One Day Without Us
- October 15, 2016
- by
- Matt
Being a writer isn’t always the most dramatic kind of life. Unless you’re out researching in the field, most of the drama takes place inside your head, and most of your day is spent looking at a computer. This is pretty much how it was for me until the last day of the Tory party conference in Birmingham. It would be something of an understatement to say that I had’t really enjoyed the proceedings. Most of the time I tried to ignore them, but this became increasingly difficult, as politician...
Oscar Martinez: A History of Violence
- July 28, 2016
- by
- Matt
Many years ago, in 1993 I visited the bombed out ruins of the town of Aguacayo, the former ‘capital’ of the FMLN-held liberated zone in Guazapa Province during much of El Salvador’s 12-year civil war. It was just only one year after the guerrillas had disarmed in the town as...
Freaky Friday
- June 25, 2016
- by
- Matt
In the Jamie Lee Curtis comedy Freaky Friday, a mother and teenage daughter wake up to find themselves trapped in each other’s bodies as a result of a magic spell. Yesterday I underwent a similar but even more disturbing transformation. On Thursday night I dreamt that Remain had won the referendum. Early on Friday...
Murder in Farageland
- June 19, 2016
- by
- Matt
The brutal murder of Jo Cox has added a seemingly random note of tragedy and horror to this appalling, dispiriting and utterly venal Referendum campaign. And the brave and dignified words of Cox’s husband and sister have only shown us how low we have allowed ourselves to sink during this wretched process.
Anti-intellectualism; complete disregard...
Interview for In These Times
- June 16, 2016
- by
- Matt
The Left Must Put Refugees and Migration at the Heart of Its Politics
Mathew Carr rebukes Europe”s inhumane and fear-fueled response to the refugee crisis.
Tom Ladendorf
The current refugee crisis is the worst that Europe has seen since World War II, and in many countries, it remains in the political center stage. As Syrian and other refugees...
Stand Up to Racism Tomorrow
- March 18, 2016
- by
- Matt
Tomorrow Stand Up To Racism is staging a national demonstration in London to coincide with UN Anti-Racism Day, which commemorates the 1960 Sharpeville massacre when 69 peaceful demonstrators were shot by police in South Africa. Tomorrow’s demonstration takes place at a critical period in European history, when racism, xenophobia, and hatred towards foreigners...
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