Simon Wood

Add friend
Sign in to Goodreads to learn more about Simon.


Loading...
Arun D. Ellis
“Only a psychopath would ever think of doing these things, only a psychopath would dream of abusing other people in such a way, only a psychopath would treat people as less than human just for money. The shocking truth is, even though they now have most if not all of the money, they want still more, they want all of the money that you have left in your pockets, they want it all because they have no empathy with other people, with other creatures, they have no feeling for the world which they exploit, they have no love or sense of being or belonging for their souls are dead, dead to all things but greed and a desire to rule over others.”
Arun D. Ellis, Corpalism

Edward W. Said
“Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its circumstances are special, that it has a mission to enlighten, civilize, bring order and democracy, and that it uses force only as a last resort. And, sadder still, there always is a chorus of willing intellectuals to say calming words about benign or altruistic empires, as if one shouldn't trust the evidence of one's eyes watching the destruction and the misery and death brought by the latest mission civilizatrice.”
Edward W. Said, Orientalism

Laurie Penny
“Public ‘career feminists’ have been more concerned with getting more women into ‘boardrooms’, when the problem is that there are altogether too many boardrooms, and none of them are on fire.”
Laurie Penny, Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies and Revolution

Antonio Gramsci
“I hate the indifferent. I believe that living means taking sides. Those who really live cannot help being a citizen and a partisan. Indifference and apathy are parasitism, perversion, not life. That is why I hate the indifferent.

The indifference is the deadweight of history. The indifference operates with great power on history. The indifference operates passively, but it operates. It is fate, that which cannot be counted on. It twists programs and ruins the best-conceived plans. It is the raw material that ruins intelligence. That what happens, the evil that weighs upon all, happens because the human mass abdicates to their will; allows laws to be promulgated that only the revolt could nullify, and leaves men that only a mutiny will be able to overthrow to achieve the power. The mass ignores because it is careless and then it seems like it is the product of fate that runs over everything and everyone: the one who consents as well as the one who dissents; the one who knew as well as the one who didn’t know; the active as well as the indifferent. Some whimper piously, others curse obscenely, but nobody, or very few ask themselves: If I had tried to impose my will, would this have happened?

I also hate the indifferent because of that: because their whimpering of eternally innocent ones annoys me. I make each one liable: how they have tackled with the task that life has given and gives them every day, what have they done, and especially, what they have not done. And I feel I have the right to be inexorable and not squander my compassion, of not sharing my tears with them.

I am a partisan, I am alive, I feel the pulse of the activity of the future city that those on my side are building is alive in their conscience. And in it, the social chain does not rest on a few; nothing of what happens in it is a matter of luck, nor the product of fate, but the intelligent work of the citizens. Nobody in it is looking from the window of the sacrifice and the drain of a few. Alive, I am a partisan. That is why I hate the ones that don’t take sides, I hate the indifferent.”
Antonio Gramsci

James   Barr
“When Husni Zaim seized power from Shukri al-Quwatli on 30 March 1949, Syria's economy was a parlous state and its army had been beaten the previous November by the Israelis. Zaim knew that he needed to take action on both fronts fast. After overthrowing al-Quwatli bloodlessly, he set out to open peace talks with the Israelis and mend relations with the French via a currency agreement and an arms deal that would pave the way for renewed French influence in the former mandate. But Zaim's reign did not last long. One hundred and thirty-seven days after he had taken power, on 14 August he too was overthrown and executed.”
James Barr, A Line in the Sand: Britain, France and the Struggle that Shaped the Middle East

year in books
Philip ...
696 books | 41 friends

Ivana
2,688 books | 270 friends

Diego G...
2,365 books | 107 friends

Louise
1,900 books | 502 friends

محمد حمزة
2,192 books | 1,353 friends

Darla
2,861 books | 83 friends

Jim Rimmer
764 books | 95 friends

Andrew
10,579 books | 506 friends

More friends…
The Making of the English Working Class by E.P. ThompsonThe Condition of the Working Class in England by Friedrich EngelsThe World Turned Upside Down by Christopher      HillThe Enemy Within by Seumas MilneLiberty Against the Law by Christopher      Hill
British History
787 books — 203 voters
The Shock Doctrine by Naomi KleinTreasure Islands by Nicholas ShaxsonA Brief History of Neoliberalism by David HarveyAusterity by Mark BlythBad Samaritans by Ha-Joon Chang
Best Economics Books
451 books — 523 voters

More…



Polls voted on by Simon

Lists liked by Simon