Böcker utgivna av Pluto Press

Of the 16 million children to have been orphaned by AIDS worldwide, almost 15 million live in sub-Saharan Africa. Hope Amidst Despair focuses on these children and those who are made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS.*BR**BR*Of the millions affected, many live in deep poverty, experience little schooling, have unmet health and psychological issues and bear the burden of stigma. Their plight is often ignored and, as a result, they lead lives of isolation and exclusion that threaten their futures. The book gives voice to HIV/AIDS orphans, allowing them to tell their stories and explain the challenges they face. Susanna Grannis, founder of CHABHA (Children Affected by HIV/AIDS), shows through first-hand experience and research how young community leaders can, with help, effectively promote children's wellbeing and independence. Readers learn of the complexities and possibilities involved in positive development through the analysis of data on children from five different countries in sub-Saharan Africa. *BR**BR*This will be an essential title for HIV/AIDS campaigners, students of development studies, policy makers, donors, and anyone concerned about the welfare of children in developing countries.

What are our attitudes towards other animals, and how does this affect our humanity? *BR**BR*This work of anthrozoology explores the myriad and evolving ways in which humans and animals interact, the divergent cultural constructions of humanity and animality found around the world, and individual experiences of other animals. *BR**BR*This book looks at case studies covering blood sports (such as hunting, fishing and bull fighting), pet keeping and 'petishism', eco-tourism and wildlife conservation, working animals and animals as food. It addresses the idea of animal exploitation raised by the animal rights movements, as well as the anthropological implications of changing attitudes towards animal personhood, and the rise of a posthumanist philosophy in the social sciences more generally.

The dominant schools of neoclassical and neoliberal economics tell us that material scarcity is an inevitable product of an insatiable human nature. Against this, Costas Panayotakis argues that scarcity is in fact a result of the social and economic processes of the capitalist system.*BR**BR*The overriding importance of the logic of capital accumulation accounts for the fact that capitalism is not able to make a rational use of scarce resources and the productive potential at the disposal of human society. Instead, capitalism produces grotesque inequalities and unnecessary human suffering, a toxic consumerist culture that fails to satisfy, and a deepening ecological crisis. *BR**BR*Remaking Scarcity is a powerful challenge to the current economic orthodoxy. It asserts the core principle of economic democracy, that all human beings should have an equal say over the priorities of the economic system, as the ultimate solution to scarcity and ecological crisis.

During the 1990s and 2000s, the Irish 'Celtic Tiger' model of development was hailed as a model for other European countries, but the global economic crisis has completely removed the credibility of Ireland's approach. So where does the country go now?*BR**BR*Towards a Second Republic analyses Ireland's economics, politics and society, drawing important lessons from its cycles of boom and bust. Peadar Kirby and Mary Murphy expose the winners and losers from the current Irish model of development and relates these distributional outcomes to the use of power by Irish elites. The authors examine the role of the EU and compare Ireland's crisis and responses to those of other states.*BR**BR*More than just an analysis of the economic disaster in Ireland, the book is also a proposal to construct new and more effective institutions for the economy and society. It is a must read for students of Irish politics and political economy.

This book controversially argues that Al Qaeda has clear aims, and that the only way to defeat it is to engage with its arguments in a serious way.*BR**BR*Since the publication of the first edition in 2006, Mohamedou has brought the text right up-to-date. Starting with Al Qaeda's creation almost twenty years ago, and sketching its global mutation, Mohamedou explains that there is a cogent strategy to Al Qaeda's actions. He shows that the 'war on terror' is failing, only serving to recruit more terrorists to Al Qaeda's cause. He also puts forward a case for how the international community can best respond. *BR**BR*Arguing that it is dangerous to dismiss Al Qaeda as illogical and irrational, this incisive and original book is important for policy-makers and ideal for undergraduates in international relations, Middle East studies and peace/conflict studies.

President Obama may have delivered on his campaign promise to kill Osama bin Laden, but as an Al-Qaeda strategist bin Laden has been dead for years. This book introduces and examines the new generation of Al-Qaeda leaders who have been behind the most recent attacks.*BR**BR*Investigative journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad dedicated his life to revealing the strategies and inner workings of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. He had access to top-level commanders in both movements, as well as within the ISI, Pakistan's intelligence service. Shahzad's work was praised by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for 'bringing to light the troubles extremism poses to Pakistan's stability.' Inside Al-Qaeda and the Taliban explains the wider aims of both organisations and provides an essential analysis of major terrorist incidents, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks.*BR**BR*In May 2011, Shahzad was abducted and killed in Pakistan, days after writing an article suggesting that insiders in the Pakistani navy had colluded with Al-Qaeda in an attack on a naval air station. This book is a testament to his fearless reporting and analytical rigour. It will provide readers worldwide with an invaluable introduction to a new phase of the ongoing struggle against terrorism which threatens lives in so many countries.

*Winner of the ICA Book of the Year, 2015**BR**BR*Now that we 'curate' even lunch, what happens to the role of the connoisseur in contemporary culture?*BR**BR*'Curate' has become a buzzword, applied to everything from music festivals to artisanal cheese. Inside the art world, the curator reigns supreme, acting as the face of high-profile group shows in a way that can eclipse the contributions of individual artists. At the same time, curatorial-studies programs continue to grow, and businesses are adopting curation as a means of adding value to content. Everyone, it seems, is now a curator.*BR**BR*But what is a curator, exactly? And what does the explosive popularity of curating say about our culture's relationship with taste, labour and the avant-garde? In this vibrant book, David Balzer travels through art history to explore the cult of curation, where it began, how it came to dominate museums and galleries, and how it emerged at the turn of the millennium as a dominant mode of thinking and being.*BR**BR*Recalling such landmark works of cultural criticism as Tom Wolfe's The Painted Word and John Berger's Ways of Seeing, Balzer asks whether curationism has finally reached its own limits, where its widespread success has paradoxically led to its own demise.

This book offers a pioneering window into the elusive workings of state-corporate crime within the mining industry. It follows a campaign of resistance organised by indigenous activists on the island of Bougainville, who struggled to close a Rio Tinto owned copper mine, and investigates the subsequent state-corporate response, which led to the shocking loss of some 10,000 lives. *BR**BR*Drawing on internal records and interviews with senior officials, Kristian Lasslett examines how an articulation of capitalist growth mediated through patrimonial politics, imperial state-power, large-scale mining, and clan-based, rural society, prompted an ostensibly 'responsible' corporate citizen, and liberal state actors, to organise a counterinsurgency campaign punctuated with gross human rights abuses. *BR**BR*State Crime on the Margins of Empire represents a unique intervention rooted in a classical Marxist tradition that challenges positivist streams of criminological scholarship, in order to illuminate with greater detail the historical forces faced by communities in the global south caught in the increasingly violent dynamics of the extractive industries.

The recent financial crisis and Great Recession have been analysed endlessly in the mainstream and academia, but this is the first book to conclude, on the basis of in-depth analyses of official US data, that Marx's crisis theory can explain these events.*BR**BR*Marx believed that the rate of profit has a tendency to fall, leading to economic crises and recessions. Many economists, Marxists among them, have dismissed this theory out of hand, but Andrew Kliman's careful data analysis shows that the rate of profit did indeed decline after the post-World War II boom and that free-market policies failed to reverse the decline. The fall in profitability led to sluggish investment and economic growth, mounting debt problems, desperate attempts of governments to fight these problems by piling up even more debt - and ultimately to the Great Recession.*BR**BR*Kliman's conclusion is simple but shocking: short of socialist transformation, the only way to escape the 'new normal' of a stagnant, crisis-prone economy is to restore profitability through full-scale destruction of existing wealth, something not seen since the Depression of the 1930s.

Was western intervention in Sierra Leone a genuine case of humanitarianism?

Palestinians in Israel considers a key issue ignored by the official 'peace process' and most mainstream commentators: that of the growing Palestinian minority within Israel itself.*BR**BR*What the Israeli right-wing calls 'the demographic problem' Ben White identifies as 'the democratic problem' which goes to the heart of the conflict. Israel defines itself not as a state of its citizens, but as a Jewish state, despite the substantial and increasing Palestinian population. White demonstrates how the consistent emphasis on privileging one ethno-religious group over another cannot be seen as compatible with democratic values and that, unless addressed, will undermine any attempts to find a lasting peace.*BR**BR*Individual case studies are used to complement this deeply informed study into the great, unspoken contradiction of Israeli democracy. It is a pioneering contribution which will spark debate amongst all those concerned with a resolution to the Israel/Palestine conflict.

Democracy under neoliberalism has become tarnished, as governments become disconnected from voters and pursue policies against the interests of the people. And yet the ideal of democracy continues to inspire movements around the world.*BR**BR*Brian Roper refreshes our understanding of democracy using a Marxist framework. He traces the history of democracy from ancient Athens to the emergence of liberal representative and socialist participatory democracy in Europe and North America, through to the global spread of democracy during the past century.*BR**BR*An an alternative, he offers an engaging Marxist critique of representative democracy, which has the potential to undermine the existing status quo.

During the United States military occupation of Iraq, the Kurdistan region was one of the few places in the country where insurgent violence was not a daily occurrence. However, as tension with the Iraqi central government increases over issues of security, oil and gas management and the disputed territory of Kirkuk, and with Turkey and Iran continuing their cross border military operations, Kurdistan Iraq faces numerous challenges.*BR**BR*The current context allows for a fresh look at the situation of the Kurds in Iraq. No longer subject to the cruel regime of Saddam Hussein, the Kurds are set to be important figures in the shaping of Iraq's future.*BR**BR*The Future of Kurdistan: The Iraqi Dilemma focuses on how issues faced by Kurdistan Iraq today are being dealt with by both central government and international forces as well as on the prospects for Kurdistan and Iraq's political, economic and cultural future.

When capitalism is clearly catastrophically out of control and its excesses cannot be sustained socially or ecologically, the ideas of Herbert Marcuse become as relevant as they were in the 1960s. This is the first English introduction to Marcuse to be published for decades, and deals specifically with his aesthetic theories and their relation to a critical theory of society.*BR**BR*Although Marcuse is best known as a critic of consumer society, epitomised in the classic One-Dimensional Man, Malcolm Miles provides an insight into how Marcuse's aesthetic theories evolved within his broader attitudes, from his anxiety at the rise of fascism in the 1930s through heady optimism of the 1960s, to acceptance in the 1970s that radical art becomes an invaluable progressive force when political change has become deadlocked.*BR**BR*Marcuse's aesthetics of liberation, in which art assumes a primary role in interrupting the operation of capitalism, made him a key figure for the student movement in the 1960s. As diverse forms of resistance rise once more, a new generation of students, scholars and activists will find Marcuse's radical theory essential to their struggle.

Inventing Africa is a critical account of narratives which have selectively interpreted and misinterpreted the continent's deep past.*BR**BR*Writers have created alluring images of lost cities, vast prehistoric migrations and golden ages of past civilisations. Debates continue on the African origins of humankind, the contributions of ancient Egypt to the world and Africa's importance to global history.*BR**BR*Images of 'Africa', simplifying a complex and diverse continent, have existed from ancient Mediterranean worlds, slave trading nations and colonial powers to today's political elites, ecotourists and aid-givers. Robin Derricourt draws on his background as publisher and practitioner in archaeology and history to explore the limits and the dangers of simplifications, arguing - as with Said's concept of 'Orientalism' - that ambitious ideas can delude or oppress as well as inform.*BR**BR*Defending Africa against some of the grand narratives that have been imposed upon its peoples, Inventing Africa will spark new debates in the history of Africa and of archaeology.

This book contradicts the dominant myth that incompetent, corrupt, and uncompromising Palestinian decision-makers are responsible for the lasting stalemate in the Middle-East Peace Process. It highlights recent political developments in Palestine that fundamentally redefine important parameters of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.*BR**BR*Contrary to public perception, new political trends in the Palestinian Territories bolster prospects for the realisation of Palestinian national aspirations. Michael Broning identifies key indicators which fundamentally question dominant Israeli narratives and pose an unprecedented strategic challenge to the Israeli leadership. These include the reinvention of Hamas, the reform of the Fatah movement, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's state-building efforts and the surge of non-violent resistance against Israel. *BR**BR*This persuasive book forces us to reconsider the perceived wisdom that the Palestinians are powerless to influence events as they struggle for peace.

What happened when Chevron, a multinational mining company, opened a gas plant right next to densely populated villages in rural Bangladesh? *BR**BR*This book reveals contradictory ways that local people attempt to connect to, and are disconnected by, foreign capital. Commentators on the situation have different frameworks, whether of dispossession and scarcity, the success of Corporate Social Responsibility, or imperialist exploitation and corruption. Yet as Gardner argues, what really matters in the struggles over resources is which of these stories are heard, and the power of those who tell them.*BR* *BR*Based on the narratives of dispossessed land owners, urban activists, mining officials and the rural landless, Discordant Development shows the real picture behind the effect multinational capital has on indigenous communities.

Armed resistance, suicide bombings and rocket attacks populate the Western media's depiction of Palestinian resistance. Synthesising data from hundreds of original sources, Dr Mazin Qumsiyeh provides the most comprehensive study of the always creative, often peaceful, civil resistance in Palestine.*BR**BR*Successes, failures, missed opportunities and challenges are chronicled through hundreds of stories from over 100 years of Palestinian resistance. The book critically and comparatively surveys uprisings under Ottoman rule, against the Balfour Declaration and the Oslo Accords, all the way up to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. *BR**BR*The compelling human stories told in this book will inspire people of all faiths and political backgrounds to chart a better and more informed direction for a future of peace with justice.

Art is big business, with some artists able to command huge sums of money for their works, while the vast majority are ignored or dismissed by critics. This book shows that these marginalised artists, the 'dark matter' of the art world, are essential to the survival of the mainstream and that they frequently organize in opposition to it.*BR**BR*Gregory Sholette, a politically engaged artist, argues that imagination and creativity in the art world originate thrive in the non-commercial sector shut off from prestigious galleries and champagne receptions. This broader creative culture feeds the mainstream with new forms and styles that can be commodified and used to sustain the few artists admitted into the elite.*BR**BR*This dependency, and the advent of inexpensive communication, audio and video technology, has allowed this 'dark matter' of the alternative art world to increasingly subvert the mainstream and intervene politically as both new and old forms of non-capitalist, public art. This book is essential for anyone interested in interventionist art, collectivism, and the political economy of the art world.

This is a history of political ideologies during the period from the First World War to the collapse of the Soviet Union, famously described by Eric Hobsbawm as 'The Age of Extremes'.*BR**BR*By introducing the key ideologies of the twentieth-century: liberalism, conservatism, communism and fascism, and considering them in in relation to each other, Willie Thompson shows how these philosophies often emerged from a common root or merged into a common future, stealing each other's clothes and reinventing themselves as the stark opposite of a competing ideology. *BR**BR*This sophisticated yet accessible analysis will be of great interest to students of 20th century history and political theory.

This is the plight of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israel

The evolution of the World Bank

From broadsheet newspapers to television shows and Hollywood films, capitalism is increasingly recognised as a system detrimental to human existence. Colin Cremin investigates why, despite this de-robing, capitalism remains a powerful and seductive force.*BR**BR*Using materialist, psychoanalytic and linguistic approaches, Cremin shows how capitalism, anxiety and desire enter into a mutually supporting relationship. He identifies three ways in which we are tied in to capitalism - through a social imperative for enterprise and competition; through enjoyment and consumption; and through the depoliticisation of ethical debate by government and business. *BR**BR*Capitalism's New Clothes is ideal for students of sociology and for anyone worried about the ethics of capitalism or embarrassed by the enjoyments the system has afforded them.

Two rabbis, visiting Palestine in 1897, observed that the land was like a bride, 'beautiful, but married to another man'. By which they meant that, if a place was to be found for Israel in Palestine, where would the people of Palestine go? This is a dilemma that Israel has never been able to resolve.*BR**BR*No conflict today is more dangerous than that between Israel and the Palestinians. The implications it has for regional and global security cannot be overstated. The peace process as we know it is dead and no solution is in sight. Nor, as this book argues, will that change until everyone involved in finding a solution accepts the real causes of conflict, and its consequences on the ground. *BR**BR*Leading writer Ghada Karmi explains in fascinating detail the difficulties Israel's existence created for the Arab world and why the search for a solution has been so elusive. Ultimately, she argues that the conflict will end only once the needs of both Arabs and Israelis are accommodated equally. Her startling conclusions overturn conventional thinking - but they are hard to refute.

The recent crisis, created by finance capitalism, has brought us to the economic abyss. The excessive freedom of international markets has rapidly transformed into international panic, with states struggling to rescue and bail out a globalised financial sector. Reform is promised by our leaders, but in governments dominated by financial interests there is little hope of meaningful change.*BR**BR*Decent Capitalism argues for a response that addresses capitalism's systemic tendency towards crisis, a tendency which is completely absent from the mainstream debate. The authors develop a concept of a moderated capitalism that keeps its core strengths intact while reducing its inherent destructive political force in our societies. This book argues that reforming the capitalist system will have to be far more radical than the current political discourse suggests.*BR**BR*Decent Capitalism is a concept and a slogan that will inspire political activists, trade unionists and policy makers to get behind a package of reforms that finally allows the majority to master capitalism.

Building on rigorous research by the world-renowned Glasgow University Media Group, More Bad News From Israel examines media coverage of the current conflict in the Middle East and the impact it has on public opinion. *BR**BR*The book brings together senior journalists and ordinary viewers to examine how audiences understand the news and how their views are shaped by media reporting. In the largest study ever undertaken in this area, the authors focus on television news. They illustrate major differences in the way Israelis and Palestinians are represented, including how casualties are shown and the presentation of the motives and rationales of both sides. They combine this with extensive audience research involving hundreds of participants from the USA, Britain and Germany. It shows extraordinary differences in levels of knowledge and understanding, especially amongst young people from these countries.*BR**BR*Covering recent developments, including the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Gaza, this authoritative and up-to-date study will be an invaluable tool for journalists, activists and students and researchers of media studies.

Noam Chomsky analyses US foreign policy in the Middle East in the 10 years since 9/11

The essential reader on Post-Anarchism, a movement blending traditional anarchist ideas with post-structuralist and post-modernist thought.

This book follows the dangerous lives of peace activists in Israel and Palestine. It explores the crises that stirred them to act, the risks they face, and the small victories that sustain them.*BR**BR*Michael Riordon takes us to thousand year-old olive groves, besieged villages, refugee camps, checkpoints and barracks. In the face of deepening conflict, Our Way to Fight offers courageous grassroots action on both sides of the wall, and points the way to a liveable future.

Compares the trajectories of states and societies in Africa, Asia and Latin America under neoliberalism.