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Ciarán O’Rourke's features and reviews for Independent Left

Ciarán O’Rourke's features and reviews for Independent Left

About Ciarán O'Rourke

Ciarán O’Rourke is a socialist and award-winning poet. His first collection of poems was published as The Buried Breath. Many of his poems and essays can be read at: https://www.ragpickerpoetry.net/poetry/

One of the best books about the Haitian Revolution

November 29, 2020 By Ciarán O'Rourke 1 Comment

Book About Haitian Revolution: Common Wind Julius Scott

There are many excellent and inspiring books about the Haitian Revolution, one of the richest and most insightful of which is The Common Wind: Afro-American Currents in the Age of the Haitian Revolution by Julius S. Scott. The Common Wind: Afro-American Currents in the Age of the Haitian Revolution by Julius S. Scott In early […]

Filed Under: Reviews

The poet John Clare: Freedom and Anguish

October 26, 2020 By Ciarán O'Rourke 1 Comment

Poet John Clare by William Hilton

The poet John Clare was born on 13 July 1793, on the same day that Jean-Paul Marat, the zealous Jacobin revolutionary who believed that ‘man has the right to deal with his oppressors by devouring their palpitating hearts’, was assassinated. John Clare died 20 May 1864, a week before the United States Congress formally recognised […]

Filed Under: Reviews

Did Seamus Heaney write political poems?

October 10, 2020 By Ciarán O'Rourke 2 Comments

Roy Foster's On Heaney skirts the Seamus Heaney's Political Poems

A review of On Seamus Heaney by Roy Foster Although known for his active support of the South African anti-Apartheid movement and for his open opposition to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, Irish poet and Nobel-prize winner Seamus Heaney was not famous for his politics. This has led some sceptics to dismiss the […]

Filed Under: Reviews

David Graeber’s Politics, An Appreciation

September 5, 2020 By Ciarán O'Rourke 2 Comments

David Graeber City Lights Bookshop 2012

“Say what you like about nurses, garbage collectors, or mechanics,” declared anthropologist David Graeber in 2013, it’s obvious that were they to vanish in a puff of smoke, the results would be immediate and catastrophic. A world without teachers or dock-workers would soon be in trouble, and even one without science fiction writers or ska […]

Filed Under: Reviews

Irish writers show solidarity with jailed Indian poet Varavara Rao

July 19, 2020 By Ciarán O'Rourke 5 Comments

Varavara Rao in 2006 behind metal shutters

The Indian poet Varavara Rao was arrested and jailed in the aftermath of a violent protest at Bhima Koregan on 1 January 2018. Alongside ten other defendants, Varavara Rao denies all the charges raised against him. The elderly poet contracted COVID-19 while in prison and has been over two years in jail under appalling conditions […]

Filed Under: All Posts, Protests Ireland

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