I came to revolutionary socialist politics in 1996 at the age of nineteen. These two badges still have a deep affect on me – stirring a raw political passion for justice and a personal sense of responsibility to ‘do something’ in the face of injustice. Moreover, the badges are a reminder of the impact of two […]
Here is a podcast based on the lead-off that I gave at the 2014 Ideas for Freedom conference. I hope you find it of some political and intellectual use:
On the 1st May 2014 (International Workers’ Day) I attended a session titled “Intersectionality” at the launch event of the Free University of Sheffield. The strap line to the session – “checking our own privilege” – was a more accurate descriptor, since the session itself advanced privilege theory rather than explored intersectionality. Ideas on intersectionality […]
The independent Marxist and Orientalist scholar Maxime Rodinson is praised by Edward Said in Orientalism (1978) for his “extraordinary achievements” and his “methodological self-consciousness”. For Said, Rodinson was one of an exceptional few who proved “perfectly capable of freeing themselves from the old ideological straitjacket” of the Orientalist disciplines. Rodinson wrote the following books: Mohammed […]
“the construction and reproduction of the idea of ‘race’ is something that requires explanation.” (Miles, 1989: 73) I. The idea of ‘race’ Primarily to offer an explanation of European history and national formation, the idea of ‘race’ entered the English language in the early sixteenth century. The idea of ‘race’ came under scientific investigation from […]
“[…] Orientalism was ultimately a political vision of reality whose structure promoted the difference between the familiar (Europe, the West, “us”) and the strange (the Orient, the East, “them”).” (Said, 43) I. Introduction Edward Said’s book Orientalism (1978) is a retort to his conceptualisation of a dual camp schema of the world called Orientalism, which […]
The following podcast is based on my speech presented in a debate with Marcus Halaby of Workers’ Power at the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty Summer School in July 2010. Also, below this link, is a brief photo essay of what happened when Sheffield Workers’ Liberty comrades participated in a Palestine Solidarity Campaign rally in January […]
I am grateful for Eric Lee’s response piece to my article here and in the socialist newspaper Solidarity. On his website there are a number of end comments that I recommend people read. Here I expose what I consider to be Eric’s confused notion of politics, or rather, the lack of politics that Eric considers […]
“the contradictory state of consciousness does not permit any action, any decision or any choice, and produces a condition of moral and political passivity. Critical understanding of the self takes place therefore through a struggle of political ‘hegemonies’ and opposing directions” (Antonio Gramsci) Independent working class culture It was on reading Frank Furedi’s article “Culture […]
See also my page: Sheffield Hills The end of Stage 2 of the 2014 Tour de France is an ascent of Jenkin Road in Sheffield. Here’s what cycling journalist Matt Westby says about this hill: “Sheffield’s Jenkin Road may not have the glamour of the great climbs of the Tour de France, but what it lacks […]
Anaemic On A Bike 