Culture

Degenerates remembered January 2013
Ian Hunter looks at an exhibition and project remembering persecuted artist Kurt Schwitters

A class act January 2013
Nicholas Beuret looks at E P Thompson's classic The Making of the English Working Class

A flame of butterflies January 2013
Flight Behaviour, by Barbara Kingsolver, reviewed by Kitty Webster

Athenian nights January 2013
Discordia: Six nights in crisis Athens, by Laurie Penny and Molly Crabapple, reviewed by Mel Evans

Economic odysseys January 2013
Scattered Sand: the story of China’s rural migrants, by Hsiao-Hung Pai, reviewed by Greg Fay

Lively London January 2013
London’s Overthrow by China Miéville, reviewed by Frank Carney

We won’t be told – Argentina’s horizontalism December 2012
Everyday Revolutions: horizontalism and autonomy in Argentina, by Marina A Sitrin, reviewed by Isabelle Koksal

Books in red wrapping paper December 2012
Philosophy Football's Mark Perryman introduces his best left-wing books of 2012 for a hopeful materialist's seasonal gift list

No better model December 2012
The Making of Global Capitalism: the political economy of American empire, by Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin, reviewed by Patrick Bond

Call this art? December 2012
The Artist Placement Group brought artistic practice to British workplaces in the 1960s and 1970s. Janna Graham reviews a new exhibition of their work

The M word December 2012
Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel, reviewed by Mel Evans

Back to the shop floor December 2012
Edward Webster looks at Working for Ford, by Huw Beynon (1974)

Untouchables: a different way to make sense of Leveson December 2012
Untouchables: dirty cops, bent justice and racism in Scotland Yard, by Michael Gillard and Laurie Flynn, reviewed by Kevin Blowe

Palestine: Learning from the rabbi December 2012
Wrestling in the Daylight: a rabbi’s path to Palestinian solidarity, by Brant Rosen, reviewed by Richard Kuper

Riot from Wrong: An example of what journalism could look like November 2012
Koos Couvée reviews a film about the riots that gives a different point of view

2012’s literary Christmas tree formation November 2012
Philosophy Football’s Mark Perryman reveals the football books any fan would welcome as an addition to their bookshelf this Christmas

Wages without work November 2012
Revolution at Point Zero by Silvia Federici and The Problem with Work by Kathi Weeks, reviewed by Nicholas Beuret

The people of the pipeline October 2012
The Oil Road, by James Marriott and Mika Minio-Paluello, reviewed by Andy Rowell

Chumbawamba: One last time October 2012
Chumbawamba, the anarchist band that topped the charts and tipped an ice bucket over John Prescott, have decided to call it a day. Founder member Boff Whalley explains why

Live art: In here or out there? October 2012
From oil tanks to magic forests, Andy Field considers some of the unlikely homes offered to live art

Film: Who Polices the Police? October 2012
Ken Fero, director of 'Who Policies The Police?' writes about the making of the film which examines the complicity of the IPCC in deaths in custody and the struggle of one family for justice

Manifesta 9: Genk October 2012
Jane Shallice reports from Manifesta in Genk, a biennial Europe-wide contemporary art exhibition which this year had a coal mining theme

Bring on your wrecking ball: the politics of Bruce Springsteen September 2012
Huw Beynon and Steve Davies consider the significance of an artist whose new album targets the bankers’ crisis

Classic book: Frankenstein September 2012
Mads Ryle looks at the continuing relevance of Mary Shelley's classic to debates about science, technology and nature today

Shedcasting in Surbiton September 2012
Michael Calderbank visits the suburban garden of radio broadcaster and DJ Mark Coles, an unlikely location for an internet-based radio show

Knowing Too Much: A new view of Jerusalem September 2012
Knowing Too Much: why the American Jewish romance with Israel is coming to an end, by Norman Finkelstein, reviewed by Richard Kuper

Leila Khaled: The woman behind the symbol September 2012
Leila Khaled: Icon of Palestinian Liberation, by Sarah Irving, reviewed by Hilary Aked

Practical action: Beautiful Trouble September 2012
Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution, eds Andrew Boyd and Dave Oswald Mitchell, reviewed by Justin Jacoby Smith

Northern soul: Socialism with a Northern Accent September 2012
Socialism with a Northern Accent, by Paul Salveson. reviewed by Michael Calderbank

Alternative Olympianism September 2012
Why The Olympics Aren’t Good For Us, And How They Can Be, by Mark Perryman, reviewed by Kevin Blowe

Arab streetwise: the counter-culture of the revolutions August 2012
The uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt have been sustained by an active countercultural scene, discovers Lorenzo Fe

Classic book: Let Me Speak! August 2012
Nick Caistor takes another look at Domitila Barrios de Chungara's story of life in Bolivia's mining villages

Multiple perspectives August 2012
Marine Ices, by Tony Garnett, reviewed by Sheila Rowbotham

A different solution August 2012
To Cook a Continent: destructive extraction and the climate crisis in Africa, by Nnimmo Bassey, reviewed by Tim Gee

Alan Morrison: A polemical poet August 2012
Jan Goodey meets poet Alan Morrison and explores his latest work on mental illness

In a sniper’s sights August 2012
The Only House Left Standing: the Middle East journals of Tom Hurndall, reviewed by Ewa Jasiewicz

Cities of struggle August 2012
Rebel Cities: from the right to the city to the urban revolution, by David Harvey, reviewed by Andre Pusey

Ill Manors, reductionist politics? June 2012
Plan B's debut film portrays extreme anti-social behaviour in working-class and ethnic minority communities. The film could prove to be Conservative propaganda for Broken Britain, argues Clive Nwonka

Review: The Missing Billions June 2012
As UK Uncut win their case at the high court to challenge the Goldman Sachs tax deal, Kitty Webster reviews the new documentary 'The Missing Billions'

Review: The Palestine Nakba June 2012
Bernard Regan reviews Nur Masalha’s account of Palestinian history and the significance of the Nakba in the Israel-Palestine conflict

Fence Records: ‘We’re not trendy, we’re not competing, we just do our thing’ June 2012
Johnny Lynch (aka The Pictish Trail) tells Emma Hughes that artist-run record label Fence is staying true to its roots

The Courageous State: Rethinking economics, society and the role of government June 2012
By Richard Murphy, reviewed by Heather Blakey

Palestinians in Israel: Ethnocracy, not democracy May 2012
Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy, by Ben White, reviewed by Richard Kuper

Riding the pink tide May 2012
Social Movements and Leftist Governments in Latin America: Confrontation or Co-option? by Gary Prevost et al (eds), reviewed by Federico Fuentes

Ghosts of Afghanistan: A realistic prospect for peace May 2012
Ghosts of Afghanistan: The Haunted Battleground, by Jonathan Steele, reviewed by Gabriel Carlyle

Debt: The First 5,000 Years – Money, myth and morality May 2012
Debt: The First 5,000 Years, by David Graeber, reviewed by Nick Dearden

Classic book: Woman on the Edge of Time – A utopia of resistance May 2012
Mel Evans looks at Woman on the Edge of Time, by Marge Piercy, first published 1979

Rare Earth: Revolutionary sci fi April 2012
Rare Earth, by Paul Mason, reviewed by Amanda Sebestyen

Review: La Grande Illusion April 2012
As a digitally restored version is released, Michael Pooler revisits Jean Renoir's anti-war masterpiece

Classic book: The Wretched of the Earth April 2012
Richard Pithouse on The Wretched of the Earth, by Frantz Fanon

Counterpower: A reservoir of hope April 2012
Counterpower: Making Change Happen, by Tim Gee, reviewed by Ed Lewis

Don’t Take No for an Answer: How not to run a referendum campaign April 2012
Don’t Take No for an Answer: The 2011 Referendum and the Future of Electoral Reform, by Lewis Baston and Ken Ritchie, reviewed by Callum Michaels

Review: Revolutionary Communist at Work April 2012
Revolutionary Communist at Work: A Political Biography of Bert Ramelson, by Roger Seifert and Tom Sibley, reviewed by Mary Davis

The Shadow World: Backstabbing, ego and disregard April 2012
The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade, by Andrew Feinstein, reviewed by Chris Browne

The Cost of Inequality: A chronicle of capitalist catastrophe April 2012
The Cost of Inequality: Three Decades of the Super-Rich and the Economy, by Stewart Lansley, reviewed by Christopher Hird

The Assault on Universities: An education in democracy April 2012
The Assault on Universities: A Manifesto for Resistance, by Michael Bailey and Des Freedman (eds), reviewed by Hilary Aked

Venezuela’s hip-hop revolutionaries March 2012
Jody McIntyre and Pablo Navarrete report on Venezuela’s Hip Hop Revolución movement

A cagey business March 2012
Richard Kuper reads two books which consider the grotesque realities of industrial meat production and the wilful 'forgetting' needed to accept them.

Epitaph to a generation: John Akomfrah interview March 2012
Siobhan McGuirk speaks to John Akomfrah about his new film – and the 2011 riots

Contradictory Dickens February 2012
On the bicentenary of Charles Dickens' birth, Terry Eagleton looks at the contradictions of the man and his work

Tweetin’ ’bout a revolution: Paul Mason interview February 2012
Newsnight’s Paul Mason, author of a new book on the revolts sweeping the world, speaks to Red Pepper

Blockbusters only please, we’re British! January 2012
Filmmaker Clive Nwonka responds to the recently published UK Film Policy Review paper, and David Cameron’s questionable stance on film funding.

Catch 22: war satire still bites in the age of Fallujah and Helmand January 2012
Catch 22, by Joseph Heller, reviewed by Matt Owen

Review: No Land! No House! No Vote! Voices from Symphony Way January 2012
No Land! No House! No Vote! Voices from Symphony Way, reviewed by Martin Legassick

The White Van Papers: fiction that tells the truth January 2012
The White Van Papers by Roland Muldoon, reviewed by Jane Shallice

More Bad News from Israel: how the media tell it like it isn’t January 2012
More Bad News from Israel, by Greg Philo and Mike Berry, reviewed by Miri Weingarten

Britain’s Empire: ripping up the comfortable myths January 2012
Britain’s Empire: Resistance, Repression and Revolt by Richard Gott, reviewed by Jonathan Steele

From Dictatorship to Democracy: a manual for revolution? December 2011
From Dictatorship to Democracy: a conceptual framework for liberation, by Gene Sharp, reviewed by Alex Nunns

A night at the multiplex: an interview with Mark Kermode December 2011
Sean Gittins talks to Mark Kermode about modern cinema and the role of the film critic

The Olympics site: ‘a ticking-clock assault on the residue of industrial history’ December 2011
In this extract from his latest book, Ghost Milk, Iain Sinclair looks at the toxicity of the soil under the Olympics

Off with their heads! An interview with Martin Rowson December 2011
Red Pepper speaks to Martin Rowson about his 30-plus years as a scourge of the political establishment

Review: Black Power Mixtape December 2011
Selina Nwulu reviews new civil rights movement documentary Black Power Mixtape

Beyond bling-bling: rap in Cuba December 2011
Cuba’s isolation has seen hip hop develop in a different direction, discovers Sujatha Fernandes

Castro: Beautiful brushwork, imperfect picture December 2011
Leigh Philips reviews Castro by Reinhard Kleist

Not just a knee-jerk November 2011
Richard Seymour reviews The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin by Corey Robin

Sex-positive feminism November 2011
Jennie O’Hara reviews Meat Market: Female Flesh under Capitalism, by Laurie Penny

Fox among the paintings November 2011
Daisy Jones takes aim at BBC4’s quixotic attempt to wrap modernist art in a union jack

Review: The Fear Factory November 2011
Polemic documentary challenges sensationalist media portrayal of youth crime, but suffers from staid approach and lack of young voices, says Georgia Rooney

All the news that fits, they print October 2011
Emma Hughes looks at Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Edward S Herman and Noam Chomsky (1988)

Unwatchable October 2011
Amy Hall reviews the film 'Unwatchable' but finds real life even more disturbing

It’s possible, it’s necessary October 2011
Antonio David Cattani reviews Ours to Master and to Own by Immanuel Ness and Dario Azzellini (eds)

The pursuit of the good September 2011
Peter McMylor considers Alasdair MacIntyre's classic After Virtue: a study in moral theory, first published in 1981

In the revolutionary warm-stream September 2011
Michael Calderbank reviews Magical Marxism: subversive politics and the Imagination, by Andy Merrifield

Flower power September 2011
Jan Goodey reviews Seedbombs: going wild with flowers, by Josie Jeffery

Crude politics August 2011
Sami Ramadani reviews Fuel on the Fire: oil and politics in occupied Iraq, by Greg Muttitt

Unruly protest August 2011
Ashok Kumar reviews Fight Back! A reader on the winter of protest, ed. Dan Hancox

Gil Scott-Heron: Speakin’ for a whole generation August 2011
Steve Pretty looks at the musical and political life of the poet

Pure class August 2011
Kevin Blowe reviews Chavs: the demonisation of the working class, by Owen Jones

Crowd allowed August 2011
Siobhan McGuirk on the way inspiring new documentary Just Do It was made

Soundtrack of dissent July 2011
Alex Nunns reviews 33 Revolutions Per Minute: a history of protest songs by Dorian Lynskey

Reconstructing Marx July 2011
Michael Calderbank reviews Why Marx was Right by Terry Eagleton

The greatest injustice July 2011
Leigh Phillips reviews Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxson

School without walls July 2011
Isabel Parrott revisits Colin Ward's classic The Child in the City

Film review: Unwrapping the drugs debate July 2011
Siobhan McGuirk reviews ‘Cocaine Unwrapped’, a documentary that asks good questions but avoids too many answers

High hopes July 2011
High-rise homes are derided, but some show that a progressive architecture is possible argues Owen Hatherley

Talking the talk June 2011
Chris Browne goes to Mutiny’s latest ‘On Trial’ event

From kitchen sink to fish tank June 2011
Siobhan McGuirk traces the history of social realism in British cinema as the genre starts to make a comeback

Empty tank June 2011
Social realism was a strong tradition in British cinema. Clive James Nwonka argues that we need it as much as ever

Soaked in blood June 2011
Lorna Stephenson reviews The Devil’s Milk: a social history of rubber by John Tully

The ladder of escape June 2011
Michael Calderbank considers utopian dreaming and political engagement in the Joan Miró exhibition at Tate Modern

Maria and her mangoes June 2011
Christine Haigh reviews The Fair Trade Revolution by John Bowes (ed)

Poster people May 2011
James O'Nions reviews Celebrate People’s History: the poster book of resistance and revolution

Web freedom May 2011
Tim Hunt reviews An Open Web

Branding the revolution May 2011
Ross Eventon reviews A Poetics of Resistance: the revolutionary public relations of the Zapatista insurgency

Mass movements and Morales May 2011
David Broder reviews From Rebellion to Reform in Bolivia

Salvaging the socialist cause May 2011
Richard Seymour reviews Eric Hobsbawm's latest book, and a new biography of this influential historian

Capital ideas May 2011
Ingo Scmidt discusses the relevance of Rosa Luxemburg's Accumulation of Capital

Reading Rosa April 2011
Peter Hudis, editor of the newly published Letters of Rosa Luxemburg, speaks to Red Pepper

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

Theatre Uncut: Art attack April 2011
Red Pepper investigates a theatre project dramatising the cuts

Moving to the Latin beat March 2011
Dancing with Dynamite: Social movements and states in Latin America, by Benjamin Dangl (AK Press), reviewed by Mike Geddes

Joining the dots March 2011
Whose Crisis, Whose Future? Towards A Greener, Fairer, Richer World, by Susan George (Polity Press), reviewed by Sylvie Wynn

Birthday verse March 2011
The Verso Book of Dissent: From Spartacus to the Shoe Thrower of Baghdad, edited by Andrew Hsiao and Audrea Lim, reviewed by Jennie Bailey

A timely jolt March 2011
Jilted Generation, by Ed Howker and Shiv Malik (Icon Books), reviewed by Adam Ramsay

Unabashed history March 2011
Beating the Fascists: The untold story of Anti-Fascist Action, by Sean Birchall (Freedom Press), reviewed by Ben Aylott

Countering capitalism March 2011
The Great Transformation, by Karl Polanyi, reviewed by Tom Malleson

AgiTate February 2011
The performances of art activists Liberate Tate are celebrated in a new postcard collection.

Machete: The action hero gets political February 2011
Severed limbs and a splatter of anti-capitalism. Raph Schlembach watches Machete

Illegal Art: Recreating records February 2011
Red Pepper talks to Illegal Art founder Philo T Farnsworth

The ninth art meets the fourth estate January 2011
Leigh Phillips traces the emergence of comic-book journalism

Review: The war you don’t see December 2010
J. Sadie Clifford on John Pilger's latest documentary.

The media war you don’t see December 2010
Red Pepper's Latin America editor Pablo Navarrete interviews John Pilger ahead of the release of his new film, 'The War You Don't See.'

Have your steak and eat it November 2010
Meat: a benign extravagance, by Simon Fairlie (Permanent Publications), reviewed by Christine Haigh

The case of the state November 2010
Isabel Parrot assesses the continuing relevance of In and Against the State

Turbulent tome November 2010
What Would it Mean to Win? by Turbulence Collective (PM Press), reviewed by James O’Nions

A need to go further November 2010
The Rise of the Green Left, by Derek Wall (Pluto Press), reviewed by Peter McColl

Braver together November 2010
The Language of Silence, by Merilyn Moos (Cressida Press/Writersworld), reviewed by Amanda Sebestyen

Absent voices November 2010
Pornland: How porn has hijacked our sexuality, by Gail Dines (Beacon Press), reviewed by Jennie O’Hara

Banners high November 2010
Peter Lazenby reviews an exhibition of the work of Britain’s most important trade union banner maker

Media empowerment September 2010
Siobhan McGuirk talks to the Adbusters Media Foundation

The art of protest September 2010
Gavin Grindon looks at convergences of the political and the aesthetic

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

From Barking to Venice September 2010
Siobhan McGuirk meets collaborative art and architecture practice muf

The construction of (un)reality September 2010
James O'Nions reviews a compelling piece of invented history at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Trotsky faction September 2010
Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna (Faber and Faber), reviewed by James O'Nions

Dark urban fantasies September 2010
Stephen Graham's Cities Under Siege: the new military urbanism (Verso), reviewed by Matthew Carr

Time to be communists again September 2010
Alain Badiou's The Communist Hypothesis (Verso), reviewed by Bertie Russell

No easy answers September 2010
Kolya Abramsky's Sparking a Worldwide Energy Revolution (AK Press), reviewed by Kevin Blowe

Optimism of the will September 2010
Noam Chomsky's Hopes and Prospects (Hamish Hamilton), reviewed by Nick Dearden

Demanding the impossible September 2010
Alastair Hemmens celebrates a book that had a major influence on 'les événements' of 1968

South of the Border July 2010
Oliver Stone's new documentary chronicles the emergence of progressive governments in Latin America. Roberto Navarrete talks to him and Tariq Ali, one of the film's scriptwriters.

Fierce urgency July 2010
Beyond the Tipping Point? Director: Stefan Skrimshire ‘That it goes on like this is the catastrophe,’ the German critic Walter Benjamin once wrote, a comment all the more prescient given that our present lifestyles threaten to change the climate beyond the point of reversability. This film is not about the climate science behind the suggestion [...]

Left tide July 2010
Samuel Grove reviews South of the Border, directed by Oliver Stone

Craft work July 2010
Music producer Matthew Herbert's inventive methods are informed by a critical perspective on the wider politics of production and consumption under contemporary capitalism, finds Brendan Montague

Determined to do it July 2010
Dreamers of a New Day: Women Who Invented the 20th Century by Sheila Rowbotham (Verso), reviewed by Andrea D'Cruz

A living gallery of resistance July 2010
Against the Wall: The Art of Resistance in Palestine by William Parry (Pluto), reviewed by Mike Marqusee

Making noise for Africa July 2010
Speaking Truth to Power by Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem (Fahamu Books & Pambazuka Press), reviewed by Fatima Mujtaba

Italia ’76 July 2010
More Work! Less Pay! Rebellion and Repression in Italy 1972-77 by Phil Edwards (Manchester University Press), reviewed by Paul Anderson

Illusory ethics July 2010
Secret Affairs: Britain's Collusion with Radical Islam by Mark Curtis (Serpent's Tail), reviewed by Jonathan Steele

Second coming July 2010
Simone de Beauvoir's seminal work The Second Sex laid the foundations for the second wave of feminism and is essential reading for the feminist resurgence today, writes Rosie Germain

Journal de combat June 2010
Emilie Bickerton celebrates Cahiers du cinéma, the French film journal that insisted on seeing film as an art form

Rhyme and reason June 2010
Pablo Navarrete meets the British-Iraqi rapper Lowkey, a rising star whose growing popularity is tapping into a mood of rebellion

On the side of the slaves June 2010
The Black Jacobins by CLR James (Penguin, new edition 2001), reviewed by Selma James

Fill in the adjectives June 2010
Gaza: Beneath the Bombs by Sharyn Lock with Sarah Irving (Pluto Press), reviewed by Andrea D'Cruz

Confused protest June 2010
The Protestor's Handbook by Bibi van der Zee (Guardian Books), reviewed by Tom Walker

Opening a crack in history June 2010
Zapatistas: rebellion from the grassroots to the global by Alex Khasnabish (Zed Books), reviewed by Duncan Smith

Fearless satire June 2010
Disgusting Bliss: the brass eye of Chris Morris by Lucian Randall (Simon and Schuster), reviewed by Kevin Blowe

Going against the flow June 2010
The Enigma of Capital and the crises of Capitalism by David Harvey (Profile Books), reviewed by Alexander Gallas

A brick of a book May 2010
Commonwealth by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri Scathingly described by the Wall Street Journal as ‘a witches’ brew of contemporary radicalism’, Hardt and Negri’s most recent book Commonwealth is a timely contribution to our understanding of contemporary capitalist relations and the potential revolutionary conditions they create. Michael Hardt is a professor of literature at Duke [...]

One night in the north April 2010
John Robb celebrates the 20th anniversary of an event that captured the cultural and political moment, and a band whose anthemic, euphoric music for a brief time perfectly matched the sense of possibility and change

Zizek waits April 2010
Violence by Slavoj Zizek (London, Profile Books 2009), reviewed by Clare Woodford

An alien gaze February 2010
Lyn Marven considers Nobel Prize-winner Herta Müller's compelling fictional exploration of state oppression

Objective fiction February 2010
Nathaniel Mehr reviews Newspeak in the 21st Century by David Edwards and David Cromwell (Pluto Press, 2009)

Book reviews February 2010
Public cost and private benefit Global Auction of Public Assets Dexter Whitfield Spokesman, £18 Dexter Whitfield has been one of the most well-informed and effective critics of the whole programme of privatisation of Britain’s public services, begun by Margaret Thatcher and continued by New Labour. He is the director of the European Services Strategy Unit, [...]

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

A friend in court December 2009
Liz Davies reviews Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer by Michael Mansfield QC (Bloomsbury, 2009)

The critical struggle of our time December 2009
Maddy Power reviews (People First Economics) by David Ransom and Vanessa Baird (eds) New Internationalist, 2009

Everyone does everything December 2009
James O'Nions meets two members of the Italian novel-writing collective Wu Ming as they publish Manituana, their 'story from the wrong side of history'

Epic drama December 2009
With a new adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children at the National Theatre, Steve Platt assesses the legacy of one of the 20th century's greatest dramatists

An ecological manifesto November 2009
The Ecological Revolution by John Bellamy Foster (Monthly Review Press, 2009), reviewed by Derek Wall

Feeding the world November 2009
Instead of GM crops and a new 'green revolution for Africa', the answer to the food crisis and climate change lies in smaller-scale, local 'agroecology'. Reviews by James O'Nions

The other India October 2009
Mike Marqusee reviews Listening to Grasshoppers: Field Notes on Democracy by Arundhati Roy

Enlightened fundamentalism October 2009
Liberal and conservative Europe alike are guilty of a new 'xeno-racism' against Muslims, according to veteran anti-racism campaigner Liz Fekete. Review by Matt Carr

Just say yes October 2009
As the anti-corporate pranksters the Yes Men launched their new film, {Red Pepper} dispatched Brendan Montague to meet them and get the lowdown on their unusual form of activism

Inside the Revolution: A Journey into the Heart of Venezuela August 2009
Derek Wall reviews Pablo Navarrete's new documentary

Singing to a different tune August 2009
Pop stars are swapping guitars for banners to take the power back from the record companies, writes Paul Campbell

Inspirational history, practical handbook August 2009
Ireland's Hidden Diaspora by Ann Rossiter (Irish Abortion Solidarity Campaign), reviewed by Laurie Penny

Grievable and ungrievable lives June 2009
Nathaniel Mehr reviews Judith Butler's Frames of War: When is Life Grievable?

Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution June 2009
Helen Yaffe explores impact of Che Guevara as an economist and politician

Playing the Great Game June 2009
The Tricycle Theatre's production of The Great Game - 12 plays on the history and contemporary realities of the struggle for control over Afghanistan - brings to the fore what will be one of the central political issues in the coming years. Co-director Indhu Rubasingham reflects on the project

It was 40 years ago today, John and Yoko taught the world to play May 2009
John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 'Bed-In' at the Amsterdam Hilton in 1969 was only a part of their broad-ranging commitment to peace campaigning. Colin Robinson looks back at one of the most famous - and media-savvy - protests of all time

A tale of three Michaels May 2009
He was a pimp, pusher and political activist, with a penchant for the outlandish and an ability to attract support from the rich and famous. Until his murder conviction and hanging in Trinidad in 1975, Michael X was one of the best-known figures of 1960s radicalism. Michael Horovitz reviews a new account of the life of this self-styled black Muslim revolutionary

The message is not the medium May 2009
Radical poetry just sloganises, argues BRIGG57. Good poetry is about much more than its politics

Comrade or brother? April 2009
Comrade or Brother? A History of the British Labour Movement by Mary Davis (Pluto Press, second edition 2009, reviewed by Nathaniel Mehr

Free as in freedom April 2009
Are people freely swapping music, films and other files over the internet undermining corporate control of entertainment and creating a revolutionary culture of sharing and universal access to knowledge? Nick Buxton explores the political edge of the digital piracy and 'free culture' movements

Viva Siva April 2009
Now in his eighties, A Sivanandan remains an important figure in the politics of race and class, maintaining his long-held insistence that only in the symbiosis of the two struggles can a genuinely radical politics be found. By Arun Kundnani

This artist blows March 2009
The young British Muslim artist Sarah Maple has been at the centre of controversy since first bursting onto the art scene at the end of 2007. Interview by Anikka Weerasinghe

Art, truth and politics March 2009
Hilary Wainwright and Ian Rickson pay tribute to the politics, plays and life of Harold Pinter, who died on Christmas Eve 2008

Feminism and war: confronting US imperialism March 2009
Nathaniel Mehr reviews (Feminism and War) and writes that it is essential reading for anyone who is remotely convinced by the feminist pretensions of the US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq

No redemption March 2009
Mike Marqusee talks to 'Red Riding' quartet author David Peace about 'GB84', his dark novel on the 1984 miners' strike

Waltz with Bashir is nothing but charade February 2009
The Israeli film considered favorite to win an Oscar for best foreign language film lost out, but Gideon Levy, for one, was not disappointed by this decision

Pitmen painters February 2009
Six days a week they toiled down the mine, making art in their spare time after attending a Workers Education Association art appreciation class. The Ashington Group of miner-artists is the subject of a witty and wise play by Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall, currently showing at the National Theatre, that has much to tell us about art, culture and the working class, writes Steve Platt

Something special February 2009
Laurie Penny speaks to Mary Wilson, the longest-standing member of Motown's most successful group, the Supremes

Radical Motown February 2009
The pioneering black music label, Tamla Motown, marks its 50th anniversary in 2009. Fiona Osler assesses its impact

Impartial or Cowardly? February 2009
Keith Somerville gives a journalist's view of the BBC's rejection of the DEC Gaza aid plea

Pitmen painters January 2009
Six days a week they toiled down the mine, making art in their spare time after attending a Workers Education Association art appreciation class. The Ashington Group of miner-artists is the subject of a witty and wise play by Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall, currently showing at the National Theatre, that has much to tell us about art, culture and the working class, writes Steve Platt

Led Zeppelin needs to come back in black January 2009
Mark LeVine says at their core Led Zeppelin were a black band and need to look outside the 'white rock 'n' roll box' if they change their mind about not reforming

Thank you, Harold December 2008
Hilary Wainwright wrote the following note about Harold Pinter's involvement with Red Pepper for a collection published by Faber to celebrate his 70th birthday

In words and silences December 2008
Hilary Wainwright reflects on Harold Pinter and Red Pepper

On Adrian Mitchell’s Answerphone December 2008
On Adrian Mitchell’s answerphone - bells ring, birds sing, saxophones swing! On Adrian Mitchell’s answerphone - Blake works a miracle, Big Ben sounds hysterical, the world waxes lyrical! On Adrian Mitchell’s answerphone - the passwords sigh, the terrorists cry, the children fly! On Adrian Mitchell’s answerphone - leave plenty of love - after the tone! [...]

The patron saint of sandal-wearers December 2008
Matthew Beaumont welcomes Sheila Rowbotham's biography of Edward Carpenter

Well versed December 2008
From publishing translations of the only known female poet whose work has survived from Roman times to editing a successful poetry column in the Morning Star, the anarchist-communist John Rety is well respected in the poetry world. Here he describes his long involvement with poetry and chooses four poems from his new book Well Versed, an anthology of his Morning Star column, to share with Red Pepper readers

At the crossroads December 2008
I built the best of England With my brain and with my hands. Liberty Equality Fraternity – That’s where I took my stand, And the people called me Old Labour The brave heart of this land I walked out of the smoky streets To enjoy some country air, But when I came to the crossroads, [...]

Inside December 2008
Day breaks, at a pace that makes the face ache and just for his faith’s sake, he tries to stay calm he looks down at his young man’s hands and at his arms and remembers a time when they seemed so much smaller outside it’s grey and as the rain beats a rhythm on the [...]

The lamplighter (extract) December 2008
Scene 1: Interior fort The noise of the sea slapping against the walls of Cape Coast Castle. The sound of many different African languages, talking fast, scared. ANNIWAA: I am a girl. I am in the dark. I don’t know how long I’ve been kept in the dark. High above me, there is a tiny [...]

Something worth fighting for November 2008
A poem by Carol Ann Duffy has been removed by a school exam board. Michael Rosen thinks poets may have a battle on their hands

A cultural revolution November 2008
Poet and writer Andy Croft talks to Neil Astley, the founder and editor of Britain's most important poetry publisher, Bloodaxe Books, about putting the politics into poetry

The generation gap November 2008
Extracts of What's Going On by Mark Steel (Simon and Schuster)

Drawing back the curtain October 2008
Wherever he has found himself - with the freedom fighters in the mountains of northern Iraq, as a prisoner in an Iranian jail, and now filling a whole room at the Imperial War Museum - Osman Ahmed has always gone on drawing. He spoke to Amanda Sebestyen about his passionate journey to make his art bear witness for the hidden people of Kurdistan

Carrying on from the Chartists October 2008
Can poetry provide a means for change? Dave Toomer, Christina McAlpine and John G Hall, the editors of Citizen 32 magazine, believe it can. Here they explain the importance of combining poetry and activism The contemporary black American poet Amiri Baraka declared that ‘art should be used as a weapon of revolution’, and indeed poetry [...]

Grist to the radical Mill September 2008
John Stuart Mill: Victorian firebrand by Richard Reeves (Atlantic Books), reviewed by Anthony Arblaster

Big art and Perspex panels August 2008
From graffiti and street art to massive corporate-funded structures such as the Ebbsfleet Landmark (the size of the Statue of Liberty, twice as tall as Antony Gormley's Angel of the North), public art has never been more in vogue. Steve Platt, a reformed 'graffitist', surveys the artistic landscape

Manu Chao, the neighbourhood singer August 2008
Manu Chao could be the most famous singer that many English speakers have never heard of. Yet he is to the alter-globalisation movement what Bob Dylan was to peace and civil rights in the 1960s. Oscar Reyes caught up with him by a campfire at Glastonbury, where he created a little 'neighbourhood of hope'

Three poems on peace and war July 2008
Poems by Adrian Mitchell

Commie Girl in the OC July 2008
Laurie Penny interviews Rebecca Schoenkopf about politics, life, feminism and getting 'finger-fucked' by Hillary Clinton

Making music matter June 2008
The organisers claimed it as a huge success. But the BNP continued its advance in local elections and won a seat on the London Assembly a few days later anyway. So what did the Love Music Hate Racism carnival in east London in April achieve, and what is the importance of such events for the left in the future? Lena De Casparis and Alex Nunns report

Selfish capitalism is making us ill June 2008
Mat Little interviews psychologist and writer Oliver James about his book, The Selfish Capitalist

The power to prevail June 2008
The annual Human Rights Watch film festival promises to highlight the power of the human spirit - and it doesn't disappoint, writes Angela Saini

This is what you do June 2008
Hollow Land by Eyal Weizman, reviewed by Michael Kustow

Racism today May 2008
Hostility towards migrants is on the increase. David Renton reviews a new book by Arun Kundani which puts contemporary racism in perspective

Waiting for the barbarians April 2008
The so-called War on Terror has created a global bonanza for the world of commercial military suppliers, writes Solomon Hughes in this exclusive extract from his new book War on Terror, Inc

Anti-semitism and the Israel lobby April 2008
In this extract from his book, If I Am Not for Myself: Journey of an Anti-Zionist Jew, Mike Marqusee says that no one should be deterred from criticising the Israel lobby by charges of anti-semitism

When the enemy is at the door March 2008
Will Atkinson talked to Ken Loach

Letting people speak March 2008
Siobhan McGuirk talks to Kim Longinotto about the growing interest in documentaries, their potential power to move and stir people and explores what kind of documentaries give people a sense of agency

The films we miss and why March 2008
There are some really interesting Italian films coming out – probably Hungarian, French and Polish ones too – but you’d never know it. We are still suffering the results of post-war agreements that gave the US film industry the power to dominate our culture as if films were like motor cars. The Italian champion of [...]

Planetary mythology February 2008
Soundbite science and self-help manuals would have you believe that men and women can't communicate. Deborah Cameron's new book shows that the real issues are to do with power, writes Romy Clark

Poetic charge sheet January 2008
Tony Benn reviews Michael Horovitz's powerful new anti-war polemic

American interest December 2007
The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy by John Mearsheimer and Stephen M Walt (Allen Lane 2007), reviewed by Richard Kuper

Keep throwing stones December 2007
From the CAST theatre company to New Variety and the Hackney Empire, Roland and Claire Muldoon have been at the heart of cultural dissent for the past four decades. By Jane Shallice

Babes without spice December 2007
Laurie Penny explains what it means to have hopes dashed twice, first by the Spice Girls and second by Blair's Babes

You’re booked December 2007
Sports books fill the bestseller lists every Christmas. Anne Coddington and Mark Perryman examine the rise and rise of the new sports writing

Booktopia December 2007
Comedian Mark Thomas on his top books

War on Words August 2000
The triumph of the free market after the end of the Cold War doesn't mean a free market in ideas. Tariq Ali discusses the way literature can still be a crime against the state

Who takes the rap? January 1998
Hip-hop star Chuck D says black artists must fight for control of their own music and the money it earns. Donald Harding talked to him