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.

For the Law of the Powerful over the Weak

Gunfire, torture until death, rape on a mass scale, artillery, aerial bombardment, targetting of hospitals, bakeries and petrol lines, and now scud missiles. A boy in Aleppo describes the effects of the latter.

A legend in inception

Here’s a wonderful 21 year old recording of Rage Against the Machine. By the end of the decade they were already a legend, and retired. Tom Morello, the guitarist, has since founded Audioslave, which became a rock legend in its own right, and Nightwatchman, his solo act. But two decades on, political art has yet to be bettered.

Royal Bodies

Here’s the lecture by two-time Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel that’s causing all the controversy. For the full text, visit London Review of Books.

Seize the Time: The Eighth Defendant

Black Panther founder Bobby Seale is raising money for a biographical film which will tell the story of his life, the Panthers, and the wider anti-racism struggle in America in the 60s and 70s. It sounds like a very worthwhile project. Full details, and how to donate, can be found here.

Syria’s Peace: What, How, When?

Fawaz Gerges and Rosemary Hollis in conversation with Pulse editor Robin Yassin-Kassab.

Saturday Night Live does the Hagel Hearings

For some reason, SNL did not broadcast this.

Upheaval in Souls, Bodies, Imaginations

Christopher Lydon of the wonderful Radio Open Source interview joins the great Lebanese novelist Elias Khoury for a stimulating discussion on art, politics and literature.

CAIRO — Elias Khoury is the sort of novelist we rely on to tell us what is going on. Himself of Lebanese and Christian antecedents, he wrote Gate of the Sun (1998), a stylized and much-admired fictional account of the Palestinian naqbah or “catastrophe” from 1948 to the infamous Sabra and Shatillah massacres in Lebanon in 1982. Writing, he remarks, is his means of discovering his ignorance and overcoming it.

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.