TONIGHT ON THE TERRORDOME: Tariq Ali on Culture Against Empire

-
FM 88.5 Edmonton
www.cjsr.com worldwide
6 pm Mountain time

Last week on the show, we heard my exclusive conversation with internationally renowned radical activist, film-maker and author Tariq Ali.

Tonight on The Terrordome, we’ll hear the closing keynote Ali delivered at the Parkland Institute Conference in Edmonton on Sunday, November 16, on how culture and art are critical to challenging the political and socially suffocating power of the Empire.

Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Ali lived in exile since the 1960s to opposition to Pakistan’s then-military dictatorship. A longtime editor at the New Left Review, Tariq Ali has authored and edited numerous books on history and politics including the classic The New Revolutionaries and the recent The Clash of Fundamentalisms which investigates US power and its role in the creation of global terrorism, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of Hope on the progressive wave sweeping Latin America.

A novelist, Ali has published four books of his “Islamic Quintet" which portray Islamic civilisation counter to Western orthodoxy, and the first two volumes in his "Fall of Communism" trilogy. Tariq Ali has also written stage- and screenplays, and he is currently writing an opera about the late Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini. His most recent book is The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight of American Power.

Along the way, he discussed several authors and poets includingAbdur-Rahman Munif, Naguib Mahfouz, Mahmoud Darwish and Nizar Qabbani.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mazisi Kunene's “Thoughts on June 26 (South African Liberation Day)”

-
My friend and colleague Gwen Becker pointed out to me how this brilliant poem by South African writer Mazisi Kunene could be read not only in a voice of defiance, but of profound ambivalence. "Was I wrong when I thought All shall be avenged? Was I wrong when I thought The rope of iron holding the neck of young bulls Shall be avenged? Was I wrong When I thought the orphans of sulphur Shall rise from the ocean? Was I depraved when I thought there need not be love There need not be forgiveness, there need not be progress, There need not be goodness on the earth, There need not be towns of skeletons, Sending messages of elephants to the moon? Was I wrong to laugh asphyxiated ecstasy When the sea rose like quicklime When the ashes on ashes were blown by the wind When the infant sword was left alone on the hilltop? Was I wrong to erect monuments of blood? Was I wrong to avenge the pillage of Caesar? Was I wrong? Was I wrong? Was I wr
Read more

Why Tom Zarek Was Right

-
Image
Tom Zarek: Underserved by the otherwise excellent writers. Most of the anti-Gaeta sentiment I've heard is empty chatter, calling Gaeta "a coward" or "power mad" or "a weasel." Gaeta knew less than viewers know about Cylons, and from his perspective, indeed, from any logical human perspective of a character in the story, the mutiny and coup were logical responses to: a) a tyrannical presidential-military cliqu e that based its pursuit of Earth on what was originally a flat-out lie b) the centralisation of power in an unelected president ruling by cynical religious manip ulation which drifted into self-deluded fundamentalist zealotry and a messiah-complex c) an Executive who nearly succeeded in stealing an election d) a miltary strong-man who himself overthrew civilian rule, ruled by nepotism, undermined criminal inquiries he himself launched, and made clear he would overthrow any government he opposed e) a civilian-military clique of master-race Cap
Read more

One of the many reasons we need African teachers in classrooms--we can see excellence in African students that most European teachers totally miss

-
Image
These days I'm thinking, writing, and doing plenty about the need for Africentric education. Below find an e xcerpt from my novel THE ALCHEMISTS OF KUSH , soon to be republished by MVMedia , based on one of my experiences as a teacher of some very smart young African men whose intelligence at discussing, analysing, and writing about literature no non-African teacher had ever bothered to notice or encourage. If you want to read a study of 157,000 US kids explaining why kids of all racial backgrounds preferred African and Latinx teachers to European settler teachers, well, I've got one for you right here . If you'd rather read the short NPR summary, I've got you covered . And now, on with the show: “You two kill me!” said Moon that same night at the Hyper-Market. “I’m really disappointed with you!” Raptor and Jackal, staring at feet, floor, walls, anything. “Well?” pressed the older man. “Brother Moon, what difference does it make?” said Jackal. “We’re still gonna
Read more