Marshall Berman interviewed in the New Statesman on All That is Solid Melts into Air

Marshall Berman talks to Jonathan Derbyshire in the New Statesman about the new edition of All That is Solid Melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity:

It was the end of the postwar boom and also the end of the New Left. One of the things I wanted to say was that even though we had lost in the short run, we were going to win in the long run. I wanted the book to convey that, but I didn’t want to say it in a soapbox way. I wanted to create a vision of the world in which there were still possibilities. And that was different from a lot of 20th-century left-wing visions according to which, basically, life is over.

Read the full article here.

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Tariq Ali in the Guardian on South of the Border

In today’s Guardian Tariq writes about how he became involved with Oliver Stone in the making of his new film South of the Border.

Almost a year and a half ago I received a phone call from Paraguay. It was Oliver Stone. He had been reading Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of Hope, my collection of essays on the changing politics of Latin America, and asked if I was familiar with his work. I was, especially the political films in which he challenged the fraudulent accounts of the Vietnam war that had gained currency during the B-movie years of Reagan’s presidency.

Read the full article here.

In the run-up to the film’s general release, Verso recommends the following titles:-

THE BOOK THAT INSPIRED THE FILM:

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Axis of Hope – Tariq Ali

The book that inspired the film. Tariq Ali’s examination of the Latin American revolution against US hegemony, based on his first-hand experience of Venezuela and meetings with Hugo Chávez. He also discusses Fidel Castro, President of Bolivia Evo Morales and President of Ecuador Rafael Correa.

INTERVIEWED IN THE FILM:

Changing Venezuela by Taking Power – Greg Wilpert

In this rich and resourceful study, Greg Wilpert exposes the self-serving logic behind much middle-class opposition to Venezuela’s elected leader, and explains the real reason for their alarm. He argues that the Chávez government has instituted one of the world’s most progressive constitutions, but warns that they have yet to overcome the dangerous spectres of the country’s past.

Hugo Chávez Presents Simon Bolivar – The Bolivarian Revolution

The President of Venezuela introduces this short collection of writings by the revolutionary Simon Bolivar – Chávez’s main influence for what he calls his Bolivarian Revolution.

Tariq Ali Presents Fidel Castro – The Declarations of Havana

The renowned writer, film maker and activist introduces key writings by Fidel Castro.

Also available:

Revolutionary Horizons: Popular Struggle in Bolivia – Forrest Hylton and Sinclair Thomson.

Che: A Graphic Biography – Spain Rodriguez.

Evil Hour in Colombia – Forrest Hylton.

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Wu Ming’s Manituana reviewed by Boyd Tonkin for the Independent

Boyd Tonkin reviews the new paperback edition of Manituana by Wu Ming in the Independent:

First known as “Luther Blissett”, Bologna’s fiction-writing collective return with a stylish, atmospheric and provocative saga set in British America in the years prior to the white-settler uprising of 1776.

There’s the rub: turning received ideas on their head, as ever, Wu Ming evoke the coming rebellion mostly through the eyes of the Mohawk nation loyal to George III, the “Great English Father”.

At the core of a sweeping, narrative, bursting with colour and character, stands the real-life war chief, Joseph Brant, stalwart but doomed in his defence of a threatened culture and society.

Quite how the Italian mavericks (here beautifully translated by Shaun Whiteside) conjure fiction of this strength and nuance from a collective remains a puzzle. But long may their drums beat.

Wu Ming are coming back to London to speak at Cafe Oto on 11 October and the British Library 13 October – details to come…

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