Review by Theresa Wolfwood
“This book is intended to provide Canadians and international public opinion with tools to help it ask critical questions about Canadian activities in the south and in Eastern Europe, as well as about the role of the Canadian government in relation to these activities.”
This meticulously documented analysis- really an exposé - provides the background and historical context for Canada’s role in supporting the exploitation by mining industries around the world. What Liberia is to shipping companies, Read more [...] Category Archives: Book Reviews
Alain Deneault and William Sacher . Imperial Canada Inc. Legal Haven of Choice for the World’s Mining Industries 2012. Talonbooks, Vancouver, Canada
Review by Theresa Wolfwood
“This book is intended to provide Canadians and international public opinion with tools to help it ask critical questions about Canadian activities in the south and in Eastern Europe, as well as about the role of the Canadian government in relation to these activities.”
This meticulously documented analysis- really an exposé - provides the background and historical context for Canada’s role in supporting the exploitation by mining industries around the world. What Liberia is to shipping companies, Read more [...] Comments Off on Alain Deneault and William Sacher . Imperial Canada Inc. Legal Haven of Choice for the World’s Mining Industries 2012. Talonbooks, Vancouver, Canada
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Alibhai-Brown, Yasmin.THE SETTLER’S COOKBOOK: A Memoir of Love, Migration and Food. 2008. Portobello Books. London, UK. ISBN 978-1-84627-083-3
Review by Theresa Wolfwood
In her dedication the author thanks her mother for the gifts of “mettle, a wakeful conscience...and a precious supply of inventive recipes that tell our story.”
This very personal and frank autobiography shows how well the author, a writer, teacher and mother, has used these gifts to make a life for herself and her family in England after she is forced, along with thousands of others of Asian descent, to leave Uganda when Idi Amin came to power.
Alibhai-Brown needed the nettle to overcome the vicissitudes Read more [...] Comments Off on Alibhai-Brown, Yasmin.THE SETTLER’S COOKBOOK: A Memoir of Love, Migration and Food. 2008. Portobello Books. London, UK. ISBN 978-1-84627-083-3
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Amiry, Suad. SHARON AND MY MOTHER-IN-LAW: Ramallah Diaries. Granta Books. 2005. London, UK
It is hard to imagine that there can be humour about and in a brutal war and occupation, but Amiry proves me wrong and shows again the amazing resilience of the Palestinian people. As someone else once said about her tragic life, “if I can´t laugh about it, I will cry all the time”. Maybe humour helps one through the bad times — certainly it helped Amiry cope with her somewhat senile mother—in—law who worries about potted begonias, the garbage and marmalade in the middle of an Israeli invasion.
“The diaries, which span 1981-2004, Read more [...] Comments Off on Amiry, Suad. SHARON AND MY MOTHER-IN-LAW: Ramallah Diaries. Granta Books. 2005. London, UK
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Andreas, Joel. Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can’t Kick Militarism 2003, AK Press, USA
I am addicted to reading, but rarely do I read comics. I'm glad I read this comic book with a difference it says a lot more and says it better than many weighty tomes I wade through. Andreas is focussed on the real problem- addiction to militarism. This dogma not only occupies the minds of general and presidents in the USA, but it grips nearly all politicians everywhere and the minds of most people. We rarely question the idea that there are alternatives to war – other ways to settle conflicts – and most important to change the conditions Read more [...] Comments Off on Andreas, Joel. Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can’t Kick Militarism 2003, AK Press, USA
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Arab Group for the Protection of Nature. SIXTY ONE PORTRATS TO THE RYTHM OF HATIKIVA: Some of the Israeli Massacres in Palestine.
Illustrated by Marwa Al-Najjar. Introduction by Razan Zuayter. 2009. Published by the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature. www.apnature.org Amman, Jordan.
Published in commemoration of the sixty one years since the Nakba, the catastrophe which was the violent expulsion of 800,000 Palestinians from their homeland, this book gives stark outlines of some of the massacres in cities and villages all over Palestine, from 1948 right up to the massive killings during 2009 in Gaza. These are incomplete notes, intended as reminders and as a call for Read more [...] Comments Off on Arab Group for the Protection of Nature. SIXTY ONE PORTRATS TO THE RYTHM OF HATIKIVA: Some of the Israeli Massacres in Palestine.
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Archer, Colin. Whose Priorities? A guide for campaigners on military and social spending 2007. International Peace Bureau. Geneva, Switzerland.
“Even a small share of the military expenditure of the rich would, if appropriately attribute, make a substantial difference to the struggle against poverty …”
This report is the latest in an International Peace Bureau (IPB) series (see their website for information & ordering) that examines specific aspects of the obstacles and strategies on the road to peace making. It expands on the contents of War or Welfare? which IPB produced in 2005. All these publications provide useful information for activists who seek factual information Read more [...] Comments Off on Archer, Colin. Whose Priorities? A guide for campaigners on military and social spending 2007. International Peace Bureau. Geneva, Switzerland.
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Azoulay, Ariella. From Palestine to Israel: A Photographic Record of Destruction and State Formation. 1947-50. 2011. Pluto Press. London, UK
“This book reads them [photographs] in a manner that presents a new way to write history – history through photographs.”
When I was in London a few months ago, I had the good fortune to see an exhibition of the photos and text in this book at the Qattan Foundation in Earl´s Court. This book reproduced both the photos & text and the impact of these images and the explanatory words is just as powerful as the exhibition.
This is a graphic document of the transformation of one country into another; a transformation marked by treachery, Read more [...] Comments Off on Azoulay, Ariella. From Palestine to Israel: A Photographic Record of Destruction and State Formation. 1947-50. 2011. Pluto Press. London, UK
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Badami, Anita Rau. Tamarind Mem. Penguin Books, Canada ISBN: 0-14-0257414-4
Review by Sumeet Grover Tamarind Mem, a Canadian bestseller novel, is an infectious and unforgettable story of an extensively engaged childhood, family, identity, culture and its inherent oppression of women, narrated through genius storytelling. Deep inside the heart of this story is an exceptionally precise narration of Indian culture in a way that is shameless yet proud and at times humorous, just like the story's characters.
Recently moved to Calgary, where thick snow brings all noise Read more [...] Comments Off on Badami, Anita Rau. Tamarind Mem. Penguin Books, Canada ISBN: 0-14-0257414-4
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Bales, Kevin. Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. University of California Press, USA and UK.
If water is essential to human society and our global economy it seems that a vast labour pool of unprotected and dispensable workers is just as vital. If we think slavery went out a few centuries ago, it is time to think again. Slavery exists today in many forms from child labour in agriculture in much of the world to sex slavery, organized as a global business in Asia, but also the result of wars everywhere to brutal physical labour in resource extraction and manufacturing world wide. This is a depressing overview of humanity's inhumanity, but Read more [...]
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Banksy. WALL AND PIECE. 2006. Century. London UK ISBN 1844137872
Review by Theresa Wolfwood
“Copyright is for losers ™” from first page of this book
From the first page, Banksy who refuses to be identified, forcing us to react to his work, not him, is handing us up a mirror to the absurdity and evil of our society. He forces us to look at every aspect of our lives and to re-think unthinking acceptance.
Banksy is a British male who started his vocation as a ‘graffiti’ artist in Bristol.
He believes that, “A wall has always been the best place to publish your art” and he urges us to re-claim Read more [...]
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Barghouti, Mourid. I Was Born There, I Was Born Here. 2011. Bloomsbury Publishing. London, UK
Silence said:/truth needs no eloquence./After the death of the horseman,/ the homeward-bound horse/says everything/ without saying anything.
The exile longs for home, longs to say, “I was born here.” Twice the exiled Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti has been able to return to his homeland and say that instead of “I was born there”. Exiles live constantly between these realities; and for Barghouti in his second volume of memoirs he is able to put ´emotions into history´; a true sense of identity is all about emotions. He can Read more [...] Comments Off on Barghouti, Mourid. I Was Born There, I Was Born Here. 2011. Bloomsbury Publishing. London, UK
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