Donkeyshott & Xuitlacoche

I believe Yasser Arafat would have approved a one-state solution. I wrote this at the time of Arafat's death. I republished it as Hamas was given a voters' mandate to carry the torch of Palestine into the next stage, in conditions of extreme difficulty...and now again, as Israel has gone from bad to mad. In mourning the death of Yasser Arafat, let me quote extracts from an article by Jonathan Steele in the Guardian Weekly in which he gets the historical context exactly right, in explaining Arafat's greatness:"In the days when Britain was being forced to give up one colony after another, the phrase 'father of the nation' was much in vogue. Julius Nyerere in Tanzania, Archbishop Makarios in Cyprus, and Kenneth Kaunda in Zambia were among the many who won this informal title, not just from journalists in search of a label but, more importantly, from their own people. As teachers, clerics or trade unionists who became political leaders, they were seen as the chief

Immediately after liberation the French people were in a condition of exhaustion and demoralisation. The urgency and magnitude of the problems to be solved were so appalling that there was a general mood of apathy and despair. The Communists did a great deal at this crucial time to put heart into the French workers. They gave a militant lead through the trade unions in carrying out emergency and salvage work, repairing railway lines, rolling tock, locomotives, bridges, roads and factories, restarting production in the mines and so forth. From there they went straight on to becoming the driving force behind reconstruction. In the New York Herald Tribune in July 1946 Mr Joseph Alsop [he and his brother Stuart were two very prominent and in/famously right-wing journalists] gave his impressions of the situation in France, based on his own investigations on the spot. French reconstruction, he explained, hinged on the Monnet plan, worked out by Jean Monnet (who was the first Deputy General

Letter to the Editors, New York Review of Books, November 2005 Alan Ryan's review of Tony Judt's history of post-war Europe, and perhaps the book itself, are partial in both main meanings of that word. The review lingers on eastern Europe, and gives short shrift to the evolution of European unity, from its origins in the "pointless" Coal and Steel Community to a United States of Europe "not remotely in prospect". There is no mention of what EC/EU membership has done for Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Greece... It is consistent with this partiality that Slobodan Milosevic should get all the blame for "the breakup of Yugoslavia and the nastiness that followed" and the Germans in Bonn be totally exonerated, although their recognition of Croatia and Slovenia so clearly pointed the way to that nastiness, by leaving Serbia/Yugoslavia out of the equation. Alan Ryan writes: ..."it is hard to believe that [Hans-Dietrich] Genscher in 1991 could have persuad

Letter to the New York Review of Books About Adam Hochschild's interesting and valuable account of the big Congo exhibition in Belgium… (In the Heart of Darkness, NYRB, 6 October 2005)...He describes how: "Again and again, both the Royal Museum's exhibit and its catalogue pass glancingly over the darker side of an aspect of the Congo's history, and then stress its benign side. " [what benign side is that, by the way?]… This is so recognisable, as the way revisionists everywhere are emboldened these days to recast African colonial history – let alone ignore the existence of post-independence neo-colonialism and its relentless savaging of some African leaders of real quality and courage, like Lumumba and numerous others, in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Africa is once again some dark generalised landmass. The only difference is that these days, you feel sorry for it. Along with the cry "Make Poverty History" goes the Impoverishment of History. The evidence that

At the end of a series of exchanges on the SA Debate network, in late August 2003, I put the question: What can be done, in any constructive sense, about the serious malaise in ANC policy, and ANC leadership? I said I would do another, a final note, outlining the dream that I have been having. It went something like this...The ANC executive, SG Kgalema Motlanthe, Treasurer Mendi Msimang and others, with other tripartite alliance leaders, call a huge indaba, a big, big bosberaad of all the leadership, including senior stalwarts...Invite the likes of Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale, Matthews Phosa ...Ask them to leave any (justifiably) resentful and (understandably) bruised political egos at the door, along with their inflated business personas, so their charisma, great ability and energy can be redirected to help a revival of the national political project rather than a corporate/enrichment project.Bring in the mobilising and analytical powers of those such as Jay Naidoo, and Pallo Jorda

Tony Hall writes: on the eve of Jacob Zuma's next court appearance, here is a selection of writings and raves back to 2003, mostly my own, on how victimising and villainising the man has damaged our body politic, which can now be healed only through the Tripartite Alliance _______________________________ This email to friends and debaters, in late August 2003, was one of the earlier warnings after leading ANC figures Jacob Zuma and Mac Maharaj came under a media spotlight beamed on “corruption”. We sent it to the ANC website itself, in a critical but loyal approach… We sing out a warning We are circulating this because we really do note there is a dangerous campaign going on. Whatever the real or apparent levels of corruption, we must keep alive to the political agenda of those knowingly doing this – and how much we are being diverted from focussing on where the real corruption liesIn the face of the present all-out media attack on leading figures, the latest attempt to sub

SOME PEOPLE make strong and important points about new frontiers and new strategies, as they run through the imperial performance of the last decade or so. Some make the usual conflations which may end up deepening fault-lines in the so vitally necessary understanding between the left and left-liberals towards a common front. An internationally esteemed left-winger, an icon, performed an odious comparison: that the US bombing raid on a Sudan medical drugs factory killed more people than the Twin Towers outrage. Ouch… One debater conflates/equates the US forces landings in Somalia at the height of the internal chaos there, with US counterinvasion of Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War. It's not at all obvious, in either the Iraq 91 or the Somalia cases, that the immediate motive behind these was to extend control to secure resources and markets for imperialism. Some power with the capacity had to go in and drive the Iraqis, quickly and firmly, out of Kuwait. The UN is of course not geared for