The book is organised into three main time frames: the resistance of nationalities, 1884-1922; the consolidation of the working class, 1922-1948; and the Mau Mau revolutionary struggle,1948-1963. There are also sections on Kiswahili resistance publishing, overseas support for Kenya liberation, and independence and neo-colonialism.

Each chapter follows a common pattern so that the evolution of publishing can be traced through different historical periods and situations. The emergence of an African nationalist movement between 1884-1922 is illustrated through examples of settler, colonial government, church, South Asian and African publications. The different currents and tensions within these groups is evidenced via their respective publications; for example, the divergence between settler and colonial interests and the support given to the emerging nationalist movement by South Asian publications.

After 1922 there was growing convergence between nationalist and working class politics and this was seen in the growth of trade unions and their publications. Militancy on the streets and in the workplace was mirrored by increasingly radical literature which encouraged the African masses to rise up and overthrow both their colonial and class oppressors. What was striking to me, reading this little recorded episode in the history of British imperialism, was the sovereignty and independence of the liberation struggle. Revisionist capitalist historians would have us believe that all independence movements in Africa were organised and financed by international Communism. The Mau Mau movement needed no such external intervention or interference (although it did receive support from the UK, Canada, USSR, Egypt, Ireland, India, USA and Trinidad).

The core of Never Be Silent is the hidden history of the Mau Mau revolutionary struggle: the establishment of liberated territories; the Mau Mau communications strategy; oral communications; revolutionary publishing; preparation for the armed phase; and the establishment of a people’s press. The Mau Mau were highly organised and carried out their intelligence gathering operations under the very noses of the colonial regime. Mau Mau seemed to be everywhere in Kenya, and the authorities became increasingly desperate to control the situation. This led to the declaration of a National Emergency in 1952, after which many publications were closed down, only to re-emerge with a different title or guise.

The aims of the Mau Mau were clear, and articulated via a sophisticated communications strategy and a well organised leadership. When it became obvious that armed struggle was the only way forward, these actions were well planned, targeted and carried out. The colonial response was swift and savage, leading to mass arrests, torture, executions and random violence. What we would now call crimes against humanity and genocide were perpetrated against the Kenyan people; crimes for which there should be both justice and reparations.

No amount of reprisals and arbitrary actions could deflect the Mau Mau from their mission and it strengthened the resolve of the masses who rallied behind their leaders. After such an inspirational model of self determinism and focused intent, it is all the more shocking and shameful that the work of Mau Mau was ultimately undone by the post independence ruling class in Kenya. Neo-colonialism is always a more damaging and insidious offspring than its odious parents, colonialism and imperialism.

But reading this book does not leave you with feelings of disappointment and defeat; far from it, you come away feeling energised and ready to use the valuable lessons of Mau Mau in today’s struggles. The quotes which are liberally scattered throughout this book should be used in library and information schools throughout the world to teach the next generation of library workers that information truly is power. We have the information tools at our disposal to shift power away from rich oligarchies and into the hands of the working class. Where that has been achieved, in countries such as Cuba, society has been transformed.

The other central message in this book is that, in the face of injustice and oppression, library workers should never be silent: they should speak out against the illegal invasions of Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq. They should speak out in support of asylum seekers and refugees who are their fellow workers. And they should put their skills in the service of those who are most excluded and who have the greatest needs. As Durrani concludes, ‘people struggling to change their society always find ways of establishing their own system of communicating with the people they lead and by whom they are led. Their mission of revolution, of change, of peace, of social and economic justice requires that they should never be silent.’

Shiraz Durrani: Never be silent; publishing and imperialism in Kenya, 1884-1963 2006.

London: Vita Books. ISBN: 978-1-869886-05-9.

More than 40 practitioners joined in the effort, contributing 25 chapters that address the myriad obstacles and opportunities facing Caribbean libraries.

The book begins by providing essential historical perspective followed by coverage of trends, projects and issues in library management, innovative services, integration and impact of information technology, cooperation and resource sharing, training library users, distance education, and the changing roles and attitudes of librarians.

The Caribbean is a vast, dispersed and diverse region. The contributors to this book come from St Maarten, the Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, St Croix, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada and the US.

One notable exception is Cuba, which is more often linked to Latin America than the Caribbean, although it is a close neighbour of Jamaica and Haiti.

Cuba, unlike any other country in the Caribbean, or any other ‘developing country’, has built a library service which is the envy of many ‘ First World’ countries, with stock, staffing levels and opening hours which exceed Public Library Standards in the UK, one of the world’s richest nations.

Cuba has given its libraries both political priority and resources, and libraries have been a key tool to achieve and maintain Cuba’s free education system and high levels of literacy. From the moment that Cuba was declared ‘Free of Illiteracy’ in 1961, libraries (in conjunction with a flourishing indigenous publishing industry) have played a vital role in the cultural life of the nation.

Other Caribbean libraries, which suffer from ‘crippling resource constraints’, have much to learn from Cuba. Another issue of common concern to Caribbean libraries are the ‘expensive fast paced technological developments.’

For many Caribbean countries it is just a case of not being able to afford the high costs associated with internet access; for Cuba this issue is compounded by the US blockade which makes accessing the information super highway even more difficult and expensive.

Caribbean libraries in the 21 st Century is an informative and inspiring work that will appeal to any information professional, student or scholar seeking to understand how librarianship can and is flourishing in challenging circumstances.

John Pateman, Head of Libraries, Lincolnshire, UK

Review by John Pateman

This was by far the best book I have read on librarianship for a very long time. I wore my pencil out underlining all the statements which I agreed with.

The subjects of Librarianship and Human Rights can be viewed as dull in themselves and a very dry and boring combo when hitched together. But this is no dusty, academic, detached tome. Instead it is a lively, passionate, committed, well argued call to arms.

At its core there is a challenge to the perceived professional wisdom that librarians should be objective, neutral and apolitical. Rather, we should not separate the personal, political and professional, particularly in this age of the so called War on Terror when human rights are constantly being eroded and under mined.

Even the concept of Universal Human Rights itself is contested here, as an essentially western capitalist ideology which cannot and should not be applied to all countries and all people’s all of the time.

Samek succeeds in all three of her stated aims: to encourage library workers to take a stand; to challenge professional rhetoric about human rights; and to position the library as a point of resistance.

Samek then moves us beyond the rhetoric and presents a wide range of practical strategies and examples of social action used in library work for social change. The UK based organisation Information for Social Change features prominently here.

This is a manifesto for a new critical library movement as part of a more humanistic profession which should oppose the following: commodification of information, corporate globalisation, privatisation of public services, monopolisation of the media, and profit driven destruction (or private appropriation and control) of cultural artefacts and the human record.

Inspiring, affirming, activating, energising, I ran out of superlatives to describe this book. If you are a library worker who wants to change the world, read it today – because tomorrow may already be too late.

(317 words)

John Pateman

Head of Libraries, Learning & Inclusion

Lincolnshire County Council

Alternative Publishers of Books in North America, 6th Edition Author: Byron Anderson, compiler Price: $18.00

ISBN-10: 0-9778617-2-4 ISBN-13: 978-0-9778617-2-.

Library Juice Press – October 200.

Preface by Nancy Kranich. Past President of the American Library Association.

A review by Martyn Lowe

What makes for a good Book review? Just how does one review any directory?

One can make a descriptive review, an analytical review, or a critical review of any work.

In the case of a critical review, what is it that one should criticise ? Could it be the work as a whole, or does one view such a work purely for its political content? One thing is very clear to me: That any review of Alternative Publishers of Books in North America can only be reviewed within its own stated aims. Thus I’ll start this review with the stated aim of the directory compiler. Within the context of this work the term ‘alternative’ may be taken to mean those publishers who are not a part of the mainstream media, or owned by one of the large multi-media companies.

As Byron Anderson writes within his introduction to the directory: ‘ The Presses profiled in the directory were culled from hundreds of small, active independent presses.’ He also goes on to state that : ‘ The directory’s editor makes no pretence that the profiles represent a complete, comprehensive list of alternative publishers’.

An Alternative viewpoint. In her preface to this work Nancy Kranich examines the US media, & just how it is dominated by a few very large & very powerful companies. Companies which have a near monopoly upon just what people read, watch, or hear about. This is also a very informative essay upon just how the major broadcasters & publishers are interlinked within the USA, & how this near monopoly is very detrimental to small independent publishers.

Alternative does not mean radical. There is also major distinction which should be made here. Alternative does not mean radical, or political. One may hold very radical views, & yet live a very conventional lifestyle. One may engage upon very unconventional activities, & still hold what are otherwise very conservative views. As Byron Anderson points out within the introduction to this work: ‘ Alternative Press as a term is nearly inexplicable. Everything is alternative to something else…’ He goes on to state that: ‘ Alternative publishers counter the concentration of media ownership, which for the publishing industry amounts to six conglomerates that dominate in book sales and marketing..

Thus one should approach this directory as a reference tool which focuses upon ‘alternative’ subjects, or Issues which the monolithic mainstream multi-media corperationsare just not interested in publishing books about.

The structure of this work. The structure of the book is a fine example of just how any directory of publishers should be organised. By far the great part of the directory is the section.

Presses, including imprints. There are 126 US, 19 Canadian, and 18 international publishers listed in alphabetical order. This listing includes contact and technical information, plus the printing policies of each of these publishers.

It also gives something of an historical overview upon how each of these publishers came in to being. The subject index covers 102 subjects, & shows which publishers cover what issues. These subjects include such issues as ethics, poetry, politics, cultural studies, globalisation, and Human Rights.

The most interesting part of the directory being: ‘Alternative Publishers of Books: A bibliography, 1996-2005.’ For just this 5 page bibliography alone, the directory is well worth while being adding to any library reference shelf.

Alternative subject headings. If I have any criticism of this work, then it has to do with the Subject index. Although this is as much to do with which publishers are included within the directory, as it has to do with anything else.

For example: In the subject index we find Vegetarian, but not Vegan. There is Animal Rights, but not Animal Liberation. Atheism and Humanism are not mentioned. This is a pity as I know that there are a lot of good North American publishers which cover these subjects.

On the other hand Sexuality & erotica are given a subject listing, which at first glance might seem very strange to many a European reader who is used to this kind of subject area being well covered by main stream publishers. Though, upon further reflection, I realise that this may result from the very different attitudes which people have to these issues within the states.

Growing better with each edition. As I have already stated above, one should look at this work within its own stated context. Looking back upon the 3rd edition of this work, which was published in 1997, it is possible to see just how much more has been covered within this 6th edition. e.g. The subject index has become much more comprehensive over the years.

Moving on to the next Edition. Alternative Publishers of Books in North America is one of the most useful reference works I know about, and should be stocked within every radical book shop.

I look forward to seeing just how this work will continue to grow with each future edition.

Martyn Lowe

Film review by John Pateman

This is England is the latest film from Nottingham based director Shane Meadows. Like his previous films, it is set in the white working class community of the East Midlands, and it was filmed in Nottingham and Grimsby.

It is the semi autobiographical story of Shane’s teen age years as a skinhead during the early 1980’s. This was the second wave of skins, following on from the original youth culture of 1969. The opening credits set the scene – to the beat of a heavy reggae soundtrack images are shown of Thatcher’s Britain and the Falkland’s War.

Shane’s father was killed in this conflict and he lives with his mum in a Council flat. She is not well off and his clothes are not fashionable. When he is taunted by a boy at school about his flared trousers and a joke about his father’s death, he flies into a rage and is caned for his crime.

Walking home that day he meets a bunch of skins who can see he is upset and ask him what’s wrong. A friendship with them develops and he adopts their image and dress – short haircut, Levi jeans and braces, Dr Marten boots and Ben Sherman shirt. Shane even gets a girlfriend but the peace of the group is shattered when Combo arrives fresh from 3 years in prison.

Combo is the star of the film – a very angry young white working class man who falls under the influence of the National Front and who splits the group of skins into those who are prepared to follow his narrow nationalist agenda. He literally draws a line on the floor and asks those who are with him to cross it. Most don’t but Shane does and he falls under Combo’s spell. Events turn increasingly sinister as an Asian shopkeeper is threatened and Combo is further frustrated when his approach to a young skin girl is rejected.

One of the skins, Milky, has a Jamaican background and Combo asks him whether he considers himself English or Jamaican. This is an echo of Norman Tebbit’s notorious English or Pakistani test which he set for young Asian cricket fans. Milky passes the test and Shane wraps himself in the England flag, but Combo’s rage against the world intensifies and this leads to a shattering climax to the film. Suffice it to say that Milky ends up in hospital and Shane ends up throwing his flag into the sea, as more images of dead and wounded Falkland’s soldiers from both sides are shown at the end of the film.

This film captures very well the context and environment of Thatcher’s Britain in which greed was good and there was no such thing as society. Combo was a product and victim of that society – he deserves understanding and empathy rather than condemnation. The film also enters the mindset of white working class youth and gives an insight into why they are so angry and resentful and how this can easily be turned into racial hatred and nationalism.

Shane Meadow’s previous films are also well worth watching for vivid and humorous vignettes of white working class culture – Twenty Four Seven; Once Upon a Time in the Midlands; A Room for Romeo Brass; and Dead Man’s Shoes. All are available on DVD.

Review by John Pateman

I have been a fan of Billy Bragg’s music for many years and have seen him play live several times. I am also aware of his politics and so I was not surprised when he wrote this book about progressive patriotism and a search for belonging. I also went to a talk on this subject by Billy as part of the Lincoln Book Festival and was very impressed by the strength of his political argument for a new Bill of Rights which all classes and races in England can unite under.

What does it mean to be English? What does it mean to be British? Does the rise in popularity of the St George’s flag represent a new beginning or symbolise the return of the far right? Is the Union Jack too soaked in the blood of empire to be the emblem of a modern multicultural state? In a country in which all of us are born under two flags, what does it mean to be a patriot?

In 2006, Billy saw his home town Barking in the front line of the debate over who does and does not belong in 21 st century Britain, when the BNP became the official opposition group on Barking and Dagenham Council. Billy links this to the attacks on London of 7 July 2005, when 52 people were killed and many more injured during attacks on the public transport system.

This book is an urgent, eloquent and passionate response to these events. Reflecting on the history of his home town and family (many of whom came from dissenting traditions and trade unions) and revisiting the music that inspired him (especially the Clash), Billy pits his own values against those of traditional Britishness in a search for a sense of belonging that is accessible to all and in so doing, offers positive hope to a nation no longer sure of its own identity.

The issues which Billy raises will not go away any time soon as we continue to come to terms with an increasingly multicultural society, which many people are far from comfortable with because in some ways this seems to threaten what England stands for. But Billy proves that England has stood traditionally for fairness, justice and tolerance and we must reassert these collectivist values and turn back the tide of consumerism and individualism.

As Billy says, the real enemy is not Capitalism or Conservatism but Cynicism – the people of England must wake up politically and be active in creating a new kind of society, building on the work of the Levellers, the Chartists, the Suffragettes and the Trade Unions. In the absence of a written constitution we need a Bill of Rights which protects the citizens of this country – no matter what their background – from arbitrary power.

As I write this review one of the MPs for Barking, Government Minister Margaret Hodge, has called for local indigenous people to be given preference over newly arrived immigrants in the allocation of social housing. The other Barking MP and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party contender John Cruddas has argued that it is a question of supply rather than demand. As the public arguments over the future and extent of Multicultural England continue to rage, Billy Bragg’s book makes an important contribution to that debate.

My view is that the US and UK are not liberal democracies – they are Selfish Capitalist states (what D’Angelo calls postmodern consumer capitalism). They are also one party states – it doesn’t matter if you vote Republican or Democrat, Conservative or Labour, you are voting for a capitalist party which does not seek to change the capitalist system. As Ken Livingston (Mayor off London) once ‘If voting ever changed anything, they would abolish it.’ Voting does not make any difference, but it gives the illusion of choice and control. Many people are now seeing past that illusion and refusing to vote.

By supporting democracy and civil education, Public Libraries are supporting capitalism. Education and Public Libraries were invented by capitalists (such as Andrew Carnegie) to take the pressure out of the capitalist system, to prevent revolution. Capitalism has survived so long because it is able to accommodate and reform itself to prevent social unrest and revolt. Education and Public Libraries are two prime examples of accommodation and reform. Their overt purpose was social change – to improve the lives of working people. Their real purpose was social control – to control the reading habits of working class people and to ensure they have the skills to perpetuate the capitalist economy.

I also have a problem with the concepts of ‘high’ and ‘popular culture’. To me these are just devices of the capitalist system to divide people along class lines. High culture is for rich and middle class people; popular culture is for poor and working class people. We should not go along with this device. Culture is culture, period. Democracy is not possible under capitalism. Public Libraries and Education are not Public Goods, they are tools of the capitalist state. Given that is my starting point, when I compare bookstores with Public Libraries, I am comparing one agent of the capitalist state with another. This leads me to believe that bookstores are more effective and efficient in serving capitalism than Public Libraries. Bookstores are attractive, comfortable and welcoming; there are no petty rules such as having to give proof of identify to join, or fines for keeping books overdue. Public Libraries are an inefficient and ineffective vehicle for serving capitalism objectives – in many ways they have outlive their initial purpose and that is why their existence is now threatened in the cut throat competitive world of Selfish Capitalism.

It is futile for Public Libraries to try and compete with bookstores, which are a more effective servant of capitalism; their failure to compete is evidenced by massive and long term falls in book issues and visits, while book sales continue to rise. Instead of trying to compete in what Kim and Mauborgne call a Red Ocean of cut throat competition, Public Libraries should seek to use Blue Ocean strategy and create uncontested market space which will make the competition irrelevant. A good example of this is the Idea Store in Tower Hamlets. The use of Public Libraries in Tower Hamlets was declining and unsustainable; people were voting with their feet, particularly the working class and other disadvantaged communities. Use of the Adult Learning Service was also in terminal decline. Public Libraries and Adult Learning were trying to compete in a Red Ocean with bookstores and other learning providers. Instead they developed a Blue Ocean strategy which involved closing the stand alone Public Libraries and stand alone Adult Learning Centres and combining them into Idea Stores. This Blue Ocean strategy created uncontested market space and made the competition irrelevant. Use of the Idea Stores is now much higher than the previous use of the old stand alone Public Libraries and Adult Learning Centres. Use is particularly high among working class and other disadvantaged communities.

The precursors of Public Libraries in the UK were Mechanics Institutes. These were owned and controlled by the workers. Similarly so called ‘Penny Deadfuls’ and ‘Seditious Tracts’ were being circulated and read aloud in pubs and gin houses. These were a threat to the capitalist system which invented Public Libraries to control the reading habits of the working class and steer them towards ‘healthy literature’. This is where the division between ‘high culture’ and ‘popular culture’ began. It was a divide and rule tactic, which worked very well. Public Libraries were part of a much bigger Victorian social control movement which also encompassed museums and public parks – ways to control and police the ‘idle time’ of the masses. Working class people were rightly suspicious of these institutions – and Education – and saw them as both patronising and controlling. They did not want middle class people to tell them what to read and how to think. That is why Public Libraries have never been successful in capturing a mass working class audience. They have appealed mostly to the upper working class – those who aspire to adopt middle class attitudes, behaviours, values and lifestyles.

As D’Angelo quite rightly says, it was the development of postmodern consumer capitalism which really threatened the Public Library. There is no place for institutions like Public Libraries in what Oliver James has termed Selfish Capitalism, which is a key driver of ‘Affluenza, a contagious middle class virus causing depression, anxiety and ennui’. One vaccine for this virus is to consume what you need, rather than what you want. The parallels for Public Libraries are clear. Since the 1950’s Public Libraries have been infected by the Affluenza Virus – instead of trying to meet the needs of the working class, they have pandered to the wants of the middle class. This worked well all the time that the middle class wanted books and information and during the 1960’s and 1970’s book issues, particularly adult fiction, soared. The success of Public Libraries became equated with book issues, quantity rather than quality. The problem is, when the middle class could get their wants elsewhere – through cheap books and internet access – they stopped using Public Libraries and issues and visits plummeted. The way to reverse this trend is to stop pandering to the wants of the middle class, and start meeting the needs of the working class.

In order to meet the needs of the working class it is necessary to engage them in the planning, design, delivery and evaluation of Public Library services. They should be involved in every aspect of Public Library operations, including book selection which should no longer be the sole preserve of middle class librarians. D’Angelo strongly defends the traditional ‘gate keeper’ role of the Public Librarian. I think that we should truly empower the working class by giving them a real stake and say in our institutions and society. This was what Old Labour called ‘transferring power and resources’ to the working class. Of course it is unlikely to happen because this would be a real threat to the status quo and to the established power structure of capitalism. For Public Librarians to resist this transfer of power is natural because Public Libraries are servants of capitalism. Among the arguments put forward for Public Librarians to maintain their gatekeeper role is that ‘they know what is best for the working class, they know what books will improve them the most.’ Such an attitude is both insulting and patronising. Working class people are able to work out what is good for them. They may not be attracted to ‘high culture’ but there is equal value in ‘popular culture’. D’Angelo poses education and entertainment as if they are mutually exclusive; they are not. The best books / films / media are both entertaining and educational. If a subject is not entertaining / enjoyable, it is less likely that people will want to learn about it. Worthy but dull does not work, as educational standards in the UK have shown. Working class children are best engaged and educated through a mixture of teaching methods which involve books and a range of other media (including visual and aural). So called ‘trashy novels’, DVDs and other media will always have a role to play, and should be stocked by Public Libraries if there is a demand for them and if they meet an identified need. Education and Entertainment are not mutually exclusive.

There are some siren voices in the UK, lead by ex book seller Tim Coates, which would have us believe that if we go back to basics and focus on books all of our problems will be solved. But trying to compete in the Red Ocean of the book retail market will not work. We need a new Blue Ocean strategy, and this will require re-inventing, rebranding and repositioning the Public Library. The Idea Store in Tower Hamlets is one example of this new approach. Discovery Centres in Hampshire are another. Combining and relocating Public Libraries with a range of other service providers (retailers, schools, Children’s Centres, Multi Use Centres) is the way forward for the Public Library. These new models of service delivery, combined with community engagement and community ownership of Public Libraries, will create a new Blue Ocean of uncontested market space which will make the competition irrelevant.

A good example of this in recent years in the UK is the People’s Network, offering free public access to the internet. It is possible that as many people visit Public Libraries today to get free internet access, as to borrow books for free. The combination of free book loans and free internet access has created a Blue Ocean of uncontested market space. Visitor figures are increasing and, if we can convert free internet users into free book borrowers, our book issues will go up as well. To make this conversion happen we need staff with the right set of skills, the most important of which is Customer Service. We should employ staff for their Customer Service skills first and foremost, and then teach them any technical skills which they require to carry out their jobs. Under capitalism the citizen is the customer, the customer is always right, and if we don’t give the customer what s/he needs, we will become irrelevant and people will stop using us.

The People’s Network was a Tipping Point which made people start using Public Libraries again. Malcolm Gladwell has described Tipping Points as ‘little things which can make a big difference.’ For Tipping Points to work, three rules need to be met: the Law of the Few says that it takes only a few people (who Gladwell characterises as Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen) to spread a good idea or product; for ideas and products to work they need to have the Stickyness Factor, which will make people want to use them; and the Power of Context is the environment in which the idea or product is located. We should identify the Connectors (people with wide social and professional networks), Mavens (people with information and expertise) and Salesmen (people who can influence and persuade) who can spread the word about how Public Libraries can meet people’s needs. We should make sure that the message about how Public Libraries can meet needs is Sticky enough to persuade people to use our services. And we should ensure that the Context of our libraries provides an attractive, welcoming and comfortable environment which people will want to visit, again and again.

We should restructure the basic operations of Public Libraries to meet customer needs. We should focus on Customer Service. We should replace our hierarchical chain of command and supervision with matrix management. We should reduce layers of management and supervision and shift power and resources to front line staff and communities. We should replace professional librarians who are ‘the gatekeepers of culture’ with staff and communities who are empowered and skilled in identifying, prioritising and meeting needs. We should replace library qualifications with management qualifications. We should remove the distinctions between ‘high and low culture’ and ‘good and bad books’. We should stop polarising ‘Education and Entertainment’. We should stop pandering to middle class wants and start meeting working class needs. We should make libraries as comfortable and popular as shopping malls and book stores. This is the route by which Public Libraries will survive and grow.

John Pateman

References

1. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, Abacus, 2001
2. Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Rennee Mauborgne, Harvard Business School Press, 2005
3. Affluenza by Oliver James, Vermillion, 2007

A Review by Paul Catherall

This text by Ruth Rikowski comprises a thorough yet accessible overview on the effects of Globalisation resulting from the policies of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), specifically regarding implications for the public sector.

The book reveals the profit ethic of the WTO in enabling business to run public services. State-run services are usually run at cost, rather than for a profit margin, thus public funds benefit public users of these services, reflecting a social ethic where resources are distributed for the benefit of society. However, the WTO directives discussed by the author could increasingly see public services owned or managed by private business, whose aims are for profit (rather than social justice). The accumulation of profit from hospitals, libraries and schools clearly indicates a shift in the ethics of public service provision – the implications for corporate provision may result in lower quality services, a reduced range of services and poorly resourced staffing (due to retention of funds as profit).

The continuing agenda of privatisation and commercialisation of public sector services is evident in the UK as a result of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), i.e. City Academies replacing comprehensive schools, private clinics/ hospitals and corporate involvement in library provision – these aspects are discussed in some detail in Rikowski’s book. The author also demonstrates how the text is informed by an ‘Open Marxist theoretical analysis of value’, illustrating how in the modern climate, intellectual labour is pivotal to the economic system and how the WTO is attempting to integrate intellectual property and knowledge-based services into the business sector and ultimately within the global market.

Part 2 considers ‘The General Agreement on Trade in Services’ (GATS), describing how this WTO directive is having important implications for public services across WTO member countries, including sectors such as education, libraries and health services; Rikowski illustrates how this WTO agreement will liberalise (i.e. release or open) government funded sectors to competition from the private sector.

In part 3, the author desribes the ‘Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights’ (TRIPS), which Rikowski indicates is “about transforming information, knowledge and ideas into intellectual property rights which can then be traded on the global market in the form of international tradable commodities” (p.187); Rikowski describes how concepts of IP (intellectual property) conflict with the free flow of information and access to information. For the author, the ‘balance in copyright’ described in TRIPS favours the protection of business interests in exploiting intellectual property (i.e. via royalties), rather than allowing for the open dissemination of research for the wider community (such as pharmacutical research for the development of new medicines).

In conclusion, this book is highly ambitious, attempting to convey the big picture on factors driving the transfer of public services to coprorate ownership and the ethical and theoretical objections to commercialisation. Additionally, the author considers practical approaches for Information Professionals and other individuals to get involved in the wider discussion on the GATS and TRIPS agreements.

This is an important text and highly recommended for anyone concerned by the privatisation of library services or the wider public sector in general.

Ruth Rikowski has served as an observer on the EBLIDA WTO Working Group (European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations), she is a Visiting Lecturer at South Bank University and the University of Greenwich and is the Series Editor for the Chandos Series for Information Professionals (Chandos Publishing). Ruth was also the Book Reviews Editor for Managing Information, the Aslib monthly magazine, from 2001-2004.

Paul Catherall is a Web Developer at the North East Wales Institute of Higher Education and a postgraduate research student with the Department of Information and Communications at Manchester Metropolitan University, he is also the author of Delivering E-Learning for Information Services in Higher Education (see http://draigweb.co.uk ).

Brief Bibliography

Information for Social Change activist Web site and e-journal. http://libr.org/isc [Accessed 01/08/06.]

Rikowski, R. (2005) Globalisation, Information and Libraries: The Implications of the World Trade Organisation’s GATS and TRIPS Agreements, Oxford, Chandos Publishing

The Flow of Ideas – Web site of Ruth and Glenn Rikowski. Includes information about the Rikowskis’ various publications and talks and the events that they have been involved with. http://www.flowideas.co.uk [Accessed 01/08/06.]

The GATS and Libraries (Portal to GATs information on libr.org). http://libr.org/gats [Accessed 01/08/06.]

UK Government PFI Web site. http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/documents/public_private_partnerships/ppp_index.cfm [Accessed 01/08/06.] To order copies contact: Turpin Distribution Services Ltd, Blackhorse Road, Letchworth, Hertfordshire, SG6 1HN, UK. Telephone: +44 (0) 1462 672555 Fax: +44 (0) 1462 48097. Email: books@extenza-turpin.com ISBN 1 854334 084 4 (pbk); 1 84334 092 5 (hdbk) See more about this book from Chandos website http://www.chandospublishing.com/catalogue/record_detail.php?recordID=35

Mike Palecek’s latest book The Truth is a vital book on a vital subject. Democracy (of any definition) is threatened in the United States more than any time in her history. It is threatened not only by the erosive events enacted by the Bush Administration (and the events are many, both in domestic and foreign affairs), but also by the inertia in response, or non-response, by a truly frightening number of the American public.

The book is organized with even-numbered pages carrying quotes of significance to the point of the lockdown of America (from Goebbels, from Goering, from Ari Fleischer – but also the wonderful and inspiring words of such human beings as St. Augustine, as Thomas Jefferson, as well as writers and thinkers and journalists ranging from Helen Thomas to William Shakespeare..) and the odd-numbered pages relate the story of Pete Penny. Either the quotes alone or the story would be fully satisfying, but together they serve in creating an acute tension of the individual life in historical context. This same tension is further played out in the very, very funny sections that run throughout an otherwise almost Kafkaesque unraveling of the life of one man. The extremely comic attend the tragic of both the story and history’s narrative, just as the ludicrousness of an absurd President underline the daily horror. The horror of the Administration’s avarice and lies in a bloodshed which shows no signs of abating; the mockery and indifference to much that the American people have valued; the ravaging of any American dream.

It is without hesitation that I urge everyone to read this book. For those who are lost in the chaotic events of our times, it is illuminating and for those who are familiar with the aspects that Mike describes, his lucidity and fine perceptions further organize our thinking.

(I found out the truth, man, but it’s better to stay stupid, go to ball games, smoke cigarettes and fish from the shore. Figuring it out is not the hard part. It’s what are you gonna do, now, man? That’s when it gets tough. What you gonna do now?)

Reviewed by Sheila Conroy, International Progressive Publications Network For more information: http://www.iowapeace.com

Reviewed by: Jeremy Hunsinger, Center for Digital Discourse and Culture

Digital Play sounds fun and in the end it is. The book is both a fun read and a serious critical study of the social, economy, political, and cultural systems surrounding the computer game industry. Computer games are a significant part of many young people’s lives, they form a significant part of their informational environment, and over time have transformed from being simple graphic abstractions like space invaders to approximating real life through simulations such as The Sims(tm), Rainbow Six(tm), VirtualU(tm), and others. The variety and substance of these games provide experiences for their users, and as such, we need to understand them, but like the clothes we wear, the food we eat, and books we read, we have to be concerned about how games are produced and are producing cultures, markets, and social change.
The authors of Digital Play are beginning to provide an account of computer games for people interested in the larger social issues. However, that is not all they do in the book. Using a critical perspective derived form the plural sources of Harold Innis, Marshall McCluhan, Raymond Williams and the regulation school of political economy, the authors provide an extended theoretical presentation of the issues surrounding computer games. They develop a theory of media analysis based on “three circuits of interactivity”, which they illustrate with successive diagrams showing the development of their theory (p. 51). By adding theoretical complexity and flux to their model, they develop an analytical, through which they can then examine the computer game industry as it develops through time, and attempt to match the evidence to the theory.
The evidence in the book is extensive. The authors provide us with a critical history of the computer game industry that covers over one hundred pages, going into some detail examining the changes surrounding the technical infrastructure, the economic implications and the games themselves. They use this history and open up some of the central questions of the computer games industry, such as who produces the games, for what reasons, and what kind of labor do the players perform in the games? By introducing these questions through the historical analysis, the authors can later seek some answers by analyzing how their theory fits the reality when providing the answers.
By asking these questions, the authors also open up the third section of their book which centers on critical perspectives. They analyze how certain brands are formed and how those brands commodify play, not just for adult games, but more seriously for children’s games. Children’s games are much more brand oriented then the games like Oregon Trail(tm) that I played when I was in school. However, I should note that the authors are primarily focusing on commercial games and not necessarily taking into account the wide spectrum of educational games, serious games, and critical games that are beginning to make their presence known to gamers online and off. Also in this section, the authors deal with the question of gender stereotyping and capitalist structuring provided in many computer games. They provide an insightful chapter on “Designing Militarized Masculinity” which delves into some serious questions about the media ecology that certain games produce.
Overall, if you are seeking to familiarize yourself with the computer game industry from the perspective of critical cultural theory, then “Digital Play” is a must read. While other books are more narrowly focused on gender construction in computer games, or developing a computer game, this one is focused more on the system, the governance, and the effect of computer games on society as a whole. It however is not an indictment that some might be looking for in a critical analysis, instead following the tradition of Innis and McLuhan, it is a probing, historically based, theoretical analysis that brings to light questions and provides some interesting answers and explanations.

Reviewed by John Pateman

These two books should be read together because they form two side of a seamless story. Che focuses on theory while Fidel talks about practice. Che is historical (1965 speech, 1965 letter, 1966 speech) while Fidel is contemporary (speeches made between September 2000 and November 2001). Yet, despite these differences, the political analysis and solutions offered to social and economic problems are the same. When Che and Fidel worked together in the early years of the Cuban Revolution they must have been a formidable team. For 6 years they established the roots of the Revolution and then, in 1965, Che decided to leave Cuba and export the Revolution to other countries, while Fidel stayed in Cuba to deepen and broaden the Revolution, a process which he continues to lead to this day.

Che’s speech to the Afro-Asian conference in Algeria in February 1965 focuses on the need to integrate the struggle for national liberation with socialist ideas. The importance of economic planning is emphasised. Che’s letter on “Socialism and Man in Cuba”, published in March 1965, stresses that “there is nothing that can educate a person…like living through a revolution”. For Che, socialism could not exist if economics was not combined with social and political consciousness. Without an awareness of rights and duties, it would be impossible to construct a new society. Back in 1965 Che was already warning of the dangers of neo-liberalism and globalisation.

Che’s message to The Tricontinetal Conference of Solidarity ewith the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America, which took place in Cuba in January 1966, was “Create Two, Three, Many Vietnams”. The content of Che’s speech, especially his remarks about the crisis in the Middle East and Israel, is surprisingly relevant today. The idea of internationalism on a global scale outlined by Che in his message represents a synthesis of this thought and political praxis. Che recognised that the national bourgeoisie was incapable of standing up to imperialism. Under these circumstances the only way to liberation would be through prolonged peoples war. This book is published in association with the Che Guevara Studies Centre in Havana, established to promote, both inside and outside of Cuba, the thought, life and works of Comandante Che Guevara, recognising the extraordinary significance of his theory, praxis, and ethical legacy – and their validity and timelessness in today’s globalised world..

“War, racism and economic injustice” is a sharp, brief selection of recent speeches and interviews with Fidel Castro dating from June 2000 to November 2001. Among them are speeches given in Venezuela, Panama, Cuba, the United States and South Africa. Also included are interventions in the Millenium Summit held at the United Nations in 2000 and a landmark speech to the Racism conference held in Durban, South Africa, in August 2001. Fidel presents a damning indictment of the present world economic and political order. The final two items are speeches given by Fidel on September 22 and November 2 2001 in which he calls on the world to unite against both terrorism and war. This book is published in association with Editora Politica of Havana. And is a continuation of a previous editorial project published in 2000 as “Capitalism in Crisis – globalisation and world politics today”, also by Fidel Castro and published by Ocean Press. This is an essential read as well. For more information about Ocean books visit their website at www.oceanbooks.com.au or contact Global Book Marketing at info@globalbookmarketing.co.uk

This is the 49th edition of this highly useful little publication, which retains its usual format. It begins with a short feature: last year it related to the start of the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for Children; this year the feature is on using the World Wide Web by activists within the peace movement.

The diary section is a week to a view, running from Monday to Sunday. Each week has its own quote or campaigning note as an introduction and for every day (except January 6 and 26, March 9, June 8, August 19 and September 10) there is an anniversary; the anniversaries included have been changed since last year’s diary.

After the week to a view for 2002, there is a four page forward planner section for 2003. Unfortunately, the usefulness of this section is marred somewhat by what is presumably a printing error. In my copy at least, the abbreviations for Monday and Wednesday (Mon and Wed) had been split over two lines, so that the days of the week do not match up with the dates themselves.

The World Peace Directory (a subset of Housmans World Peace Database) gives contact details for almost 2000 organisations throughout the world working for peace and conflict resolution, the environment, and human rights. International organisations are listed first, and the remainder are listed by country, from Afghanistan (four organisations, addresses in Pakistan) and Albania to Zambia and Zimbabwe. The countries with the most organisations listed are Britain (9 pages) and the USA (6 pages). This year there are 66 pages devoted to the Peace Directory, 4 fewer than last year. The publishers claim that this directory is the most comprehensive and up-to-date of its kind published anywhere in the world.

The combined diary and world peace directory will be immensely useful to a wide range of activists, although I suspect that very few will make use of more than a few of its contact details. Its usefulness lies in the fact that they are there and they are comprehensive.

Reviewed by Ruth Rikowski

Perhaps, unbeknown to the authors, this is an illuminating book. It provides insights into the direction in which we are all being pushed – within this latest version of capitalism. It also provides many facts to substantiate the arguments that are presented by the authors. It focuses on areas such as globalization, the knowledge economy, knowledge management and e-commerce (there is a chapter on each of these topics). These can all be seen to be aspects of this latest phase of capitalism (see also Rikowski, 2000a and 2000b). The other two chapters in the book examine ‘Customer-Relationship Management’ and ‘Business Ethics in the Knowledge Economy’.

Boyett and Boyett refer to the ‘gurus’ on the main different subjects covered in the book (one ‘Guru list’ for each chapter). Thus, they list the ‘gurus’ (or experts) on the knowledge economy, for example, and the ‘gurus’ on globalization. This is very helpful as a reference tool. At the end of the book they also provide detailed information about all the different gurus referred to throughout the book, in alphabetical order, by the authors surname. There is also a long bibliography and a notes section. Thus, the book is well researched. There is also an index.

The chapter on ‘Globalization’ is very interesting. Boyett and Boyett are of the opinion that the gurus who research and write about globalisation tend to focus on one of two main issues – the social implications of the emerging global economy or the implications of globalisation for business.

Focusing initially on the first of these two points, Boyett and Boyett cite various critics of globalisation, such as Luttwak, Friedman and French. It is this type of critical analysis that makes the book illuminating and powerful. Luttwak is the author of ‘Turbo-Capitalism’ (1999) and he argues that globalisation is forcing a new kind of capitalism on the world that is different from the controlled capitalism that we have had in the past. Very interestingly, he refers specifically to the threat to libraries from this new form of capitalism. Thus, in ‘Turbo-Capitalism’ Luttwak says that what is demanded in this new order is:

“..the privatization of state-owned businesses of all kinds, and the conversion of public institutions, from universities and botanic gardens to prisons, from libraries and schools to old people’s homes, into private enterprises run for profit. What they promise is a more dynamic economy that will generate new wealth, while saying nothing about the distribution of any wealth, old or new.” (Luttwak, 1999, p. 27)

Friedman, on the other hand, argues that globalisation forces us into an economic and political ‘Golden Straitjacket’ (as there is, apparently, ‘only one way to economic progress’ – Boyett and Boyett, p.257) and French is concerned about the environmental problems arising from globalisation. As Boyett and Boyett say, according to these experts: globalization creates tremendous economic inequalities, destroys cultures, and devastates the planet. (Boyett and Boyett, 2001, p.205)

However, having written a useful summary about some of the critics of globalisation, Boyett and Boyett then seem to be rather dismissive of them and conclude that globalisation is inevitable anyway. From this position, they then decide that there is little to be gained from pursuing these critical issues further, but rather that we need to consider how businesses can succeed in the global economy. Thus, they say: “Globalization is a lot of things, say our gurus, but the most important thing to know is that it is here to stay. That reality leads us to the second big globalization issue. If globalization is here to stay, how do businesses play the game ? How do they succeed in a global economy ?” (Boyett and Boyett, 2001, p.266)

Boyett and Boyett then attempt to answer this question, and it is this dual role that is played throughout the book that exposes the weakness of the book. Is the book attempting to provide a deep, important analysis, or is it just trying to answer questions raised by business and endeavouring to help businesses to succeed in this global economy? (i.e. a ‘How to succeed’ guide for business!) The writers move from analysis to the seemingly important topic of business success in an apparently seamless fashion, which can only lead to confusion for the reader.

Boyett and Boyett appear to recognise that we are living in free-market capitalism and that this is, in essence, what globalisation is. They refer to Friedman’s ‘Cold War and Globalization’ chart (Friedman, 2000, pp.7-15), for example, which highlights the importance of Professor Joseph Schumpeter’s ideas regarding globalisation, where the essence of capitalism is “creative destruction” (Boyett and Boyett, 2001, p.240). Having arrived at this conclusion though, they do not take it further.

They also fall short in this way, in other chapters in the book. In the chapter on the knowledge economy, for example, they explain how we are moving into the knowledge economy and they refer to the importance of value networks and information. Boyett and Boyett say, for example, say that: “Information is the ‘glue’ that holds together the structure of business” (Boyett and Boyett, 2001, p.45)

They then go to say that we might even be moving into a new ‘post-knowledge economy’. Thus, they say that: “A new post-knowledge economy may be emerging that is based not on the exploitation of information, but on stories. This market for feelings may gradually eclipse the market for tangible products. Six such emotional markets can be discerned now: adventures for sale, the market for togetherness, friendship, and love, the market for care, the who-am-I market, the market for peace of mind, and the market for convictions”. (Boyett and Boyett, 2001, p.47)

They conclude the chapter by saying that: “Ultimately, we may see the development of an even newer post-knowledge economy in which the chief values won’t be food, material things, information, connectivity, emotional satisfaction, or experiences but individual or personal transformations” (Boyett and Boyett, 2001, p.47).

This shows incredible, albeit scary foresight about the direction in which the knowledge economy/post-knowledge economy may be heading. Yet, they do not consider the implications of all this. A real missed opportunity.

Similarly, with the chapter on knowledge management. Boyett and Boyett emphasise the importance of human capital and structural capital for knowledge management (KM), for example, and say: “Knowledge management, say our gurus, is at least about nurturing human capital and then turning human capital into structural capital.” (Boyett and Boyett, 2001, p.101)

Then, they look at the works of some of the KM gurus, such as Edvinsson and Malone and Thomas A. Steward and see how they examine human capital and structural capital. However, they do not take the analysis further. What does it actually mean? What does it actually involve? – transforming human capital into structural capital?

In conclusion, this book identifies and explores some of the main directions in which capitalism is going, such as globalisation and the knowledge economy. However, in attempting to provide both an analysis and a critique, as well as a guide to help businesses to succeed, it ‘muddies the water’ and leaves the reader feeling somewhat dissatisfied and possibly confused. However, given its informative, well-researched and at times, critical nature, it is a worthwhile book to read. It also demonstrates how books that on the surface might seem to be quite ‘conventional’ (e.g. supporting the needs of business), can also be quite illuminating and useful, and I suggest that further reading of these types of books could prove to be worthwhile.

References

Edvinsson, Leif and Malone, Michael S. (1997) Intellectual capital: realizing your company’s true value by finding its hidden brainpower. New York: HarperBusiness

French, Hilary (2000) Vanishing borders: protecting the planet in the age of globalization. New York: Norton

Friedman, Thomas L. (2000) The lexas and the olive tree: understanding globalization. New York: Anchor Books

Luttwak, Edward (1999) Turbo-capitalism: winners and losers in the global economy. New York: HarperCollins

Rikowski, Ruth (2000a) The knowledge economy is here – but where are the information professionals? (Part 1) in Business Information Review, September, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 157-167

Rikowski, Ruth (2000b) The knowledge economy is here – but where are the Information professionals? (Part 2) in Business Information Review, December, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 227-233)

Stewart, Thomas A. (1998) Intellectual capital: the new wealth of organisations. New York: Doubeday

“Privately managed state school chain launched. Britain’s first federation of privately-managed state schools was officially launched this week claiming it will use the latest technology to beat teacher shortages…The government’s national plan for secondary schools unveiled last month showed 3Es (3 E Enterprises) influenced ministers’ thinking on the future of comprehensives. In the green paper, it said it would enable private, voluntary or successful state schools in a way that would “further develop the model” put forward by 3Es” (Local Government First, 17 March 2001 )The privatisation of Britain’s schools has begun. The takeover of “failing LEAs” by private companies is making way for the wholesale takeover of the education service by 3 Es and other organisations which will help New Labour to dismantle the comprehensive system. This is part of a bigger process – globalisation – which will affect every aspect of our lives, if the WTO gets its way. But, as “The Battle in Seattle” points out, there is a well organised anti-capitalist movement which will fight them every inch of the way.This book – which spans from “the morning after Prague (Sep 2000) to “post-Nice postscript” (Dec 2000) – applies a Marxist analysis to globalisation and examines the impact of this new stage of imperialism on Education. The WTO is attempting to greatly extend the remit of the old GATT to cover issues such as Trade Related Intellectual Property Measures, and agreements on information technology and telecommunications. As a result, the Battle for Seattle was not only significant for Education – it also has major implications for the mass media, communications industries, the Internet and information workers. The WTO has recognised the growing importance of the “knowledge structure” (knowledge has become a significant factor of production) and there is an emphasis on knowledge-based industries (which includes schools, libraries, ICT, etc). While global media corporations are becoming homogenised, there is a parallel move to privatise education and commercialise information. The Education Green paper marks a sharp shift away from the comprehensive system and towards increased specialisation. This shift is being aided by the National Curriculum and the growth of private sector education consultancies. Education is significant for anti-capitalism because Education, as a commodity, is crucial to the capitalisation of people. In New Labour speak, the knowledge economy has replaced manufacturing and workfare has taken over from welfare. The “businessification” of schooling will reduce teacher resistance to these changes and will produce workers who are able to help the UK compete in the global economy. Workers will be educated and trained to maintain capitalism – they will become agents in their own oppression. To prevent this happening another social universe must be created -socialism, based on addressing human need. We can look, for example, to Cuba where a socialist education system has played a crucial role in building social justice, equality and solidarity for progressive social change. Neo-liberalism has both a national and an international focus. It needs to be countered on both these fronts. Nationally, there are struggles going on all over the world, including the landless peasants movement in Brazil, Mexico’s Zapatistas, and the Carnival Against Capitalism in London. Internationally, wherever the world capitalist movement meets, it can now expect to meet resistance from workers, who use the Internet to organise across borders, and then join up in a forceful show of direct action. The latest manifestation of this (“Activists clash with police at Naples Forum”, Morning Star, 17 March 2001) took place at the third Global Forum meeting on governance in Naples. The significance of Seattle was the scale and the degree of organisation of this resistance, although there are debates as to whether the protests were anti capitalist or pro socialist (among other alternatives to capitalism). The question, after Seattle, is “what next ?”, and the author suggests the need for a new vision, principles, policies, and organisation. In terms of the struggle within Education, there is a need for critical pedagogy (for more on this see other works by the Hillcole Group of Radical Left Educators). This book provides a very useful Marxist analysis of the past and gives hope for a future where humanity is not dominated by capital.

John Pateman

Originally published in the US by Temple University Press, Philadelphia, this is an in-depth study of gay men in Cuba from pre-revolution to the present.

The history of the treatment of gay men in Cuba very much reflects Cubas recent history – this falls into four periods: before the revolution in 1959; the early years of the Revolution (1960s and 1970s); the rectification process (1980s); the Special Period (1990s). Before the Revolution in 1959, Cuba was used as Americas playground, and gay, black and working class people suffered persecution under the Batista dictatorship. After the Revolution, the situation of all oppressed groups improved in Cuba, but this level of improvement was uneven. Some groups such as women benefited quickly and obviously: a mass organisation for women, the FMC, was formed, and the number of women in professional positions increased greatly. A Family Code was introduced in 1975, which constitutionally made women equal to men, but, nevertheless, Cubas powerful machismo endured, and it is only very recently that issues such as domestic violence have been discussed in the Cuban press.

The Revolution was also quick to condemn racism, and several senior government positions were taken up by Black revolutionaries. Racism is still a fact of life in Cuba, but Fidel Castro has stated that the Revolution has done all it can to stamp this problem out the rest is down to the people themselves.

However, much less effort was made to tackle homophobia, and during what the Cubans now refer to as the lost years of the Revolution the 1970s and early 1980s there was active repression of gay people and institutionalised homophobia. Ian Lumsden attributes this to Cubas Spanish and African heritage (explored in an essay by Tomas Robaina on Cuban sexual values and African religious beliefs), but points out that the Catholic Church has had little negative impact on this issue.

Ian Lumsden is very critical of the Cuban leadership in general, and Fidel Castro in particular, whom, he says, plays on his macho image as The Commander in Chief. Fidel does not seem guilty of direct homophobia, but of a more indirect variety which refuses to discuss or accept the gay community as part of the revolutionary struggle. As a result, many gay people who identified with the revolution (and who would have been among its greatest assets) became disenchanted and alienated. Many left Cuba and some even joined the anti-Castro movement in Miami.

At the same time, refreshingly, this book does not take as its starting point the need to be critical of Cuba just because of the countrys political position. Ian Lumsden is an associate professor of political science at Atkinson College, York University, Ontario, Canada, and writes in his introduction:

Postrevolutionary Cuba has at various times filled me with hope and admiration, exasperation and frustration, anger and despair. I have admired the social changes that have benefitted countless Cubans, and I have been outraged by the Castro regimes authoritarian treatment of some of its citizens, including friends of mine, who have been jailed, forced into exile, or cowed in their daily lives. I have marveled at the formulation and implementation of programs that the rest of Latin America cries out for. Yet I have also been exasperated by the regimes bureaucratic nature and disgusted by its dogmatic imposition of policies that were foredoomed to failure and that inevitably brought hardships to ordinary Cubans. (p xi)

In the 1980s, Cuba went through a rectification process, aimed at breathing new economic and political life into the country. Old policies and practices were challenged, many of them were scrapped, and the country generally opened up. This created space for the gay community, and others, to raise their concerns and discuss their requirements as citizens of Cuba. This led to changes in the law and sex education. The erosion of traditional machismo accelerated, but a setback occurred as a result of AIDS, which Cuba reacted to by confining PWAs in secure sanatoria. This policy has since been reversed.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the tightening of the US blockade, Cuba entered a Special Period during the 1990s. This impacted on all sectors of Cuban society, but had a disproportionate effect on the gay community. Cuba has now got over this crisis, partly through increased tourism, although this has proved a double-edged sword the economy is recovering, but organised crime and other related phenomena have reappeared.

Gay life in Havana today reflects what Lumsden calls an imperfect revolution in an imperfect world. Gay people are able to make a much greater contribution to the revolution and to key sectors of Cuban life. One major breakthrough occurred in the field of cinema with the release and official approval of Strawberries and Chocolate, whose main characters are a homophobic Young Communist and his gay friend. In the music industry new wave Cuban singer-songwriters such as Pablo Milanes were breaking down barriers through songs such as The Original Sin which demands the right of gay people in Cuba to feel that they can see their tree, their park, their sun, like you and Ithat they can surrender their hearts in the most sweet intimacy of love. Cuba, which has a rich cultural life, has used the cultural industries to challenge age-old prejudices, and now there are many well-known gay Cuban poets, actors, directors and singers. The manifesto of the Gay and Lesbian Association of Cuba (28 July 1994) makes a list of simple demands for more space, more meeting places, more freedom and more means of expression:

Every individuals sexual freedom should be respected.

This should have been recognised by the Cuban leadership in 1959, but the drive for collective socialism trampled many individual aspirations in its path. The US blockade of Cuba distorted Cubas development, but this is no excuse for a revolutionary leadership and Communist Party to depart from basic Marxist-Leninist principles.

As Ian Lumsden says, recognising that there are very stereotyped views, both of Cuba and of gay men:

My study has been written as a contribution to this discourse. To a certain extent it represents a response to the lack of information, to misinformation, and to prejudiced opinions, particularly within the gay communities of North America of which I am a part. My work is also intended to enlighten general readers, including those Leftists who ignore the oppression of homosexuals when they denounce violation of human rights in the Third World. (p xxiii)

This is a fascinating book, in part the result of personal interest and travel in Latin America and in part a well-researched study. In places, we felt that it was a bit too well-researched, as references and quotes got in the way of some of the points Lumsden was making, but, overall, this is an important work which deserves wider readership. It presents a balanced view of Cuba and homosexuality. It is critical but generally supportive of the broad social improvements that have taken place in Cuba since 1959. Cuba provides health, education and social services which are the envy of most developing countries and many developed countries. Cuba has achieved much over the last 41 years, but some shadows including the treatment of gay people lie across these achievements. It is to be hoped that the struggle to build socialism in Cuba will continue in the future, with the active and welcome involvement of all sectors of the population.

John Pateman & John Vincent October 2000

Save and Burn, a documentary by Julian Samuel

Cinéma Parallèle (Ex-Centris) 26 – 29 September, 2005 3536, boul. Saint-Laurent, Montréal, H2X 2V1

http://www.ex-centris.com/?s=piece&z=detail&i=4732

Rachad Antonius will introduce the documentary.

Rachad Antonius et professeur de sociologie l’UQAM. Mathématicien et sociologue, il est l’auteur de nombreux articles et rapports de recherche sur les sociétés arabes et sur les conflits dans la région, ainsi que de deux ouvrages de méthodologie quantitative.

SAVE AND BURN

JULIAN SAMUEL, CANADA, 2004, 81 MIN, V.O. ANGLAISE. DISTRIBUTION. : JULIAN SAMUEL.

Save and Burn replace l’institution de la bibliothèque dans un contexte politique percutant. Généralement considérée comme un élément de préservation de la culture, elle est aux prises avec les idéologies de son temps. Le film aborde des thèmes tels que l’aspect commercial des bibliothèques, la gestion irresponsable et la fermeture de bibliothèques, les dérives des droits de reproduction, mais, surtout, souligne le fait que l’Occident ne reconnaît pas l’Orient pour la valeur de son patrimoine culturel.

Save and Burn puts the institution of the library within a startling political context. Generally considered a preserver of culture, the documentary points out how libraries are subject to the ideologies of their time and place. The film assays the commercialization of libraries, the irresponsible weeding and closing of libraries, the excesses of copyright law, but most of all, the fact that the West has not recognized the Orient for much of its cultural heritage.

FILMOGRAPHIE : THE LIBRARY IN CRISIS (2002), CITY OF THE DEAD AND THE WORLD EXHIBITIONS (1995), INTO THE EUROPEAN MIRROR (1994)

26 AU 29 SEPTEMBRE 2005: 15H, 21H.

English and French reviews of Save and Burn, 2005

Save and Burn: 80:34 minutes, NTSC; 2004

Save and Burn builds from The Library in Crisis (2002) by deepening an understanding of the history of civilization through the phenomenon of the library. From ancient China, India, Islam, and the Graeco Roman world, we see how the library radiated knowledge and spiritual values, and facilitated the cross fertilization of ideas from one culture to another.

Save and Burn puts the institution of the library within a startling political context. Generally considered a preserver of culture, the documentary points out how libraries are subject to the ideologies of their time and place – and not above them, as may have been assumed. The film assays the commercialization of libraries, the irresponsible weeding and closing of libraries, the excesses of copyright law, but most of all, the fact that the West has not recognized the Orient for much of its cultural heritage.

The film is provocative. Historically, libraries have been used to promote or inhibit democratic debate, with a nod to the Patriot Act. The filmmaker, who was born in Pakistan, combines exquisite footage of the Alexandrian Library, the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, and Bromley House in Nottingham. Interviews include Tom Twiss, Government Information Librarian, University of Pittsburgh, who gives testimony on the destruction of Palestinian libraries by Israeli soldiers, accompanied with painful footage, as well as the fate of Iraqi libraries during the “liberation.”

List of people interviewed in Save and Burn:

Ross Shimmon, Secretary General, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions; Isam al Khafaji, ex-advisor to USA forces in Iraq; (Holland) Ambassador Taher Khalifa, Director, Bibliotheca Alexandria; Robin Adams, Librarian and College Archivist, Trinity College, Dublin; Bernard Meehan, Keeper of Manuscripts, Trinity College; Charles Benson, Keeper of Early Printed Books and Special Collections, Trinity College; Michael Ryan, Director, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin; Declan Kiberd, author, Inventing Ireland, University of Dublin; David Grattan, Manager, Canadian Conservation Institute, Ottawa; Paul Bégan, Conservation Scientist, Canadian Conservation Institute, Ottawa; John Feather, Professor of Library & Information Studies, Loughborough University, author of The Information Society, Royal Society of Arts, London; Alistair Black, Professor of Library History, Leeds Metropolitan University, London; Erling Bergan, Editor, Librarians Union of Norway, Olso; Peter Hoare, library historian and adviser on historic libraries, Bromley House Library, Nottingham; Tom Twiss, Government Information Librarian, University of Pittsburgh.

*

Note: I transcribed these French reviews from the newspapers – you will notice errors.

Montreal Gazette Wednesday, September 21, 2005

By BERNARD PERUSSE

Books in the balance: Documentary looks at threats to libraries

We think of the library as a quasi-sacred institution – a shrine to the works of great thinkers, philosophers, writers and historians. As such, it offers comforting proof that knowledge and wisdom transcend politics and ideology. Or do they? In his latest documentary, Save and Burn, Montreal filmmaker Julian Samuel offers a sobering reflection on the baser forces that have threatened libraries over the years. An impressive group of experts – including Robin Adams, a librarian at Dublin’s Trinity College; Taher Khalifa, director of Egypt’s Bibliotheca Alexandrina; and Tom Twiss, a librarian at the University of Pittsburgh – face the camera. Together, they offer historical background and make the case that the beloved institution has been, and continues to be, jeopardized by commercialization, technology and the prejudices of global conflict and racism. The destruction of Palestinian libraries by Israeli soldiers and last year’s arson attack on the United Talmud Torahs school library in St. Laurent are but examples. The premise, which builds on Samuel’s 2002 film The Library in Crisis, is novel and provocative – although the focus gets lost at points with political commentary on such hot-button topics as Israeli policy in the Middle East and the American invasion of Iraq. While political issues are obviously crucial to the concept of “bibliocide” denounced by the film, we sometimes feel far from the initial premise. It all works, however, during an examination of how the U.S. Patriot Act changed the landscape after the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings by allowing the government to withold data about itself from library users while it gained greater powers to examine their personal records. In the end, Save and Burn makes its point most eloquently in scenes like one showing a young Arab man reading from James Joyce’s Dubliners in his native language. That’s when you realize how crucial it is to protect the unifying power of books from the forces of darkness.

Save and Burn opens Monday at Ex-Centris. For details, go to www.ex-centris.com Save and Burn Rating 3 Playing at: Ex-Centris cinema from Monday to Sept. 29. Parents’ guide: for all.

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La presse, 24 Septembre, 2005, “Save and Burn Documentaire de Julian Samuel,” par Aleksi K. Lepage

Julian Samuel conviendra sans doute avec nous que son documentaire “Save and Burn,” par ailleurs fascinant, n’est pas des plus accessible et ne s’adresse pas au plus vaste public, qui préfère généralement apprendre en s’amusant (ou l’inverse, plutot). Vite dit: “Save and Burn” est un film pour professeurs, pour universitaires et pour tous ceux qui ont frolé de près ou de loin les classes d’histoire, de littérature ou de sciences politiques. Samuel ne nous prend pas pour des nuls (et pourtant, s il savait!).

Très mal informé, après une lecture trop rapid du communiqué de presse, nous nous attendions

ATHEISM

72 minutes, 2006 – a talking-heads documentary by Julian Samuel

Official selection: La 35e édition du Festival du nouveau cinéma: 2006

http://www.nouveaucinema.ca/EN/ http://www.nouveaucinema.ca/2006/fiche_film.php?id=06-9251

QUOTATIONS FROM REVIEWS:

This film by Julian Samuel has to be the most intellectually dishonest documentary ever produced. Samuel has produced a subjective and biased reflection on religion and the question of whether a Supreme Being organized the Universe… …an example of this bias is when Professor Samuel has his interviewees discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Bush administration’s foreign policy in a clearly anti-Israeli and anti- American way. What this has to do with atheism, spirituality or even a theological reflection on the meaning of life is anyone’s guess.

Frederic Eger: Atheism by Julian Samuel http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-11-7/47843.html 29 November 2006

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Like Richard Dawkins’ much-discussed recent book The God Delusion, Atheism makes not the slightest attempt to win over anyone who might feel that there’s any validity to spiritual beliefs.

Montreal Mirror, 30 November 2006: God be damned MALCOLM FRASER

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Samuel is either unfamiliar with film language or unwilling to engage with it, and it’s a shame, because this non-professionalism compromises his film. Some of his on-camera shock techniques – including the opening credits, which depict a hand tarring a Bible with the film’s title (and Samuel’s own name, one letter at a time) – are laughable and tedious.

HOUR: 30 November 2006; God day afternoon, The anarchy of atheism Melora Koepke

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* 1/2 – Atheism, documentaire de Julian Samuel. Quelle place occupe Dieu dans le monde, la philosophie, la politique? L’athéisme est-il une religion?

Un documentaire prétentieux et vain. On est loin de la révolution copernicienne.

Ce qui rend ce film méprisable n’est pas tant que l’on n’y apprend rien de neuf, mais plutôt la façon dont ce rien de neuf est emballé: c’est pédagogiquement nul et cinématographiquement pédant. Tant mieux si le réalisateur s’est amusé, car nous, on s’est plutôt mortellement emmerdés.

La Presse, 2 December 2006; Atheism : quand le spirituel déprime Anabelle Nicoud, Collaboration spéciale

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Julian Samuel explique pourtant que son film entend poser un regard sur la manière dont un athée comme lui est devenu une personne religieuse. Atheism un prouve en fait rien de tel. Il soulève des questions, met bout

Book and Film Review “The Case Against Israel” and “Munich” by Julian Samuel http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Apr06/Samuel04.htm

“The Case Against Israel” and “Munich”

a book and film review by

Julian Samuel

The Case Against Israel by Michael Neumann, Counterpunch and AK Press, 2005, 220 pages, $17.40

Munich, directed by Steven Spielberg Rated R for strong graphic violence, some sexual content, nudity and language. Runtime: 164 min, 2005

Spielberg’s film “Munich” is about Israeli agents who cloak-and- dagger around Europe murdering dark, hooked-nosed Palestinians thought to have conducted the 1972 Munch attack on Israeli Olympic athletes. Is Munich a morally complex film which shows us how and why Israel has to use terrorism to stop terrorism? If one’s source of history and international understanding and compassion is, somehow, taken from news media such as CNN, the BBC then the film offers a deep experience on morality and politics. However, if one looks at Munich through Michael Neumann’s book, “The Case Against Israel,” the film becomes a transparent work in the tradition of American film- maker D. W. Griffith.

Spielberg is trying to feed us a view of Arabs, and the Islamic world which stokes Western governments into legislating repressive laws. This is happening not only in the home of the Magna Carta but also on this side of the Atlantic. For example, the Patriot Acts enable agents of the FBI to inspect lists of books that American borrowers, with names like Ibn Sînâ, Abu’l-Walid Ibn Rushd, or Andrew Said, may have taken out.

The key Mossad Jihadist is played by an actor who Spielberg dramaturgically develops fully by showing him to have an evolving relationship with his wife who gives birth to a child; we are introduced to his mother, and he remains, until the end, a loveable Jewish assassin in blue jeans with a crotch bulge equal to Benito Del Torres’. Golda Meir is made to look like an angel of mercy shedding a Sufi effulgence on her secret agents while offering them tea with milk and honey. She is a bed of roses: not chief director of land expropriations.

The Palestinians are never developed to the same extent. We get the impression that their resistance is irrational and unfounded; they’ve never faced the same psychic misery that Israeli Jews have. How might a boy-soldier from Brooklyn treat a pregnant Palestinian woman at a checkpoint? The Arabs are only given enough screen time to say a few black and white lines. Moreover, to trick the naive into seeing Israeli Jews as morally superior, Spielberg has inserted a cardboard Palestinian poet who is a supposed terrorist. He is killed before he can explain why it might have been necessary for him to use terror. Are we to think that terrorism resides in the Arab genetic code and not in the fact that they were subjected to the venture of Zionism?

Palestinians were large enough to have caused the events of Munch, 1972 but not important enough to be integrated in his film. The very fact that he allows a few gutturally voiced lines to fall from their mouths shows that he knows about their ordeal but, mysteriously, does not consider it worthy of screen time. How one-sided can an American film-maker get?

Spielberg’s Munich is embedded in the belief that Palestinians are naturally terrorists. Generally speaking, for Americans, the film’s lethal propaganda use-value will become apparent when they are given an alternative to Zionist history. Otherwise, they will be embedded. “The Case Against Israel,” a succinct book on Israel and Zionism written by Michael Neumann, an American Jew whose “German Jewish stepfather suffered greatly under the Nazis” gives us a solid alternative to Zionism. Zionism is the engine that drives Spielberg’s Munich. And, it is by understanding what Zionism is that we can appreciate the sheer violence that this film encourages. Instead of giving her secret agents tea, imagine Golda Meir ruefully looking into Spielberg’s camera saying the following:

“Zionism has never been a movement for the defense of the Jewish religion; on the contrary many of the most religious Jews abhor it. It was never even a movement in defense of some cultural entity: when the Zionist movement began, Jews had no common language and their traditions were in many cases wildly dissimilar or simply abandoned altogether. Zionism was a movement which advocated, not so much the defense of an ethnic group, as the formation of such a group in Palestine, where those thought to fit a certain semi-racial category were to find refuge. It was a lovely dream where all Jews would live happily together and, with typical Wilsonian obliviousness, no one seemed to notice that those who did not pass ethnic muster had no place in this fantasy. If they were to be tolerated, welcomed, even loved, it was to be at the good pleasure of ‘the Jews’. p. 18

If Spielberg could see the critical validity of the follow statement on Israel he would have made the complex film that many tactically pretend he made:

“Israel is the illegitimate child of ethnic nationalism. The inhabitants of Palestine had every reason to oppose its establishment by any means necessary…Given the life-and-death powers of the proposed state and the intention of its proponents to maintain ethnic supremacy within its borders, the Palestinians were justified in taking the project as a mortal threat, and therefore to resist it by any means necessary.” p. 187-188

Spielberg is fluent in using historical documents to make films such as Amistad, a shallow yet multifaceted film about the slave trade. Africans emerge as people with past and present lives. For Arabs, Spielberg’s Munich resembles the American film-maker D. W Griffith, who in 1915 made a racist classic “The Birth of a Nation”. For Spielberg, the Palestinians have become what blacks were for Griffith: Dark, threatening creatures to be eliminated with extreme prejudice.

What was the average age of the Palestinians who conducted the Munich attack? What happened twenty-four years before Munich 1972? What happened on April 9, 1948 at Dier Yassin? And on 29 October 1956 at Kafar Qasem? Anything? Something? Nothing? Spielberg knows about Dier Yassin and Kafar Qasem. Does Zionism take us to the murders at Munich 1972?

The issues that Spielberg hides are the ones that Neumann lights in a scholastically stark and unique manner. Thankfully, his views don’t resemble the rampant anti-Americanism that one sees everywhere; nor is he anti-Jewish as his detractors will undoubtedly inform us; nor is his historical analysis anti-Israeli.

Here are some examples of potentially cinematically charged scenes that Spielberg could have dramatized but didn’t:

“Finally, no one should be deterred from vigorous anti-Israeli action by the horrors of the Jewish past. On the contrary: Israel’s current policies are themselves an insult and a threat to Jews and to Israelis everywhere.” p 190-191

Spielberg wants a one-sided victory in which Israeli Jews rest morally high above the Arabs. What is preventing Spielberg from traveling on the same carpet as Neumann?

“Let no one throw up the Nazi era as some excuse for Israel, or wax sentimental about the Zionist dream. This has not been some exercise in moral reasoning whose object is simply to find fault. The situation is urgent, and dangerous to all involved. The lies, obfuscations and self-deceiving nonsense that sustain Israel’s occupation – something it could end tomorrow – cost Jewish as well as Palestinian blood.” p.190-191

Neumann has looked at what causes terrorism. Spielberg hasn’t: he thinks that the world will automatically sympathize with the American War on Terrorism. Consider the 1972 athletes:

“ ‘Terrorism’, on this account, can be defined as random violence against non-combatants. “Non-combatants” need not be civilians, but must designate those not involved in hostilities against the attackers: workers in defense industries are one of many borderline cases. “Random” means only that the victims are selected, not because of their importance as individuals, but because they are representative of some larger population. p. 158

Ben Gurion, unlike Golda Meir, did look in the mirror:

“If I were an Arab leader, I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs… There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only know but one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why would they accept that?” p.151-152.

Which influential Americans know the same history as Neumann? In light of the full-blown apartheid in Palestine would these Americans initiate a full boycott against Israel? Would Noam Chomsky? (Neumann calls Chomsky a Zionist on page 23). Would Woody Allen? Neumann has tried to start a boycott, but didn’t get support.

Munich is a cinematic Nuremberg in which Spielberg, along with his producers, actors and all his crew tell us a hideous fib about Israel. In God-fearing America such fibs can only be checked, not corrected. Neumann’s “The Case Against Israel,” renders Spielberg’s “Munich” irrational hate propaganda.

Julian Samuel, is a Montreal film-maker and writer juliansamuel@videotron.ca

(Michael Neumann has written extensively on the Middle East: http://www.counterpunch.org/neumann09232004.html http://members.tripod.com/~mneumann/mnisrael.htm)

Fallen Angel: The Political Cartoons of the Daily Worker Cartoonist Gabriel – by John Pateman

I can thoroughly recommend this exhibition of cartoons by Jimmy Friel which is on display at the Political Cartoon Gallery in Store Street, London, until 28 April 2007. The gallery is directly opposite the London HQ of CILIP. But there any similarities end. Jimmy Friell was the talented cartoonist who defined an era of the Daily Worker under the name Gabriel. The following review – ‘An Angel with a poison pen’ – by Michal Bonzca was first published in the Morning Star on 3 April 2007.

‘Looking from a worm’s perspective, a tank looms large and threatening like an authoritarian edifice. Its menacing gun barrel is aimed at a distant target.

In the foreground, Harold Macmillan, 1951 minister of housing and later defence, addresses a homeless family spinning the yarn that their concerns are being adequately addressed by this design.

Indeed, on closer inspection of the cartoon, the gun turret resembles a shoddy terraced house.

If you replaced the tank with a Trident submarine, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this was 2007.

In fact, it was Britain after World War II and the sharp, uncompromising drawing was penned by James Friell.
Last month marked the 95th anniversary of the birth of James “Jimmy” Friell, who was, once upon a time, memorably heralded as “Fleet Street’s greatest discovery since David Low.”

But who was he? Jimmy Friell was born in Glasgow on March 13 1912, the fifth of seven children, in the working-class tenements of Maryhill.

His youngest brother Charlie, former USDAW convener, now a chirpy octogenarian, recalls how poverty forced “Jim” to abandon hope of university and seek employment at the age of 14.

In his spare time, he would amuse himself and others by drawing gag cartoons. His father was the straight man in a comedy duo eking out a meagre living touring Scottish music halls. Gags would have been part of the air that he breathed at home.

And some home it was. Under the guidance of communist eldest brother Jack, they weren’t going to be denied education or culture by their circumstance and tucked into Marcel Proust, James Joyce and others with energetic purpose.

Initially just an entertainer, Friell quickly developed a keen interest in politics. At the time, only he and his eldest sister Cissie worked, providing for all the others.

“I still can’t understand anyone who grew up anywhere in the 1930s not being political,” he would remark years later.

At 15, he drew a crucified worker surrounded by leering capitalists. He showed it to the Glasgow Forward, who encouraged him to continue. Two years later, a cartoon of his was printed for the first time.

He became a regular contributor to the Glasgow Evening Times and, in 1931, won a scholarship to the Glasgow School of Art, where he completed the three-year commercial art diploma course in just one year.

Dispatched to London by his employers Kodak in February 1936, Friell sent some political cartoons to the predecessor of the Morning Star, the Daily Worker. It was a moment that was remembered well by its legendary editor William Rust.

“In him was immediately recognised an artist with a sure political understanding. Both his artistic and political line were just what we were waiting for,” Rust once said.

He adopted the name Gabriel as his nom de plume because, back then, “in one way or another, it looked like the last trumpet was being sounded for existing society, so I took the pen name of Gabriel, the Archangel – he’s in charge of blowing for the annunciation of Judgement Day – and settled down to helping the process along.

“My value lay in supplying the humour that the paper rather desperately needed,” Friell was known to comment.

His impact was instant and such that, in his first year, he had three offers from other Fleet Street papers to jump ship. But Friell’s principles kept him at the Daily Worker.

“I never produced a cartoon in consultation with anybody. I never found any trouble. Apart from ‘[technicalities’ – was it Trotsky or was it Stalin, was it this or that – my views coincided with them. It was straightforward,” he would state emphatically.

The moral bankruptcy and political incompetence of the ruling elites ushered in the economic depression of the 1930s, which supplied a tragic abundance of subjects. His ink was never dry.

While the ruling classes courted fascists to keep themselves in power, Gabriel lampooned the murderous trio of Hitler, Mussolini and Franco with venomous gusto matched only by his merciless contempt for the hapless dilettante and dupe Chamberlain.

Memorably, he drew him at his desk announcing his pathetically pompous and naive analysis of the nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, which is shown looming large behind his back.

Gabriel had experienced at first hand the waste and misery that the ruling class visited upon millions in Britain and, true to his class, he wasn’t about to give it any quarter.

He took particular issue with its political dishonesty, evidenced daily by the manipulative management of news. Spin to you and me.

His first judgement day came unexpectedly, as they do, with the announcement of the 1939 nazi-soviet pact.

He confessed to being shocked, but admitted: “If you examined it, you could see why it was necessary to Russia.”

Friell was called up in September 1940, but returned to the Daily Worker in 1946. Heady days followed and, in 1954, under the inspirational guidance of Allen Hutt, the paper won The Newspaper of the Year Award jointly with The Times.

Amid all of this, Gabriel again took up his quixotic pictorial quest with the gusto of old and with the fine political savvy and anticipation that was first noted by Rust.

In a reworking of a classic idea, Gabriel has a US soldier straddling the globe tying it up with a never-ending chain of war debt.

Here, the oft-used concept is reinvigorated by a dynamic diagonal composition and sparse but delightful detail, including the chain made up of dollar signs. Britain, it is worth noting, only paid back the last instalment of this debt last year.

The world had, indeed, changed dramatically with US imperialism in ascendancy in the aftermath of World War II.

Gabriel captures this unmistakenly on US Independence Day with a forlorn figure of a bruised, rapidly aging, Churchill-faced bulldog trotting behind two patronising US government figures.

This is not only a delightfully sharp epitaph for the empire but also a witty and perceptive intuition of the shape of things to come.

Britain’s political class, like Faust, was selling its soul to the devil in exchange for the ignominious role of the new empire’s servile mascot.

The next generation of cartoonists, having had that future thrust upon them, are sarcastically and contemptuously depicting the Prime Minister of today simply as a poodle. Or, worst still, the mere lap dog of a witless ape.

Then, all of a sudden, came Gabriel’s second judgement day. The Soviet Union invaded Hungary in November 1956.
Gabriel blew the horn loud and clear, comparing the Russian tanks in Budapest to the Anglo-French invasion of Egypt.

When the Daily Worker rejected the cartoon, Gabriel, in a decision that he came to regret in later years, walked out along with several other journalists.

He was bluntly honest about this. “I couldn’t conceive carrying on cartooning about the evils of capitalism and imperialism and ignoring the acknowledged evils of Russian communism.” And so, sadly, Gabriel was no more.

Socialism’s judgement day was, at the time, somehow postponed, only to return with bitter vengeance 30 odd years later. History, tragically, has since proven Gabriel right.

After six months unemployment, Friell accepted Lord Beaverbrook’s offer, first extended in the late 1930s, to cartoon under his own name for the Evening Standard, with assurances of “complete political freedom.”

Still, executives at Express Newspapers, uncomfortable with his political views, eventually decided to replace him with Vicky, who loyally objected and forced them to retain Friell. By 1962, he was reduced to drawing pocket cartoons.

When politicians whom he had mercilessly satirised over the years repeatedly bought his work, he became despondent and dismissive of the task that he had set himself some 30-odd years earlier, in frustration comparing it to “banging your head against a foam rubber wall.”

But he continued to keep a keen eye on all things political, cryptically commenting that “not to be able to say anything about the political situation in the last 10 years is purgatory.”

Friell’s masterly grasp of anatomy allows his distorted characters to roam the frames and gesture with dynamic equilibrium and comic ease.

Assured and energetic pen and brush strokes reveal intricate emotions and detail the unfolding dramas, whereas an exquisite use of swathes of texture or solid black provides melodramatic supporting contrast.

Gabriel’s compositional sense, often using acute, almost cinematic angles, draws the eye into a richly rewarding viewing.

No political cartoonist can, however, survive without the elementary skill of imaginative characterisation and Gabriel’s was second to none.

Most significantly, he was one of the very few – among them were Will Dyson at the Daily Herald and his successor the communist Will Hope – who nobly put their talent at the disposal of the working class and its struggle for social justice.

And thus Gabriel’s legacy, apart from having secured him a place in the pantheon of great British cartoonists, will be forever an intrinsic part of the British left’s cultural heritage.

James “Jimmy” Friell, who is tenderly described by his brother Charlie as “a private man of immensely beguiling humour,” died in his home in west London on February 4 1997.’

John Pateman

This Was England: a Skinhead exhibition from the 1980s – by John Pateman

I was 13 years old in 1969 and I remember the first wave of Skinheads who associated themselves more with Trojan label reggae music rather than right wing politics. I remember wearing my first Ben Sherman shirt, Levi jeans (with braces) and Doctor Marten boots. And I recall going to football matches all over London and witnessing gangs of skinheads beating each other up in the name of tribal loyalty. The second wave of skinheads in the 1980s was more sinister and more aligned with fascist parties such as the National Front, British Movement and British National Party. This wave of skinheads was well documented by photographers such as Gavin Watson who took hundreds of photos of the skins who he ran with in High Wycombe.

Some of these photos are on display at the PYMCA Gallery at 41 Clerkenwell Road, London, until 20 April 2007. To coincide with the release of the film ‘This is England’ by Shane Meadows, this is an exhibition of skinhead culture from the early 1980’s upon which the film is based. Containing the unique collection of Gavin Watson from the book ‘Skins’, this exhibition offers a unique insight into the lives of young members of this subculture in this turbulent era. Featured photographers include: Gavin Watson, John G Byrne, Jannette Beckman, Toni Tye, Peter Anderson, Ted Polhemus, Richard Braine and Paul Hartnett.

Gavin Watson started photographing the life around him at 14, and by 19 was travelling the world photographing bands for Sounds music newspaper. It was during these years his early teens too his early twenties – that Gavin consolidated the majority of the pictures that formed the body of his critically acclaimed book SKINS, first published in 1994. Now on its 5th edition, Skins is a record of Gavins life in High Wycombe, London and Brighton in the 80s, a microcosm of teenage life which has since found resonance with people worldwide. The iconic imagery of the book has made it a cult classic, important both in terms of its artistry and as a cultural reference: Gavin Watson’s critical photography of the late 70′s and early 80′s skinheads perfectly captures a snapshot of this unique youth culture – his work contains some of the finest documentary photography of modern times, said Ted Polhemus. Throughout the 90s, Watson turned his attention to the rave scene which was exploding across Britain: he was the first photographer to have a collection of images of this new youth culture published (though Camera Press). The defining element though in Watsons work is that although he is regarded by many as a cultural commentator, he is never an outside observer but is always part of his subject, which makes his view a unique one. Having achieved an impressive collection of work, Watson is still working primarily in the music industry, still shunning the shiny and the obvious for the real and the relevant. Reviews for Skins: “A cult classic.” THE SUNDAY TIMES “Not forgetting why this book is important: Gavin Watson is a damn good photographer.” TED POLHEMUS. The following extracts are from a book by Gavin Watson, ‘Oh What Fun We Had.’

‘The influence of SKINHEADS has spread a lot wider than just small groups of people wearing big boots and shaving their heads, their neighbours, family, the community, the people that hated us etc. The stories are the most important thing. The stories, the myths, the memories, that’s what all this is about really, memories of the time when you were young and didn’t give a fuck or a least pretended you didn’t. I feel it is important to explain the amount of transformations I went through in the years of growing up. Being a skinhead always seemed to be there whether I was losing my virginity or standing in a field nearly ten years later with thousands of ravers.

Anyway there were about twenty of us, (all mongrel dogs from a pretty grim estate called Micklefield in a town called High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire,) causing mischief and mayhem round town on a dark October evening. Being only fourteen I had to be in for school by about seven thirty. Little did I know that this evening something was to happen that would change my life for good. I came in as usual took my shoes off at the back door (one of mum’s iron rules ), came into the front room, my mum was in her favourite chair, dad in his.

Top of the Pops was just finishing and there was a band playing, a group of young guys jumping around to a tune the likes I had never heard before. I was transfixed, blown away, the affect this band had on me was incredible. Who are they? What’s their name? I must have that record now. I must have it. The band I found out was called Madness.

The next day I think I nicked a pound from somewhere in the house before going to school. At school all my friends were talking about Madness, rumours of who they were abounded, were they Yanks, Mods, Punks? Nobody knew. I went down town after school straight into Woolworth’s and brought the single that was to change my way of life totally and set me on a unbelievable journey. I played that record to death until there was a hole in it and I was on the verge of being hung drawn and quartered by my family. The Record was THE PRINCE by Madness, the year was 1979.

I became a Skinhead because of the Music, and the attention I received especially from girls. I loved dancing, music and girls, and the Two Tone scene seemed to have it all. It totally spoke to me and about my environment one which was the new generation of the multi-cultural kids that were coming of age, Jamaicans, Irish, etc.. It was also being a Skinhead that drew me to Oi! music because it was directly geared towards skinheads. Legends of the East End of London passed down through bands like the Cockney Rejects. I remember being terrified of the East End for years thinking you were bound to get your head kicked in if you just as much got off the bus in Bethnal Green. We were carrot crunchers from the countryside, we believed that the Skins in London were the Hardest Mother fuckers ever to walk the Earth. It became a disappointment to my friends and me that at the time Madness denied their skinhead roots out of fear of bad publicity. In fact the East End was the Skinheads spiritual home. I remember going to the Last Resort, London’s only pure skinhead shop at the time, with my mum, dad and NEVILLE. The sight of all those Monsters coupled with the Last Resorts’ sales methods (buy something, as you may not walk out of this shop Alive, Vibe) will stay with me for the rest off my life. My brother and I being tourists brought Skinhead T shirts and were ecstatic at visiting a Skinhead Mecca.The real East End kids were the ones that were in Nicks Nights book “SKINHEAD” a book I never really liked because I felt I had taken better photos even though I was only fifteen and also he wasn’t a real skin and jumping on the band wagon, sour grapes from my part really.

At the Royal Wedding I met some older London ex skinheads and I asked them why they were not skins any more. They said they had been skins in 78 and it was all over now for them, old hat in there eyes. I was shocked, being a skinhead was so new to my friends and me it seemed to me to be for life. I was so intense about being a skinhead, to me it was final. Any body who grew their hair for work or their girlfriend was severely mentally impaired. I would be down town and would see an older skin who was growing his hair for some reason or another. I would feel very disappointed I could not understand how one could ever not be a skinhead once the step had been taken. I truly believed that it was a way of life and that being a skinhead was not just about clothes and style but something that went so deep, a connection. Even to this day after spending years trying to understand my self, and my actions and the meaning of life, I still have not got a clue. Sociology, anthropology, psychology, all have had some answers but I still believe there is a spiritual and mystical part of being a skinhead that is unfathomable. It’s like being in love you just can’t explain it or put into a nice neat little explanation so one can feel more in control of yourself.

I always felt like a misfit, even as a skinhead there was always a nagging feeling I did not fit in. That’s what this whole thing is about not fitting in to others expectations. When I was in the middle of doing interviews about my book and expo I was always asked about racism even though my pictures and life show a definite cultural mix. Never was I asked about racism from a black or Asian, it always seemed to be a middle class ex college student with luke warm Marxist ideals. It occurred to me that working class blacks and Asians could relate to white niggers and had no need to get on their high horse about the question of race.

I’ve never really seen colour and this is not because I give a fuck about political correctness. If I was a racist I would hold my head up high and admit it, I think I am captured on film somewhere with a load of mad skinheads smashing up an ANGELIC UPSTARTS gig and throwing in a few Sieg Heils for good measure there’s something oddly satisfying about throwing the odd Sieg Heil now and again, mine are reserved for traffic wardens these days.

One of the most upsetting times in my life is when we all went from primary school to secondary and there seemed to be an instant split between the blacks and whites. I realize now this was part of nature as we had to try and find our place in the world as young adults, but at the time I could not understand why people that I had loved dearly as a small child were now difficult to communicate with. There seemed to be an unsaid rule that blacks and whites could not get along at this age. We used to wear our Union Jack patches and the black guys would wear their Jah back to Africa badges. The teachers were horrified at this, thinking we were the second coming of the Third Reich.

Its all in the dynamics and nature of gang politics that you end up acting the same regardless of colour. My mother when she first came to England from Ireland would have to put up with signs in house windows saying “NO BLACKS, IRISH, OR DOGS” what right did I have to be a racist? I always felt uncomfortable trying to explain Skinheads and racism, as it really was never an issue in my life as a skinhead. If I ever really needed physical assistance nowadays there are only three people I know in my heart would be there for me. One is White and the other two are Black. One thing I knew when I was growing up is the Black kids were tough, strong, good fighters and if you messed with them you mess with there infinite number of cousins as well. They usually run the borstals and I never viewed the West Indians as a bunch of weeds.’

To read more visit Gavin Watson’s Myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/gavinwatsonskins

John Pateman

DVD Documentary Review by John Pateman

Released 26 March on DVD, Freemantle Home Entertainment, 17.99, English, 90minutes running time, plus 71 minutes extras, Colour / B&W / PAL.

The many attempts on Fidel Castro, one of the most important world leaders of modern times, are well known. Some of them – such as efforts to make his beard fall out – would be funny if it were not for the fact that Castro offers real hope to the world’s oppressed people. Whether it is the poor of Latin America, Asia or Africa, they all look to one man, Castro, and one country, Cuba, for solidarity and suport. They do not look to Bush, who is the latest in a long line of US Presidents to try and remove Castro from power. US presidents come and go but Castro marches on, safe in the knowledge that he has the support of his people and millions of fellow travelers around the world.

This fascinating and entertaining documentary takes us through the early years of Castro’s rule, when there was a chance that Cuba and the US could peacefully co-exist. Through its aggressive actions this chance was blownand the US and Cuba came to epitomize the worst of Cold War paranoia. WithCastro quite literally in their sights, the US government sanctioned an increasingly bizarre series of operations against the head of a sovereign nation, breaking many internationally recognized agreements and protocols.The more outlandish attempts on Castro’s life included poison pens, lethal gas, deadly model aircraft, toxic cigars, baseball grenades and exploding molluscs.

This documentary also exposes the dark under belly of some of the Cuban exiles living in Miami. Their hatred of Castro knows no bounds and they are inextricably linked with the CIA operations which have also killed and wounded many innocent Cuban civilians. By their own admission, the alleged terrorists Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, talk about their involvement in these plots. Even more sinister is the outburst by US Congresswoman Ilean Ros-Lehtinen when she calls for Castro’s demise. The Miami connection is all the more significant when we remember that George W Bush attained his controversial first term in office by ‘winning’ Florida which was governed by his brother Jeb.

This tangled web of connections is explored in the documentary through candid interviews with former US President Jimmy Carter and ex CIA agent Tom Parrott. But the man we have most to thank for exposing all these plots and for keeping Castro alive is Fabian Escalante, the former head of Cuban Intelligence. It is people like Escalante, and the Five Cuban Heroes currently jailed in the US for ‘terrorism’, that are helping to keep Castro, Cuba and the world safe. This documentary also exposes the political hypocrisy of the current US lead ‘War on Terror’. It is clear that the likes of Bush and Blair are the real terrorists and war criminals.

This documentary is essential viewing for all regular visitors to the Information for Social Change website at www.libr.org/ISC/. The makers ofthe DVD have kindly donated some free copies which are available from me on request at johnpateman9@hotmail.com

Video Clips:

Castro shot?

http://onlinemoviepromo.com/player.php?id=1601

CIA cleared to hit Castro… through his beard:

http://onlinemoviepromo.com/player.php?id=1603

The bomb plot:

http://onlinemoviepromo.com/player.php?id=1605

George Bush the terrorist?

http://onlinemoviepromo.com/player.php?id=1607

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen – Member of US Congress with THAT STATEMENT! Her call for Fidel to be assassinated was widely covered in US media but not here – why?

http://onlinemoviepromo.com/player.php?id=1609

The Kennedy Connection:

http://onlinemoviepromo.com/player.php?id=1611

A review of ‘British Librarianship and Information Work 2001-2005‘ edited by John Bowman has appeared in the October 2007 edition of Update. This review mentions the chapter written by John Pateman and John Vincent on Social Inclusion and Community Cohesion.

Paul’s chapter is entitled Accessibility issues for web-based information systems.

See the Flow of Ideas site for further details