Tribune Radio: Recent Episodes
Tribune Radio
Socialist podcasts from Tribune Magazine - featuring partner shows like Grace Blakeley's A World to Win and Alex Doherty's Politics Theory Other.
Sebastian Budgen joins PTO to talk about the rise of Eric Zemmour - the new star of the French far right and a candidate in April's presidential election. We discussed Zemmour's career in journalism, and why he is able to attract support from both Le Pen voters and more mainstream conservatives. We also talked about the strategic logic behind Zemmour's efforts to rehabilitate the reputation of the collaborationist Vichy government of WWII.
Jason Hickel joins PTO to talk about his book, Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World. In part one of the interview we discussed the comprehensive and all-encompassing character of the ecological crisis which extends well beyond the issue of CO2 emissions. We also talked about the violent emergence of capitalism, and how that process entailed the radical transformation of human subjectivity and how humans relate to the natural world. Finally, we talked about the emergence of GDP as an indicator of societal progress and well being.
On this week’s podcast, Grace Blakeley speaks to Chris Saltmarsh, co-founder of Labour for a Green New Deal and author of Burnt: Fighting for Climate Justice. We discuss what the Green New Deal should look like, who should pay for it, and how we should mobilise to win it.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies for making this episode possible.
Grace speaks to Holly Jean Buck, Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Buffalo, about her new book Ending Fossil Fules: Why Net Zero Is Not Enough. They discuss the meaning of net zero, the different trajectories we might use to get there, and how these different paths might ease or exacerbate other ecological, social, and political challenges the world faces today.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies for making this episode possible.
This week, Grace speaks to Phil Jones, researcher at Autonomy and author of Work Without the Worker: Labour in the Age of Platform Capitalism.
They discuss whether what we call ‘automation’ actually relies on the proliferation of poorly paid microwork around the world, who does this work under what conditions, and how workers can start to organise to resist their exploitation at the hands of some of the most powerful companies on the planet.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to producer Sarah Hurd for filling in this week.
Andy Beckett joins PTO to talk about the recent Conservative and Labour Party conferences and whether the supply chain and fuel crises might finally undermine support for Boris Johnson's government. We also chatted about why Keir Starmer seems to have made so little effort to make political capital out of the government's current difficulties.
Amia Srinivasan joins PTO to talk about her new book, The Right to Sex. We spoke about whether it's legitimate to interrogate our sexual desires and to think about how desire is shaped by patriarchy, racism, capitalism, and heteronormativity. We also talked about why Amia takes the case of so-called incels as the way into discussing those questions. Finally, we considered the anti-pornography critique of Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon, and whether their work can be generative in spite of its obvious drawbacks and failings.
Grace speaks to Senator Nina Turner, the former Ohio Senator and Democratic Nominee for Ohio Secretary of State who also served as co-chair of Bernie Sanders’ 2020 Presidential Campaign. Grace spoke to Senator Turner at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton about organising within the Democratic Party, the future of the US left under Biden, and what lessons we can all learn from the defeats of the past few years—as well as how to make sure we don’t give up hope.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron at patreon.com/aworldtowinpod, where you'll also get access to full versions of the interviews.
A production note: Because of a technical issue, we had to switch to an imperfect back-up recording about twenty minutes into the episode.
Grace speaks to Geoff Mann, Professor of Geography at Simon Fraser University and author of In the Long Run We Are All Dead: Keynesianism, Political Economy and Revolution and, with Joel Wainwright, Climate Leviathan: A Political Theory of Our Planetary Future. They discuss capitalism, state power and climate breakdown, whether the pandemic has ended neoliberalism, and why democracy is so important to anti-capitalist struggle today.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron at patreon.com/aworldtowinpod, where you'll also get access to full versions of the interviews.
Grace speaks with Phil Burton-Cartledge, lecturer in sociology at the University of Derby and author of Falling Down: The Conservative Party and the Decline of Tory Britain. We discuss whose interests the Tory Party really represents, how the party works, and why, contrary to appearances, the Tories are in decline.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron at patreon.com/aworldtowinpod, where you'll also get access to full versions of the interviews.
Ines Schwerdtner and Adrian Daub join PTO to talk through the Bundestag election. We talked about the election results and the partial revival of the SPD. We also talked about the permutations of possible governing coalitions, and the unusual extent of the red scare tactics deployed by the CDU and the other parties of the right against Die Linke and the SPD. Finally, we chatted about the legacy of Angela Merkel and why Germany's longest serving chancellor since Helmut Kohl is so admired by liberals abroad and whether her reputation for competence and fairness is deserved.
Paul Rogers and David Brophy join PTO to talk about AUKUS, the new security pact between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. We spoke about the significance of Australia acquiring nuclear powered submarines through the deal, the fallout from the cancellation of Australia's prior deal with France, and finally we discuss how the deal will be perceived in Beijing amid rising tensions between the US and China.
Grace speaks to Kyle Lewis and Will Stronge, authors of Overtime: Why We Need a Shorter Working Week. They discuss the centrality of struggles over working time to the history of class struggle, why the shorter working week should be a central demand of labour movements today, and how we need to reimagine work to build a more just and sustainable world.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
Grace speaks to Shon Faye, writer, artist, comedian, and author of the forthcoming book The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice. They discuss the prevalence of transphobia in the UK, why the transgender issue is also a class issue, and how socialists can and should support the fight for trans rights.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
Timothy Nunan joins PTO to talk about the current situation in Afghanistan, the refugee crisis in the country, the US media discussion around the American withdrawal, and what descriptions of Afghanistan as 'a graveyard of empires' or a 'second Vietnam' obscures regarding the history of the country in the 20th and 21st centuries.
This week, Grace speaks with Ashok Kumar, senior lecturer of political economy at Birkbeck and author of Monopsony Capitalism: Power and Production in the Twilight of the Sweatshop Age.
They discuss how global value chains have been reshaped under monopsony capitalism, how these changes have affected the power of workers all over the world, and how the Covid-19 pandemic will impact these trends.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
Paul Rogers joins PTO to talk about the Taliban's advance across Afghanistan and the possibility of an imminent takeover of the capital Kabul. We spoke about why the Taliban have been so successful against the more numerous and better equipped and supported Afghan government forces, what the Taliban's victory might mean for India, Pakistan and China, and finally we discussed how history will judge Western military intervention in the country.
This week, Grace speaks to Nick Hayes, author of The Book of Trespass: Crossing the Lines that Divide Us. They discuss the radical history of English trespassers, how the enclosure of common land formed the foundations of English capitalism, and how we can fight to enforce our rights to the commons and our right to roam against the Conservatives’ assault on our basic freedoms.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
James Meadway joins PTO to talk about his forthcoming article for Open Democracy on the end of neoliberalism. We talked about why James believes that we're witnessing a transition away from neoliberalism and towards what some are calling authoritarian capitalism, why the left needs to focus more on the high point of globalisation of the early 2000s when thinking about neoliberal forms of governance rather than the late 1970s and 1980s, and we also talked about how the platform tech giants may have been nurtured within the neoliberal system but that their revenue models point to a quite different regime of capital accumulation.
This week, Grace speaks to Adrienne Buller and Ben Braun. Adrienne is a senior research fellow at the think tank Common Wealth, and Ben is a political scientist at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies. They recently co-authored a paper entitled ‘Under new management: Share ownership and the rise of UK asset manager capitalism‘.
With Grace, Adrienne and Ben discuss the rise of the big three asset managers, who really makes the big decisions in today’s corporations, and whether workers can ever hope to use their power as shareholders to change capitalism.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
This week, Grace speaks to Ed Miliband, former leader of the Labour Party and current Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. They discuss how to fight inequality and climate crisis in the wake of the pandemic, and his new book, Go Big: How to Fix Our World.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
This week, Grace speaks to Linsey McGoey, professor of sociology at the University of Essex and author of The Unknowers: How Strategic Ignorance Rules the World and No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy.
They discuss how politicians make use of ignorance and uncertainty, the difference between ignorance and deliberate misinformation, and why, if ‘knowledge is power’, ignorance is too.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
Benjamin Bratton joins PTO to discuss his new book, The Revenge of the Real: Politics for a Post-Pandemic World. We talked about how the Covid-19 pandemic could transform our sense of human subjectivity, how to think about planning at a planetary scale - in a way that neither falls prey to techno utopianism, nor retreats into a romantic localism. We also talked about what the pandemic means for populism, and why taking an epidemiological view of society will aid us in dealing with future crises. And finally we also discussed the unfortunate response of the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben to the pandemic and why the dominance of the baby boomers in academia has led to an overemphasis on what Benjamin describes as a "negative biopolitics" that can only see governance and systems of mapping and planning in sinister, authoritarian terms.
This week, Grace speaks to Peter Mitchell, author of Imperial Nostalgia: How the British Conquered Themselves, which considers how the memory of empire continues to inflect British culture and politics.
They discuss how imperial nostalgia manifests itself in our politics today, the role of the Labour Party in supporting these trends, and how the Left should respond to emotive calls for a return to a better age.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
Margret Grebowicz joins PTO to talk about her new book, 'Mountains and Desire: Climbing vs. The End of the World'. We talked about how the notion of the boho climbing rat, who forgoes a normal life and conventional ideas of success has given way to the idea of the modern climber as emblematic of entrepreneurial achievement and heteronormativity. We also talked about Free Solo, the 2018 documentary on Alex Honnold's attempt to free climb the vertical rock face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, and how the documentary illuminates the themes of Margret's book.
This week, Grace speaks to Alexander Zevin, assistant professor of history at City University of New York, an editor at New Left Review, and author of Liberalism at Large: The World According to the Economist.
Their conversation covers a host of interesting questions, including about the liberal ideology, whether it’s in crisis – and where the liberal rules-based world order goes next.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
This week, Grace speaks to Amelia Horgan, Philosophy PhD candidate researching the politics of work and author of Lost in Work: Escaping Capitalism. They discuss the changing nature of work in the UK and around the world, how these trends have been impacted by the pandemic, and whether it’s possible to imagine ‘good work’ under capitalism. (Note there's the occasional snag in our guest's sound because of some internet trouble.)
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
Owen Hatherley joins PTO to discuss a new career spanning collection of his writings, Clean Living Under Difficult Circumstances. We talked about the early 2000s blogging scene as a reaction to New Labour, Owen's writings on music and how Black Box Recorder's work seemed to anticipate the world of Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson. And finally, we talked about Owen's review of K-Punk - the collected writings of Mark Fisher - and the strange phenomenon of American leftists seeing Fisher as a "class first" social democrat, shorn of his theoretical touchstones.
This week, Grace speaks with Jason W. Moore, environmental historian and professor of sociology at Binghamton University, about capitalism and climate breakdown. They discuss his brilliant books, Capitalism in the Web of Life and Capitalocene or Anthropocene?, and ask what Marx can teach us about the multiple, overlapping ecological crises our planet is currently facing.
Find Jason on Twitter: https://twitter.com/oikeios
For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod
In this episode, Grace talks to writer and activist Hadas Thier about her excellent book A People’s Guide to Capitalism, in which she provides a concise and readable introduction to Marxist thought. They discuss key concepts like capital, class, and imperialism, and apply them to the current crisis gripping the capitalist world system.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
This week, Grace speaks to Kate Aronoff, staff writer at The New Republic and author of the excellent new book Overheated: How Capitalism Broke the Planet and How We Fight Back. She’s also the co-author of We Own the Future: Democratic Socialism, American Style, and A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal.
They discuss Biden’s climate plan, the Green New Deal, and whether fossil fuel executives should be tried for crimes against humanity.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
Jacqueline Rose joins PTO to talk about her new book, On Violence and on Violence against Women. We discussed how psychoanalysis can help us grasp the mental states that make male violence possible, where Jacqueline parts company with the radical feminist perspectives of Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin, and how the experience of trans women illuminates more broadly the nature of male violence against women. Finally, we talked about the violent history of South Africa - from the the colonial and apartheid eras up to the present day.
This week, Grace talks to Palestinian activist Akram Salhab on his experience living and organising in Palestine, what’s going on in Sheikh Jarrah, and the heroic efforts of Palestinians to resist Israeli occupation – as well as what socialists around the world can do to support them.
We encourage our listeners to donate to charities supporting Palestinians on the ground. You can donate to Medical Aid for Palestinians here.
You can also support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
In a week that saw Keir Starmer’s Labour tank in the local elections, Grace speaks to two brilliant local leaders who managed to defy the downturn.
Matthew Brown is leader of Preston City Council and the driving force behind the Preston Model, as well as the co-author of Paint Your Town Red, which you can buy now from Repeater Books. Paul Dennett is the city-mayor of Salford, and a frequent contributor to Tribune, including a recent piece on why socialist Salford bucked the trend in the elections.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
At the end of the 1980s, China's leaders came close to implementing the kind of economic shock therapy reforms that a few years later caused a social and economic catastrophe in the former Soviet Union and much of eastern Europe. A moment of enormous significance for Chinese and world history, Isabella Weber explains how and why China came to the brink of initiating an economic "big bang", and why ultimately the leadership chose to pursue a gradualist process of market reform instead.
Grace talks to Alex Press, staff writer at Jacobin, about Amazon’s ruthless exploitation of its workforce, its deeply embedded culture of union busting, and its avoidance of basic labour regulation in its mission to become the ‘everything store’ — as well as how workers are coming together to resist the company.
You can read Alex’s recent work on Amazon and unions here, here, and here.
A reminder that you can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron.
Thanks to our producer, Conor Gillies, and Tribune’s designer Kevin Zweerink for their work on this episode. This podcast is supported by the Lipman-Miliband Trust.
This week, Grace talks to author, writer, and organiser Harsha Walia on her book Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism and the Rise of Racist Nationalism.
They discuss the nature and location of the border, its functionality to global capitalism and imperialism, and how the Left can organise to resist right-wing populism in the age of nationalism and climate breakdown.
A reminder that you can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron.
Thanks to our producer, Conor Gillies, and Tribune’s designer Kevin Zweerink for their work on this episode. This podcast is supported by the Lipman-Miliband Trust.
Alex De Waal joins PTO to talk about his new book, New Pandemics, Old Politics: Two Hundred Years of War on Disease. We discussed the history of pandemic disease control, from the cholera outbreaks of the 19th century to HIV/AIDS and the Covid19 crisis. We chatted why the war on disease narrative is so unhelpful, how colonial era vaccination programmes spread HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, and why the Great Influenza pandemic of 1918-19 is so little discussed and written about, despite its extraordinary death toll.
This week, Grace talks to Mat Lawrence, director of the think tank Common Wealth, and Laurie Layborn Langton, author and researcher, about their new book Planet on Fire: A Manifesto for the Age of Environmental Breakdown.
Planet on Fire argues that ‘the political status quo has no answer to the devastating and inequitably distributed consequences of the climate emergency’ and, in this episode, the guests discuss the multiple overlapping ecological, economic, and political crises the world is facing in the era of environmental breakdown, as well as how the Left should respond.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
This week, Grace talks to Doug Henwood, Marxist, journalist, host of the Behind the News podcast, and author of many books, including the classic Wall Street: How it Works and For Whom.
They discuss Biden’s stimulus package, his corporate tax hikes, and what’s been going on in US stock markets – as well as how workers can organise in the post-Covid economy.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
Robbie Shilliam joins PTO to talk about his article, 'Enoch Powell: Britain’s First Neoliberal Politician' which appeared in the New Political Economy Journal. We spoke about how Enoch Powell, far from being a political throwback was in fact a key figure in the emergence of neoliberalism and Thatcherism, and how his politics presaged the Brexit project. We also chatted about how Powell, in contrast to many conservatives became hostile to nostalgia for the British Empire and how he believed that an independent Britain, neither ruling an empire, nor becoming part of the embryonic European Union would find its proper place in the world.
Before the container ship crisis in the Suez Canal, Grace spoke with Laleh Khalili, Professor of International Politics at Queen Mary University of London, and author of Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula.
They discussed the fascinating architecture and infrastructure that underpins the backbone of capitalism—global shipping—and what it tells us about state power, corporate sovereignty, and imperialism – as well as how those networks are adapting to China’s increasingly assertive economic expansion.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
Owen Hatherley, Juliet Jacques, and Alberto Toscano join PTO to talk about Adam Curtis's new BBC series Can't Get You Out of My Head. We chatted about Curtis' politics, the changes in his documentary style since the early 1990s, and why he avoids talking about neoliberalism.
This week, as the anniversary of the declaration of a pandemic by the WHO approaches, Grace talks to Dr. Eugene Richardson, Assistant Professor of Global Health at Harvard and author of Epidemic Illusions: On the Coloniality of Global Public Health. Eugene previously worked in Sierra Leone and the DRC supporting the response to the Ebola outbreak.
They discuss the ways in which an unequal, unsustainable capitalist world system reproduces massive economic, political, and health inequalities, and what we can do about it.
Remember that you can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron.
Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
Melissa Gira Grant and Chardine Taylor Stone join PTO to discuss police and male violence and the murder of Sarah Everard. We talked about the importance of not seeing Wayne Couzen's role as a police officer as merely incidental to the murder of Everard and we also talked about why carceral feminist approaches that seek to combat male violence through the police and the courts are doomed to fail. We also talked about the social media reaction to the initial vigil for Sarah Everard on Clapham common and how the struggle against police violence and violence against women in general requires the building of a mass movement of collective struggle that cuts across different identities.
This week, we have a special International Women’s Day episode of A World to Win, in which Grace talks to Kristen Ghodsee, Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and author of many books, including Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism and Other Arguments for Economic Independence. The interview was recorded on International Women's Day.
Kristen skilfully deconstructs liberal, corporate, and NGO feminism, and helps us to think about how the feminist movement is about supporting everyone to build stronger, happier, healthier relationships and rediscover our unalienated humanity in the process. You can read Ghodsee’s article mentioned in the interview here.
You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
This week, Grace talks to Sarah Jaffe, journalist and author of Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone.
They discuss Joe Biden’s first weeks as president, the impact of Covid-19 and climate breakdown in the US, and how the world of work is changing for the worse as a result of the pandemic – as well as how we might resist it.
Remember that you can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron.
Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
Gavin Mueller joins PTO for part two of our conversation on his new book, 'Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites were Right About Why You Hate Your Job'. We talked about Taylorism and the deskilling of workers, how automation was used by American military planners during the Vietnam war in order to maintain control of the increasingly mutinous US Army, and finally we talked about why - in spite of how the increasing deployment of deskilling technologies made working conditions worse and more dangerous - many union leaders in both the United States and Europe supported the imposition of these new technologies.
In this week’s episode, Grace talks to Moses Khisa, Assistant Professor at the School of Public and International Affairs at North Carolina State University and a research associate with the Centre for Basic Research in Kampala.
They discuss the recent elections in Uganda, in which President Yoweri Museveni won his sixth term against populist challenger and former popstar Bobi Wine, and place them in the context of Uganda’s long slide towards authoritarianism and the failed neoliberal reforms of the 1990s.
Remember that you can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron.
Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
This week, Grace talks to Ellen Clifford, author of The War on Disabled People: Capitalism, Welfare and the Making of a Human Catastrophe (ZED Books, 2020), who is on the steering committee of Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC).
They discuss successive UK governments’ breaches of the human rights of disabled people, how the Left can be made a more inclusive space for disabled activists, and how the pandemic has affected the lives of disabled people after a decade of austerity.
Remember that you can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron.
Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
Kate Aronoff joins PTO to talk about what can be expected from the Joe Biden administration in the United States, both domestically and on foreign policy. We discussed the scale and scope of the administration's stimulus package, where the Republican party goes next after its defeat at the polls in November, and we also talked about why - in spite of Biden's impressive rhetoric on climate and the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline - the US fossil fuel industry expects a good year ahead under the new Democratic administration.
Gavin Mueller joins PTO to talk about his new book, 'Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Are Right About Why You Hate Your Job'. In the first part of our conversation we talk about the history of the Luddites, why their reputation for conservative technophobia is undeserved and how their struggles to resist the imposition of new deskilling technologies are relevant to the contemporary workplace. We also talked about the problems of leftwing techno-utopianism.
This week, Grace talks to Ben Smoke, one of the members of the Stansted 15: a group of activists who stopped a mass deportation flight from taking off from Stansted airport in 2017, before being tried under law designed to prosecute terrorists. They discuss the details of the protest and the trial, the government's barbaric approach to migration policy, and why successive Tory governments seem so adept at breaking international human rights law.
For the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod Follow Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bencsmoke
In this week’s episode of A World to Win, Grace talks to Ian Lavery MP, former Chair of the Labour Party, and Laura Smith, former MP for Crewe and Nantwitch, about their new project No Holding Back, which you can find online and on Twitter.
We discuss whether the Labour Party is still the party of the working classes, the likely impact of Brexit on the UK, and how the Left can rebuild trust with communities across the country in the wake of the pandemic.
Remember that you can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron.
Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
Ravinder Kaur joins PTO to talk about her new book, 'Brand New Nation: Capitalist Dreams and Nationalist Designs in Twenty-First-Century India'. We spoke about how in both India, and around the world ethnonationalism in alliance with domestic and international capital seeks to rebrand entire nations as attractive investment opportunities. We talked about who and what is left out of the airbrushed picture of the branded nation, why it is that nationalism and capitalist globalisation are not antithetical as was commonly supposed in the 1990s, and we also talked about how India's democratic history and self-portrayal as open and convivial is used to favourably contrast India with China, even in the era of Hindu nationalism.
This week, in a special episode of A World to Win, we remember the brilliant Marxist thinker, writer and public intellectual Leo Panitch.
Grace talks to Max Shanly, Labour Party activist and long-time friend of Leo, and Sam Gindin, former director of research for the Canadian Auto Workers’ Union and Leo’s collaborator, including on his magnum opus The Making of Global Capitalism.
Several of Leo Panitch’s books and many of his essays are available for free through the Socialist Register. He was also a member of Tribune‘s advisory board – read his writings for us and our obituary for him here.
Remember that you can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron.
Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
In this week’s episode, Grace Blakeley speaks to Vijay Prashad, head of the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research and author of Washington Bullets: A History of the CIA, Coups and Assassinations.
They discuss the recent wave of strikes taking place across India, the rise of the far right both there and across the world, and the mechanisms through which imperial power is exercised in today’s global economy – including the use of investor state dispute settlements by international investors to sue governments over their pandemic response.
Remember that you can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron.
Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
Andreas Malm joins PTO to talk about his new book, 'How To Blow Up a Pipeline'. We chatted about why the climate movement is so fiercely committed to nonviolence, how that hinders climate activism, and how the advocates of nonviolence edit the history of popular struggles and liberations movements in order to downplay the importance of the more militant wings of those struggles.
This week, Grace talks to Bhaskar Sunkara, founding editor of Jacobin magazine and author of The Socialist Manifesto: The case for radical politics in an era of extreme inequality. They discuss the events currently taking place in the US, as white supremacists and far right extremists storm the Capitol after the Democrats took control of the Senate in the wake of the victory of Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Georgia on Wednesday 6th January - as well as how the US left can work to build a class coalition that can resist the mounting threat of right-wing violence.
Alison Phipps joins PTO to talk about her new book, 'Me, Not You: The Trouble with Mainstream Feminism'. We chatted about the MeToo movement and what it reveals about the mainstream of feminist politics, how violence against women is necessary to the project of capitalist globalisation and how the image of the imperilled white woman has been central to the project of empire both formal and informal.
This week, Grace talks to Ana Kasparian, host and executive producer for The Young Turks and now co-host of Jacobin’s Weekends series. We discuss the media landscape in the US and the importance of alternative media to the socialist movement, the progress towards a stimulus package in the US, and how progressives should relate to a Biden presidency.
For the full hour-long episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod
Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
Marcela Mora y Araujo and Jonathan Wilson join PTO to talk about the late Diego Maradona and the outpouring of grief that greeted his death in Argentina and around the world. We also talked about the darker side of Maradona, his mistreatment of the women in his life in particular and the tangled question of whether one can separate the art from the artist.
This week Grace Blakeley talks to Owen Hatherley, Tribune‘s culture editor and author of many books, including his most recent, Red Metropolis: Socialism and the Government of London.
Grace and Owen discuss municipal socialism, regional and class inequality in the UK, and the future of the Labour Party under Keir Starmer.
Remember that you can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron.
Thanks to our producer Conor Gillies and the Lipman-Miliband Trust for making this episode possible.
This week Grace Blakeley is joined by Sa’eed Husaini, socialist activist and contributor to Africa is a Country and Jacobin.
Sa’eed recently completed a PhD at the University of Oxford and is now living and working in Lagos, Nigeria. He discusses the recent #EndSARS protests, the economic and health impact of COVID 19 in Nigeria, and the history and future of the Nigerian left.
A reminder that you can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron.
Thanks to our producer, Conor Gillies, and Tribune’s designer Kevin Zweerink for their work on this episode. This podcast is supported by the Lipman-Miliband Trust.
Brett Christophers joins PTO to talked about his new book, Rentier Capitalism: Who Owns the Economy, and Who Pays for It? We chatted about the extraordinary dominance of monopolistic rent-seeking in the UK economy, why the concept of rentierisation is more useful and accurate than the notion of financialisation when talking about the trajectory of the UK and world economies, and we also talked about how and why entrepreneurialism and competitiveness are values that are taken up far more by ordinary people in the labour market than by UK business.
Sophie Lewis joins PTO to talk about her article in The Nation, 'Covid-19 Is Straining the Concept of the Family. Let’s Break It'. We chatted about how the Covid19 pandemic has underscored how dependent the nuclear family is upon the labour of others, and why the family is being called into question by mainstream political commentators. We also talked whether the call for family abolitionism is strategically the right call to be making, and whether instead the left ought to demand the extension of the beneficial aspects - of at least some families - to everyone.
On this week’s show Grace Blakeley is joined by Andy Burnham – former Labour MP and current Mayor of Greater Manchester.
Recent weeks have seen Burnham, along with other mayors in the north of England, stand up to the Tory government and demand equity in financial support during the Covid-19 crisis.
In this show, he also discusses what cities like Manchester are doing to tackle climate breakdown and the housing crisis, as well as why the Left needs to embrace a socialist devolution agenda.
A reminder that you can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron.
Thanks to our producer, Conor Gillies, and Tribune’s designer Kevin Zweerink for their work on this episode. This podcast is supported by the Lipman-Miliband Trust.
On this week’s show Grace Blakeley speaks to Rutger Bregman, historian and author of Utopia for Realists and Humankind: A Hopeful History.
In January of last year, Bregman shot to international fame when video of him excoriating the tax-avoiding corporate elite at Davos went viral – and in the latest A World to Win he discusses a range of topics from human nature to capitalism and the 24-hour news cycle.
A reminder that you can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron.
Thanks to our producer, Conor Gillies, and Tribune’s designer Kevin Zweerink for their work on this episode. This podcast is supported by the Lipman-Miliband Trust.
Adom Getachew and Branko Marcetic join PTO to talk about the US election results, why the 'blue wave' failed to materialise and how Joe Biden will govern with a Republican senate and a republican majority on the supreme court.
A World to Win is a podcast from Grace Blakeley and Tribune bringing you a weekly dose of socialist news, theory and action with guests from around the world. This week we have a US election special on A World to Win, as the world’s leading superpower melts down over a cliff-edge presidential contest.
Grace Blakeley is joined by two guests – former Bernie Sanders national press secretary Briahna Joy Gray and Jacobin contributing editor Matt Karp – to discuss the Biden landslide that never was, the deep polarisation in American politics and the way forward for the US Left.
A reminder that you can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron. Thanks to our producer, Conor Gillies, and Tribune’s designer Kevin Zweerink for their work on this episode. This podcast is supported by the Lipman-Miliband Trust.
Barnaby Raine joins PTO to talk about the EHRC report into antisemitism and the Labour Party, the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn from the party, and what the affair tells us about the treatment of antisemitism in the UK in 2020.
This week, Grace Blakeley speaks to Labour MP for Coventry South Zarah Sultana.
Since her election in December, Zarah has been one of the most prominent figures on the party’s Left – most recently speaking out against the Spy Cops Bill in parliament.
She discusses the Tories’ attempts to impose the costs of the pandemic on those least able to bear it, the lessons the Left can learn from Corbynism, and why we need to fight for a global Green New Deal in the wake of this crisis.
A reminder that you can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron.
Thanks to our producer, Conor Gillies, and Tribune’s designer Kevin Zweerink for their work on this episode. This podcast is supported by the Lipman-Miliband Trust.
Grace Blakeley joins PTO to talk about the current state of the UK economy, whether the era of austerity is over, and why even in the face of a no deal Brexit the UK is unlikely to experience an attack of the bond market vigilantes. We also talked about Grace's excellent new podcast, 'A World To Win'.
Owen Hatherley and Kojo Koram join PTO to talk about Owen's essay, 'A Study in the Politics and Aesthetics of English Misery'. In the essay Owen reflects on the generational divides that have emerged over the course of the last two UK general elections by charting the musical evolution of The Smiths. Comparing Morrissey’s political trajectory to those of many voters throughout the North of England, Owen investigates the roots of the North’s departure from anti-Thatcherite collectivism to nationalist reaction. You can find the essay in 'Futures of Socialism: The Pandemic and the Post-Corbyn Era', edited by Grace Blakeley.
This week, Grace is joined by Mary Lou McDonald, leader of Sinn Fein, to discuss the issues that drove the party's dramatic rise in this year’s general election, the impact of the pandemic on the Irish economy, and Sinn Fein’s proposals for a unification poll in the event of a no deal Brexit.
Like this week's episode? Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod
This week, Grace talks to Rob Davies, senior figure in the South African Communist Party and former South African Minister for Trade and Industry. They discuss the impact of COVID-19 on South Africa and the rest of the Continent, the hegemony of the ANC over South African politics, and the challenges of developing an industrial strategy in a highly financialised, highly unequal, semi-perhipheral economy.
On this week’s show, Grace is joined by author, academic and activist Cornel West to discuss radical politics in the United States. West, a philosopher at Harvard’s African and African-American Studies Department, gives his views on Black Lives Matter, the “neo-fascism” of Donald Trump and the need to critique the role of American empire across the world. He also discusses how the Left can fight back against these morbid symptoms, by building a socialist spirituality, a culture of resistance and broad coalitions for social change which can transform the political landscape.
A reminder that you can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron.
Thanks to our producer, Conor Gillies, and Tribune’s designer Kevin Zweerink for their work on this episode. This podcast is supported by the Lipman-Miliband Trust.
A World to Win is a new podcast from Grace Blakeley bringing you a weekly dose of socialist news, theory and action with guests from around the world. On this week’s show, Grace Blakeley is joined by academic, activist and left legend Naomi Klein to discuss the US elections, the case for the Green New Deal, and whether the world is about to face another lesson in the politics of the shock doctrine.
Naomi has words of encouragement but also a warning for activists – the smears that the establishment used against socialist leaders Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders are “just the smallest taste of how hard they would have fought them if they’d won.”
Thanks to our producer, Conor Gillies, and Tribune’s designer Kevin Zweerink. This podcast is supported by the Lipman-Miliband Trust, but you can help the show by signing up as a patron.
A World to Win is a new podcast from Grace Blakeley bringing you a weekly dose of socialist news, theory and action with guests from around the world. In this episode, Grace talks to Meagan Day – staff writer at Jacobin and co-author of Bigger than Bernie: How we go from the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism – about the US presidential election, the economic and environmental crises currently sweeping through America and the future of the Left after Bernie.
Meagan discusses her path into politics, how Bernie Sanders won her over to socialism and why she thinks class politics are still the answer for the world’s foremost capitalist state. She also explores inequality and the changing world of work in a time of Covid-19.
Thanks to our producer, Conor Gillies, and Tribune‘s designer Kevin Zweerink. This podcast is supported by the Lipman-Miliband Trust, you can help the show by signing up as a patron.
A World to Win is a new podcast from Grace Blakeley bringing you a weekly dose of socialist news, theory and action with guests from around the world. In this episode, Grace speaks to Astra Taylor, Jerome Roos and James Schneider about their memories of the brilliant anthropologist and activist David Graeber, who tragically died on September 2nd.
David Graeber was the author of many books, including Debt: The First 5,000 Years and Bullshit Jobs, and was also seminal in the early development of Occupy Wall Street. Here, his legacy is discussed by filmmaker Astra Taylor, academic Jerome Roos, and former Corbyn staffer James Schneider, each of whom were influenced by his life and work.
A reminder that this podcast is supported by the Lipman-Miliband Trust. Remember, you can support the show by signing up as a patron.
A World to Win is a new podcast from Grace Blakeley bringing you a weekly dose of socialist news, theory and action with guests from around the world. In this episode, Grace is joined by Walden Bello, academic, author, human rights campaigner and former member of the Filipino House of Representatives.
The show discusses the history of the Philippines, Bello’s opposition to the brutal Marcos dictatorship, his longstanding fight against US imperialism and neoliberal globalisation (including in breaking into the offices of the World Bank to steal confidential documents), as well as how Covid-19 is affecting the Philippines.
Thanks to our producer, Conor Gillies, and our graphic designer, Kevin Zweerink, for their hard work on this episode. Remember, you can support the show by signing up as a patron.
A World to Win is a new podcast from Grace Blakeley bringing you a weekly dose of socialist news, theory and action with guests from around the world. In the second episode of A World to Win, Grace talks to former foreign minister of Ecuador Guillaume Long about the impact of Covid-19 in the country, the rise and fall of the Correa government and the growth of ‘neoliberal authoritarianism’ in Latin America.
Long discusses the “huge cuts” imposed in recent years by Ecuador’s Moreno administration, an austerity plan which has seen public investment in the health sector halved and 10 percent of public health workers laid off with the support of the IMF.
He also explains the campaign of ‘lawfare,’ which has sought to criminalise Rafael Correa and prevent him from returning to office, and the systematic retaliation from Western governments to Ecuador’s progressive economic and environmental policies under Correa’s government.
Thanks to our producer, Conor Gillies, and our graphic designer, Kevin Zweerink, for their hard work on this episode. Remember, you can support the show by signing up as a patron.
Bhaskar Sunkara joins me to talk about the violence in Kenosha, Wisconsin and collusion between the far right and the police, whether the frightening prospect of a second Trump administration makes a rerun of the 2016 election result less likely - in spite of Joe Biden's underwhelming policy platform - and we also talked about the prospect of the American right breaking from its relative economic orthodoxy and moving towards advocacy of a meaningful industrial policy.
Haim Bresheeth-Zabner joins me to talk about his new book, 'An Army Like No Other: How the Israel Defense Force Made a Nation'. We discussed how the the Zionist project in Palestine depended upon the erasure of the culture of the Pre-WWII Jewish diaspora, why it is that Israeli military operations command near unanimous support within Israel, and how Israel's economy has become massively dependent on its military industrial complex and permanent conflict.
Welcome to the first episode of A World to Win with Grace Blakeley, a new podcast from Tribune.
Today, Grace is joined by Jeremy Corbyn to discuss to the UK government’s disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the rise and fall of Corbynism, and the future of socialism within the Labour Party.
For the first time ever, hear Jeremy on the "absurd" discussions he had with the government about its herd immunity strategy and why the furlough scheme was unlikely to have been implemented without significant pressure from key figures in the Opposition.
What will come after the capitalocene - and is that even the right term to describe our geological era? Rosie Warren joins me to talk about 'The Tragedy of the Worker: Towards the Proletarocene' - an essay coauthored by Rosie that considers the entwined processes of climate change and the proletarianisation of the world's population. We talked about the debate over whether to describe our geological age as the anthropocene or the capitalocene and we also discussed Walter Benjamin's notion of capitalism as a "cultic religion".
Tobita Chow and Jake Werner join me to talk about the roots of the increasingly antagonistic relationship between China and the United States, the reasons for bipartisan consensus on China's increasing technological prowess, and the specific character of anti-Chinese racism in the United States. We also talked about how the crushing of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 signalled China's deepening integration into the US-led international order
Astra Taylor and Troy Vettese join me to talk about their recent article in the Guardian in which they argue that the principal driver of zoonotic diseases is the factory farming of animals and that the covid19 pandemic shows that we need to transition away from a meat-centred global food system. We also talked about an article Troy co-wrote in Jacobin, entitled The Climate Crisis and COVID-19 Are Inseparable.
Andreas Malm joins me to talk about his new book, Corona, Climate, Chronic Emergency: War Communism in the Twenty-First Century. We talked about why in the case of Covid19 most of the rich countries of the north were able to make the kinds of decisive interventions that seem to elude them when it comes to climate change. And we also talked about the experience of the Bolsheviks during the Russian civil war, and why war communism is a better model for the kind of mobilisation needed in the climate crisis than the usual invocation of the ramping of up of industrial production by the Western allies during WWII.
Vivian Gornick joins me to talk about her classic book, The Romance of American Communism. We spoke about her experience of growing up amongst communists and socialists in the Bronx in the 1930s, how she sought to counter simplistic depictions of the lives of American communists and how - in spite of its authoritarianism - the American Communist Party enabled ordinary men and women to feel connected to a larger human project.
Nikhil Pal Singh joins me to discuss the massive protests against police violence in the United States that emerged in response to the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. We talked about why the protests are so large and so diverse and the movement's demands for the abolition or defunding of the police. We also talked about the concept of racial capitalism and how the right might seek to respond to the crisis of neoliberal legitimacy by pursuing policies that would seek to shore up the economic security of white working class Americans whilst doing nothing for black America.
Adam Hanieh joins me to talk about the challenges Covid-19 and the debt crisis pose to countries in the global south, how western economic and military intervention has undermined state capacity needed to combat the pandemic, and finally we discussed Adam's argument that the crisis may paradoxically be in certain respects beneficial for the oil majors and the richest oil producing countries - in spite of last month's collapse in oil prices.
Troy Vetesse joins me to discuss the sixth mass extinction event and how Karl Marx's concepts of real and formal subsumption are relevant to the ecological crisis. We also spoke about how the Covid19 pandemic illuminates Troy's argument. Our conversation was prompted by Troy's essay, 'A Marxist Theory of Extinction' from issue 7 of the journal Salvage.
Holly Buck joins me to discuss her new book, After Geoengineering: Climate Tragedy, Repair, and Restoration. We talked about why we may have little choice but to undertake geoengineering to avert the worst of the climate crisis. We also discussed the question of whether climate change is innately difficult for human beings to comprehend, and whether avoiding the worst effects of climate change will entail moving beyond capitalism.
Philip Mirowski, joins me to discuss why the Covid-19 pandemic is more opportunity than threat to neoliberals and whether - as in the wake of the financial crisis - neoliberal doctrines will survive, and even thrive in the wake of the coronavirus-induced global economic crisis. We also discussed how Philip defines neoliberalism and why the worst political and economic consequences of the Covid-19 crisis are yet to come.
Narges Bajoghli and Arron Merat join me to discuss the coronavirus crisis in Iran, what the Covid-19 pandemic means for the stability of the Iranian regime, how US sanctions have compounded the suffering of ordinary Iranians, and what relations between China and Iran might look like after the end of the lockdown.
Adam Tooze joins me to discuss what covid-19 means for the world economy, how the Trump administration has missed the boat on containing mass contagion in the United States, and why the row in the Eurozone over so-called coronabonds reveals an existential threat to the survival of the European Union.
Will Davies joins me to discuss whether or not the coronavirus crisis heralds the break with neoliberal capitalism that many expected in the wake of the financial crisis, why the Anglo-American response to the covid-19 pandemic seems to differ from the response seen in mainland Europe and East Asia, and we also talked about how the media has covered the government's approach to the crisis.
Milan-based journalist Antonella Serrecchia, and Jacobin's Europe editor David Broder join me to discuss the lockdown in Italy - imposed by the Italian government in response to the escalation of the coronavirus outbreak. We discussed the pressure on the Italian health system, the economic consequences of the crisis, and how the far-right Lega have instrumentalised the situation for their anti-migrant politics
Jodi Dean and Adom Getachew join me to chat about Super Tuesday, whether the left underestimated Joe Biden and the implications of Biden's comeback for Bernie Sanders' campaign.
Leo Panitch joins me to chat about the causes of Labour's defeat in the 2019 general election, the weaknesses of the labour movement beyond the party, and whether a Keir Starmer victory in the Labour leadership contest would portend a march back to the so-called political centre.
Len McCluskey joins me to talk about his new book, Why You Should Be A Trade Unionist. We spoke about his own experience of becoming involved in the labour movement, what the unions could be doing to combat the conservative press, and we also talked about the Labour leadership contest and Len's position on freedom of movement.
Achin Vanaik joins me to discuss Hindu nationalism in India, the BJP's anti-Muslim Citizenship Amendment Act, the lockdown in Kashmir, and India's economic slowdown.
Rhian Jones joins me to discuss her article inTribune Magazine, An Enterprise Allowance of the Left which looks at the disappearance of working class voices from the arts and how the left might rebuild working class culture. We talked about how Britpop positioned working class people as uneducated and hostile to musical experimentation, the creation of institutions of cultural production and care by working class communities in the early and mid-twentieth century, and finally we chatted about why Grime was able emerge in spite of the decline of sites of working class cultural production.
Maya Goodfellow joins me to discuss her new book, Hostile Environment: How Immigrants Became Scapegoats. We talked about the historical roots of the hostile environment policy, the punitive, cruel and deliberately confusing character of Britain's immigration system, how viewing migrants as 'economic assets' feeds into anti-migrant politics, and we also chatted about how New Labour's policies on migration and asylum laid some of the basis for the Conservative's migration policies.
International security expert Paul Rogers joins me to discuss why the United States carried out the assassination of Qassem Suleimani and whether the attack will spark a broader regional war. We also discussed the historical roots of Iran's defence doctrine of hybrid, asymmetric warfare, and why Britain would be very likely to assist the American military in any large scale military confrontation.
Richard Seymour joins me to discuss the reasons for Labour's electoral defeat and why the left overestimated Labour's chances. We also chatted what we can expect from Boris Johnson's government and the broader issue of 'disaster nationalism'. Finally, we spoke about the likely outcome of the Labour leadership race.
Sivamohan Valluvan joins me to discuss his new book, The Clamour of Nationalism, Race and Nation in Twenty-first-century Britain. We spoke about why the current era is better characterised as a reactionary nationalist one, rather than as a populist moment, and we spoke about the flirtation of parts of the European left with an anti-migrant politics. We also spoke about the differences and affinities between neoliberalism and conservatism and why we may be witnessing a disarticulation of those political tendencies.
David Wearing joins me to discuss the defence, security and international trade policies of Labour and the Conservatives and why the election result is a matter of life and death for many people beyond Britain's borders.
Adrienne Buller joins me to discuss the climate emergency and the general election. We spoke about the policy platforms of the parties, the recent Channel 4 climate change debate and what it tells us about public discourse around climate, and finally we chatted about whether the 'Green Industrial Revolution' is the right framing for mobilising around the climate crisis.
James Meadway joins me to discuss whether the Conservative manifesto and its limited spending promises will prevent the Tories taking Labour seats in the Midlands, the north of England and Wales. We also spoke about the usefulness of opinion polling, why the Liberal Democrats are once again failing to disrupt the two-party duopoly, and the role of the media in the election and whether the UK is becoming a 'Managed Democracy'.
Will Davies joins me to discuss conservative's response to Labour's policy on free full-fibre broadband, whether Boris Johnson really is the great campaigner his admirers claim he is, and we also discussed Labour's messaging around taking on billionaires.
Paulo Gerbaudo joins me to discuss online campaigning, the recent cyber attack on Labour's campaigning platforms, the contrasting effectiveness of the Labour and Tory digital campaigns in 2017, and we also chatted about whether social media platforms have an inherent right-wing bias.
Jake Werner joins me to discuss the ideological makeup of the Hong Kong protest movement, the material and cultural grievances that gave rise to the movement, the increasing nationalism of the Chinese ruling elite, how Chinese economic development can be characterised as "cheating at a rigged game" and finally we discussed the increasing likelihood of armed conflict between China, the US and US regional allies.
Momentum co-founder Emma Rees joins me to discuss Momentum's Plan to Win the general election and the inspiration for Momentum's 'distributed Organising' model.
You can read the plan here:
plantowin.peoplesmomentum.com/
Eleanor Penny joins me to reflect on the coming General election campaign. We talked about whether this will be the Brexit election we were promised in 2017, why Labour is behind in the polls, and what to expect from the Liberal Democrats.
Earlier this month, and to coincide with Black History Month Jeremy Corbyn called for schoolchildren to be taught about the British Empire and the history and legacy of colonialism. To discuss the teaching of empire and migration in UK schools I spoke to Kimberley McIntosh, co-author of the report, 'Teaching Migration, Belonging, and Empire in Secondary Schools', published by the Runnymede Trust.
Jeremy Gilbert joins me to discuss the concepts of Acid Communism and Acid Corbynism and why transforming human subjectivity through practices of collective joy derived from the 1960s counterculture is so important to building a successful left project.
Beth Stratford joins me to discuss the crisis of UK land ownership and housing and the solutions outlined in the Land for the Many report, co-written by Beth. We also discussed the tabloid media's hysterical reaction to the report.
You can read the full report here:
Sound: J.A. Pinto
Quinn Slobodian joins me to talk about neoliberalism as a project of institutional design, the significance of the Hapsburg Empire to the neoliberal concept of double government that came to be instantiated in such institutions as the WTO, the IMF, and the EU, and we also talked about whether capital's solution to the collapse in consent for neoliberal governmentality could be something even worse.
Kojo Koram joins me to discuss the history of the war on drugs, the role of drug prohibition in the production of racism after the end of formal imperialism, the central role of the United States in the emergence of the global war on drugs, and the possibility of the Boris Johnson government returning to a more punitive approach to drug prohibition.
Our conversation was prompted by the new book The War on Drugs and the Global Colour Line which was edited by Kojo and is out now from Pluto Press.
Sound by @japinto
Alex Niven joins me to talk about the erosion of support for the Labour Party in the north of England, the causes of that decline and how the Labour Party and the broader left might seek to reverse it. Our conversation was prompted by his recent article in Tribune.
Sound by @japinto
James Meadway, former economics advisor to John McDonnell joins me to discuss whether the Johnson government's move to prorogue parliament is really part of a strategy to achieve no deal, why the opposition to the government needs to move from parliamentary tactics and judicial reviews to mass protest and direct action, and we also discussed the likely consequences of a No Deal Brexit, and why it is that capital has been unable to exert authority over the Conservative Party.
Lida Maxwell joins me to discuss her new book, Insurgent Truth: Chelsea Manning and the Politics of Outsider Truth-Telling. We discussed the contrasting nature of the disclosures of Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden and the way Manning's leaks placed her outside the lineage of respectable whistleblowing. We also talked about the relationship between Manning's gender identity and how her experience of living under Don't Ask Don't Tell in the US military informed her broader critique of American foreign policy. And we also chatted about the post-truth era and whether a return to the certainties of the pre-financial crisis period is possible.
Richard Seymour joins me to discuss his new book, The Twittering Machine. The title is taken from Paul Klee's 1922 painting in which the the bird-song of a diabolical machine acts as bait to lure humankind into a pit of damnation. Richard argues in the book that this is a chilling metaphor for our relationship with so-called social media. We spoke about the nature of social media addiction, the way in which the platforms incite users into performing unpaid labour, and how we might conceive of repurposing the architecture of the internet to more useful and humane ends.
Natasha Lennard joins me to discuss her book, 'Being Numerous: Essays on Non-Fascist Life'. We spoke about whether or not Donald Trump and the movement that has coalesced around him ought to be characterised as fascist, we also talked about the contributions of Wilhelm Reich, Michel Foucault, and other figures in the anti-psychiatry movement to theorising fascism. We discussed the legitimacy and history of anti-fascist violence and its treatment by the media, and finally we spoke about Natasha's writing on suicide and how the act of suicide brings into question capitalism's positing of the idea of the sovereign individual.
Andy Beckett joins me to explain why he believes, despite being in power on both sides of the Atlantic, conservatism is in decline and how conservative ideology is proving itself unable to adjust to the challenges of the 21st century. We also discussed why it is that new social and economic thinking seems to be concentrated on the Corbynite left.
Christopher Connery joins me to talk about the nature of the Chinese economy following the initiation of market reforms from the late 1970s, the compatibility between authoritarianism and neoliberalism, and we also discussed the legacy of the Tiananmen Square massacre. The interview was prompted by Christopher's excellent article on neoliberalism in China which you can find in the Jan-Feb issue of the New Left Review:https://newleftreview.org/issues/II115/articles/christopher-connery-ronald-coase-in-beijing
Frances Ryan joins me to discuss her new book, Crippled: Austerity and the Demonization of Disabled People. We spoke about the impact of austerity on people living with disability, the way in which New Labour's support for means testing and conditionality paved the way for the coalition government's welfare cuts and we also talked about the current situation of disability rights activism.
Leo Panitch joins me to discuss his recent article in Tribune Magazine on Ralph Miliband's classic work, The State in Capitalist Society. We discuss Miliband's theory of the state, his criticism of liberal pluralist accounts of the industrialised democracies, his debates with Nicos Poulantzas, and the relevance of his work to the Corbyn project. You can read Leo's article here.
Alexander Gallas, author of The Thatcherite Offensive: A Neo-Poulantzasian Analysis joins me to discussed the degree of popular support for the political and economic project of the Thatcher government, the debates between Stuart Hall and Bob Jessop on the nature of Thatcherite hegemony, and we also chatted about the way in which the New Labour era can be seen as a consolidation of Thatcherite neoliberalism.
Extinction Rebellion co-founder Roger Hallam joins me to discuss the organisational model of XR and his booklet on the strategy of movement - Common Sense for the 21st Century: Only Nonviolent Rebellion Can Now Stop Climate Breakdown and Social Collapse. We also discussed the criticism XR has come in for regarding its tactics of mass arrest and a perceived failure to properly engage with people and communities of colour.
Christine Berry discusses People Get Ready: Preparing for a Corbyn Government a new book authored by Christine together with Joe Guinan. We discussed the likely backlash a Corbyn government would face from the business class and transnational finance and what strategies the Labour movement can adopt to defeat its opponents. We also chatted about the possible lessons for the left from the Thatcher government's victory over the unions and the labour movement in the 1980s as well as Labour's programme for economic democracy.Tribune readers can get 20% off People Get Ready here using the discount code PGR!20. https://www.orbooks.com/catalog/people-get-ready/ You can read an extract from the book on the Tribune Magazine website: https://tribunemag.co.uk/2019/05/what-a-corbyn-government-would-mean
Tribune Culture Editor Owen Hatherley on the music and life of the late Scott Walker. We spoke about Walker's journey from teen heartthrob with the Walker Brothers, to the creator of some of the most challenging music in the history of pop. We discuss the big band, crooner tradition that Walker emerged from, the radical break in his work with 1978's Nite Flights and the political pessimism of his later records. To accompany the episode here is a playlist of Walker's work:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1xEf8KGVxK6IRpKSLc6FOS
Hilary Aked discusses Islamophobia and the European counter-jihad movement, its entwinement with state run counter extremism programmes, and its relationship with the traditional far right. Hilary is the co-author of a recent report on the topic from Spinwatch.org:
http://powerbase.info/images/6/6c/Aked-Jones-Miller-Counterjihad_report-2019.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3AeljMjU0o8Vxv1qOtGks2YFTmjzkQ0srJAJgfAC7KeQs7YwOQ8Sm6tyASupport Politics Theory Other via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/poltheoryother // Follow the show on Twitter and Facebook: @poltheoryother
Dawn Foster discusses her article in the second relaunched issue of Tribune, the relationship between Marxism and religion, how secular and religious leftists can work together in the fight against poverty, and the legacy of so-called 'new atheism.'Support Politics Theory Other via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/poltheoryother // Follow the show on Twitter and Facebook: @poltheoryother