There's an episode of The Simpsons where the town is gathered to listen to a classical music concert, I think in honour of the opening of Springfield's new opera house, or something. Anyway, the conductor taps his baton, and we hear the first few bars of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. And then, everyone gets out of their seat and heads for the door. The conductor stops someone and says, "Where are you all going?" And the reply is, "We only came to hear the Duh-duh-duh duuuuuuh."
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi , a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
T his will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire . Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York . Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California ! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi . From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Why should we engage with science? Why should we be wary of people who claim that Marxism is a science? What can anthropology tell us about capitalism? What can chimpanzees tell us about humanity? Are hunter-gatherers communist? In what sense are we in the West ‘wealthy’? Some sense and insight from a man last seen threatening the cops with Armageddon and dancing round a Maypole with his underpants on his head.
History repeats itself.
Stephen Hawking’s account of the origin of the universe told a story of great brilliance and clarity. The questions “Why are we here?” and “Where did we come from?” are very good ones, and we all find ourselves asking them on the day we begin to grow up. When we’re children, other questions occupy us; we want to know why we can’t have more ice cream, and why we have to go to bed right now, and why nothing is fair; but on the day we begin to grow up, which is usually in our early adolescence, we find Professor Hawking’s questions becoming more and more interesting. Of course, some people stop growing up, and then they stop asking those questions. They ask other questions instead, such as “What’s on TV tonight?” or “Where can I get the best return for my investments?”
We have long promised to publish here an interview with Richard Headicar – possibly one of the nicest men on the planet, certainly a big influence on our thinking. The interview hasn't happened. The man has much more interesting things to do with his retirement. But here he is, in fine form, in a debate on the future of capitalism. He's the second speaker.
