“[Ariel] Sharon flying over the occupied territories once remarked, “Arabs should see Jewish lights every night from 500 metres.”” Quote at beginning of chapter on settlements.
“Like all occupation, Israel´s was founded on brutal force, repression and fear, collaboration and treachery, beatings and torture chambers, and daily intimidation, humiliation, and manipulation.” Benny Morris
“We enthusiastically chose to become a colonial society…engaging in theft and finding justification for these activities.” Michael Ben-Yair
This Read more [...] Category Archives: Book Reviews
White, Ben. Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner´s Guide. 2009. Pluto Press, UK.
“[Ariel] Sharon flying over the occupied territories once remarked, “Arabs should see Jewish lights every night from 500 metres.”” Quote at beginning of chapter on settlements.
“Like all occupation, Israel´s was founded on brutal force, repression and fear, collaboration and treachery, beatings and torture chambers, and daily intimidation, humiliation, and manipulation.” Benny Morris
“We enthusiastically chose to become a colonial society…engaging in theft and finding justification for these activities.” Michael Ben-Yair
This Read more [...] Comments Off on White, Ben. Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner´s Guide. 2009. Pluto Press, UK.
Filed under Ben White, Book Reviews
White, Evelyn C. Alice Walker. W. W. Norton & Company Ltd. USA. 2004.
Despite the Hunger
Despite
the hunger
we cannot
possess
more
than
this:
Peace
in a garden
of
our own.
Alice Walker (2003)
This is more than a biography of a famous – still living and active – USA writer, poet and activist. It is a powerful history of the USA from the rare point of view of a woman, a woman of colour and an artist and social activist. The subject of the biography herself says Social Action is The Rent We Pay for Living on This Earth. All the rich and complex threads of a life lived with courage, creativity and honesty Read more [...]
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Wiles, Rich. Behind the Wall: Love, life and struggle in Palestine. 2010. Potomac Books. Virginia, USA.
“…it is a vehicle through which Palestinians themselves tell their own stories. While many people have an opinion about the Middle East, very few have actually listened to the people who have themselves suffered and struggled for more than 60 years…Palestinians have struggled…with profound dignity and humanity, while exhibiting inspirational sumoud (steadfastness).”
Wiles is a photographer and his writing is like printed photos; he is true to his words, he lets the Palestinians in these stories speak directly for themselves. Every Read more [...] Comments Off on Wiles, Rich. Behind the Wall: Love, life and struggle in Palestine. 2010. Potomac Books. Virginia, USA.
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Williams, Terry Tempest. REFUGE: An Unnatural History of Family & Place. 2002. Vintage Books.
In this beautifully written memoir of a naturalist and her love of place about the Great Salt Lake of Utah and the nearby sanctuary, the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, both essential parts of her professional life, the author describes and illuminates her experiences, insights, and reflections in stories of lyric prose. Her life is relevant to many of us who both reflect and agonize about ethics and political activism as we seek meaning and hope in our brief lives.
“It is a fertile community where the hope of each day rides on the back of Read more [...]
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Wilson, Duff. Fateful Harvest: True Story of a Small Town, a Global Industry and a Toxic Secret. Perennial/ HarperCollins Publishers. 2002. New York, USA.
“The Soil is ours to make or mar,
and we should aim to leave it
when the time comes for us to pass it on,
in as good or better condition
than when it first came under our hand.”
Seager Wheeler, famous Canadian farmer, 1919
see www.seagerwheelerfarm.org
“Topsoil is more vital to human survival than almost any other resource, for without topsoil we cannot feed ourselves.”
Michael S. Northcott, quoted in book’s introduction.
When the author was contacted by an irate small town mayor who claimed toxic elements in fertilizers Read more [...]
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Wolfwood, Theresa J. LOVE AND RESISTANCE 2014. Smallberry Press, London. UK ISBN: 978-0993031502
4 reviews
1. Review by Alan Twiggs
Theresa J. Wolfwood of Hornby Island and Victoria is the director of the Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation, a non-profit society founded in 1996 to encourage programs that promote social justice, peace, sustainability, diversity and community through research, writing, film and art. When she is not organizing events or programs to generate global awareness, Theresa Wolfwood writes poetry that frequently expresses her humanitarian concerns, often generated by her travels. A baker in El Salvador confronts Read more [...] Comments Off on Wolfwood, Theresa J. LOVE AND RESISTANCE 2014. Smallberry Press, London. UK ISBN: 978-0993031502
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Wong, David H. T. Escape to Gold Mountain. 2012. Arsenal Pulp Press. Vancouver. BC ISBN 978-1-55152-476-4
Review and author photo by Theresa Wolfwood
Classified as Juvenile Non-Fiction, this graphic novel is a recommended read for Canadians of all ages. Wong chose the graphic technique not only because he has always loved drawing cartoons, but also because this comic strip technique appeals to teenagers, his preferred readers. At a reading and talk during the Cumberland Miners’ Memorial in June, 2013, Wong said he wanted young people to understand the history of Chinese people in Canada and the USA; I found the book enlightening and Read more [...] Comments Off on Wong, David H. T. Escape to Gold Mountain. 2012. Arsenal Pulp Press. Vancouver. BC ISBN 978-1-55152-476-4
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Yeomans, Matthew. Oil: Anatomy of an Industry. 2004. The New Press. New York, USA & london, UK.
Don’t be deceived by the light and breezy style of this USA journalist – this is a serious and useful work. Single substance topics have become very popular with writers; everything from salt to saffron gets a book of its own. But few substances are as important and universal as oil and Yeomans does an excellent survey, from a USA perspective, of elaborating the significance of oil in our daily lives; he details the history, geography and geopolitics and global oil supplies and use. Whatever the USA does to satisfy its addiction to petroleum Read more [...]
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Yves Engler. THE UGLY CANADIAN: Stephen Harper’s foreign policy. 2012. RED Publishing & Fernwood Publishing. Canada ISBN978-1-55266-530-5
Review by Theresa Wolfwood
“We should be clear that foreign military inventions kill and that the Conservatives’ climate change policy is devastating many of the world’s most vulnerable.”
Engler is rapidly becoming one of Canada’s major political researchers & analysts. This is his latest of six books on topics ranging from Haiti to Palestine. His last book was an analysis of Lester Pearson’s political career and legacy.
Harper is what we have now, even if, as Engler reminds us, he only received 39% of our votes. Since taking Read more [...] Comments Off on Yves Engler. THE UGLY CANADIAN: Stephen Harper’s foreign policy. 2012. RED Publishing & Fernwood Publishing. Canada ISBN978-1-55266-530-5
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Zelter, Angie, editor. Faslane 365: a year of anti—nuclear blockades. 2008. Luath Press Limited, Scotland.
“We´re here at the gates of hell/ in the hills of Scotland…singing hope into life.”
This amazing book is a political treatise, personal journals, lively commentary, an invaluable history and a guidebook to sustained activism, all in one volume. This is a work to be read and consulted for many years by activists everywhere.
Activist Angie Zelter and her friends contemplated the weakening of the UK peace movement and its lack of energy in 2005. Instead of moaning and hand wringing they created an ambitious plan to galvanize British activists. Read more [...] Comments Off on Zelter, Angie, editor. Faslane 365: a year of anti—nuclear blockades. 2008. Luath Press Limited, Scotland.
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