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JAMES WALSH is moved by a provocative and original take on the relationship between ecology and architecture, and a plea to work with, not against, the materials and minerals of our world
Poetry
An immersive, participatory display by a queer Australian Aboriginal performer, and a rebellious unravelling of traditional Scottish dance
EWAN CAMERON witnesses a political farce that lacks a clear message
EWAN CAMERON picks out two fascinating music shows, fusing the Korean, and the Celtic, with the modern
BENJAMIN POTHIER suggests that Palaeolithic cave paintings in Spain point to the ceremonial use of hallucinogenic flora
The bard confirms that the right has a humour bypass, and replays the English Revolution on period instruments
Fidelity
You were the leader of the revolution
With your olive-green uniform and cigar clamped in your mouth
(Thanks to you cigars are no longer sole preserve of the ruling class).
Ordinary women roll them on their thighs
And smoke them just like men
While over the factory loudspeaker love messages
Are read out for their fellow workers.
You gave up smoking a long time ago
But your flame has never been extinguished.
Your beard is now white and sparse
(The revolution looks different too)
But you’ll never have it shaved off.
Bearded men once dreamed of raising revolt on your island
And half the world rose up with them.
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ALEX GORDON and LORRAINE DOUGLAS report from Havana, Cuba, where they represented the Communist Party of Britain at the 24th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties on August 7-8
JOE DWYER of Sinn Fein reflects on the links between the Irish and Cuban struggles for independence and on Castro’s personal engagement with the cause of Irish freedom
BEN CHACKO says in different ways, the centenary of the General Strike and that of Fidel Castro’s birth point to priority tasks for the British left in the coming year