Dear Noam,

A very happy birthday from Aotearoa/New Zealand!

I tried to think about all the innumerable articles, chapters, books, speeches of yours that I have read. What has been most significant to me?
I think perhaps it was the raft of urgent articles and interviews from the that terrible time in 1999 when East Timor was in flames. You talked about the leverage that the US and its major allies have over the Indonesian government and how this leverage could have been used to stop the atrocities in East Timor at any point since the ivasion was contemplated. And of how pressure can force a positive course of action when the social costs of not doing so can be raised.
That is a good reminder for all of us who live in the rich nations!
Thanks for your enormous contribution to a more just world and for your wonderful visit here a few years back,
Maire Leadbeater

Thanks for all your work that has been so informative and empowering to me and I am sure many like me. It is always a bit suspect to give too much emphasis to one event that changes ones mind about issues, but, for me reading "Understanding Power" was a really life changing moment where I literally felt that my eyes had been opened and I was able to finally apply a critical analysis to what was going on in the world. Also, reading this book got me out of hierarchical SWP politics and into anarchism (and for that I am forever grateful!!).