News

Capturing the spirit of Genoa

PARTICIPATING in the demonstrations in Genoa was for many a life-changing event. We saw Italian trade unionists join the diversity of the anti-capitalist movement in the biggest demo Europe had seen for many years. We knew another world was possible, and we came home and tried to tell as many people as possible.

Cracking mystery

ENIGMA IS a war movie that is worth a look. It is fiction, but is based against the background of real events, the successful breaking of the Nazi Enigma code machine by the Allies in the Second World War. It is well acted, with a decent plot, and has a sharp screenplay by playwright Tom Stoppard.

Sharp paper

GEORGE MONBIOT'S detailed and devastating account of how the corporations are subverting areas of public life that are supposed to be "democratic" is now available in paperback.

These aren't nonsense

NEW INTERNATIONALIST magazine has just released three more "No-Nonsense Guides". They are £7 and are available from Bookmarks-phone 020 7637 1848 or go to www.bookmarks.uk.com

Don't miss this night of dissent

MARK THOMAS, the comedian and activist who was so successful with his Channel 4 programmes, is on a tour which will take his establishment-poking talent to nearly 50 towns and cities across Britain. Go for a defiant, intensely moving, incredibly powerful and hugely funny evening.

Genoa-debating a future

THE MASS anti-capitalist protests in Genoa changed people. It became a beacon for all those fighting the system-not just those who were there but across the world.

Chants, crashes and a dot.com

KALEIL AND Tom are best friends from high school. Together they decide to set up an internet company to make money out of local government. Although it doesn't sound the most exciting story, Startup.com is a fascinating and funny film.

Lessons in death

A SCHOOLGIRL collapses backwards to the floor, a knife embedded in her skull. Her terrified classmates cling to the walls. Their former teacher, now murderous overseer, announces "And today's lesson is...you kill each other!"

Mixed Feelings: the colour of modern love

Britain has one of the highest levels of mixed race relationships in the Western world. The number of mixed race people is growing. Half of "Caribbean" children have one white parent. According to the 1991 census, mixed race people formed 10 percent of the black population.

Reality bites

UNREPORTED World is an interesting new TV documentary series starting this week. Unreported World's aim is to "highlight the effects of globalisation on the world". It shows footage that you don't normally get to see.

Photos expose capitalism

MANY OF the great political events of the past 40 years are almost inseparable from powerful documentary photographs of them. Think of the massacre by South African forces of black children in Soweto in 1976, and the picture of the lifeless body of Hector Petersen cradled by a fellow school student.

Coming clean on a dirty war

A FORGOTTEN war is raging on Russia's southern border. Russia is taking revenge on Chechnya for defeating its troops in the 1994-6 war. At stake is control over the oil-rich region of the Caspian Sea. Since Russia invaded Chechnya in October 1999 some 40,000 people have died and 400,000 have been made homeless.

Eyewitness to a revolution

THE IMAGE of the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 for me sums up the China of today. A highly repressive and nasty state, every bit as class ridden as the rest of the capitalist world.

All in the mix

"PEOPLE'S GLOBALISATION not corporate globalisation" is one of the slogans of the anti-capitalist movement. And if people's globalisation exists, it now has a soundtrack. Manu Chao is a hugely successful musician everywhere in Europe. But in Britain he remains largely unknown.

Hands of friendship

AS NEWSPAPER editors and politicians ignore the tragic consequences of their anti-refugee statements, some of our best dramatists are responding with brilliant plays about the experiences of asylum seekers. The latest drama to combine great theatre writing with a commitment to telling the truth about the asylum issue is Hannah and Hanna by Company of Angels. The play was a huge hit at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Why we're not all middle class: a counter to BBC TV series

"In the modern world the majority of people could be termed middle class." This is the conclusion of the new TV series Middle Classes: Their Rise and Sprawl. It charts the "middle classes' rise to social dominance" through the 20th century.

Liam: Snapshot of 1930s

Liam is set in working class Liverpool during the depression of the 1930s. It is one of a number of recent films, such as Billy Elliott and Ratcatcher, which attempt to realistically portray social conditions and working class life. The script is by Jimmy McGovern-who wrote excellent TV dramas about the Hillsborough tragedy and the Liverpool dockers.

Moth Smoke: The underbelly of the jet set

Moth Smoke, a new novel by Moshin Hamid, is set in the border city of Lahore, Pakistan, in 1998. Electricity is in short supply, temperatures are over 120 degrees and nuclear testing is a common occurrence.

The Good Woman of Setzuan: Don't miss Brecht play on tour

One of the greatest political plays of the 20th century is on tour across Britain in the coming weeks. If you have the chance to go, don't miss it. The Good Woman of Setzuan was written by the socialist playwright Bertolt Brecht in 1942.

Mike Davis: Late Victorian Holocausts

We are told that the lives of many of the poorest people across the world are often at the mercy of "natural disasters". Millions of people in the Third World are driven into destitution or early graves by a drought or flooding which we are told human beings have no control over.