Over recent years, it seems ‘radical’ has become a dirty word. In the wake of the anniversary of 1968, and with books and films galore about the romance and failures of revolutionary life and thought, it seems we’re comfortable with radicalism as an object of nostalgia, but less willing to understand its contemporary legacy – and its trivialisation.

Culture Wars is exploring radicalism – past, present and future – in an attempt to understand a lived tradition as well as how certain ideas filter through the culture. Having focused on past ‘Radical Thinkers’ and the legacy of 1968, touring from Iran to Haiti, investigating the role of ideology and demise of the traditional Left, we turn towards two contemporary variants: ‘political Islam’ and the environmentalist movement. These reviews and essays constitute a critical investigation of what shapes contemporary attitudes towards the future.

What Confucius said

An exploration of Confucianism as a humanist discourse on civil conduct and personal liberty, and its changing relationship with the Chinese state.

The gradual appropriation of Confucianism as a state-endorsed Chinese ideology undermines the Confucian ideal of personal liberty, virtue and civil social harmony.

Radical unreasonable reason

A comparison of terrorist radicalism as spectacle with a responsible radicalism not limited by communitarian interest.

An exploration of two types of political radicalism, with a defence of using reason to make unreasonable demands.

Regression to the Middle Ages?

Can we save the planet yet keep our freedoms? British Library, London, 14 January 2009

There is, Livingstone declared, ‘no right to follow the Atkins diet’, and consume ‘excessive amounts’ of meat.

The rise and fall of an agent of change

Milk (2008), directed by Gus Van Sant

The film unpicks the complex dynamic in the American political system that lead both to the rise and the inevitable fall of this charismatic agent of change. It is laden with the complexity of social dynamics within modern society through its depiction of a tragic inevitability.

The Protestant origins of our liberal tradition

The author of Milton’s Vision: the Birth of Christian Liberty argues for a liberalism that is open to its religious origins

Luther and others discovered a basic theme of Paul’s letters was the contrast between rules-based Judaism, and freedom-loving Christianity.

How to film revolutionary violence

Che: Part One (2008), directed by Steven Soderbergh

As testified by the seven years of research put into the production, and the new scholarship on the matter, the filmmakers seem to have got it right in their portrayal of the Cuban struggle as a uniquely ethically waged guerrilla war.

Tout moun se moun?

Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide, and the politics of containment, by Peter Hallward (Verso)

This contrasts the objectives of ‘spreading democracy’ with the basic principle of Aristide’s politics, the slogan, tout moun se moun (every person is a person).

Ideology and revolution

Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008), directed by Uli Edel

Now that terrorism is considered as an outside threat, this is the perfect time to make an anarcho-historical film. Its portrayal of the state’s violently strong response to terror has obvious resonances in the current period.

Passionate people at w…w…w…war!

The Devil's Whore (2008), directed by Marc Munden

The interweaving of Sexby’s narrative and Angelica’s own tumultuous story means an otherwise straightforward ‘will they, won’t they’ subplot is intimately bound up with the rights and wrongs of the historical conflict.

Marxism and the Crisis

Revisiting Marx: is Marxism still revelant?, 18 November, LSE and David Harvey on the Communist Manifesto, 20 November, ICA

Whilst Gordon Brown and others members of the political and financial elite are talking about reviving Keynesianism, there’s also been a more encouraging renewal of interest in the ideas of Marxism.

Sieg heil Chairman Mao?

The Battle for China’s Past: Mao & The Cultural Revolution, Mobo Gao (Pluto Press)

Gao provides us with a rare insight into the lively online debate in China, so different to the sense of consensus that dominates the intellectual class and the state.

Radio ‘for the people’

Cold Waves (2007), directed by Alexandru Solomon

Tthe contradictions that arose when Romanians fought their own governments in favour of the US are more apparent now, when America has shown its actions rarely are in the interests of the countries it invades.

The accursed cultural theory, excess and the morbid imagination

Great Satan's Rage: American Negativity and Rap/metal in the Age of Supercapitalism by Scott Wilson (Manchester University Press, 2008)

Wilson sets the stage for a logical reconstruction of self loathing as it currently appears in the most advanced capitalist nation.

Lead on, Macduff: McLeadership and the real thing

A keynote essay from the Battle of Ideas 2008

Both the fetishisation of strong leadership and the reaction against it stem from a one-sided focus on leaders as personalities, and neglect of the other side of the relationship.

Radicalism then and now: what’s changed since 1968?

A keynote essay from the Battle of Ideas 2008

Today, politics has lost its meaning, and all that’s left for so-called radicals is to call for a more extreme version of what ‘politics’ is about. The form is still there, but the content has changed.