Spokesman Books

The first of our "Projecting Peace" talks is on Wednesday 2nd February 2011 at 3pm. To be held in Room SR 2.06A, The Old Mining Building , Leeds University. Speakers include: Kate Hudson (Gen Sec CND) and Ashley Wood (Consultant and Project Manager for 'Making Peace' Nobel Peace Prize anniversary exhibition International Peace Bureau, Geneva) All are welcome. *** 'Last year we applied for and were awarded a small grant from the British Association for a project to bring academics and others together around the theme of “Projecting Peace”. The proposal grew from a concern that advocates of peace are often accused of being out of touch with the harsh realities of political life and human nature and are often caricatured as well meaning visionaries who simplistically and ineffectually dream of a return to a non-violent golden age. In the face of such criticisms, we propose to establish a network for “Projecting Peace” - to provide an interdisciplinary forum for ex...

Key Words: A Journal of Cultural Materialism Key Words is committed to developing the tradition of cultural materialism derived from the founding analysis of culture and society in the work of Raymond Williams. The journal provides a forum for radical thought on history and politics, and explores the role of literary, media and cultural forms in the contemporary global era. Each issue addresses a selected theme of relevance to the arts, media, politics and everyday life. Further details can be found on the Raymond Williams Society website. Issue 8 , Labouring-Class Writing , has just been published and is available to buy now from Spokesman Books (£15). CONT ENTS: Editors’ Preface Guest Editors’ Introduction: Retrieval and Beyond: Labouring-Class Writing Tim Burke and John Goodridge Brute Strength: Labouring-Class Studies and Animal Studies Donna Landry Close Reading Yearsley David Fairer Not So Lowly Bards: Working-Class Women Poets and Middle-Class Expectations Florence Boos Genre...

Hobson’s Imperialism presented by Jeremy Corbyn MP, Alex Callinicos and Nathaniel Mehr Wednesday 12th January , 7pm at Housmans , 5 Caledonian Road, King’s Cross,London, N1 9DX £3 entrance, redeemable against purchase This January, Spokesman Books will be re-publishing J.A. Hobson's 1902 classic Imperialism: A Study . Hobson's book was among the first to explore the links between political economy and imperial expansion. It inspired a number of Marxist critiques of imperialism, and was quoted extensively in Lenin's famous pamphlet, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism . The new edition will feature an introduction by Nathaniel Mehr and a foreword by Jeremy Corbyn MP. At the event Jeremy Corbyn and Nathaniel Mehr will be joined by Professor Alex Callinicos, who has written extensively on economics and imperialism, to discuss the significance of Hobson's book in today's world.

The Praxis Centre, Leeds Metropolitan University and Leeds City Council Peace Links Group present: The 2011 Olof Palme Memorial Peace Lecture Olof Palme, World Interests - and what Wikileaks tells us about diplomacy as an institution Century by Professor Johan Galtung Johan Galtung is founder and Director of TRANSCEND - A Peace and Development Network for Conflict Transformation by Peaceful Means, with more than 300 members from over 80 countries around the world and Rector of TRANSCEND Peace University (TPU). Professor Galtung has published more than 1000 articles covering a wide-range of fields, including peaceful conflict transformation, deep culture, peace pedagogy, reconciliation, development, peace building and empowerment, global governance, direct structural and cultural peace/violence, peace journalism, and reflections on current events, and more than 100 books translated into dozens of languages. The lecture will take place at Leeds Civic Hall on Sunday 23rd January from ...

The Levellers and the English Revolution by H.N. Brailsford and edited by Christopher Hill NOW at the festive price of £12.50 post-free 'To our generation fell the good fortune of re-discovering the Levellers. To the classical liberal historians they meant rather less than nothing. This neglect is puzzling. At the crisis of the English Revolution it was from the Levellers and not from its commanders that the victorious New Model army derived its political ideas and its democratic drive.' H.N. Brailsford. 'One can see why Brailsford devoted to the the Levellers the last years of his dedicated life. He thought of this book not as a mere history, but as a profoundly political study, which would convey a message from him to the younger generation.' CHRISTOPHER HILL For more information about Brailsford's seminal work and other relevant titles, please visit: http://www.spokesmanbooks.com/acatalog/The_Levellers.html 736 pages Indexed

The London Session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine By Frank Barat and Michael Mansfield QC Countless United Nations Security Council and General Assembly resolutions have been passed and violated; The Goldstone Report has been attacked and dismissed and the recent UNHRC fact finding Mission on the Freedom Flotilla incident, condemning Israel’s actions in the strongest possible terms, has been rejected as biased by Israel and was hardly mentioned in the higher spheres of the UN. The reason most often given to explain this lack of political action being that ‘it will harm the peace process.’ We are made to believe that the Israel/Palestine conflict is a never ending one and that, when it comes to this issue, International Law is irrelevant. But civil society knows better. This conflict is about International Law and nothing else. Not harming the peace process means not harming more than 17 years (from the Oslo agreement in 1993 until now) of settlement building, bombing, murder an...

INVITATION The Russell Tribunal on Palestine is an International People’s Tribunal created by a large group of citizens involved in the promotion of peace and justice in the Middle East. It was launched in Brussels in March 2009, and held its first public session in Barcelona a year later, when the Tribunal found European Union member states in breach of international and internal European Union law with respect to protecting the human rights of Palestinians. The Tribunal will hold its second public session in London at the Law Society in Chancery Lane during the weekend of 20-21 November. The theme of this session is Corporate Complicity in Israel’s Violations of International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law. You are cordially invited to attend. Places are limited so we recommend early registration to avoid disappointment. Tickets cost £15 each and are valid for both days . Please advise when registering if you will be attending only on one day. It will then be pos...