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“There’s a Need to Be Hopeful”: The Radical Beats of Radio 4
It’s a rare thing to find a group of musicians who are willing to stick to their guns like Radio 4 has. Independently minded, with an eclectic sound and lyrics that eloquently call for radical social change, they have spent the better part of a decade carving out a niche for themselves. Not an easy […]
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The World Is Worth Fighting For: The Legacy of Joe Strummer
Annual Fundraising Appeal Friends of MRZine and Monthly Review! The continuing existence of MRZine and Monthly Review depends on the support of our readers. Unlike many other publications, we make all new Monthly Review articles, as well as MRZine articles, available online, free of charge. We do so without drawing any advertising money at all […]
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The Poet and the Tyrant: Victor Jara’s Music and the Brutal Legacy of Pinochet
Annual Fundraising Appeal Friends of MRZine and Monthly Review! The continuing existence of MRZine and Monthly Review depends on the support of our readers. Unlike many other publications, we make all new Monthly Review articles, as well as MRZine articles, available online, free of charge. We do so without drawing any advertising money at all […]
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All Towers Crumble: Should We Mourn the Loss of the Megastore?
The massive grief for Tower Records is staggering. Since the announcement that it would be liquidating and selling to Los Angeles-based Great American Group, music fans and journalists alike have been dreading the moment when the super-chain will be closing its doors; a moment which will arrive any day now. Anyone who passes by a […]
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In Support of Piracy: Up against Hollywood, Record Execs, and . . . Boy Scouts
The “Scout Law” of the Boy Scouts of America reads “a scout is true to his family, Scout leaders, friends, school, and nation.” And now they’ve apparently added “Paramount, Sony, EMI, Warner Brothers, and Walt Disney” to that list. An October 20th press release from the Motion Picture Association of America announced that it has […]
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A Marxist Poet: The Legacy of Gillo Pontecorvo
Pauline Kael, the American film critic, once said that Gillo Pontecorvo was the most dangerous kind of Marxist: a Marxist poet. When the Italian film director died last week at the age of 86, he had not made a full-length feature in over twenty-five years. Yet the potency of Pontecorvo’s firebrand poetry can still be […]
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Poet, Playwright, and . . . Radical?The Politics of Shakespeare’s Plays
Shakespeare. Undeniably one of the most well-known names in the world. His plays are performed all over the planet in several different languages, and his collected works are read by millions (if not, in fact, billions) of people. Thousands of theatre companies around the world are dedicated to his work and he is taught as […]