NLR 9

articles
Tom NairnMario and the Magician

British politics under the wand of Redemption, as the new leitmotif of the party system. Similarities and contrasts between the ex-imperial states of UK and France, as New Labour shuffles towards listless re-election.

Benedict AndersonWestern Nationalism and Eastern Nationalism

Reflections from Taiwan on the history of creole and official, linguistic and long-distance nationalisms in Asia and Europe, and their implications for China. Is there any significant difference here between East and West?

Achin VanaikThe New Indian Right

What is the nature of the BJP regime in Delhi—does it offer a viable formula for neoliberal rule in the subcontinent? Bigotry of the market: bigotry of the temple—is a lasting union between them possible? The obsessions and mystifications of Hindu communalism.

interview
Subcomandante MarcosThe Punch Card and the Hourglass

Interviewed by García Márquez and Roberto Pombo just after the EZLN’s entry into Mexico City, Marcos explains the strategy of Zapatista patience and the literary origins of a revolutionary militant.

articles
Naomi KleinReclaiming the Commons

The anti-globalization movement is the talk of the financial press. Naomi Klein asks how far it is against globalization and whether it is a movement, arguing it is better described as a broadening series of different struggles against privatization—in every sense.

Franco MorettiPlanet Hollywood

The American film industry dominates world markets as never before. What is the geography of its grip on popular imaginations? Franco Moretti draws an international map of action films, comedies, children’s movies, dramas, with some intriguing results.

Adam HarmesMass Investment Culture

Consumption has long been the umbilical bond tying labour to capital. Is this beginning to shift towards investment, as passive participation in pension funds, and active speculation in mutual funds, become a mass phenomenon in North America?

Michael WattsBlack Acts

The hidden history of mass famines in the time of the Pax Britannica is the object of Mike Davis’s Late Victorian Holocausts. What of their post-colonial sequels, and the political lessons to be learnt from both?

reviews
New York and Kigali

Colette Braeckman on Linda Melvern, A People Betrayed: the Role of the West in Rwanda’s Genocide. The chilling record of American and European connivance in the slaughter of the Tutsis.

The Sway of Finance?

John Grahl on Gérard Duménil and Dominique Lévy, Crise et sortie de crise: ordre et désordres néolibéraux. A Marxist exploration of the sea changes in the world economy since the seventies.

Subjects and Truths

Terry Eagleton on Alain Badiou, Ethics. A French conundrum: can radical universality be philosophically crossed with romantic epiphany?