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For a century the war dead have been honoured with Red Poppies on
Remembrance Day. The Poppy is part of a cult of death that
celebrates the slaughter of the 'Great War' of 1914-18. The Poppy
and the Remembrance Day ceremony turn grief to sanctify war. Here
we expose the truth about the First World War, and about the
century of militarism that followed. The war was not fought to make
the world safe, but out of hatred and imperial greed. In the
hundred years since the end of the First World War, Britain's
military ventures have continued to wreak havoc across the world.
The Poppy is a symbol of British militarism, not a badge of peace.
Sixty million people died in the Second World War, and still they
tell us it was the Peoples War. The official history of the Second
World War is Victors History. This is the history of the Second
World War without the patriotic whitewash. The Second World War was
not fought to stop fascism, or to liberate Europe. It was a war
between imperialist powers to decide which among them would rule
over the world, a division of the spoils of empire, and an iron
cage for working people, enslaved to the war production drive. The
unpatriotic history of the Second World War explains why the Great
Powers fought most of their war not in their own countries, but in
colonies in North Africa, in the Far East and in Germanys hoped-for
Empire in the East. Find out how wildcat strikes, partisans in
Europe and Asia, and soldiers mutinies came close to ending the
war. And find out how the Allies invaded Europe and the Far East to
save capitalism from being overthrown. James Heartfield challenges
the received wisdom of the Second World War.
After West Indian slavery was abolished in 1833, the campaign
turned to the wider world and the goal of Universal Emancipation.
Veteran agitators Joseph Sturge, Lord Brougham and John Scoble
launched the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society at a world
convention in 1840.Throughout its long history the British and
Foreign Anti-Slavery Society was instrumental in framing Britain's
diplomatic policy of promoting anti-slavery -- a policy that
projected moral authority over allies and rivals, through naval
power and international tribunals.The BFASS pushed for, and
prepared the 1890 Brussels conference that divided Africa between
the European powers, on the grounds of fighting Arab slavers. The
Society was torn between its belief in the civilising mission of
Europeans, and its brief to protect Africans. Rubber slavery in the
Belgian Congo, indentured 'coolies' in the Empire, and forced
labour in British Africa tested the Society's goals of civilising
the world.This first comprehensive history of the Society draws on
120 years of anti-slavery publications, like the Anti-Slavery
Reporter, to explain its unique status as the first international
human rights organisation; and explains the Society's surprising
attitudes to the Confederate secession, the 'Coolies', and the
colonisation of Africa.
One hundred years ago, Easter 1916, Irish revolutionaries rose
against the British Empire proclaiming a Republic from the steps of
the General Post Office in Dublin. The men and women of the Easter
Rising were defeated by the overwhelming force of the British Army,
in five days of intense fighting. Their leaders were executed. But
the Easter Rising lit a fire that ended with the whole country
turning against Westminster's rule, and founding a nation. But
today, the heirs to the Irish state are embarrassed about 1916.
They are ashamed that their state owes its origins to a revolution.
Along with academics and other commentators in the press and on
television they dismiss the Rising as the work of violent fanatics,
and the defeat of constitutional politics. Who's Afraid of the
Easter Rising? explains why today's Dublin elite are recoiling from
the origins of their state in a popular struggle. Where the critics
paint the Rising as an armed conspiracy, we explain that it was in
fact a revolt against war; not a militaristic upsurge, but the
first challenge to the awful slaughter of the First World War. The
Statesmen of Europe sacrificed millions upon the altar of war.
Their recruiting sergeants in Ireland, Edward Carson and John
Redmond sent 200,000 Irishmen into the slaughter and nearly 50,000
were killed. The Easter Rising drew a halt to British recruitment,
and the blow to the Empire was the first crack in a growing revolt
against the war, followed by the Russian Revolution in 1917, and
the German revolution the following year - which ended the
conflict. The Easter Rising was an inspiration to those who were
challenging the Empires of Europe, from India to Vietnam, from New
Zealand to Moscow; it was an inspiration to British activists like
John Maclean and Sylvia Pankhurst; and it was an inspiration to the
Irish men and women who rose up against British rule to free their
nation.
Europe is in crisis, but the European Union just gets stronger.
Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ireland have all been told that they
must submit their budgets to EU-appointed bureaucrats. The 'soft
coup' that put EU officials in charge of Greece and Italy shows
that the Union is opposed to democracy. Instead of weakening the
European Union, the budget crisis of 2012 has ended up with the
eurocrats grabbing new powers to dictate terms. Over the years the
forward march of the European Union has been widely misunderstood.
James Heartfield explains that the rise of the EU is driven by the
decline in political participation. Without political contestation
national parliaments have become an empty shell. Where once elites
drew authority from their own people, today they draw authority
from the European Union, and other summits of world leaders. The
growth of the European Union runs in tandem with the decline in
national politics. As national sovereignty is hollowed out,
technocratic administration from Brussels fills the void. This
account of the rise of the European Union includes a full survey of
the major schools of thought in European studies, and a valuable
guide to those who want to take back control.
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