JOHN McINALLY welcomes a rigorous class analysis of the history and exploitation of sectarianism by the Scottish ruling elite
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The Poet Laureate of Gaza
A remarkable posthumous collection of poetry and other writings is a tragic document of genocide, and a beacon of hope for a Palestinian future, says HENRY BELL
Refaat Alareer
[Palestinian Information Center/CC]
WILL STONE, JAMES WALSH and MARIA DUARTE review Souleymane’s Story, Sunlight, Good Fortune, and After The Hunt
ALEX HALL recommends an exhaustive investigation of the means by which the Starmer faction assassinated the left
DAVID MORGAN recommends a refreshingly inspiring novel that features encounters with some tremendous women
BOB NEWLAND recommends a political thriller from former anti-apartheid activist Peter Hain
JAMES WALSH speaks to Chris Thorpe-Tracey - among many things, a one-time Morning Star columnist — about songs, cities, politics and prophecy
If I must Die
Refaat Alareer, OR books, £19.99
WHEN Refaat Alareer was murdered by an Israeli air strike on the December 6 2023, aged 44, thousands of people across Palestine and the world mourned the loss of a great writer, educator and liberated mind.
In the days that followed, millions more became aware of his work, as a poem of his began to spread. His words: “If I must die,/ you must live/ to tell my story” became an icon of Palestinian resistance and the global ceasefire movement. They travelled not just on screens and at demonstrations, but scrawled on walls around the world, pasted up in windows of homes and cafes, appearing on billboards, translated into scores of languages.
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