Back to BPTDG Introduction

 

Pamphlets

£2.00 each, available here

Where indicated, the texts can be found online

Pamphlets based on talks given to the Discussion Group:
 
Islam and Politics - A Reflection on the sources of political legitimacy
by Peter Brooke
Argues that Islam is inseparable from the struggle to realise a political ideal that may be unattainable.
 
What is a dictatorship?
by Wendy Toomey
Behind every state is a state structure that may not differ very much if the state is a 'democracy' or a 'dictatorship'.
 
Northern Ireland - Is it a religious conflict?
by Peter Brooke
An attempt to give a bird's eye view of the history of religion in Ireland in its political consequences from the Norman invasion to the Second Vatican Council.
 
Notes towards a definition of Sin
by Peter Brooke
Christianity is based on a problem of Sin and Salvation which is quite distinct from the problem of good or socially responsible behaviour.
 
Lebanon ­ Another Velvet Revolution? by M. Abdul Latif. An account of the historical background to the conflicts that plagued the Lebanon through the 1970s and 1980s. Abdul Latif is an Iraqi currently living in Brecon. He has lived both in the Lebanon and in Syria.
 
Notes towards a definition of 'Spirituality' by Peter Brooke. From 'Scientific idealism' at the beginning of the twentieth century to the mediaeval Realist-Nominalist dispute to the body-soul-spirit hierarchy of the Fathers of the early Christian church.
 
The Faith of an Atheist by Ian Milton. Ian Milton argues that a sense of moral purpose and of the mystery of the Universe can be be had without believing in God.
 
India ­ Spirituality and Reality Therapy or Breaking my rose-coloured specs. by Satya Claire. Satya lived for over ten years in India and outlines both what she learned about herself and about the darker side of Indian life.
 
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict ­ the need for a one state solution by Peter Brooke. The Palestinian effort to achieve a separate state has only resulted in a process of ghettoisation. Advocating instead a civil rights movement to turn the existing Israeli parliament into the representative government of the whole area, including the West Bank and Jordan.
 
Iran ­ Lies and half truths from the European Union by David Morrison. Given the complete lack of any evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, it is the European Union and the UN Security Cuncil, not Iran, that are acting in breach of international law.
 
 
 
Other pamphlets in the 'Politics and Theology' series
 
The Left and the Algerian Catastrophe
by Hugh Roberts
Although the terrible events in Algeria during the 1990s can be attributed to the policies of an essentially right wing government, the left, both in Algeria and throughout the world, has failed to develop an independent position capable of addressing the causes of the crisis.
 
The Dishonest Case for War
by Glen Rangwala
It is now generally recognised that the dossier published by the British government in September 2002 on Iraq's 'weapons of mass destruction' was to put it at its mildest based on intelligence of very poor quality. This pamphlet is a comprehensive critique of the government's arguments published at the time by Glen Rangwala who was later responsible for exposing the unacknowledged sources of the so-called 'dodgy dossier' on Iraq's security network.

On the origins of the 'Gulf War'
Essays by Hugh Roberts and Crown Prince Hassan of Jordan
Argues that any possibility of a diplomatic solution to the 1990/91 crisis over Kuwait was sabotaged by a deliberate policy on the part of the United States government. Also included is a transcript of the interview between Saddam Hussein and the US ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, widely interpreted as the American government giving the Iraqi President a green light to go ahead with the invasion.

Notes on the role of Serbia in the Yugoslav Conflict
by Peter Brooke
An account of the Yugoslav conflict as seen from a Serb point of view, with special reference to the great Serb novelist and political theorist Dobrica Cosic.

The El Salvador death squad option comes to Iraq
by Max Fuller
Max Fuller notes the increase in group assassinations that have occurred since James Steele was assigned to work with the Iraqi 'Special Police Commandos'. From 1984 to 1986 Steele had led the US Military Advisory Group in El Salvador ...
 
Introduction to the Orthodox Church
by Fr Geoffrey Ready.
Fr Geoffrey, a Priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, emphasises that the core of Orthodox teaching lies not in intellectual arguments but in the experience of 'deification', glorification or union with God.
 
Crying Wolf - Media disinformation and Death Squads in Occupied Iraq
by Max Fuller
A detailed development of the case that many of the assassinations attributed to Shi'ite militias in Iraq are in fact the work of elements closely associated with the occupying forces.