
Before even a vote is cast, the left's failure in the coming election is an established fact. Elections aren't everything, but they do matter and we should start working now to ensure that there is a meaningful left alternative at the one after next, writes Mike Marqusee

Anything but background music January 2010
It's often said that flamenco is not political because it dwells exclusively on the individual. That seems to imply a narrow definition of both the political and the personal, writes Mike Marqusee

Busting the straitjacket January 2010
Rolling back the new 'common sense' of spending cuts may seem like a difficult job, but it's not impossible, says Mike Marqusee

The politics of cancer November 2009
Mike Marqusee argues that the 'war on cancer' is a misplaced metaphor for what is as much a political as a medical issue

Tom Paine, restless democrat June 2009
This June marks the bicentenary of the death of a man who was buried in obscurity but whose ideas are today claimed by everyone from anarchists to neoliberals. Mike Marqusee celebrates the life, work and ideas of the great revolutionary who declared that 'my country is the world and my religion is to do good'

Contending for the living May 2009
In the first of a new regular column for Red Pepper, Mike Marqusee finds hope for a new internationalism in the actions of South African dockworkers and their allies