Weekly Links - 16/09/2008

Plenty of worthwhile links this week.

Blogs
Derek Wall is looking forward to the Convention of The Left, which could be a good step forward for the left in Britain....or not. Time will tell. Hope is ever the triumph of optimism over experience. He has also been blogging like mad on Socialist Unity blog (all that free time now he is not Principal Speaker of the GP being made good use of perhaps?) including this news about passenger resistance to a violent deportation to Nigeria.
Aled's submission to the NUS Reform Consultation from the end of last month is blogged by him here.
Jim blogs about the rightward drifting Lib Dems during their conference week.
The current financial and economic crisis brings to mind some words of TS Eliot for Molly.
Meanwhile James Caspell directs our attention to further evidence of the creeping rise of fascism in Italy.
Jack Ray reports on US government hypocrisy over the latest developments in Bolivia.



New Books
The eagerly awaited latest novel from acclaimed left-wing Scottish science fiction writer (and blogger) Ken MacLeod is now out. The Night Sessions is again set in a near future devastated by war and altered by climate change and technological advance. In this book the futurescape is explored through the lens of a police procedure and investigation into the murder of a Catholic Priest. Sounds a gripping read - more here and here.

Green Politics
News from the Scottish Green Party that long time co-leader of the party Robin Harper is to stand down from the position and is favouring a move to single leader model as adopted by the Green Party in England and Wales.

International
Keep up with developments in Bolivia beyond the capitalist media interpretation at BoRev.net. Another source is the Democracy Center. Ecosocialist Ian Angus reports on the plight of Cuba after the devastating storms and hurricanes. Hands off Venezuela and the Venezuela Info Centre have info on the coup plots there.

Obituaries
As well as the sad loss of Peter Camejo the last week has seen the death of legendary Pink Floyd keyboardist Rick Wright and excellent author and essayist David Foster Wallace.