Monthly Archives: September 2012
Kovel, Joel. HISTORY and SPIRIT: An Inquiry into the Philosophy of Liberation 1991. Beacon Press. USA.
This is a book I read and reviewed in 1991. I recently re-read it and still find it to be an important and profound work that confronts me with many questions about my journey through life and the society I live in.
History is a concept we can all understand, even though it has shades of meaning. Spirit and spirituality are difficult terms, used loosely in many ways, so Kovel is careful to start the book with his own definitions: spirit, “what happens to us at the as the boundaries of self give way. Or we could say that it is about the ´soul,´ Read more [...]
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Kollwitz, Kathe. PRINTS AND DRAWINGS OF KATHE KOLLWITZ selected by Carl Zigrosser. 1969. Dover Book, General Publishing Co. Toronto, Canada.
When the Cold War was at its most virulent, abstract artists in the USA were funded secretly by their government. The official line was that art is not political. Art classified as ´social realism´ was considered politically suspect if not darn right subversive and communist. So the art of Kollwitz was brushed aside along with Ken Sprague as outdated and unfashionable. This book may be out of print but is well worth looking for; other works about her are also available in English and German. I like this book because it is large format Read more [...] Comments Off on Kollwitz, Kathe. PRINTS AND DRAWINGS OF KATHE KOLLWITZ selected by Carl Zigrosser. 1969. Dover Book, General Publishing Co. Toronto, Canada.
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Kneen, Brewster. Farmageddon: Food and the Culture of Biotechnology. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, BC, Canada. 1999.
Personal, scientific, philosophical and moral expose of the chemical industries control of modern agriculture. An elegant and moving writer.
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Kiguli, Susan N. & Violet Barungi. I DARE TO SAY: 5 testimonies by Ugandan women living positively with HIV/AIDS. 2007. Femrite Publications, Kampala, Uganda.
It is rare to find accounts and personal stories of Africa and HIV/AIDS that are not told through the filter of northern white liberals; I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning first hand about African women´s experiences with AIDS and the way in which people react to this illness.
The authors are Ugandan women writers who know the women they write about. They also understand the obstacles, the hardships, the cultural attitudes and family problems that surround HIV. Although HIV/AIDS was publicly identified very early Read more [...] Comments Off on Kiguli, Susan N. & Violet Barungi. I DARE TO SAY: 5 testimonies by Ugandan women living positively with HIV/AIDS. 2007. Femrite Publications, Kampala, Uganda.
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Kent, George. FREEDOM FROM WANT: the human right to adequate food. 2005. Georgetown University Press, USA.
Freedom from want; the right to adequate food is included in many international agreements, most notable, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There is enough food for all on earth, even as our population increases. But many people are hungry; food security may be the major issue of our time. Some of us enjoy the over-abundant food availability of the minority world; but we may soon face food insecurity as the petroleum basis of our industrial agriculture dries up. Then the human right to adequate food may not be ’out there’, but ’right Read more [...]
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Kelly, Kathy. OTHER LANDS HAVE DREAMS: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison 2005. CounterPunch & AK Press, USA &UK.
“...This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrines.
But other hearts in other lands are beating,
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine. ...”
Words by Lloyd Stone set to O, Finlandia by Jean Sibelius
This song was translated so that Iraqi children in the Baghdad School of Folk Music and Ballet could sing it for the author. After the school was ransacking, following the USA invasion, the tape of this song was all that survived of the school. Kelly heard it and remembered.
She Read more [...] Comments Off on Kelly, Kathy. OTHER LANDS HAVE DREAMS: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison 2005. CounterPunch & AK Press, USA &UK.
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Keefe, Patrick Radden. CHATTER: Uncovering the Echelon Surveillance Network and the Secret World of Global Eavesdropping. Random House.
With all the publicity surrounding Wiki leaks´ technology, management and the revelation of many governments´ secret documents, we should not forget that our private communications are regularly hacked and monitored by a sophisticated system of spying posts and satellites by our government and others -using our tax money to fuel this clandestine industry.
Echelon is the network that the USA/UK has created to spy on any electronic or telephone message they choose. Menwith Hill in Yorkshire, England is one of the largest spy stations, known to Read more [...]
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Karmi, Ghada. IN SEARCH OF FATIMA: A Palestinian Story. Verso 2002 London, UK.
This is a poignant and sad memoir, and a vivid description of the life of one of the many Palestinians displaced by the “Nakba”, told by a woman torn from her childhood Jerusalem home with her family, forced into a permanent exile that was promised to be brief – the first of countless betrayals for her and many Palestinians.
We never set eyes on Fatima or our dog or the city we had known again. Like a body prematurely buried, unmourned, without coffin or ceremony, our hasty, untidy exit from Jerusalem was no way to have said goodbye to Read more [...] Comments Off on Karmi, Ghada. IN SEARCH OF FATIMA: A Palestinian Story. Verso 2002 London, UK.
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Kaldor, Mary. New & Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era. Polity Press, Cambridge, UK. 1999.
The UK academic shows the links between militarism, globalization, crime and the breakdown of society in this well documented book.
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Jones, Esyllt and Adele Perry. PEOPLE´S CITIZENSHIP GUIDE: A response to conservative Canada. 2012. Arbeiter Ring Publishing. Winnipeg, MN, Canada.
“Canada has a capitalist economy which means that the bulk of decisions are made by private, for–profit firms hiring wage labour…The Canadian economy is an unequal one… Since the 1980s Canada has become more liberal and less equal. Its tax system is less progressive.”
Intended for recent immigrants as a response to the official citizenship guide which lauds Canada´s military history and the monarchy, this book is a little gem which should be read by all Canadians. A group of Canadian academics, activists and writers have produced a Read more [...]
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Johnsson—Latham, Gerd. A study on gender equality as a prerequisite for sustainable development. The Environmental Advisory Council, Ministry of the Environment, Sweden.
This is a booklet, readily available from the above site. It gives, in absolutely simple, jargon—free English the clearest and best written analysis of women´s place in the physical environment I have ever read. The author illustrates how, wherever they are, women consume less than men, even as those of us in the minority world consume far more than the majority of the world´s population. She also explains how crucial it is, that these different consumption patterns need to be taken into account in any planning of sustainable development. Read more [...]
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Johnson, Harriet McBryde. Too Late to Die Young, Nearly True Tales from a Life. Henry Holt, New York, 2005.
Surprisingly little has changed in “fitness” circles since the Washington Post first asked, “Who are the unfit?” and then pointed out that the “unfit” tended to be anyone not belonging to the particular group having the discussion.
In the ninety-one years since the Post posed the question, those belonging to the groups having such discussions have managed to do away with a considerable number of those “under discussion”. Unfortunately, the question behind the “who are” question was too frequently, “And what are we going Read more [...]
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