‘Wherever there is oppression, there is resistance.’ Mao Zedong For all the book’s flaws, Albert Camus’ Myth of Sisyphus remains one of the best encapsulations of what it means to engage in political struggle. Faced with insurmountable adversity, in...
In his April 2016 TLS review of the late British philosopher Christopher Hitchens’ posthumous collection of essays, And Yet…, Geofrey Wheatcroft posed a prescient question, one that has long troubled anyone who has ever admired the Hitch: ‘If he was so good, why was...
Workshop, assembly line, machine, work card, overtime, wages … They’ve trained me to become docile Don’t know how to shout or rebel How to complain or denounce Only how to silently suffer exhaustion – Xu Lizhi, ‘I Fall Asleep, Just Standing Like...
When a cult decides to gather – irrational and devotional as they are – not even a wet, miserable Melbourne evening can dent their enthusiasm. So it was on Monday night, that thousands of people flocked to Jeff’s Shed to listen to their leader, Louis Theroux,...
At 4pm on 9 September 1976, Chinese state radio announced that Chairman Mao Zedong had passed away shortly after midnight. The 16-hour delay likely had something to do with the uncertainty the Communist Party (CPC) feared the news might precipitate: theNew York Times...
