JUNE
2001
Comrades!
It is a well-attested fact
that some of the more authoritative pronouncements of our times have
been written in the Russian language. Never has this been more true
than today, following the publication of some wise words at http://eurasia.org.ru
, the Central Asian news site. For there, under the somewhat misleading
headline "Americans take fright at Nazarbayev's web site"
we find this, referring to Stakhanovite Caroline Brooke's article
of two years ago concerning President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan:
"One of the visitors
to the Eurasia site has sent a reference to
material published on the website of the left-intellectual
international club Turtle, set up by philosophers and political
scientists from the USA and Great Britain, graduates of Cambridge
and Harvard. This distinctive net publication enjoys authority among
journalists and scholars who work on problems of contemporary society."
We couldn't have put it better
ourselves.
To make our distinctive net
publication ever more authoritative, we have been delighted to post
the variety of new articles and reviews which have come our way in the
month of May. Several of our philosophers and political scientists have
pierced the British election miasma with their new work on the contemporary
problems of that society, and our United Kingdom of the Turtle celebrations
are now in full swing: Linnie
Rawlinson and Dave
Renton have each sent us their opinions about the ways we cast our
votes next week; our very new and very welcome contributor Joe Bord
has a set of fine thoughts on English
identities; and Richard Adams has pronounced definitively on the
class
prejudices of the Harry Potter tetralogy.
Not all our words are so
thoroughly Anglocentric, and our American interests have also generated
four new essays. Bob Torres has polemicised against President
Bush's attempt to solve the energy crisis by telling us to send
less email, Dave Renton has assembled his thoughts on the coming
American crash, and we have reviews of two recent American novels:
Peter Lowe tells us what to think about Saul Bellow's Ravelstein,
and Joe Bord does the same with Philip Roth's The
Human Stain. To round off a triumphant month, the scientific
criticism of our Music section
has been successfully launched into the world.
June's Stakhanovite honours
go to Jim Murphy, who also picks
up the title of the Turtle's Menshevik of the Millennium. Since he first
went out for a pre-Christmas drink with Hugh
O'Shaughnessy and Augusto Pinochet in 1999, Jim has supplied us
with his revisionist opinions on why 1990s Britain was much
better than we think, and Naomi Klein's "No
Logo" much worse, and we're pleased to crown his contrarian
efforts with our Stakhanovite laurels, even as we refuse to condone
his politics.
The Turtle's pessimistic
intellect is, as loyal readers will be aware, impassioned by an optimistic
will. Thus, even as British voters are palled by the narrowly right-wing
spectrum on their ballot papers this month, the Turtle is pleased to
remember more radical choices made by the British people. Our Salute
this month goes out to the women and men of Greenham Common, whose struggle
began not quite twenty years ago this month. The Turtle celebrates this
anniversary slightly prematurely to draw attention to a fine piece of
commemorative art that is currently looking for support and subscription.
Visit http://www.wfloe.fsnet.co.uk
to find out more. The Turtle urges you to be lavish with your cash and
praise.
Finally, this month's Comrade
of the Month is General Colin Powell, US Secretary of State, and His
Masters' Voice in Africa. A guest tirade from Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem
of the Pan African Movement will be posted shortly.
We apologise for the lengthy
missive this month, but with so much to laud, it has been hard to be
brief. Yet not even the tyranny of concision can silence the editors'
farewell cry. The Turtle needs your Voice, for we depend on the kindness
of writers. Please send your thoughts, words, reports of deeds and problems
to the Editors, the Poetry, Music, Theatre or Film Commissars, or Uncle
Rosa, and let the Turtle blossom!
Long live international socialism!
Long live the left-intellectual international club Turtle!
Avanti popolo!
