Culture

Rapper Sky'high is a strong, Black woman surrounded by strong, Black women. "This is correct," she tells Green Left Weekly. "My family's full of strong, Black women." But when asked if there are any strong men in her family, she replies: "My father and brothers' father both passed away."

"Genius and lunatic are two sides of the same coin," says Mark Stewart. The post-punk pioneer is telling Green Left Weekly about "Method to The Madness", a song on his star-studded new CD, The Politics Of Envy.

Co-editors Jeff Sparrow and Antony Loewenstein discuss their new book with contributors Tad Tietze and Larissa Behrendt at the June 14 launch at Sydney's Gleebooks.

The Party: The Socialist Workers Party 1960-1988, Volume II: Interregnum, Decline and Collapse, 1973-1988, A Political Memoir By Barry Sheppard Resistance Books (London), 2011 345 pages Malik Miah The first volume of former United States Socialist Workers Party (SWP) leader Barry Sheppard’s political memoir The Party covered the exciting years of “the '60s”.

Struggle For Freedom: Aung San Suu Kyi By Jesper Bengtsson Fourth Estate, 2011, 308 pages, $35 (pb) Aung San Suu Kyi’s entry into political activism in Burma in 1988 quickly met the fate of so many other pro-democracy opponents of the Burmese military dictatorship — decades of arrest and harassment. Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 15 of the past 21 years. But, as Jesper Bengtsson’s biography of the 65-year-old Suu Kyi shows, her resistance and courage, like that of so many other Burmese, has not faltered.

Bindi-eye Bop: Singable Songs for Aussie Kids Margaret Bradford http://margaretbradford.com Bindi-eye Bop is a delightful collection of songs for kids and kids-at-heart. Most of the songs are Margaret Bradford’s original songs and the words are all presented in this beautifully illustrated, hard-covered book. The full-colour illustrations that accompany the songs are the work of Janet Selby. This talented artist has skillfully created some wonderful illustrations to complement the songs.

On June 16, 2012, an all-female line-up of artists put on a Sydney gig to raise funds for women prisoners after funding for the charity Sisters Inside was cut by the Liberal state government in Queensland.

BORDERS Rivers don’t interrupt their flow at national borders. Mountain ranges don’t answer to their names in different languages. The air is not confined within the limits of national air space. The waves don’t stay still to preserve their nationality. Birds don’t need a passport to migrate. Souls don’t carry identity cards to be certified. And humans live in their parallel world. But that’s a different history…

WHERE HAS YOUR SMILE GONE? Your smile a mask of despair from an ancient tragedy. Your look

News that a popular front-man is about to become a front-woman might not stir such intense buzz if we lived in a world that was truly sexually liberated. Hell, it might not even be “news,” just another instance of an individual becoming more like the person they envision themselves to be; end of story.

Left Turn: Political Essays for the New Left Edited by Antony Loewenstein & Jeff Sparrow Melbourne University Press, 2012 RRP $32.99 In the past few years, the world economy has fallen into its deepest crisis for eight decades with no end in sight, shocked scientists have reported new evidence the climate is changing quicker than feared and opinion polls have reflected widespread anger and cynicism with mainstream political parties openly tied to business interests.

Anti-Flag's Justin Sane and Chris (Barker) #2 dropped in to Martin Place on June 2 to show their support and perform a few songs for Occupy Sydney, including "1 Trillion Dollars" (above) and the Clash cover "Should I Stay or Should I Go" (below). Film by Green Left TV, subscribe to the You Tube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/GreenLeftTV for more progressive, activist news. Contact us at GreenLeftTV@gmail.com, http://www.facebook.com/GreenLeftTV

Students on strike Quebec have won public displays of support from Montreal-based rock band Arcade Fire and Quebecios actor and director Xavier Dolan. Hundreds of thousands of students have been on strike across Quebec for more than 100 days against fee hikes, defying intense government repression. MontrealGazette.com said on May 21 that members of indie rock band Arcade Fire appeared on the May 19 episode of Saturday Night Life, hosted by Mick Jagger, sporting the red squares, that have become a symbol of the student struggle, on their outfits.