Pluto Press - Independent Progressive Publishing

Marx Reloaded – Laurie Penny and others at the ICA

plutopress — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:30:55 +0000

To mark the release of the film Marx Reloaded, Laurie Penny, author of Penny Red: Notes from the New Age of Dissent, will be joining Paul Mason, Robin Blackburn and Jason Barker at the Institute of Contemporary Arts on the 15th February to discuss the issues raised in the film.

Marx Reloaded features “a stellar array of philosophers” and promises “an electrifying examination of the contemporary relevance of Karl Marx’s ideas for understanding the current global social and economic crisis.” Watch the trailer here:

Visit the ICA for more information about the event and to book tickets.

As well as Laurie’s book, Pluto Press has a great range of accessible and innovative books by and on Marx. Here are our top recommendations…

Penny Red

Notes from the New Age of Dissent

Laurie Penny. Foreword by Warren Ellis

Selected writings from a prominent voice of the new activist left. Reflections on being young, broke and angry in the twenty-first century.

“Cuts, sexism and riots, Laurie Penny’s fresh and angry voice captures the moment and the important issues – highly recommended.” – Polly Toynbee

“Penny is re-inventing the language of dissent, delivering verbal taser-barbs to the left and right, and causing apoplexy among the old men in cardigans who run the British blogosphere.” – Paul Mason, economics editor of BBC’s Newsnight

~~£12.99~~ only £11.50 on the Pluto site

The Communist Manifesto

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Introduction by David Harvey

Beautiful edition of Marx and Engels’ classic manifesto, introduced by renowned social theorist David Harvey.

“The greatest charter of our movement.” – Rosa Luxemburg

“An integral and systematic exposition of [Marx's] doctrine … the best to this day.” – Lenin

~~£8.99~~ only £8.00 on the Pluto site

Marx’s ‘Capital’ – Fifth Edition

Ben Fine and Alfredo Saad-Filho

‘This expert guide to the political economy of Marx’s Capital has always been the very best available.’ – David Harvey

“This expert guide to the political economy of Marx’s Capital has always been the very best available. … It is thoroughly recommended not only for beginners but to anyone interested in the applicability of Marxian theory to the parlous condition of contemporary capitalism.” – David Harvey, author of Limits to Capital and The Condition of Postmodernity

“For almost thirty years, Marx’s Capital has provided an invaluable introduction to Marx’s great work. … It should be compulsory reading for all serious students of economics.” – Professor Simon Clarke, University of Warwick

~~£12.99~~ only £11.50 on the Pluto site

How to Read Marx’s Capital

Stephen Shapiro

Clear and comprehensive guide to one of Marx’s greatest works, Capital, written in a highly accessible style.

~~£14.99~~ only £13.00 on the Pluto site

Magical Marxism

Subversive Politics and the Imagination

Andy Merrifield

Breathes new life into the Marxist tradition, applying previously unexplored approaches that reveal vital new modes of political activism and debate.

“Andy Merrifield is original, erudite, politically alive and readable. And above all, this book will be (in strictly the first sense of the term) thought-provoking!” – John Berger, novelist and critic

“Andy Merrifield brings us a Marxism that is ‘warmer’ than most recent forms, Marxism as it might have been imagined by DH Lawrence or one of the great Latin American novelists. He wants us to reimagine Marxism without bureaucracy and without commissars. If we can get deep into the ideas themselves, they can be a life force for us. Andy helps us see how Marxism can make us more authentic human beings.” – Marshall Berman, author of All that is Solid Melts into Air

~~£17.99~~ only £16.00 on the Pluto site

Marx and the Alternative to Capitalism

Kieran Allen

An accessible and comprehensive overview of the ideas of Karl Marx that elucidates his theories and suggests crucial alternatives to capitalism.

~~£16.99~~ only £15.00 on the Pluto site

Drafting a popular constitution in Ireland – Peadar Kirby and Mary P. Murphy in the Irish Times

plutopress — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:57:46 +0000

Dublin, November 2010: Protest against spending cuts and tax increases

Writing in the Irish Times, Peadar Kirby and Mary P. Murphy, authors of Towards a Second Republic: Irish Politics after the Celtic Tiger, comment on the failure of the Irish government to put forward proposals for constitutional reform:

The March 2011 programme for government promised a constitutional convention “to consider comprehensive constitutional reform” and to report within 12 months. Yet, the virtual silence on the idea in the intervening period sends signals that rewriting our Constitution is seen as being of little importance to Government and Opposition alike.

Kirby and Murphy draw on examples from Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Iceland of popular participation in constitutional reform to make their case for a similar approach in Ireland:

All these processes involved extensive public consultation. In each of them, the constitution that resulted was broadly progressive, guaranteeing a range of not just civil rights but also social and cultural rights, as well as introducing innovative environmental rights in the cases of Bolivia and Ecuador.

In the case of Venezuela, the new constitution has become a popular document, sold at street kiosks and carried around by citizens in paperback format who refer to it to claim rights from the state. Each of the Latin American cases has also introduced a range of democratic mechanisms to enhance greater accountability by public officials, including the possibility of revocatory elections, while in Iceland provision has been made for referendums if requested by 10 per cent of voters.

Visit the Irish Times to read the article in full.

Towards a Second Republic

Irish Politics after the Celtic Tiger

Peadar Kirby and Mary P. Murphy

Analyses Ireland’s economics, politics and society, drawing lessons from its cycles of boom and bust. Proposes new institutions for a fairer Ireland.

“A very important, timely and relevant contribution to the ongoing debate about Ireland’s future and the type of Republic we should aspire towards. Their argument that we must move forward informed by republican values of equality, interdependency and sustainability is both refreshing and compelling. This accessible book should help ignite active public debate. A very welcome addition to Irish political discourse.” – Eamon Gilmore, Tánaiste and Leader, Irish Labour Party

“Kirby and Murphy have marched out on the battleground of ideas, asking how our political economy can be reformed. Indeed, they are demanding it. We may be arriving a little late on the scene to question the form of modern capitalism, but the recent crisis has opened up the space for this debate. This is a work of scholarship written with the public in mind. Its contribution is delivered in a true and new republican fashion.” – Eamon Ryan, Leader, Irish Green party

~~£17.99~~ only £16.00 on the Pluto site

‘Intense disappointment’ – Khaled Ahmed on the official report into the death of Syed Saleem Shahzad

plutopress — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:30:12 +0000

Pakistani journalists protest following the death of Syed Saleem Shahzad

The official commission of inquiry into the death of the journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad has concluded that it does not know who was responsible for his murder. Shahzad’s courageous investigative journalism made him an enemy of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI). Many of his findings are contained in his book, Inside Al-Qaeda and the Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11, published just days before his death.

Writing in Newsweek Pakistan, Khaled Ahmed writes that “the reaction from the journalist community has been one of intense disappointment”:

One commission member, PFUJ’s Pervaiz Shaukat, told an audience in Islamabad toward the end of the commission’s work that the journalists who could have given damning evidence either absented themselves from the inquiry or submitted statements that refrained from deposing against the ISI, the main accused in the case.

Ahmed comments on the arguments put by the ISI in their deposition to the commission:

The ISI told the commission that Shahzad kept his contact with them to the last, which, they said, proved he did not feel threatened by the agency! Their assertion that Al Qaeda could have killed Shahzad was backed by their taped conversation with another journalist, Hamid Mir, who “condemns Saleem Shahzad [as] being a dubious case [and] laments Americans for their extraordinary interest in this case.” The ISI sought to prove that Al Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri and his agents, whom Shahzad’s reports revealed as his main sources of information, could have killed him.

The commission could have ignored this self-exoneration. In his deposition, Ali Dayan Hasan, who represents Human Rights Watch in Pakistan, said Shahzad “had been threatened by the ISI at the Oct. 17 meeting at ISI headquarters in Islamabad with the director-general of the media wing of the ISI, Rear Adm. Adnan Nazir, and another ISI official, Cmdr. Khalid Pervaiz.” Hasan says Shahzad took Admiral Nazir’s parting comments—“I must give you a favor. We have recently arrested a terrorist and recovered a lot of data, diaries and other material during the interrogation. The terrorist had a hit list with him. If I find your name in the list, I will certainly let you know”—as a threat.

Ahmed concludes:

The chapter on another death is thus closed. Shahzad joins a host of journalists who died in Pakistan’s killing fields. Their killers lost without a trace.

Visit Newsweek Pakistan to read the article in full.

Inside Al-Qaeda and the Taliban

Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11

Syed Saleem Shahzad

A unique insight into the post-Osama bin Laden generation of Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders from a journalist who interviewed many of them.

“This is a disturbing book. … Shahzad considers the strategies of al-Qaeda and other radical Islamist movements in terms that are not often heard.” – The Times

“Buy Shahzad’s book. It tells us what the Pakistani government, whose corruption and brutality Shahzad died to expose, does not want us to know.” – Charles Glass

~~£17.99~~ only £16.00 on the Pluto site

Left Eye on Books picks ‘Dark Matter’ as book of the year

plutopress — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:30:48 +0000

In a review of ‘the Year in Left Books’, the Left Eye on Books blog picks Gregory Shollette’s Dark Matter: Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture as their favourite book of 2011:

Sholette begins in the early ’80s, discussing an effort he was involved in to create an archive of political art. Both a history and a theoretically ambitious work, Sholette develops a theory of the mass of artists, mostly not legitimated by the commercial world, as the “dark matter” of culture. Although not honored, their work is necessary for the production of the art that is monetarily valued. Now, in part because of the new technologies, it is becoming more difficult to keep the “dark matter” hidden. He also considers the way practices of political art have changed as the traditional, bureaucratic, coherent project of the old left has given way to the new politics of the multitude. It’s impossible to do justice to the work in this space, but suffice it to say that this was perhaps my favorite book of the year.

Visit Left Eye on Books to read the post in full.

Dark Matter

Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture

Gregory Sholette

Shows that the elite of the art world are sustained by new forms and styles created by artists outside the mainstream.

“With great verve and urgency, Gregory Sholette explores the economics of contemporary art production in an era of neoliberalism, and outlines the promises and pitfalls of various tactics of resistance. Dark Matter is a salient call-to-arms to all cultural laborers.” – Julia Bryan-Wilson, author of Art Workers: Radical Practice in the Vietnam War Era

“Based on a multitude of examples from the heterocosmos of invisible art practices, Dark Matter is the ultimate companion to contemporary activist art. In his exquisite and theoretically informed style Gregory Sholette investigates the problematic functions of art practices in the processes of neoliberal appropriation, but above all the wild, explosive and deterritorializing lines that are drawn in the dark matter between art and politics.” – Gerald Raunig, philosopher and art theorist and author of Art and Revolution

~~£17.99~~ only £16.00 on the Pluto site

The London Philarmonic and freedom of expression

plutopress — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:00:42 +0000

David Renton

A guest post by David Renton, author of the forthcoming Struck Out: Why Employment Tribunals Fail Workers and What Can be Done and barrister at Garden Court chambers in London.

The Guardian reported on Friday the case of Sarah Streatfeild, a violinist of 25 years’ standing with the London Philarmonic Orchestra (LPO), who was suspended after signing an open letter calling on the Proms to cancel a performance by the LPO’s Israeli counterpart.

It appears from the reports that the case has been framed in terms of Ms Streatfeild’s rights as a humanist, not to suffer discrimination. But it will be interesting to see whether (assuming her case does come to court) Ms Streatfeild goes further and relies in her case on the protection on freedom of expression provided by article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Convention has until now made relatively little dent in employment law. One obvious area of contrast is the policing of terrorism suspects, where in 2004, the House of Lords defied the government in holding that the European Convention outlawed the indefinite detention of foreign nationals in Belmarsh (A and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department).

It is the same picture in family law, where judges relying on the Convention overturned a decades-old convention against cross-examining children who accused adults of physical or sexual harm (Re W). In housing law, meanwhile, the Convention has been used to give tenants protection against eviction, even in cases where legislation seems to have been written with the intention that certain kinds of tenant would have no defence to claims for possession (Manchester v Pinnock).

One of the reasons Employment Tribunals have lagged behind is the pure happenstance that the first cases involved workers who were accused by their employer of serious misdoing, and relied on the Convention to bolster what were essentially weak unfair dismissal claims. One high-profile case involved a worker for a charity working with young offenders who was cautioned by the police after being caught having sex with another man in a toilet, and hid his caution from his employer. Another involved a probation officer, whose duties included the treatment of sex offenders, who in the evenings and at weekends was a director of an organisation selling sex toys and organising bondage-themed events.

Judges were extremely cautious to be seen pushing the law forwards in cases which they perceived to involve the rights of marginal groups, and where the purpose of the claimants’ lawyers was to challenge areas of employment law (such as the question of when a dismissal is unfair) which have been repeatedly litigated, and where their legal answers are generally perceived to be relatively clear.

An increasing number of cases however involve conduct by employers which on the face of it breaches workers’ rights – whether, as in Ms Streatfield’s case, her right to freedom of expression; or, as in other cases presently before the Tribunal system, the rights of blacklisted construction workers.

The Convention, it seems, is becoming an increasingly important part of ordinary employment law.

Struck Out

Why Employment Tribunals Fail Workers and What Can be Done

David Renton

“‘How can employers and the government argue that employment rights are a burden on business at the same time as so many workplace injustices go unremedied? In the context of a debate over employment law reform that is in danger of being overwhelmed by rhetoric and misinformation, this book will be essential reading for its empirically grounded and dispassionate analysis of what has gone wrong and how it might be put right.’” – Simon Deakin, Professor of Law at the University of Cambridge.

“‘Employment law in this country isn’t written for working people’ -
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard that at union meetings. But when you’re the person victimised at work, then we all hope Employment Tribunals will deliver us justice. With this excellent step-by-step explanation of how the system works in reality, David Renton explains why it so rarely does. Blacklisted workers have experienced the process first-hand and know this book is true.

“- Dave Smith, Blacklist Support Group

~~£19.99~~ only £17.50 on the Pluto site

Launch event for ‘The Economics of Killing’

plutopress — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:00:44 +0000

The Economics of Killing

How the West Fuels War and Poverty in the Developing World

Vijay Mehta

“We live in a rich world and yet increasingly people are getting caught in the poverty trap and facing real hardship and pain. Vijay Mehta’s excellent book sets out the problems and solutions, and challenges us all to create the spiritual and political will to implement policies which will bring about real change and give hope to humanity.” – Mairead Maguire, Irish peace activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner.

“The Economics of Killing brilliantly links the deepening economic crisis facing the West with the dynamics of militarism that is wreaking havoc on the planet. Everyone who cares about the future must read this groundbreaking book.” – Richard Falk, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for the Palestinian Territories, Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, USA

~~£14.99~~ only £13.00 on the Pluto site

Voices from the global 99% – new books from Pluto Press in January

plutopress — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 09:00:11 +0000

A common theme runs through our new books this month. From community organisation in the slums of Manila in Eradicating Extreme Poverty, to oil and violence in the Niger Delta in The Scramble for African Oil, to resource struggles and peasant rebellion in Bolivia in Flammable Societies, our books provide vivid examples of the lives and hopes of the global 99%, and suggest new progressive global policies in the face of economic crisis and climate change.

Eradicating Extreme Poverty

Democracy, Globalisation and Human Rights

Edited by Xavier Godinot. Foreword by Christopher Winship

“This gem of a book gets under the skin of poverty. Years accompanying poor people in four countries in their daily struggle for survival reveal a world far more complex and fascinating than the $1-a-day platitudes of the conventional aid debate. Above all it shows the human reality of poverty: the endless struggle for respect, and against indignity and stigma. Read it to learn what development should be about.” – Duncan Green, head of research, Oxfam Great Britain

“This important publication argues convincingly that extreme poverty is a human rights crisis that demands urgent commitments from states to respect, protect and fulfil human rights for all. The book highlights the importance of engaging individuals directly as advocates for change to address extreme poverty in their own communities and for their fellow citizens.” – Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International

~~£19.99~~ only £17.50 on the Pluto site

The Scramble for African Oil

Oppression, Corruption and War for Control of Africa’s Natural Resources

Douglas A. Yates

“Essential reading for anyone seeking an understanding of the ‘resource curse’, the global exploitation of Africa’s resources and the troubled state of African politics. Drawing on a detailed knowledge of the region, Douglas Yates does a remarkable job of exposing the predatory forces responsible for the continuing impoverishment of Africa’s oil states – while also celebrating those heroic African figures who have resisted the onslaught.” – Professor Michael T. Klare, Hampshire College, Massachusetts and author of Resource Wars

“Yates brilliantly scales the walls of the oil fortress in Africa and shines a light into the complex politics – local, national and global – of the oil and gas industry and offers some insight into possible routes out of the swamp of failed oil-development.” – Professor Michael Watts, University of California, Berkeley

~~£19.99~~ only £17.50 on the Pluto site

Flammable Societies

Studies on the Socio-economics of Oil and Gas

Edited by John-Andrew McNeish and Owen Logan

Critical assessment of the impact of the oil and gas industry on socio-economic development across the world. Draws on original research.

“In their important book, McNeish and Logan take issue with conventional wisdom by reading the varied experiences of petro-states in the northern and southern hemispheres against one another to explode the overly simplified sense of good and bad oil governance. At the heart of these empirically rich and conceptually innovative contributions is a sensitivity to the intersection of petro-state power with territoriality and forms of sovereignty, a heady mix of forces which can produce inflammable political outcomes. Flammable Societies unsettles the field of oil studies by fusing visual, textual, historical and ethnographic approaches into a powerful whole. A path-breaking book.” – Michael Watts, Class of 63 Professor, University of California, Berkeley

“This collection offers fresh insights into the social relations of communities in which oil and gas are produced – from Scotland to Russia and Nigeria – and of resistance to oil-fuelled power. It challenges lazy, catch-all concepts about oil-producing economies and raises the standard of academic debate.” – Simon Pirani, Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and author of Change in Putin’s Russia

~~£25~~ only £22.50 on the Pluto site

Video trailer for Ben White’s ‘Palestinians in Israel’

plutopress — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:00:01 +0000

“We’re proud in Israel that over 1 million Arab citizens of Israel have been enjoying these rights for decades.” – Benjamin Netanyahu

“Nationality status in Israel is not linked to origin from, or residence in a territory, as is the norm in international law. Rather, the basic theocratic character of the Israeli legal system establishes ethnic criteria as the grounds for the enjoyment of full rights.” - Miloon Kothari, former UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing

“Many people will concede that the military occupation of non-citizens for over 40 years is undemocratic. Yet, inside the pre-1967 borders, Israel is far from the “liberal democracy” central to the propaganda, in areas like land, planning, housing, immigration and state budgets. Rhetoric and policies associated with the far-right in Europe – like an obsession with “demographics” and birth rates, or boosting one kind of population in a given area to counterbalance an “undesirable” minority – are mainstream in Israeli politics.” – Ben White

Visit Al-Jazeera to read an exclusive extract from Ben’s new book Palestinians in Israel: Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy.

Palestinians in Israel

Segregation, Discrimination and Democracy

Ben White. Foreword by Haneen Zoabi

Argues that Israel’s insistence on declaring itself a Jewish state leads to discrimination, segregation and a guarantee of continued conflict.

“This book debunks convincingly and forcefully the myth of Israel being ‘the only democracy’ in the Middle East. As this book shows, the treatment of the Palestinians in Israel is the ultimate proof that the Jewish State is anything but democratic.” – Professor Ilan Pappe, University of Exeter and author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine and Out of the Frame

“Essential reading to understand why there can never be peace unless Palestinian citizens of Israel are granted full equality, something they are systematically denied by Israel’s aggressive, and increasingly unrestrained Zionist ethnocracy.” – Ali Abunimah, Co-founder of Electronic Intifada, author of One Country

~~£14.99~~ only £13.00 on the Pluto site

Israeli Apartheid

A Beginner’s Guide

Ben White

Indispensable introduction to the Israel/Palestine conflict, examining the current structures of Israeli domination.

“A very strong and clear voice that does not shun from exposing in full, and in a most accessible manner, the essence of Zionism and Israeli policies in Palestine. In a world confused by competing narratives, disinformation and fabrication, this book is an excellent guide for understanding the magnitude of the crimes committed against the Palestinians and the nature of their present suffering and oppression.” – Professor Ilan Pappe, University of Exeter, Israeli historian and author of ‘The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine’ (2007)

“This book deals rationally and cogently with a topic that almost always generates considerable heat even just with book titles. The reader may not agree with everything that White asserts but it is a highly commendable effort to throw light on a fraught subject.” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

~~£9.99~~ only £8.50 on the Pluto site

After Kim Jong Il: Transition and change on the Korean peninsula

plutopress — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:03:45 +0000

Tim Beal

A guest post by Tim Beal, author of Crisis in Korea: America, China and the Risk of War

With the death of Kim Jong Il and the accession to power, nominal and perhaps actual, of Kim Jong Un, many have been asking what change this will make to DPRK policy towards the outside world, and in particular towards foreign business.

The short answer is that in the short to medium term, none.

More important is whether this is the right question to ask. It implies that the barriers to peaceful engagement, and to greater business interaction, lie on the North Korea side. That is not so. It is the United States which has erected sanctions against the DPRK, and cajoled others (but China only to a limited degree) to follow. It is South Korea under Lee Myung-bak that has carried out a hardline, confrontational policy towards the North, reversing the policy of his immediate, and not so immediate, predecessors. Interestingly the Korea Times has just published a strong attack on his policy from, by all people, the advisor to Roh Tae-woo, the last of the generals to run South Korea.

So the question should be, will there be a change of North Korea policy by the US and South Korea, and how would the North react? We can presume that China and Russia will continue as before and be anxious to promote peace and stability. The United States is difficult to read but with a presidential election coming up the chances of a peaceful initiative are slight. One of the problems of the American presidential system is that peace does not win votes for an incumbent presidential candidate but war – the famous ‘October surprise’ – might rally electors around the flag. However, a war in Korea would be a war with China and that, we can hope, would put it outside a calculated strategy (though not perhaps a miscalculation).

However, it is in South Korea that things look more promising. Lee Myung-bak is constitutionally now a lame duck president whose term of office comes to an end in February 2013. His popularity has slumped and it is not clear whether he will leave the conservative Grand National Party (GNP) or the party will leave him. And GNP frontrunner Park Geun-hye, the daughter of another general, Park Chung-hee, is struggling against the probable opposition candidate Ahn Cheol-soo.

In the meantime, despite all Lee Myung-bak’s efforts to close it down, the Kaesong Industrial Park, the symbol of North-South economic cooperation, continues to thrive. Far short of its true potential, no doubt, but still a potent reminder of the benefits of peaceful cooperation.

It seems unlikely that there will be much improvement in North-South relations while Lee Myung-bak is in office. There is deep antipathy towards him in Pyongyang for his hostile policy and most recently for his studied insults on the death of Kim Jong Il. However, in the 2012 election we can reasonably hope that South Korea will move towards a new policy, dropping confrontation with the North and working towards gradual, peaceful, consensual, and mutually beneficial unification. By that time we can anticipate that Kim Jong Un will be confident enough to respond positively and indeed push the process along vigorously.

If that happens then the Americans will find it difficult to block progress and we might well see a rapid improvement in the geopolitical environment on the Korean peninsula. That would provide an opening for foreign business and those that had already got a toe in the door would be well positioned to realise the opportunities.

This piece was originally written for the newsletter of Beijing-based Korea Business Consultants, a company specialising in business with North Korea. To subscribe to their newsletter contact info@kbc-global.com.

Tim Beal is currently working on a couple of extended essays on the transition on North Korea and the geopolitical situation on and around the Korean peninsula. For more information visit: http://www.timbeal.net.nz/Crisis_in_Korea/

Crisis in Korea

America, China and the Risk of War

Tim Beal

Balanced and deeply informed study of the increasingly volatile relations between North and South Korea and US concern about the rise of China.

~~£19.99~~ only £17.50 on the Pluto site

North Korea

The Struggle Against American Power

Tim Beal

This book demystifies North Korea by looking beyond the ‘axis of evil’ label.

“Timely, important, and provocative. A useful corrective to the stereotypes and misinformation that pervade ‘conventional wisdom’ about North Korea.” – Professor Charles Armstrong, Director, The Center for Korean Research, Columbia University. Author of The North Korean
Revolution, 1945-1950

“As with other official enemies of the United States, there has been a steady campaign of demonization against North Korea by US officials that has all too eagerly been lapped up by the US media, obscuring the real issues of US North Korean disputes and peaceful means of getting beyond them. In this corrective, Beal (Victoria U. of Wellington, New Zealand) provides a short history of Korea and US – Korean relations – up to the genesis of the current nuclear impasse sparked by the George W. Bush administration – in a treatment is significantly more even handed than the vast majority of what Americans read or her. He then turns to key themes and topics, including human rights and international aid, charges of involvement with illegal drugs trafficking and terrorism, and, finally, the nuclear issue. The work concludes with recommendations for US policy, suggesting that good faith negotiations are likely to be successful because North Korea desperately hopes to normalize relations and can’t pose much of a threat to the United States in the first place.” – Reference & Research Book News, May 2006

~~£21.99~~ only £19.50 on the Pluto site

‘A rare ability to capture the mood of the moment’ – Darcus Howe on Penny Red

plutopress — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:30:49 +0000

In a special edition of Press TV’s Epilogue programme dedicated to Penny Red: Notes from the New Age of Dissent, Darcus Howe argues that the book displays “a rare ability to capture the mood of the moment, she [Penny] is able to transform the people she interviews into living characters…We are on the cusp of radical change in Britain and Laurie Penny is in the vanguard of it.”

You can watch the show, which features Darcus and Occupy London activist Spyros van Leemnen discussing the book here:

Penny Red

Notes from the New Age of Dissent

Laurie Penny. Foreword by Warren Ellis

Selected writings from a prominent voice of the new activist left. Reflections on being young, broke and angry in the twenty-first century.

“Cuts, sexism and riots, Laurie Penny’s fresh and angry voice captures the moment and the important issues – highly recommended.” – Polly Toynbee

~~£12.99~~ only £11.50 on the Pluto site