Inside Lebanon: A Cold Civil War

Express

The Christmas season was drab and lifeless this year in Beirut. Bombings continue to plague the city, fifteen in the last fifteen months, with the December 12th assassination of the anti-Syrian journalist and politician Gebran Tueni the most recent. The violence has spooked the population into caution and political pessimism. Downtown Beirut, beautifully reconstructed and lit like a romantic movie set, was largely abandoned. The few people milling about looked as if they were extras or well-dressed stagehands. Nearby Martyrs’ Square—former site of massive political action—was vacant. And the commercial district of Hamra saw disappointingly slow sales. Retailers jawed to the local press about the lack of business, and post-season specials, usually reserved for February, popped up in December. It was, in the words of one local friend, as if Christmas had been cancelled.

Harold Pinter’s Nobel Speech

Express

Ed.’s note: The following speech was delivered by Harold Pinter in December of 2005, upon his acceptance of the Nobel Prize in Literature. We have left the British grammatical style intact.

A Note on Genet's film, Un Chant D'Amour and Harold Pinter

Express

The year was 1964, early January. From Knokke-Le-Zoute Experimental Film Festival, where Barbara Rubin and I created a scandal when they forbade us to show Jack Smith’s film Flaming Creatures, we proceeded to Paris, where we spent some time with Roman Polanski as our driver—we had a car, a tiny car but a car. Eventually he gave up when Barbara decided to go swimming in the Seine. We could not persuade her not to do that. So we left her by the Seine and went to La Coupole.

Whither Jeff Wilson? Retort to Paul Mattick, and a Reply

Express

Retort to Paul Mattick (1-22-06):

We appreciate the serious attention paid to Afflicted Powers: Capital and Spectacle in a New Age of War in the December/January issue of the Rail. However, there were a number of aspects to Paul Mattick’s review that call for a response.

Dark Enough To See the Stars

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Taylor Branch, At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968 (Simon & Schuster, 2006.)

In early 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement had reached a crossroads. Ten years of struggle had achieved lasting victories from the Montgomery Bus Boycott to the Civil Rights Act. But full citizenship for black Americans was far from assured, as evictions, beatings, lynchings, and bombings continued unabated in response to voter registration efforts in the South. With At Canaan’s Edge, the third and final volume of his America in the King Years trilogy, Taylor Branch gives an almost moment-by-moment account of King’s last frantic years. The effect is one of perilous, gathering speed: events at home and abroad spin out of control, with King’s assassination on the far horizon, but looming closer all the time.

The State of King

Express

In elementary school, there are the dittoes. They appear every January 15—purple, mimeographed sheets of paper with a picture of Martin Luther King, Jr. superimposed on a rippling American flag, a quote from “I Have a Dream,” and a few questions and blanks to fill in from the word bank on the side: “Martin Luther King, Jr. worked for people of all races.”

The State of Things

Express

Ed.’s note: The following talk was given at “Writers of the American Resistance,” an event held on January 19th at Mo Pitkin’s on Avenue A. The event’s organizer, Jason Flores-Williams, asked Hamm to address the “state of things.”