By Robert Looby - Articles published in Three Monkeys Online
The Best Defence? Poland and the US anti-missile shield
The proposed US anti-missile shield to be deployed in Poland, is called in Polish tarcza antyrakietowa, ironically, as tarcza also means target. Robert Looby describes what little debate there has been in Poland on the subject of the contro...
Misrepresented? Hugo Chávez and the Western Media
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has been amply described by the Western Press in recent years, usually in terms of 'populism' or 'anti-Americanism'. In an interview with Dr Julia Buxton, lecturer in Peace Studies at the University of Bradford, Robert L...
Poland, The State of the Nation - Uklad, Horse-Trading, and the PiS
September 2005's Polish election followed a newly established pattern, the annihilation of the incumbent party. Robert Looby, casting a critical eye over the political landscape argues these devestating political changes are largely illusory. The party na...
"Tumultuous, prolonged applause ending in ovation. All rise." Khrushchev's "Secret Report" and Poland
In 1956 Nikita Khrushchev, addressing a closed session of the Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party, did the unthinkable and denounced his predecessor Stalin. The report on the "cult of the individual", which inevitably and quickly leaked out across t...
Eoin O'Duffy - The Self-Made Hero.
Eoin O'Duffy, the founder of an Irish fascist party during the 1930s, as well as that of an Irish Brigade which would fight on Franco's side in the Spanish Civil War, is the subject of a new biography by Fearghal McGarry, lecturer in History at Queens Uni...
Still Fighting Apartheid - South African Activist Dennis Brutus
In the 1960s his target was the sporting system that allowed white South Africa to compete internationally while imposing apartheid on its own citizens. Nowadays, veteran activist and poet, Dennis Brutus is targeting the banks, corporations, and instituti...
Reading the fine print - The European Constitution
While there has been much discussion about the rejection of the European Constitution by French and Dutch voters, there has been little debate as to its acceptance by other European States. There is thus a distinct lack of discussion about what the Consti...
Defining Protest - an interview with anti-war protester Ciaron O'Reilly of the Pitstop Ploughshares.
In 2003, two weeks before the invasion of Iraq, five people broke into Shannon Airport in the west of Ireland. There, in an act of protest against the US Military use of the airport (Ireland is ostensibly neutral) they are alleged to have damaged a US wa...
Digging in the dirt - searching for facts and figures in the Peak Oil production debate.
In 1956 M. King Hubbert predicted a moment when the world would reach a peak in oil production. Since then a debate has raged, mainly between geologists and economists, about the future of oil production and the impact this future will have on everyday li...
Chaos in the City. Architecture, Modernism and Peak Oil Production - James Kunstler in Interview
Architecture is a discredited profession according to writer James Howard Kunstler, who argues that low-density suburban sprawl, as pioneered in North America has been responsible for destroying urban communities. In an extended interview he talks about c...
From the clay of the Kabala to the steel of Metropolis.The Golem Myth.
An artificial man made of clay, the Golem, at the heart of jewish folklore, has made its way into numerous works of literature and film. Robert Looby guides Three Monkeys Online through the Golem myth and it's various expressions in Literature.....
Omnia sunt communia. Q by Luther Blisset - a review.
A book published by a major publishing house, without copyright at the insistence of the authors. A novel written by four activists under the collective pseudonym of a former AC Milan Footballer(Luther Blissett). A historical novel set in early modern Eur...
Dictatorship of the Intellect
Czeslaw Milosz, the Nobel prize winning Polish poet died on August 14th. Robert Looby looks at his work, and the context of his poetry....
Berlusconi's Mousetrap - an interview with Eamonn Crudden
Indymedia film-maker, Eamonn Crudden, along with a multitude of others, shot footage at the Genoa G8 meeting in 2001. In the wake of the dramatic events there, including widespread police brutality on a scale unimaginable in a western democracy, he put t...
Lost Souls. Michael Collins in interview.
Limerick born, US based Michael Collins, is the author of seven novels, including his latest Lost Souls and the Booker shortlisted The Keepers of the Truth. His novels have dealt with, amongst other themes, the darker side of American life....
May Day Smear Campaign - the Irish media turns against protesters.
In keeping with what has almost become a tradition with international meetings, in the run up to Dublin's May day European Conference, and protests, the Irish media have run a number of stories about impending violence. Robert Looby examines the phenomena...
Capitalist Realism
Uncovering the connections between Legally Blonde and Polish Detective Fiction - Robert Looby introduces the world of Capitalist Realism to Three Monkeys Online...
Truth is an odd number, and Death is a full stop. Flann O'Brien - Ireland's comic Genius
Writing under numerous pseudonyms, and in a number of styles and languages - Flann O'Brienn achieved a cult status with the novels "At Swim-two-birds", and "The Third Policeman" -while for many he'll best be remembered for his Myles Na gCopaleen pieces fr...
Reviews by Robert Looby published in 3Monkeys Online
Ludmila's Broken English by DBC PIerre
Latest novel from DBC Pierre, Booker prize winning author of Vernon God Little....
White and Red by Dorota Masłowska
Poland’s first track suit novel? Dorota Masłowska’s debut novel, published when she was only 19 and causing a sensation in her native Poland, attracts labels and chin-stroking disquisitions on the State We Are In. Translated by Benjamin Paloff, t...
Political Censorship and the Democratic State: the Irish Broadcasting Ban - Mary P. Corcoran and Mark O?Brien
From 1975 to 1994 legislation banned spokespeople of proscribed organisations, such as Sinn Fé©®, from the Irish media. This collection of essays discusses the history and effects of the section 31 ban....
Vernon God Little - DBC Pierre
Vernon God Little is the story of the aftermath of a high school massacre and the accompanying judicial shambles and media circus. Winner of the Man Booker (2003), and Whitbread prize for a first novel (2003). ...
Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities - Rebecca Solnit
The reflections of a seasoned activist, Rebecca Solnit, on activism and movements for change. ...
Fahrenheit 9/11
Michael Moore's documentary has set off both polemics and box office records, but when the fuss dies down, is the film any good?...
