• Hold Everything Dear: Dispatches on Survival & Resistance By John Berger JOHN BERGER HOLD EVERY-/ THING DEAR DISPATCHES ON SURVIVAL AND RESISTANCE John Berger's latest book consists of sixteen short essays, written between 2001 and 2006, concerning 'surviving the nights and imagining a new day' in the era of unimpeded capitalism and the 'war on terror'. For Berger, in particular, this means finding meaning in a world in which Marxism is temporarily on the retreat. 'Are you still a Marxist?' someone asks him. Berger muses on how to reply: Never before has the devastation caused by the pursuit of profit, as defined by capitalism, been more extensive than it is today. Almost everybody knows this. How then is it possible not to heed Marx who prophesied and analysed the devastation? The answer might be that people, many people, have lost all their political bearings. Mapless, they do not know where they are heading. The theme of dislocation and disorientation emerges again and again in the book: People everywhere - under very different conditions - are asking themselves - where are we? The question is historical not geographical. What are we living through? Where are we being taken? What have we Verso 2007 Hardback £12.99 lost? How to continue without a plausible vision of the future! Why have we lost any view of what is bevond a life-time? Berger's search for answers to these questions sees him discuss a wide range of political and cultural topics: the plight of the Palestinians, the music of Dvorak, the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the paintings of Francis Bacon, the films of Pasolini, Hurricane Katrina, the invasion of Iraq, the stories of Platonov, the poetry of Nazim Hikmet, 9/11, the July 7 bombings in London, the philosophy of Spinoza and Heidegger, and much else besides. He eventually concludes that 'the answers abound in the multitudes' multiple ingenuities for getting by, their refusal of frontiers, their search for holes in the walls, their adoration of children, their readiness when necessary to become martyrs, their belief in continuity, their recurring acknowledgement that life's gifts are small and priceless'. The small but priceless gifts of ordinary lives eked out in a hostile world are described by Berger in prose reminiscent of the muscular lyricism of the best of Albert Camus' early essays. But the idea that the meaning of life is to be found in the everyday struggles of ordinary people against oppression is not one that endears him to capitalism's academic scribes. In a review in the June 15 Murdoch-owned Times Higher Education Supplement, sociology professor Frank Furedi accuses Berger of romanticizing the exotic and ignoring the banal and familiar: 'The emotional passion with which Berger writes about life in Palestine stands in sharp contrast to his more analytical take on the bombings in London in July 2005'. In fact, a great part of Berger's essay on the July 7 bombings is on the experiences of the London victims of the bombings - 'people on their modest way to work', as Berger describes them - and throughout the book he is simply concerned with the experiences of ordinary people, irrespective of whether they are going to work on the London Underground or looking down the barrel of an Israeli rifle at a checkpoint in the Occupied territories. How could Furedi have so confused Berger's genuine internationalism with a tendency to romanticism? The answer surely lies in his barely-disguised antipathy to Berger's politics. According to Furedi, Berger is guilty of an 'uncritical embrace of an embarrassingly moralistic rendition of outdated leftist vocabulary' and he asserts that Berger has REVIEW Review by Alex Miller 'cobbled together a world dominated by a 'new world economic order' where most nations have been turned into vassals and where the profit imperative explains the big events of our time'. 'Cobbled together' indeed! Readers of Socialist Outlook can assess for themselves whether Berger is guilty of 'cobbling together' an 'outdated' misdescription of reality. The last word should be left to Berger. In response to the question whether he is still a Marxist, he eventually answers: 'Yes, I'm still amongst other things a Marxist'. This beautifully written and thought-provoking book will bring pleasure and enlightenment to everyone concerned with the survival of human culture in the 21st century.
Subscribe to Respect! uted and discussed far and wide. can arrange a bulk delivery. • Single copies are also available at £l per issue. NAME... ADDRESS POSTCODE _Letter In Roy Wilkes' reply to Andy Kilmister's letter (SO 13), there is a sentence which raises doubts as to Wilkes' interpreta- tion either of dialectics or of nature. Wilkes states that throughout nature, the driving force for all change is a unity and struggle of opposites, which he characterises as 'positive and nega- tive; matter ands antimatter; wave and particle; male and female'. Male and female are not opposites, any more than are blue and brown-eyed peo- ple. Sexual division, as in man/ woman, only exists because of the gender divi- sion, a social construct which informs sexual division. There is no difference Respect Renewal wants its newspaper and policies distn- Brown's • If you want to support, why not take out a supporter's bluster subscription - for just E4 per issue you will receive 7 cnp won'thalt ies nfeach issue delivered to your door - or 6 issues for dimate change • Contact us if your branch wants a large number, and we Cheque with order, please, made out to Respect Renewal Conference, and postcd to PO Box 1109, London N1 2UU Please send me 7 copies/1 copy per issue. I enclose E.... cmail between men and women...anymore than there is between black and white skinned people, except of course, that there is: the difference is one of power, of dominance, of exploitation. None of these differences are natural, although scientists, among others, have claimed they are. When Wilkes' pairs are aligned: positive, mat- ter, wave (movement), male on the one hand; and negative, antimatter, parti- cle (stasis), female, there is an added twist, because the linking looks like Comradely greetings, Rene Gimpel, 26 September 2007 28 Respect ERNE - I wasn't referring to the sexual division of labour in human society but to the existence of male and female in sexual reproduction, in both plant and animal life. But to avoid the connota- tions of bias which Rene Gimpel quite correctly draws to our attention I will in future refer not to 'male and female' but to 'female and male'.
Socialist Resistance Books With the ISBN numbers given below, you can find our books in any bookstore. The prices shown below were the lowest avail- THE WAR COMES TO SOCIALIST LONDON SOCIALIST G8 AETER THE FLERTONS, On PLUS: MAPERALISM AND THE MIDDLE EA Issue 6: Issue 5: The Limitis G8, Privatisation, to Empire War Make cheques payable to Socialist Outlook. Send to P.O. Box 1109, N4 2UU, London, UK. NEERNAȚIONAL WPOINT IS VIE able new prices on Amazon when we last checked Karl Kautsky, Foundations of Christianity: A study in Christian origins, S22, £11 ISBN 9780902869936 Phil Hearse, Take the Power to Change the World: globalisation and the debate on power $12, £6 ISBN 9780902869943 Leon D Trotsky, The Permanent Revolution & Results and Prospects, $20, £9 ISBN 9780902869929 Ron Ridenour, Cuba: Beyond the Crossroads, New Expanded Edition $14, £9 ISBN 9780902869950 Gilbert Achcar Middle East: war, imperialism, and ecology, $26, £13 ISBN 9780902869967 Subscription & Back Issues VENEZUELA A BEACON FOR THE LEFT? GLOBAL WARA CAPITALISM & OUR FUTURE ALSO IN THIS ISSUE EDUCATION : HEALTH CLIMATE CHANGE PALESTINE Issue 7: Issue 8: The War comes Global warming, to London Capitalism Subscription is for four issues including package and postage Two free back issues of your choice with every subscription • ECOSOCIALI OR BARBARI Issue 9: Latin America, A beacon for the left News and analysis from the Fourth International New - updated - website A window to radical alternatives world-wide, carrying reports, analysis and debates from all corners of the globe. Correspondents in over 50 countries report on popular struggles, and the debates that are shaping the left of tomorrow. International Viewpoint - online at www.internationalviewpoint.org Jane Kelly & Sheila Malone, Barbarism, S14, £7 ISBN 0902869973 Celia Hart It's never too late to love or rebel, $11, £6 ISBN 9780902869998 Karl Kautsky's book is textbook sized (Crown Octavo). Further information html> All available for Amazon.com Further information from: http://resistancebooks.blogspot.com/ BLAIR'S LEGACY 650,000+ DEAD IRAQIS SOCIALIST OUTLOOK Issue 11: Issue 12: Ecosocialism or Blair's Legacy Barberism UK = £10 Europe = £13 International = £20 IDE Ecosocialism or (eds), All our books are printed on archive-quality, acid-free paper. Most are demy octavo, the regular paperback size. from: <http:// resistancebooks. blogspot.com/ 2007/08/ book-list-isbns-authors-and-prices.
Campaign Against Climate Change TRADE UNION Saturday 9th February 2008 University of London Union Malet Street, London WCIE 7HY Delegate fee $10 rances O'Grady Deputy General Secretar WORKSHOPS B) GREENING THE WORKPLACE D) BUILDING SUSTAINABLE CITIES well as for protecting our climate. or rate chang CONFERENCE Opening plenary speakers neral Secreta ack General Secretate FB hristine Blower Deputy General Secretary NUT Michael Meacher MP Caroline Lucas MEP A) CARBON TRADING AND MARKET MECHANISMS Larry Lohmann, The Corner House, author of "Carbon Trading, A critical conversation on climate change, privatisation and power". We will examine how emissions trading schemes have been used in the past and why the European Emissions Trading Scheme failed. Can the free market be part of a solution to Climate Change? Caroline Molloy, TUC Green Workplaces Project Leader; Paul Hampton, author of the LRD booklet on climate change; Hilary Wainwright, Editor Red Pepper. This workshop will address what role unions can have in the workplace, and provide advice and information on how you can get involved in workplace projects and campaigns. C) ALTERNATIVE ENERGY - TOWARDS A ZERO CARBON ECONOMY. Nick Rau, Friends of the Earth; Philip Ward, Respect. The heating of buildings and electricity generation in the UK is based almost entirely on burning fossil fuel, with renewables making up only a tiny part. This whole set up is unsustainable and needs to be turned upside down in order to secure the reduction in emissions that we urgently need. Glyn Robbins, Defend Council Housing Campaign. Carbon emissions from domestic residences exceed even those from transport. Yet if houses are properly insulated and energy efficient, these emissions could be cut substantially. There is a desperate need for high quality sustainable social housing located near to where people work. E) TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT Unjum Mirza, London Transport Regional Council Political Officer; Catt Hobbs, Transport 2000. Transport is the fastest rising source of greenhouse gases. Developing sustainable transport and prioritising accessibility for all are essential for social justice and public health as F) GLOBAL TREATIES, KYOTO AND BEYOND Jane Loftus, President CWU; Amrit Srivastava, India Resource Centre; Suzanne Jeffery, Respect. We need international agreements, but the US failed to sign up to Kyoto. Now India and China are being blamed. Some see hope in Latin American ideas for ecologically sustainable economies. Which countries are trying, which ones are lying and what can we do? Climate change is the most serious threat facing humanity. As the earth's temperature rises, millions of people face the devastating consequences of increasingly unpredictable and worsening weather. Unless we dramatically reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, the world's population, from Bangladesh to Europe, face floods, increased numbers and intensity of hurricanes, heat waves, drought and famine. As we saw with the destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, these changes will hit the poorest in society first and hardest. Trade Unions have always been at the forefront of fighting for social change. If we are to deal with climate change effectively, major social change will undoubtedly be required. Trade Unionists must ensure that we are at the heart of campaigning for a sustainable society based on social justice for all. MODEL RESOLUTION This branch accepts that the scientific evidence implicating human activity as the major factor contributing to global warming is overwhelming. The changing climate will planet's weather far make the more unpredictable and extreme. This will mean more flooding, droughts, famine and hurricanes across the globe. In the words of Rajendra Pachauri, Chairperson of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, "It's the poorest of the poor in the world, and this includes poor people even in prosperous societies, who are going to be the worst hit". Climate Change is an issue which will BOOKING FORM Name Telephone Address Union Branch Email Please register me for the Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union Conference Saturday 9th February 2008. I enclose a cheque payable to Campaign Against Climate Change for El Please choose two workshops and tick your choices below AL B C D OR EMAIL [email protected] -- F---222 Published by Campaign Against Climate Change - www.can ACT NOW ON CLIMATE CHANGE Conference Agenda Registration 10.00-11.00 11.00-12.00 Opening Plenary Why Climate Change is a Trade Union Issue (see front cover) 12.00-13.15 Work Shops I 13:15-14:15 Lunch 14:15-15:30 Work Shops 2 Coffee Break 15:30-16:00 16:00-17:00 Closing Plenary Climate Change and Social Justice: Where do we go from here? with John McDonnell MP. Tony Kearns Senior Deputy General Secretary CWU, Dr Derek Wall Green Party, Jonathan Neale Campaign against Climate Change, Elaine Graham- Leigh Respect. This conference will gather together Trade Unionists to discuss the big questions thrown up by Global Warming, such as: What sort of transport system do we need? Does Carbon Trading work? Is the Government's Climate Bill a help? What sort of sustainable can we build? What can Trade housing Unionists do at work? The conference will consist of two plenary sessions addressed by leading figures in the Trade Union and environmental movements. There will also be six workshops looking the at different questions thrown up by Climate Change debate. These workshops will be repeated so that delegates can attend two of the six. The conference is organised under the auspices of the Campaign Against Climate Change. Saturday 9th February 2008, University of London Union, Malet Street, London WCIE 7HY become increasingly important for working people and trade unionists in Britain. This branch therefore resolves to: 1) Sponsor the Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union Conference (CCCTU) in London on Saturday 9th February 2008, with a donation of E 2) Send a delegation the CCCTU conference (E10 per delegate). 3) Send our banner to the event. Please send cheques, payable to "Campaign Against Climate Change" to:» CCCTU Conference, c/o The Secretary, Manchester Trades Union Council, Mechanics Institute, Princess Street, Manchester, MI 6DD Return to CCCTU Conference, clo The Secretary, Manchester TUC, Mechanics Institute, Princess Street, Manchester, MI 6DD FOR MORE INFORMATION PHONE 07801 263 265 -- -----