Janell Watson Writing to Change the World An Interview with John Rees British writer and activist John Rees cofounded the Stop the War Coalition in 2001. He also cofounded the revolutionary socialist orga- nization Counterfre. He regularly writes for the print and online ven- ues of both organizations, in addition to organizing demonstrations and rallies. Rees studied Marx and Hegel at the University of Hull, where he led a student occupation against the imposition of fees for overseas students. He was elected a member of the National Executive of the National Union of Students in the early 1980s. His academic work at Hull culminated in Te Algebra of Revolution: Te Dialectic and the Classical Marxist Tradition (Routledge, 1998). Combining writing with politics, he worked as a reporter for the Socialist Worker and served as editor of the party’s quarterly journal, International Socialism, before leaving the party in 2009. Books that directly address leftist political organizing strategy include Te ABCs of Socialism ([Bookmarks, 1995] Counterfre, 2014) and Strategy and Tactics: How the Left Can Organise to Transform Society (Counterfre, 2011). His more scholarly and analytical books include Imperialism and Resis- tance (Routledge, 2006) and Te Levellers’ Revolution (Verso, 2016). His experiences in Cairo during the so-called Arab Spring resulted in Te People Demand: A Short History of the Arab Revolutions, with Joseph Daher (Counterfre, 2011). Te television series that he wrote and presented for the Islam Channel [London] was later published as a book, Timelines: A Political History of the Modern World (Routledge, 2012). With Lindsey German, he cowrote A People’s History of London (Verso, 2012), which celebrates the city’s long lineage of revolutionary pamphleteers and agitators. Rees is currently a visiting research fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he is continuing his research on the Levellers. Tis interview took place online on Tuesday, August 9, 2016. Janell Watson Your father was an activist in trade unions and in the Labour Party. Did his activism inspire you? John Rees I guess the environment at home sort of gave me a certain set of values. I think it was probably not until I started becoming political minnesota review 89 (2017) DOI 10.1215/00265667-4178050 © 2017 Virginia Tech 123 Downloaded from https://read.dukeupress.edu/the-minnesota-review/article-pdf/2017/89/123/515775/ddmnr_2017_89_28watson_fpp.pdf by guest on 25 May 2020