We talk about politicians being in public life, but they seldom appear in the public space where everyone is free to appear as a citizen.

More and more I think of privatisation as being not just about the takeover of resources and power by corporate interests, but as the retreat of citizens to private life and private space, screened from solidarity with strangers and increasingly afraid or even unable to imagine acting in public.

Despair is easy, or at least low cost.

There are disasters that are entirely manmade, but none that are entirely natural.

Revolution is as unpredictable as an earthquake and as beautiful as spring. Its coming is always a surprise, but its nature should not be.

Writing is saying to no one and to everyone the things it is not possible to say to someone.

Politics is pervasive. Everything is political and the choice to be "apolitical" is usually just an endorsement of the status quo and the unexamined life.