Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
Pedagogy vs brainwashing
MICHAL BONCZA recommends a compact volume that charts the art of propagating ideas across the 20th century
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PAUL FOLEY is disappointed by a production that encourages the audience to laugh at rather than with the characters
Odysseus’s homecoming myth is treated as a factual story, with strong resonances for our contemporary world. This is an implicit anti-war film that has an urgent relevance, writes JOHN GREEN
The Star's critics ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARTIN HALL, MICHAL BONCZA, ANGUS REID reviews Holy Cow, One to One: John and Yoko, King of Kings, Panda Bear in Africa
PATRICK JONES recommends a vital anthology from Afghan and Iranian poets where the political and personal fuse into witness-bearing and manifesto-making
WILL STONE is impressed by Hania Rani who is already making a name for herself in the male-dominated world of modern classical music
MIK SABIERS enjoys the theatrical feminist six piece who have a lot of fun that the audience feeds off as the set rolls on
Propagandopolis
Bradley Davis, Fuel, £24.95
WERE you to start a conversation about propaganda you’ll probably never hear the end of it with all parties “propagating” ad nauseam their take on it.
Its etymology is in the Catholic Church’s doctrine Congregatio de Propaganda Fide (Congregation for Propagating the Faith) made public in 1622 which was essentially a blueprint for dealing with the Reformation — to put it simply: to delay, at all costs, the political advance of the ideas of nascent capitalism.
During and after the advent of the French revolution in 1789 the term was extended to secular activities. In the English language it acquired a derogatory meaning in the 19th century, while in other languages it retains neutral or positive connotations.
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