“[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 [...] Tag Archives: Pluto Press UK
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
Ra´ad, Basem L. Hidden Histories: Palestine and the Eastern Mediterranean. 2010. Pluto Press. UK& USA.
This very readable account of regional history from ancient times to the present gives a clear picture of how western ideas and Zionist culture have ignored and distorted the complex real history of the people of Palestine. Ra´ad also brings his scholarship to bear on the connection between falsifies history and present day injustice to the indigenous Palestinians. Although he writes about the specific situation that centuries of colonization have created in Palestine, he also points out that, “metaphorically speaking half the world is still Read more [...]
Comments Off on Ra´ad, Basem L. Hidden Histories: Palestine and the Eastern Mediterranean. 2010. Pluto Press. UK& USA.
Filed under Basem L Ra'ad, Book Reviews
Qumsiyeh, Mazin B. Popular Resistance in Palestine: A History of Hope and Empowerment. 2010. Pluto Press. UK & USA.
“…the reality is that popular resistance in Palestine developed indigenously, organically, naturally and beautifully. And it has accelerated in the past two decades.”
Qumsiyeh is a committed activist and academic in Palestine; this is his third book. I know of the many activities he organizes and participates in; his energy is amazing. Grounded in the present situation of struggle against the occupation, he also has the scholarly skills to present an excellent history of the role of non–violent struggle in Palestine´s continuing Read more [...] Comments Off on Qumsiyeh, Mazin B. Popular Resistance in Palestine: A History of Hope and Empowerment. 2010. Pluto Press. UK & USA.
Filed under Book Reviews, Mazin B Qumsiyeh
Mehta, Vijay. The Economics of Killing: How the West Fuels War and Poverty in the Developing World. 2012. Pluto Press, UK.
“…the military–industrial model can be replaced by adopting equitable policies for Disarmament, Demilitarization and working for sustainable development thus ending the cycle of violence and poverty.”
Mehta exposes the spiralling cycle of militarism that underlies the economic crisis that rocked the world in 2008. Mainstream economists ignore the burden and wastefulness of the military economy when they attempt to explain the economic crisis. Mehta makes it clear that we are trapped in a wasteful killing–based economy that deifies all Read more [...]
Comments Off on Mehta, Vijay. The Economics of Killing: How the West Fuels War and Poverty in the Developing World. 2012. Pluto Press, UK.
Filed under Book Reviews, Vijay Mehta
Litvinoff, Miles and John Madeley. 50 Reasons to Buy Fair Trade. 2007. Pluto Press. UK.
“The mainstream trading system is failing the poor. Fair Trade offers partnership in place of exploitation.”
Beyond the general response when people ask why one should support fair trade – something that I usually sum up as a better life for producers and an opportunity for consumers to challenge the bottom line mentality of ruthless global corporations, this useful volume offers some very specific reasons and specific details of more general reasons.
Fair Trade has been growing spectacularly in both quantity and variety of goods Read more [...]
Comments Off on Litvinoff, Miles and John Madeley. 50 Reasons to Buy Fair Trade. 2007. Pluto Press. UK.
Filed under Book Reviews, John Madeley, Miles Litvinoff
Kovel, Joel. OVERCOMING ZIONISM: Creating a Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine. 2007. Published by Between the Lines. Toronto ON & Pluto Press, USA & UK.
´This book is absolutely fundamental for those who reject the unfortunate confusion between Jews, Judaism, Zionism and the State of Israel –– a confusion which is the basis for systematic manipulation by the imperialist power system. It convincingly argues in favour of a single secular state for Israelis and Palestinians as the only democratic solution for the region.´ Samir Amin, director of the Third World Forum
Joel Kovel is one the most original and creative thinkers in contemporary USA. His previous books range on subjects from racism Read more [...] Comments Off on Kovel, Joel. OVERCOMING ZIONISM: Creating a Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine. 2007. Published by Between the Lines. Toronto ON & Pluto Press, USA & UK.
Filed under Book Reviews, Joel Kovel
Hamilton, Clive. Growth Fetish. 2004. Pluto Press UK and USA.
There is much to like about this book – from the quirky title to the cover quote by Noam Chomsky, “Right on target and badly needed”, to the opening quote, “All great truths begin as blasphemies”, by George Bernard Shaw and to the final closing line by the author, “Nothing is inevitable and no power is invincible”. So after a session of reading very ho-hum works that I couldn’t recommend anyone buy, I was happy to dig into this economics made-easy and action made possible new book from Australia.
When I was in Brazil for the Read more [...]
Comments Off on Hamilton, Clive. Growth Fetish. 2004. Pluto Press UK and USA.
Filed under Book Reviews, Clive Hamilton
Halper, Jeff. An Israeli in Palestine: Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel. 2008. Pluto Press, UK.
“As I did when I was involved in the civil rights and anti—war movements in the USA in the 1960s, I today stand with the oppressed, the Palestinians…a struggle for freedom, justice and human rights that is truly global.”
When Jeff Halper spoke recently on a cross—Canada tour, he concentrated on Israeli government policies and their devastating effect on Palestine. He told us about the resistance campaigns of the organization he directs [Israeli Committee against House Demolitions (ICAHD), a group of Israeli & international volunteers Read more [...] Comments Off on Halper, Jeff. An Israeli in Palestine: Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel. 2008. Pluto Press, UK.
Filed under Book Reviews, Jeff Halper
Francis, Diana. RETHINKING WAR AND PEACE……..ETC. 2004. Pluto Press. UK and USA.
A Greek philosopher once said “How will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is totally unknown to you?”
That is the problem of thinking and writing about peace and probably why people write about war and anti-war, not peace. But this writer, Diana Francis is admirably qualified to write about peace. Her sole credential is that she is a lifelong peace activist. She does not seek credibility thorough professional status or titles. Now a grandmother, Francis dates her activism back to her teens. Then she was the child of Read more [...]
Comments Off on Francis, Diana. RETHINKING WAR AND PEACE……..ETC. 2004. Pluto Press. UK and USA.
Filed under Book Reviews, Diana Francis
Cook, Jonathan. BLOOD AND RELIGION: THE UNMASKING OF THE JEWISH AND DEMOCRATIC STATE. Pluto Press, 2006. London, UK.
This book presents the background information that plainly shows that Israel´s much promoted image as a “benevolent democratic state” no longer has credibility at home or globally.
There are many reasons for this including the treatment of the Palestinian minority who live behind a ´glass wall´. Cook writes, “The glass wall like –like the “iron wall” is designed to intimidate and silence its captive Palestinian population; but unlike the iron wall it conceals the nature of the subjugation…”Thus Israel has tried through Read more [...] Comments Off on Cook, Jonathan. BLOOD AND RELIGION: THE UNMASKING OF THE JEWISH AND DEMOCRATIC STATE. Pluto Press, 2006. London, UK.
Filed under Book Reviews, Jonathan Cook
Baroud, Ramzy. My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story. 2010. Pluto Press, London, UK.
Ramzy Baroud is the founder and editor of www.palestinechronicle.com an online news service and he has written several books about Palestine. This new book is the story of just one man, not famous or particularly special — only special in that he is Ramzy´s father and that through the story of his life, the tragedy of Gaza is revealed.
He was probably born in 1938 to poor farmers in the village of Beit Daras in Palestine, (see: www.palestineremembered.com) a village with a long history and important archaeological sites NE of Gaza City. Read more [...] Comments Off on Baroud, Ramzy. My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story. 2010. Pluto Press, London, UK.
Filed under Book Reviews, Ramzy Baroud
Baroud, Ramzy. THE SECOND PALESTINIAN INTIFADA: a Chronicle of a People´s Struggle. 2006. Pluto Press, London, UK.
This book fulfills its title´s promise; it is an informative, engrossing, readable and moving history; a chronicle in the best sense of a period and place for which we have had little news or analysis that is not filtered by the aggressors of Palestine and their friends worldwide.
In their foreword, Kathleen and Bill Christison write that, “The Palestinian—Israeli conflict has gone beyond being a mere political problem, beyond the stuff of cool debate. It is a human disaster that can no longer be treated with dispassion… The Israeli Read more [...] Comments Off on Baroud, Ramzy. THE SECOND PALESTINIAN INTIFADA: a Chronicle of a People´s Struggle. 2006. Pluto Press, London, UK.
Filed under Book Reviews, Ramzy Baroud
