Author: Dave

What next for Venezuela?

Following his election victory, Nicolas Maduro is expected to be sworn in as president of venezuela later this week.

However, those expecting a repeat of the easy win Hugo Chavez enjoyed last October were left shocked after official results gave Maduro only a slender margin of victory.In keeping with the tone of an often bitter election campaign, the loser, Henrique Capriles, has called the win “illegitimate”. He also demanded a full recount, something to which Maduro has agreed.Nevertheless, the narrowness of Maduro’s win – even once confirmed – will raise questions about his leadership.

Ruins of Empire with Pankaj Mishra

The Victorian period, often viewed in the West as a time of self-confident progress, was experienced by many Asians as a catastrophe. As the British gunned down the last heirs to the Mughal Empire, burned down the Summer Palace in Beijing, or humiliated the bankrupt rulers of the Ottoman Empire, it was clear that for Asia to recover, a vast intellectual effort would be required.

Pankaj Mishra, author of From the Ruins of Empire, explores the historical fallout of the end of the Qing, Ottoman and Mughal empires with historian and filmmaker Michael Wood. (See Pulse’s review of Mishra’s book)

Paulo Freire Interview: Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Paulo Freire’s last public interview, given to Literacy.org in 1996. Freire is most famous for his work The Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

A History of Syria

Dan Snow travels to Syria, for the BBC’s This World series, to see how the country’s fascinating and tumultuous history is shaping the current civil war.

Salman Rushdie on Midnight’s Children

In the following interview, recorded in 1983, Salman Rushdie speaks about his book Midnight’s Children, winner of the Booker Prize in 1981 and the Best of Booker award in 2008.

Life and Debt

Life and Debt is a 2001 American documentary film directed by Stephanie Black. It examines the economic and social situation in Jamaica, and specifically the impact thereon of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank’s globalization policies. Its starting point is the essay A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid.*

Continue reading “Life and Debt”

Egalite for All: Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution

 

For more on this topic, you can listen to the audio lecture, by Paul Foot, titled The Haitian Slave Revolt or you can purchase a copy of the most famous scholarly work on the topic C.L.R. James’s Black Jacobins (more books on Haiti).

Greece: The Hidden War

Greece: The Hidden War is a 1986 television documentary series about the background to the Greek Civil War. The series, which explores the contribution of British policy and actions to the civil war, gave rise to the biggest uproar in the history of British television: the series was banned, all but one copy destroyed, and letters were written to major newspapers in defence of Britain for months afterwards. Continue reading on Wikipedia.

Activist Trip to Liberated Syria

Highlights from the trip  organized by SAC, where a group of young activists visited parts of liberated Syria in December 2012 to deliver aid and form relationships with civilian activists on the ground.