Ron's rages are sincere and — according to his wife — healthily cathartic. But can these splenetic outbursts loosen the grip of capitalism at its most monstrous?
Embrace the differences
MARJORIE MAYO recommends a punchy demonstration of the the way class politics are being fragmented by the right
UNITED WE’LL NEVER BE DEFEATED: A lantern parade in Liverpool to mark the reopening of Spellow Community Hub and Library after it was torched during riots on County Road in August 2024
ANGUS REID considers the power of the podcast as a vehicle for consensus building in opposition to mainstream media narratives
GLENN FOSBRAEY recommends a biography worth reading for both existing George Michael fans and those yet to be converted
FRANCIS DEVINE introduces a new collection of essays that draws on Pease McKenna’s example to indicate future paths for the movement
KEVIN DONNELLY and MARIA DUARTE review Shoot the People, The Last One For The Road, Rosebush Pruning, and Moana
JAMES WALSH recommends an exceptional documentary about the experience of Western doctors in Gaza
Minority Rule: Adventures in the culture war
Ash Sarkar, Bloomsbury, £18.99
MINORITY RULE sets out to explore the ways in which class politics are being fragmented: the way the right has been weakening working-class power through processes of “divide and rule.”
Marx and Engels identified the ways in which capitalism produces extreme wealth for the very few and impoverishment for everyone else — accompanied by environmental degradation on a global scale. But resistance to capitalism has been diminished as a result of divisions within and between different sections of the working class.
Sarkar focuses on the ways in which identity politics have been weaponised to exacerbate these divisions, steering resentment away from the underlying causes of poverty and inequality. Right-wing pundits have been peddling the notion that majority interests are being threatened by minorities (however defined) effectively reinforcing the real threat — of minority rule by financial elites.
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