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Kirsty Young's castaway is writer Tariq Ali.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the radical thinker, writer and broadcaster Tariq Ali. Forty years since the streets of London were filled with demonstrators, Tariq Ali describes how he came to be involved in anti-establishment politics and how, from an early age, he felt drawn towards those people who were the underdogs of society. He was born to privileged, atheist parents in Pakistan, he led his first street protest at 12 and his first strike at 15 He became increasingly political until, after a military coup, his parents were advised to send him out of the country for his own safety and so he came to study at Oxford.

He travelled to Vietnam at the height of the war to observe and document the suffering there and also travelled to Bolivia and Palestine. His role as an anti-establishment agitator was cemented when he led two revolutionary marches in London in 1968. Forty years on - and after a successful career as a film-maker and writer - he says it remains important to voice dissenting views and he insists that despite his privilege and status he remains firmly outside the establishment.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Meda Ishq Vi Toon by Pathaney Khan
Book: The collected works by Marcel Proust
Luxury: A mini DVD player.

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45 minutes

Last on

Fri 21 Mar 2008 09:00
BBC Radio 4

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Music Played

  • Gabriel Fauré

    Introitus (from Requiem)

    Choir: The Choir of Kings College, Cambridge Orchestra: The English Chamber Orchestra Conductor: Stephen Cleobury

    • Faure & Durufle: Requiems.
    • EMI.

  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    String Quartet No. 7 in F sharp minor - 3rd movement

    Orchestra: Borodin String Quartet

    • Shostakovich: String Quartets 3, 7 & 8.
    • Virgin Classics.

  • Franz Schubert

    Prometheus, D674

    Soloist: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore

    • Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau/Gerald Moore.
    • Orfeo.

  • Charlie Parker

    Blues for Alice

    • The original recordings of Charlie Parker.
    • Verve.

  • Giuseppe Verdi

    Si, pel ciel (Oath duet) (from Otello)

    Soloist: Luciano Pavarotti & Daniela Dessi Choir: The Chorus and Orchestra: of La Scala Conductor: Riccardo Muti

    • Don Carlos.
    • EMI.

  • Cornelius Cardew

    The Croppy Boy

    • Piano Music.
    • B & L.

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Pathane Khan

      Meda Ishq Vi Toon

      • The Flower of Rohi.
      • RCU.

  • Tom Lehrer

    Send the Marines

    • Remains of Tom Lehrer.
    • Rhino.

  • Book Choice

    • The collected works - Marcel Proust

  • Luxury Choice

    • A mini DVD player

Credits

Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Tariq Ali

Broadcasts

  • Sun 16 Mar 2008 11:15
    BBC Radio 4
  • Fri 21 Mar 2008 09:00
    BBC Radio 4

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