The Another Europe Podcast: Recent Episodes
Another Europe is Possible
Hosts Zoe Williams (@zoesqwilliams) and Luke Cooper (@lukecooper100) are joined by guests with a left take on Brexit, Europe and more. Surveying the big transformative ideas of the age, interrogating the tough questions, and opening up new horizons radical thinking and policy, the Another Europe podcast confounds the expectation that 'pro-Europeans' just want to defend the status quo. Brought to you by the Another Europe Is Possible campaign, the podcast is a vital tonic for those despairing at the state of Brexit Britain.
Praise for the Another Europe podcast
"A bracingly honest post mortem on the remain movement, especially its relationship with Labour, by people who were a vital part of it. I found it insightful and weirdly cathartic" ----- Dorian Lynskey, writer and Remainiac
"Provocative... highly balanced and critical... a much-needed space for critical reflection and nuanced discussion" ----- E-International Relations
Ten years after the Brexit referendum, Britain is still living with its political and cultural consequences. In this episode, Luke Cooper is joined by Kojo Koram and Alena Ivanova to ask what Brexit was really about—and why its legacy continues to shape British politics.
Was Brexit simply a revolt against Brussels, or did it reflect a deeper desire to restore Britain's imperial place in the world? The conversation explores Brexit as a colonial project, the normalisation of anti-migrant politics, the relationship between tech billionaires and the far right, and why the promise to "take back control" ultimately failed to deliver.
In the second half, Kojo discusses his new book The Next Fix, examining how the war on drugs has evolved from prohibition to profit, and what today's drug policies reveal about power, capitalism, policing and empire.
In This Episode
- 10 years after Brexit: what actually changed?
- Why "take back control" proved so difficult to deliver
- The rise of Reform UK and the mainstreaming of anti-migrant politics
- Tech oligarchs, democracy and the new far right
- Is Brexit best understood as a colonial project?
- Drug policy, policing and the future of criminal justice
Guests
Kojo Koram is an award-winning writer and an academic, teaching at the School of Law at Birkbeck College, University of London. His new book, The Next Fix : The Winners and Losers in the Future of Drugsasks whether the War on Drugs is really over – or merely changing its chemical formula. Buy your copy here.
Alena Ivanova is a workers’ rights campaigner and a member of the National Committee for Another Europe is Possible.
Mentioned
- The Next Fix : The Winners and Losers in the Future of Drugs by Kojo Karam
- Uncommon Wealth : Britain and the Aftermath of Empire by Kojo Karam
- The Observer: Britain has an opportunity to lead the fight against dirty money. Now all it needs is the will
- Tom Nairn: Scottish political theorist
If you enjoyed this conversation, subscribe to COUNTER•POWER for more discussions on global solidarity, democracy, international politics and the movements shaping our world.
If you'd like to support the podcast and help us produce more episodes, please consider becoming a supporter.
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Music(cc): Intro R&B instrumental loop, Mcgrogo (Freesound.org)
"Brexit" by --Sam-- is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
"Banksy does Brexit (detail)" by dullhunk is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
"Nigel Farage" by Michael Vadon is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Eight of the ten richest men in the world built their fortunes through Big Tech. As artificial intelligence drives unprecedented profits and market power, a handful of corporations are reshaping economies, politics and societies on a global scale.
In this episode of COUNTER•POWER, host Nick Dearden is joined by Sofia Scasserra of the Transnational Institute and Anita Gurumurthy of IT for Change to examine the rise of the new tech empires, the political power of Silicon Valley's billionaires, and the growing resistance to their influence around the world.
Together they explore whether today's tech giants are simply the modern successors to the robber barons of the nineteenth century—or whether we are entering something entirely new: a world of techno-feudalism, where control over digital infrastructure and data underpins unprecedented forms of economic and political power.
The conversation ranges from the impact of Big Tech on economies in the Global South to the growing debate around digital sovereignty, and asks what progressive movements should be demanding in the face of AI-driven transformation.
In this episode:
- Why opposition to Big Tech has grown so rapidly in recent years
- The essential role of trade unions and what they need to do to win back younger generations
- The promises and pitfalls of digital sovereignty
- Resistance to AI infrastructure, including struggles against data centres
- Lessons from movements challenging Big Tech across Asia and Latin America
As governments compete for technological supremacy and corporations consolidate ever greater power, this episode asks a crucial question: what would a democratic, just and internationally accountable digital future look like—and how do we fight for it?
Guests
Anita Gurumurthy is Executive Director of IT for Change, a Bengaluru-based organisation working on issues of digital justice, governance and development.
Learn More and Donate Here
Follow IT for Change
Instagram
X/Twitter
YouTube
Sofia Scasserra is a researcher and fellow at the Transnational Institute based in Argentina, focusing on digital economies, trade and the political economy of technology.
Learn More and Donate Here
Follow Transnational Institute
Instagram
Bluesky
TikTok
YouTube
ABOUT THE PODCAST
COUNTER•POWER is brought to you by Stop Trump Coalition, Another Europe Is Possible and Global Justice Now, three organisations at the centre of the new global resistance.
This podcast isn’t just about chatting and conversation — it’s about turning ideas into action and building real community power.
Any donation – big or small – can help us get there. Thank you for your support.
DONATE HERE
Follow Us
Instagram
@anothereuropeispossible
@globaljusticenow
@ukstoptrump
TikTok
@global.justice.now
@uk.stop.trump.coa
Twitter / X
@Another_Europe
@GlobalJusticeUK
@UKStopTrump
Music(cc): Intro R&B instrumental loop, Mcgrogo (Freesound.org)
In this episode, we're talking about the people's sport, football, and its fascinating relationship with anti-fascism and the political power of sport ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Host Nick Dearden speaks with Chris Lee, author of The Defiant: A History of Football Against Fascism, Daniel Noroña from Amnesty International US, and Shaista Aziz, co-founder of The Three Hijabis.
Throughout history, authoritarian regimes have used international sporting events to whitewash their reputations. The World Cup is usually framed as a celebration of unity and global joy around love for the sport, but this year’s events in Trump’s America are likely to become sites of repression and human rights abuses – despite Trump being given the first ever FIFA ‘Peace Prize’ earlier this year.
In This Episode
- Why football has become such a battleground over identity, nationalism, and resistance
- The People’s Olympiad – the anti-fascist alternative to the 1936 Berlin Olympics
- The human rights crisis in the United States under the Trump administration, the heightening of authoritarian practices, and erosion of the rule of law
- How Trump is deputising federal and local law enforcement to build a deportation machine
- The movement in England following the 2022 Euros to ban racism in football
- What genuine change looks like, and when it it just “sportswashing”
- The power of fans to change not only the game, but politics
Football Against Fascism
Website
World Cup Chaos Tracker
Chris Lee
Blog: Outside Write
Book: The Defiant: A History of Football Against Fascism
Instagram
Amnesty International
Report: Humanity Must Win: Defending Rights, Tackling Repression at the 2026 FIFA World Cup
World Cup Travel Advisory
Website
The Three Hijabis
Twitter/X
ABOUT THE PODCAST
COUNTER•POWER is brought to you by Stop Trump Coalition, Another Europe Is Possible and Global Justice Now, three organisations at the centre of the new global resistance.
This podcast isn’t just about chatting and conversation — it’s about turning ideas into action and building real community power.
That’s why we have a simple pledge to you, our audience. On every single episode we’ll leave you with something you can do to catalyse change. Whether it’s the latest big ideas or the movements you need to check out, you’ll find them on COUNTER•POWER.
But we need your help to launch this project.
We need £8,000 to catapult COUNTER•POWER into the podcasting sphere with the aim of making it self-sustaining in the future.
The funds will cover high-quality production – including sound and visuals – as well as consistent editorial quality, all of which are essential to creating the kind of impactful podcast we’re aiming for.
Any donation – big or small – can help us get there. Thank you for your support.
DONATE HERE
Follow Us
Instagram
@anothereuropeispossible
@globaljusticenow
@ukstoptrump
TikTok
@global.justice.now
@uk.stop.trump.coa
Twitter / X
@Another_Europe
@GlobalJusticeUK
@UKStopTrump
Music(cc): Intro R&B instrumental loop, Mcgrogo (Freesound.org)
What does it mean to build a political movement rooted in working-class organizing, anti-imperialism, and grassroots activism in a moment of deep instability across Europe?
Co-Hosts Seema Syeda and Nick Dearden discuss this with Danièle Obono, a left-wing deputy in the French National Assembly and member of La France Insoumise.
In 2024, France’s New Popular Front captured the imagination of progressives in Europe, showing that it was possible to form a successful left coalition, even though Macron ultimately kept them out of power. Two years later, left-wing party La France Insoumise is facing unprecedented attempts to marginalise and delegitimise it including, most recently, by attempts to blame the assassination of a young far-right activist on members of the party.
Tune in toexplore the political crisis unfolding in France and across Europe: the mainstreaming of the far right, the collapse of the political centre, and the emergence of new left-wing movements attempting to resist authoritarianism, austerity, and fascism.
Obono traces the rise of France’s far-right movement from the era of the National Front to the rebranding of Marine Le Pen’s party and the growing prominence of Jordan Bardella. We discuss how billionaire-controlled media, neoliberal policies, and anti-immigrant rhetoric have helped normalize the far right — and why anti-fascist organizing remains a decisive force in stopping it.
In This Episode
- The role of Palestine solidarity in reshaping political discourse in France
- Why anti-racism and representation matter beyond tokenism
- How social movements and unions have shaped LFI’s political strategy
- The repression of anti-fascist activists and attempts to criminalise the left
- The media hysteria following the death of a far-right activist in Lyon
- Municipal election breakthroughs for the French left despite sustained attacks
- The wider European crisis around war, austerity, militarisation, and democratic legitimacy
- Lessons for building internationalist movements from below
Danièle Obono
Website: deputee-obono.fr
Instagram: @deputee_obono
Twitter/X: @Deputee_Obono
TikTok: @bds.movement
ABOUT THE PODCAST
COUNTER•POWER is brought to you by Stop Trump Coalition, Another Europe Is Possible and Global Justice Now, three organisations at the centre of the new global resistance.
This podcast isn’t just about chatting and conversation — it’s about turning ideas into action and building real community power.
That’s why we have a simple pledge to you, our audience. On every single episode we’ll leave you with something you can do to catalyse change. Whether it’s the latest big ideas or the movements you need to check out, you’ll find them on COUNTER•POWER.
But we need your help to launch this project.
We need £8,000 to catapult COUNTER•POWER into the podcasting sphere with the aim of making it self-sustaining in the future.
The funds will cover high-quality production – including sound and visuals – as well as consistent editorial quality, all of which are essential to creating the kind of impactful podcast we’re aiming for.
Any donation – big or small – can help us get there. Thank you for your support.
DONATE HERE
Follow Us
Instagram
@anothereuropeispossible
@globaljusticenow
@ukstoptrump
TikTok
@global.justice.now
@uk.stop.trump.coa
Twitter / X
@Another_Europe
@GlobalJusticeUK
@UKStopTrump
Music(cc): Intro R&B instrumental loop, Mcgrogo (Freesound.org)
Syria and the new world war
Are we witnessing the beginnings of a new global war? With conflicts stretching from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Ukraine, and across the Middle East and Africa, it can feel like the world is spiraling into chaos.
In this episode, Host Nick Dearden speaks to guests Elif Sarican, a writer and contributing editor at The Amargi, and Mazen Gharibah, an academic with the Conflict and Civicness Research Group at LSE and member of the UN’s Syrian Constitutional Committee, to unpack the complexity behind today’s interconnected conflicts by looking at Syria as an epicentre of geopolitical tensions. But beyond the headlines of violence and instability, they also explore the overlooked stories of resilience, solidarity, and hope emerging from communities on the ground.
This episode was recorded 8 April 2026.
In This Episode
- Roots of the current crises, including the legacy of the Arab Spring
- Syria’s fragmented political and military landscape
- Challenges facing Kurdish and other communities in Syria today
- How Rojava broke the script of what is possible in the region
- Bashar al-Assad and the country’s ongoing political transition under Ahmed al-Sharaa
ABOUT THE PODCAST
COUNTER•POWER is brought to you by Stop Trump Coalition, Another Europe Is Possible and Global Justice Now, three organisations at the centre of the new global resistance.
This podcast isn’t just about chatting and conversation — it’s about turning ideas into action and building real community power.
That’s why we have a simple pledge to you, our audience. On every single episode we’ll leave you with something you can do to catalyse change. Whether it’s the latest big ideas or the movements you need to check out, you’ll find them on COUNTER•POWER.
But we need your help to launch this project.
The funds will cover high-quality production – including sound and visuals – as well as consistent editorial quality, all of which are essential to creating the kind of impactful podcast we’re aiming for.
Any donation – big or small – can help us get there. Thank you for your support.
DONATE HERE
Follow Us
Instagram
@anothereuropeispossible
@globaljusticenow
@ukstoptrump
TikTok
@global.justice.now
@uk.stop.trump.coa
Twitter / X
@Another_Europe
@GlobalJusticeUK
@UKStopTrump
Music(cc): Intro R&B instrumental loop, Mcgrogo (Freesound.org)
This episode steps back from the daily news cycle to examine the structural roots of the current global energy crisis. Host Zoe Williams speaks to Chris Hayes,the Chief Economist at Common Wealth, and Luke Cooper, LSE academic.
Drawing parallels to the 1970s oil shock, their conversation explores how decades of policy decisions have left economies—particularly the UK—dangerously exposed to volatile energy markets. The discussion moves from global context to concrete proposals for reforming the UK energy sector.
This episode was recorded 1 April 2026.
In This Episode
- How today's energy crisis compares to the oil shock of fifty years ago
- What actually happens when energy markets set prices and who benefits when prices spike
- Effects we’ve already seen, and risks that lie ahead
- Why the current UK energy structure leaves consumers exposed to global shocks
- Common Wealth's proposal for structural reform
Common Wealth
Website
Bluesky: @cmmonwealth
Twitter/X: @cmmonwealth
TikTok: @cmmonwealth
Featured Organisation: Global Justice Now
Get your free ticket to Resisting Big Tech Empires on 25 April 2026!
An international conference, ‘Resisting Big Tech Empires: The fight for the future’ will take place in London on the 25th of April 2026 at London South Bank University. Organised by UK-based NGO Global Justice Now in association with Balanced Economy Project, the conference promises a “day of talks and strategy on big tech’s impact on democracy, economies, war and the environment, and how we can challenge it”.
The line-up for the event boasts speakers including multi-award-winning novelist and campaigner Cory Doctorow; founding member and executive director of IT for Change, Anita Gurumurthy; campaigner with Our World is Not for Sale, Sofia Scasserra; author of Silicon Empires and Platform Capitalism, Nick Srnicek; and director of Foxglove, Rosa Curling.
Facebook: @globaljusticeuk
Instagram: @globaljusticenow
Twitter/X: @globaljusticenow
ABOUT THE PODCAST
COUNTER•POWER is brought to you by Stop Trump Coalition, Another Europe Is Possible and Global Justice Now, three organisations at the centre of the new global resistance.
This podcast isn’t just about chatting and conversation — it’s about turning ideas into action and building real community power.
That’s why we have a simple pledge to you, our audience. On every single episode we’ll leave you with something you can do to catalyse change. Whether it’s the latest big ideas or the movements you need to check out, you’ll find them on COUNTER•POWER.
But we need your help to launch this project.
We need £8,000 to catapult COUNTER•POWER into the podcasting sphere with the aim of making it self-sustaining in the future.
The funds will cover high-quality production – including sound and visuals – as well as consistent editorial quality, all of which are essential to creating the kind of impactful podcast we’re aiming for.
Any donation – big or small – can help us get there. Thank you for your support.
DONATE HERE
Follow Us
Instagram
@anothereuropeispossible
@globaljusticenow
@ukstoptrump
TikTok
@global.justice.now
@uk.stop.trump.coa
Twitter / X
@Another_Europe
@GlobalJusticeUK
@UKStopTrump
Music(cc): Intro R&B instrumental loop, Mcgrogo (Freesound.org)
War and resistance in Ukraine
Just over four years ago, as Putin launched Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he expected the war to be over in a matter of days. But Putin’s army would soon be shocked by the resistance they encountered, and today Ukraine still hasn’t fallen. But it hasn’t won either. This is now a complex, attritional war for endurance against an autocratic, imperial state that appears willing to absorb huge economic and human costs to fight on.
If you’re unsure of what to make of the war, its history, and some of the debates it throws up, then this is the show for you.
Host Luke Cooper is joined by Roksolana Nesterenko, a researcher at the Kyiv School of Economics, and Taras Fedirko, an academic with positions at the University of Glasgow and the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.
In this episode:
- Mood and situation in Ukraine as of early 2026
- Historical context of the war, including the Maidan protests and the Revolution of Dignity
- A culture of active everyday citizenship
- Revenue mobilisation for the war effort through crowdfunding, and how it’s impacted the rise of drone warfare
- Russian propaganda and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy
- A transition away from the “rally around the flag” stage of 2022 and where Ukraine is now
Featured Organisation: Ukraine Solidarity Campaign
Bluesky
Instagram
Twitter/X
Facebook
Links to things we discussed
Come Back Alive: a charitable foundation that comprehensively equips the Defence Forces of Ukraine with everything from vehicles to grenade launchers, as well as implementing educational projects for the military.
Freefilmers: a cinemovement and NGO from Mariupol, Ukraine
Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation: focused on strengthening the Defence Forces of Ukraine and providing assistance to the civilians affected by Russian aggression.
Solidarity Collectives: a group of Ukrainian anarchists and anti-authoritarians who united in 2022 to support comrades fighting the Russian imperial aggression in Ukraine and help people affected by the war. Since then, they have built a mutual aid network for the anti-authoritarian movement in Ukraine.
UNITED24: this platform allows one-click donations to Ukraine from anywhere. Why is this so important? Because Ukraine itself knows best what is needed and can deliver aid directly.
ABOUT THE PODCAST
COUNTER•POWER is brought to you by Stop Trump Coalition, Another Europe Is Possible and Global Justice Now, three organisations at the centre of the new global resistance.
This podcast isn’t just about chatting and conversation — it’s about turning ideas into action and building real community power.
That’s why we have a simple pledge to you, our audience. On every single episode we’ll leave you with something you can do to catalyse change. Whether it’s the latest big ideas or the movements you need to check out, you’ll find them on COUNTER•POWER.
But we need your help to launch this project.
We need £8,000 to catapult COUNTER•POWER into the podcasting sphere with the aim of making it self-sustaining in the future.
The funds will cover high-quality production – including sound and visuals – as well as consistent editorial quality, all of which are essential to creating the kind of impactful podcast we’re aiming for.
Any donation – big or small – can help us get there. Thank you for your support.
DONATE HERE
Follow Us
Instagram
@anothereuropeispossible
@globaljusticenow
@ukstoptrump
TikTok
@global.justice.now
@uk.stop.trump.coa
Twitter / X
@Another_Europe
@GlobalJusticeUK
@UKStopTrump
Music(cc): Intro R&B instrumental loop, Mcgrogo (Freesound.org)
The issue which has, more than any other, shown the depth of hypocrisy in the international rules based order is Palestine. In Gaza, the world watched a genocide in real time. Despite massive global protests, the machine rolled on – yet Palestinians remain hopeful.
Host Nick Dearden speaks with Omar Barghouti, founder of the BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanctions) Movement and the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, and a recipient of the Gandhi Peace Award. They discuss the source of hope in the face of ongoing atrocities, the continued devastation post-ceasefire, and what Trump’s approach to Greenland and Gaza means for the world order.
In This Episode
- Hope as a duty to future generations
- The ceasefire as a means to continue genocide with less media coverage — and how complicit media outlets inadvertently contributed to continued solidarity by causing people to seek out alternate, direct coverage from the beginning
- Israel’s use of genocide in Gaza as a smokescreen for unprecedented brutality in the West Bank, including the destruction of refugee camps
- Israel’s policy of brutality toward Palestinian political prisoners in the West Bank
- The links between the genocide in Gaza and corruption in the colonial West
- Trump’s goal of undermining the United Nations with his ‘Board of Peace’
- The history, evolution, and success of the BDS movement – and what’s next
- Why solidarity begins with ending complicity
Boycott, Divest Sanction Movement
BDS Movement
Facebook: @BDSNationalCommittee
Instagram: @bds.movement
Twitter/X: @bdsmovement
TikTok: @bds.movement
Featured Organisation: Na’amod
Na’amod
Facebook: @NaamodUK
Instagram: @NaamodUK
Twitter/X: @NaamodUK
ABOUT THE PODCAST
COUNTER•POWER is brought to you by Stop Trump Coalition, Another Europe Is Possible and Global Justice Now, three organisations at the centre of the new global resistance.
This podcast isn’t just about chatting and conversation — it’s about turning ideas into action and building real community power.
That’s why we have a simple pledge to you, our audience. On every single episode we’ll leave you with something you can do to catalyse change. Whether it’s the latest big ideas or the movements you need to check out, you’ll find them on COUNTER•POWER.
But we need your help to launch this project.
We need £8,000 to catapult COUNTER•POWER into the podcasting sphere with the aim of making it self-sustaining in the future.
The funds will cover high-quality production – including sound and visuals – as well as consistent editorial quality, all of which are essential to creating the kind of impactful podcast we’re aiming for.
Any donation – big or small – can help us get there. Thank you for your support.
DONATE HERE
Follow Us
Instagram
@anothereuropeispossible
@globaljusticenow
@ukstoptrump
TikTok
@global.justice.now
@uk.stop.trump.coa
Twitter / X
@Another_Europe
@GlobalJusticeUK
@UKStopTrump
Music(cc): Intro R&B instrumental loop, Mcgrogo (Freesound.org)
Islamophobia and antisemitism are unfortunately no longer fringe. Increasingly open, increasingly violent, they are reshaping what it means to be Muslim or Jewish in Britain today. And yet these hatreds are rarely examined directly. Instead, they are instrumentalised, folded into debates about immigration, national security, public order, and foreign policy, in ways that often do not represent the actual communities.
Host Zoe Williams is joined by Shaista Aziz from the Three Hijabis and Stop Trump Coalition, and Em Hilton, a Jewish organiser and writer based in London, and co-founder of Na’amod: UK Jews against Israeli occupation and apartheid.
In this episode:
- How these prejudices have evolved in their distinctly 21st-century forms
- The essentialisation of identity and denial of plurality
- The experience of being a British Muslim and a British Jew today
- The ramifications of the Balfour declaration
- Who gets to speak for a community, and how these communities are often used as shields for other issues
Featured Organisation: CADFA (Camden Abu Dis Friendship Association)
Facebook: @camdenabudis
Instagram: @c.a.d.f.a
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/camdenabudis
Links to things we discussed
How White Feminism Harms Muslim Women (Shahed Ezaydi)
Islamophobia and Securitization: Religion, Ethnicity and the Female Voice (Tania Saeed)
Huey P. Newton archive
Facing antisemitism: the struggle for safety and solidarity (Runnymede Trust)
Islamophobia: A Challenge For Us All (RunnymedeTrust)
The Lucifer Effect: How Good People Turn Evil (Philip Zimbardo)
ABOUT THE PODCAST
COUNTER•POWER is brought to you by Stop Trump Coalition, Another Europe Is Possible and Global Justice Now, three organisations at the centre of the new global resistance.
This podcast isn’t just about chatting and conversation — it’s about turning ideas into action and building real community power.
That’s why we have a simple pledge to you, our audience. On every single episode we’ll leave you with something you can do to catalyse change. Whether it’s the latest big ideas or the movements you need to check out, you’ll find them on COUNTER•POWER.
But we need your help to launch this project.
We need £8,000 to catapult COUNTER•POWER into the podcasting sphere with the aim of making it self-sustaining in the future.
The funds will cover high-quality production – including sound and visuals – as well as consistent editorial quality, all of which are essential to creating the kind of impactful podcast we’re aiming for.
Any donation – big or small – can help us get there. Thank you for your support.
DONATE HERE
Follow Us
Instagram
@anothereuropeispossible
@globaljusticenow
@ukstoptrump
TikTok
@global.justice.now
@uk.stop.trump.coa
Twitter / X
@Another_Europe
@GlobalJusticeUK
@UKStopTrump
Music(cc): Intro R&B instrumental loop, Mcgrogo (Freesound.org)
Fascism has never really gone away—but it has changed shape. From the street-level racism and open organising of the British National Party in 1990s East London to today’s globalised far right, this episode traces how authoritarian politics have moved from the margins to the mainstream.
Host Nick Dearden draws on personal experience of anti-fascist organising, and is joined by Seema Syeda from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and co-author of Creeping Fascism, and Luke Cooper, author of Authoritarian Contagion and academic at the London School of Economics. Their conversation explores how the far right has built international networks, institutions, and narratives that now feel disturbingly normal. They dig into why “fascism” remains a contested term on the left, what’s genuinely new about the current moment, and what can still be done to resist it.
In This Episode
- The rise and fall of the BNP, street fascism, and the mass anti-racist movements that defeated it
- Debates about whether “fascism” is the right label for today’s authoritarian politics
- Key similarities and differences between past and present far-right movements
- What a Reform government might actually look like in power, and whether figures like Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson represent fundamentally different threats
- The “Unite the Kingdom” rally and what it reveals about the current far right
Featured Organisation: No to Hassockfield
No To Hassockfield
Facebook: The No to Hassockfield Campaign
Instagram: @no2hassockfield
Twitter/X: @No2Hassockfield
Links to things we discussed
Creeping Fascism by Neil Faulkner with Samir Dathi, Phil Hearse and Seema Syeda.
Authoritarian Contagion by Luke Cooper
A Town Within: Visiting Baqa’a Refugee Camp by Madihah Karim
What happened when I met my Islamophobic troll by Hussein Kesvani
The law of the jungle by Nick Dearden
Praxis: The essential guide for changing minds on migration
UNRWA: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees
Time For Change: The evidence-based policies that can actually fix the immigration system
Make a donation to COUNTER•POWER
ABOUT THE PODCAST
COUNTER•POWER is brought to you by Stop Trump Coalition, Another Europe Is Possible and Global Justice Now, three organisations at the centre of the new global resistance.
This podcast isn’t just about chatting and conversation — it’s about turning ideas into action and building real community power.
That’s why we have a simple pledge to you, our audience. On every single episode we’ll leave you with something you can do to catalyse change. Whether it’s the latest big ideas or the movements you need to check out, you’ll find them on COUNTER•POWER.
But we need your help to launch this project.
We need £8,000 to catapult COUNTER•POWER into the podcasting sphere with the aim of making it self-sustaining in the future.
The funds will cover high-quality production – including sound and visuals – as well as consistent editorial quality, all of which are essential to creating the kind of impactful podcast we’re aiming for.
Any donation – big or small – can help us get there. Thank you for your support.
DONATE HERE
Follow Us
Instagram
@anothereuropeispossible
@globaljusticenow
@ukstoptrump
TikTok
@global.justice.now
@uk.stop.trump.coa
Twitter / X
@Another_Europe
@GlobalJusticeUK
@UKStopTrump
Music(cc): Intro R&B instrumental loop, Mcgrogo (Freesound.org)
The first year of Donald Trump’s second term is over — with three long years still to go. Far from the myth of “Trump the peacemaker,” the past twelve months have been marked by war, repression, corruption, and growing global resistance.
In this episode, we take stock of Trump’s record so far: from bombing seven countries and backing Israel’s assault on Gaza, to embracing tech oligarchs at home and unleashing ICE against immigrant communities.
But resistance is growing. From some of the largest protests in US history to mass demonstrations in the UK against Trump’s second state visit, a global movement is pushing back.
Host Zoe Williams is joined by Zoe Gardner from the Stop Trump Coalition and Alyssa Elliott from Indivisible London, the first international chapter of the major US resistance movement. Together, they explore what Trump’s first year tells us about the road ahead — and how movements can confront authoritarianism moving forward.
In This Episode
- One year into Trump’s second term: what has actually happened
- The myth of “Trump the peacemaker” vs the reality of endless military action
- ICE raids, police violence, and the targeting of immigrant communities
- Mass protests in the US and UK — and what they’ve achieved
- What global resistance to Trump looks like going forward — and why appeasement and fear are not the answer
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Music(cc): Intro R&B instrumental loop, Mcgrogo (Freesound.org)
To much fanfare, Britain has announced yet another "strategic" defence review - the fifth that a UK Government has undertaken in the last 15 years. The peculiar thing, however, is that despite the frequency of these reviews, they have a strong tendency to assert continuity over change.
This is certainly the narrative of the present UK Government's latest review: that nothing has changed in UK and US transatlantic relations, apart from the willingness, they suggest, of the UK to spend more on defence. Trump's close friendship with Vladimir Putin and sympathy towards Russia's geopolitical narrative - and the broader turbulence of American politics he forms part of - is, apparently, unimportant for Britain's future defence and security arrangements.
And rather than address the varied range of threats and challenges, the review advocates more submarines and nuclear weapons as its big-ticket proposals.
In this podcast, Zoe Williams, Luke Cooper and Mary Kaldor discuss this muddled and small-c conservative thinking. They lay out what an alternative defence policy would be, at the centre of which should be a closer relationship with our European allies.
For more on the discussion in this podcast, check out Luke and Mary's recent blog, "‘Organised irresponsibility’: How Britain’s defence strategy clings to a bygone world"
In an age of war and permanent crisis, is it all too easy to forget the fundamentals? How do we look after each other, care for one another and create economies that prioritise our human development? In this podcast, Seema Syeda and Zoe Williams welcome back Tim Jackson to talk about his new book, The Care Economy (Polity 2025). Going back to the philosophical fundamentals, the book re-centres the whole discussion of care. It urges us not think about the politics of care as types of support system for particular group of vulnerable people but as the basis for reproducing all organic life. We are all, in other words, carers, and it's time to recognise it.
As usual members of Another Europe get access to extra material as a benefit of membership. To join and support our work, go to AnotherEurope.org/Join
The drift of the global billionaire oligarchy to the radical right is quickening its pace. The Arc conference - billed as a "far right Davos" and with ticket prices to match - recently descended on London, and was joined by the various luminaries and politicians from the British right. On this podcast, Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Stella Tsantekidou, a rising star in the UK media and an unusual category of progressive, who likes to wine and dine across the political divide. Stella spent three days and nights at the Arc conference. In the podcast she offers her fly-in-the-wall account of why we should be worried about this extremely well funded global network, drawing the mainstream right into discussion and collaboration with far more radical and in some cases extreme political forces.
For more from Stella and the Arc conference check out her Substack, the Human Carbohydrate, which includes a blog with her Arc Forum diary: https://humancarbohydrate.substack.com/p/jordan-peterson-and-pieter-thiel
With the return of Donald Trump in the White House - and his insistence that Kyiv and Moscow strike a peace deal "in 24 hours - huge uncertainty now hangs over the future of Ukraine's democracy and freedom. In this podcast, Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams discuss the huge challenges and hardships Ukraine has experienced in the war, drawing on insights from Luke's recent visit to Ukraine. They are joined by Ukrainian academic Yuliya Bidenko from Karazin University in Kharkiv.
For more on some of the topics discussed in the podcast, check out these articles:
On the Home Front: Ukraine's War Economy and the Spirit of Defiance
Will oil decide the fate of the Russia-Ukraine War?
Additional podcast material is available to members of Another Europe Is Possible. In this week's extra time, Luke and Zoe discuss the Labour government and to what extent its terrible lack of popularity in what should be its honeymoon period is a crisis of its own making. To join and support our work go to AnotherEurope.org/Join
Millions of people across the world have looked on at the American election result with a sense of dismay and fear. As the world tries to compute and digest a second Trump presidency, Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams try to put the pieces of this catastrophe together and work out what comes next.
A reminder that members of Another Europe Is Possible get access to extra material as a benefit of membership. In this extra time, Zoe and Luke have a long old chat about what it all means, from the nature of the new fascism to the difficulties facing those trying to de-dollarize from the global economy and the response of the UK government.
To join and support our work go to https://www.anothereurope.org/join/
On the main show, they are joined by Graham Campbell, an activist with the SNP who is been in the United States campaigning for Kamala Harris. They also speak to John Feffer from Foreign Policy in Focus, Institute for Policy Studies, in the US about where the Democrats went wrong and what the result means for the rest of the world.
If you want to hear more from Graham and John check out these links:
John's rapid response: https://fpif.org/the-plot-against-democracy/
Graham's election night report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3IHfZYpqIA
After 14 years of frankly horrendous Conservative rule, millions celebrated Labour’s decisive victory. But since that fateful July day the new comms team at Number 10 has kicked into action. Their aim it seems is a simple one: to get you to put your hopes and dreams away and be as miserable as possible. So what do we make of it all? And what do we expect to happen next?
In this podcast, Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams try to find rays of hope in a murky sky. Going back to Starmer's original election as Labour leader and the small role Zoe played in his campaign, they discuss what it might reveal about the factions and networks now running the United Kingdom and where the opportunities may still lie for progressive victories in the years ahead.
An extended version of this podcast is available to members of Another Europe Is Possible, to join and support our work go to anothereurope.org/join
With white supremacist riots targeting Muslims and peoples of colour, this was a summer to forget for many of our communities in the UK. Building on the work that Another Europe has undertaken for several years on challenging anti-Muslim racism across Europe, Luke Cooper spoke to Shaista Aziz, a co-director of the anti-racist campaign group, Three Hijabis, a longstanding member of Another Europe and a friend of the podcast. They discuss the horrifying attacks we’ve seen on our communities and the enabling role played by mainstream Islamophobia.
For some background reading check out Another Europe's statement on the riots here, our report on Islamophobia in France here and the UK and Germany here and the Three Hijabis website. Shaista has also been involved in a really important campaign, 'Safe Homes, Not Hotels', organised by Conversations About Borders. You can sign their petition to house asylum seekers here.
There’s no 'extra time' this week as we thought we’d put the whole episode of the podcast out in full. We’d still urge you to join the campaign and support our work. Members of Another Europe get access to extra podcast material as a benefit of supporting the campaign. To join go to anothereurope.org/join
A huge protest movement has taken to the streets in Georgia against the "foreign agent" law. This new legislation would require all organisations that receive foreign funding to declare it on a national register. Protestors have argued that this is the thin end of the wedge amid an increasingly authoritarian climate in the country for human rights advocacy and civil society organisations.
To discuss what this uprising tell us about our changing world, hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams reached out to an old friend of the Another Europe Is Possible campaign, Alex Scrivener, who campaigned with us back in the 2016 EU referendum. Today, he is the Director of the Democratic Security Institute, an organisation based in Tblisi that faces being declared a 'foreign agent' by the Georgian government. On this podcast he discusses the parallels between his activity on the streets of Georgia today, fighting a Putin-backed nationalist campaign, with the 2016 EU referendum in the UK, and what this tells us about the new imperialism engulfing our world. For some background reading from Alex, see his piece on 'hard power' here and his argument for a values-based foreign policy here.
An extended version of this podcast is available to members of Another Europe is Possible. To join and support our work go to anothereurope.org/join. On this podcast's extra time, we change the topic altogether to talk about the UK General Election.
Liz Truss has managed to persuade herself of a very convenient (from her perspective) "truth": she wasn't a terrible prime minister with a flawed economic strategy, but the victim of a deep state conspiracy. Swinging aggressively to the far right, she has been courting Steve Bannon and the American Trumpists on a recent US tour.
What does this mean for the future of British conservatism? What's the game plan of this group of radicalised Tories - and how worried should we be? To talk us through these questions, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to David Runciman, professor of politics at the University of Cambridge and the author of a number of books including How Democracy Ends. David's new podcast is called Past, Present and Future and can be found in the usual places. His recent Guardian essay on the strange world of the Truss phenomenon can be read here https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/mar/30/she-still-carries-an-aura-of-spectacular-failure-why-hasnt-liz-truss-gone-away
An extended version of this podcast is available to members of Another Europe is Possible. To join and support our work go to https://anothereurope.org/join
He's the city trader that went rogue. But he didn't lose the bank money. Quite on the contrary, he made them hundreds of millions from the fallout of the financial crisis. Then he dared to speak out against a system that was broken for the many but working for the few. In The Trading Game former city trader and friend of the Another Europe podcast Gary Stevenson has now put his remarkable story down on paper. It's an incredible story and a brilliant read. In this podcast, Gary talks to Another Europe's Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper about the sociology of the City of London and how extreme wealth can so easily drive you mad. He also - in 'extra time' - offers his thoughts on the ecosystems of the political left.
You can buy a copy of the Trading Game here:
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/455809/the-trading-game-by-stevenson-gary/9780241636602
You can also check out our earlier podcasts with Gary here:
https://www.anothereurope.org/episode-88-the-cost-of-living-crisis/
https://www.anothereurope.org/episode-62-i-made-millions-from-the-financial-crisis-trust-me-the-system-is-broken/
George Galloway has done it again, in a byelection as predictable as it was depressing. But surely this is isn't just about one individual. It feels like a moment of crisis and disruption in British politics. After the dust had settled on the result, Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper spoke to James Meadway and Michael Chessum about what it means for British politics in this age of crisis and contention. Their conversation was kicked off by a discussion of Michael's Guardian article that can be read here.
Members of Another Europe get access to extra podcast material as a benefit of membership. To join and support our work go to http://anothereurope.org/join
Production and editing by Malek Banat.
Poland has dumped its far right government in a historic election victory for pro-democratic forces. After years of authoritarianism and anti-migrant racism, the Law and Justice party have been defeated by a coalition of pro-democratic parties.
In this podcast, Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Polish activist Ana Oppenheim about the historic triumph of liberals, pro-democrats and the left. A member of the Another Europe National Committee, co-host of the Polish news and history podcast Polkast and an activist with the left-wing party Razem (personal capacity), Ana offers her thoughts on the election, and what it means for European politics and Ukraine's resistance to Russian imperialism.
The podcast is published as part of the Ukraine and the World series, an initiative taken in collaboration with Foreign Policy in Focus – Institute for Policy Studies in the United States and our longstanding partner, European Alternatives.
It was a scientific discovery that changed the world forever. The nuclear bomb was largely a brainchild of left wing scientists who were determined Nazi Germany would not win the race to build this terrible weapon. The recent Hollywood biopic focuses on the role of Robert Oppenheimer in this fascinating period in history, the man who led the team working under the direction of the American government in this top secret project, who would become a prominent victim of the McCarthyite purges in the 1950s.
In this podcast, Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams talk to LSE professor and Another Europe Is Possible member, Mary Kaldor, about this fascinating history. While she never met Oppenheimer himself, Kaldor met a number of other figures in the film and others that didn't make it into the script, particularly at the Pugwash conferences on disarmament that created a unique space for dialogue between scientists on either side of the Cold War divide.
In the first podcast in our Ukraine and the World series, Luke Cooper talks to Masha Shynkarenko, a Research Associate with the Ukraine in European Dialogue programme at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and an expert on the Russian colonisation of Crimea and the Crimean Tartar national movement.
They discuss the long history of Russian and Soviet imperialism in the Crimean peninsula, life under Russian occupation, and the need for nuance and complexity in discussion of what decolonisation of Crimea should look like in practice.
The Ukraine and the World series is an initiative taken in collaboration with Foreign Policy in Focus - Institute for Policy Studies in the United States and our longstanding partner, European Alternatives.
Members of Another Europe get access to extra material as a benefit of membership. In this pod's extra time, Masha and Luke discuss the implications of the decolonisation of Crimea for the wider appeals to decolonisation globally and the fall of empires in the 21st century.
It managed to unite Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in opposition. So why has the UK signed up to the CPTPP (the 'Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership')? In this podcast, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to trade justice campaigner Nick Dearden about the Brexiter push for more global trade deals. In their rush to sign up to these corporate agreements the UK government is signing away the sovereignty it claims to treasure. Are these agreements now ushering in a new era of deregulation and hyper-globalisation? Or are they simply the last hoorah for a government on its way out? And what does this tell us about our changing world? In a wide-ranging conversation we offer some answers. An extended version of this podcast is available for members of Another Europe Is Possible. You can sign up as a member at AnotherEurope.org/join.
Ukrainians have shown extraordinary heroism and resilience in pushing back the imperialism Russian invasion. But are Ukraine's successes on the battlefield at risk of being undermined by the government's economic policy on the 'home front'? In our latest podcast Alena Ivanova and Luke Cooper discuss the country's economic future and the risks ahead with Yuliya Yurchenko, senior lecturer in political economy at Greenwich University and author of Ukraine and The Empire of Capital: from Marketisation to Armed Conflict (Pluto, 2018).
Hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Another Europe Is Possible old-hand, Michael Chessum, about his new book, This is only the beginning (Bloomsbury, 2022). They reflect on a decade or two of tumultuous change and what it all means for the future of radical politics. Navigating hope, vision and realism, they ask whether the left's best days are still to come amid the fragmentation that Corbynism and Brexit have left behind. It's a not-quite-nostalgia-free discussion of the way ahead.
There is no extra time on this podcast. So, the whole episode can be heard on the podcast platforms.
In our latest podcast, Luke Cooper talks to Lea Ypi about her extraordinary international bestseller, Free; Coming of Age at the End of History. A year since it first hit the bookshops, Lea reflects on the book's reception and the tremendous controversy it has sparked in Albania. Across their wide-ranging discussion they talk about the relationship between fact and fiction, the relationship between childhood and experiencing a communist society, the concept of freedom and the political philosophy of the 'friend-enemy' distinction. In extra time, they also touch base on how Albanians are discussing the Russian war on Ukraine. You can access extra time by joining Another Europe at anothereurope.org/join.
Another year, another crisis. As inflation skyrockets, we talk to leading economic thinker and former City trader Gary Stevenson about the almighty hit, indeed the catastrophe, facing the incomes of working class people. What are the economics of the current crisis, and how do we build a people's alternative?
You can also subscribe to Gary's Youtube channel here.
Asking whether "Brexit is racist" might be seen as the "is the pope a Catholic" question of our era. But calling out the racism of Brexit is often seen as unacceptable in contemporary British politics. In this podcast, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Martin Shaw, emeritus professor in International Relations at the University of Sussex, about his new book, Political Racism; Brexit and its Aftermath. They discuss the history of the Brexit vote and the lessons that for anti-racists today. Listeners to the Another Europe podcast get a 30% discount on the book when they use the code EMAIL30 at the Agenda Publishing website.
As the Russian invasion moves into its second month, in this special edition of the Another Europe podcast we were joined by a panel of experts to analyse this new age of catastrophe in a live podcast event with listener questions.
How should we explain the rise of authoritarianism, fascism and ‘Putinism’? Can Ukraine win the war – and if so, how? How can we support Ukraine’s civil society? How is the war changing the European Union? What does it mean for the future of other international organisations and alliances like Nato? And what should the future of European and global security look like?
To consider some of these – and your own! – questions, we talk to:
- Denis Pilash is a political scientist based in Kyiv and a member of the Ukrainian left media platform, Commons.
- Mary Kaldor is Emeritus Professor in Global Governance at the London School of Economics and director of the Conflict Research Programme. She is the author of numerous books and articles on war and conflict from the Cold War to today.
- Luke Cooper is a senior research fellow at LSE IDEAS and the author of Authoritarian Contagion; the Global Threat to Democracy (Bristol University Press, 2021).
The discussion was hosted by Zoe Williams from the Guardian and co-host of the Another Europe Is Possible podcast.
Some reading from the panel
Denis Pilash – We need a peoples’ solidarity with Ukraine and against war, not the fake solidarity of governments
Dmitri Makarov and Mary Kaldor – Why we need to unite for peace and human rights across the old divides
Mary Kaldor – Putin is the product of a corrupt economic system that we must now reform
Luke Cooper – Don’t forget that Putin supported Brexit
Luke Cooper – The dangerous allure of ‘Europe first’
In the last twenty years Britons and Eastern Europeans have become closer and more intertwined than ever before. But it's often been a relationship of frustration, and, through the rise of anti-immigration and Eurosceptic politics, marked by xenophobia and racism. In this podcast hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams talk to Yva Alexandrova and Alena Ivanova about Yva's new book, Here to Stay: Eastern Europeans in Britain (Repeater Books, 2021). They discuss the problems the left in the UK has had in engaging the issue of European migration and giving voice to these experiences, and reflect on the myriad of ways in which the peoples of these islands are now connected to Eastern Europeans.
Here to Stay is out now:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/677207/here-to-stay-by-yva-alexandrova/
As his government lurches from scandal to scandal there is a new sense of hope that the Tories can be defeated. So what role can Another Europe play in building mass opposition and resistance? In this podcast, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Seema Syeda, a new staff member in the Another Europe office, about our plans for 2022 and how you can get involved. She warns that despite the government's travails there is no room for complacency. They still have a massive parliamentary majority and a deeply reactionary agenda. We discuss Another Europe's campaigning work on resisting the Nationality and Borders Bill, the worrying new government 'consultation' that threatens to unravel the protections of the Human Rights Act, and our pan-European initiatives on resisting Islamophobia and building international solidarity and opposition to the Russian threat of war against Ukraine.
For more information on some of the ideas mentioned in the podcast check out these links:
Event: Is the Human Rights Act at risk Brexit Spotlight: for meaningful accountability in the Brexit era
Ex-staff member Michael's Chessum report of the Chile elections
Spain has one of the most successful vaccination programmes in the world. It's also set to launch the most ambitious national investment strategy in its post Franco history. But its trailblazing left wing coalition are, despite these tremendous achievements, not as popular as we might expect. Meanwhile, the far right Vox party has established itself in public opinion in third place. In this podcast, to make sense of these difficulties and challenges, hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams, talk to Marga Ferra, one of the co-presidents of Transform! Europe, the education think tank connected to the European Left Party and a member of Izquierda Unida (United Left), the party that stands in elections with Podemos as part of a common platform – and together they are a junior partner in the Spanish government. Marga offers an un-tribal and frank assessment of the current situation, but with plenty of 'practical optimism' for the future of the European left.
As COP26 comes to a close, we investigate the global environmental and economic challenge facing humanity. In this podcast, Luke Cooper talks to economist Laurie Macfarlane, a columnist at Open Democracy and a fellow at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, to get a digest on COP26 and discuss the relationship between social justice, global development and the green transition. It's a wide-ranging chat, taking in how we conceptualise the idea of development in the 21st century, the seeming paradox that societies most at risk from climate change, such a Australia, have often been the most trenchantly committed to fossil fuels, and the emergence of a new paradigm of capitalist extractivism with the dash for raw materials required to harness renewable energy.
It wasn't so long ago that Germany's declining social democratic party was seen as a a classic example of 'Pasokification' in Europe, a term referring to the steep decline of centre-left parties derived from the experience of the now deceased Greek party, Pasok. Polls at the start of the year put the party pretty clearly in third place. But the centre-left have now stormed to an - albeit narrow - general election victory. So, what happened? In this podcast, to make sense of it all, Luke Cooper talks to Jeremy Cliffe, the Berlin-based International Editor at the New Statesman on Germany's new political era.
For more from Jeremy check out his articles in the New Statesman and his podcast, The World Review:
https://www.newstatesman.com/podcasts/world-review-podcast
https://www.newstatesman.com/author/jeremy-cliffe
Fascism - the twentieth century's most barbaric ideology - is back and winning support on the streets and at the ballot boxes all over the world. What can we learn from the struggles against fascism in the past? How do we understand the source of the potency of the fascist appeal? In this podcast hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Paul Mason about his new book, How to Stop Fascism (Allen Lane, 2021). It's a harrowing outline of how fascism is on the march. But it also outline a strategy to defeat this deadly threat. We explore the contents of the book and ask Paul why he remains optimistic for humanity. Links to material mentioned on this podcast: How to Stop Fascism (Allen Lane, 2021)
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/442/442868/how-to-stop-fascism/9780141996394.html Authoritarian Contagion (Bristol University Press, 2021)
https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/authoritarian-contagion Eric Hobsbawm's Age of Extremes (Little, Brown Book Group)
https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Eric-Hobsbawm/The-Age-Of-Extremes--1914-1991/859532 Karl Kautsky's critique of the Soviet Union
https://www.marxists.org/archive/kautsky/1918/dictprole/index.htm Novecento (film)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074084/ Arditi del Popolo - The First Anti-Fascists
https://libcom.org/library/arditi-del-popolo-first-anti-fascists
The crisis in Afghanistan has dominated the airwaves this summer - and rightly so. In this episode, Luke Cooper talks to Shukria Rezaei, an Afghan living in London about her family's decade-long battle to flee the Taliban and resettle in Britain. It's a shocking story of oppression and the global border policing regime. Now she fears for those she left behind, as the Taliban seize power - with members of the Hazara community particularly fearful of a new round of sectarian bloodletting. In part two, Luke speaks to LSE professor and regular on the show, Mary Kaldor. They discuss whether, despite all the talk from the US administration about 'ending the forever wars', any lessons have actually been learnt, as development aid runs dry and the US military continue to drop bombs on Afghan targets, without regard to international law and perpetuating the cycle of violence. Readings referred to in this episode of the podcast: Personal story: I am Hazara – and I fear for my persecuted people
https://www.newstatesman.com/world/2021/08/personal-story-i-am-hazara-and-i-fear-my-persecuted-people Only action against corruption can solve the world’s biggest problems https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/19/action-against-corruption-russian-sanctions-oligarchs-alexei-navalny The main lesson from Afghanistan is that the ‘war on terror’ does not work
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/24/lesson-afghanistan-war-on-terror-not-work Producer: Luke Cooper Editor: Jake Pace Lawrie
Can Englishness be anti-racist? After a remarkable football tournament, where the England football players made such a strong anti-racist statement we draw out some of the political implications for anti-racism and the constitutional future of the United Kingdom after Brexit. To get a handle on these issues Luke Cooper talks to two impeccably qualified guests. Shaista Aziz is an avid and lifelong England fan, anti-racist activist, and member of the FA's Asylum Seeker and Refugees Network, and John Denham, the former Labour MP who is now a professor at Southampton University and Director of the Centre for English Identity and Politics.
For more on the ideas discussed in today's podcasts, see:
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/dear-england-gareth-southgate-euros-soccer
https://labourlist.org/2021/07/when-uk-labour-talks-only-of-britain-we-cannot-speak-for-england/
And Shaista's 1m strong petition:
https://www.change.org/p/football-association-and-oliver-dowden-sec-of-state-dcms-pm-boris-johnson-ban-racists-for-life-from-all-football-matches-in-england?use_react=false&v2=false
Editor: Camilo Tirado
Producer: Luke Cooper
Does June 2016 seem like only yesterday? Or does it seem like an eternity? Fives years on from the referendum hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams meet up with Laura Parker from the Another Europe National Committee to reflect on a period of dramatic change in UK politics. They uncover some small shoots of hope, despite all the problems we face, and lay out a strategy for the movement going forward from here. We also hear from some other members of the Another Europe National Committee with Zoe Gardner, Alex Fernandes, Julie Ward, and Shaista Aziz, offering their thoughts on five years of pain but also tremendous resistance.
Producer: Luke Cooper Sound editor: Camilo Tirado
The fight is on to replace Germany's centrist chancellor, Angela Merkel, who is stepping down after dominating the country's political scene for a decade and a half. With new elections scheduled for September will Germany embrace change, or choose the centrist status quo? To get a handle on Germany's next political chapter, hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams are joined by Franziska Heinisch, an activist with the Justice is Global Europe collective and author of the book, Wir haben keine Wahl / We Have No Choice, a manifesto against giving up, and Christos Katsioulis, a foreign policy analyst and director of the London office of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, the political education foundation loosely aligned with the German social democracy. We pick their brains on where Germany is going after the Merkel era, what the big controversies are in the run to the September elections, and how hopeful they are on the prospects for progressive social change.
The European Super League was dead almost on arrival. An uprising of fans, the football authorities and governments swiftly killed the project. It seemed to encapsulate everything that had gone wrong in a beautiful game where greed has long been king. In this podcast, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to David Kogan. The Premier League’s media rights advisor from 1998 to 2015, Kogan has been described as a ‘key architect of its financial success’. But away from big money football, David is also a figure in Labour politics. His 2019 book, Protest and Power: The Battle for the Labour Party, chronicles the history of the party’s factional conflicts over its soul and direction. We pick his brains on whether the big money revolution in football has gone too far.
In this podcast, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to ecological economist, Tim Jackson, about his new book, Post-Growth; Life After Capitalism. Every society in the world shares a fundamental cultural assumption about how our economies work: that growth is good. But what if this is running up against both its material and ecological limits? As capitalism in Western states struggles with the problem of low or stagnant growth do we need to rethink how we understand the economy and prioritise redistribution and ecological and social justice, over the drive to squeeze more and more juice out of the same orange? Politicians often don't like talking about post-growth but many argue that its an idea whose time has come. For more information on the ideas discussed on this podcast, check out these links: * Tim's book Post-Growth * Hannah Arendt's classic work, The Human Condition * The novel, Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson and a paper by Luke on it here
By now it should be clear. Coronavirus is a ‘strategic’, not episodic, crisis for human development in this century. It poses sweeping social and economic change to our societies – as we try to come to terms and deal with mounting ecological crises. To get a handle on what these changes might be, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to economist James Meadway on what ‘building back better’ should look like. For more information on the issues discussed on today’s podcast, see James’ article on Open Democracy: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/covid-19-here-stay-now-we-must-redesign-our-economies-around-it/
Producer: Luke Cooper Editor: Camilo Tirado
Britain's migrant workers are living through a huge moment of change. The country's immigration system has now fundamentally changed after the exit from the European Union and vast numbers of migrants have left Britain during the Coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of the most vulnerable EU nationals risk falling through the cracks and losing their right to remain as the settled status deadline looms. Meanwhile, despite a historic new level of immigration control, the Tory government appear desperate to find a new scapegoat with threats to clampdown on asylum seekers and activist lawyers. To take stock of these changes, and shed light on the quiet struggles underway for human dignity, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Zoe Gardner, from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and Alena Ivanova, from the Another Europe office and Right to Stay campaign.
As the four nations of the United Kingdom struggle to reconcile themselves to life outside the EU are we witnessing the gradual unravelling of the illusions and delusions that have dominated the traditional British political elite? Is this end of the "era of self-deception" the one positive aspect of Brexit? And, if the project itself is overwhelmingly English, what does this mean for the future of the union between the four nations? To answer these questions hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by historian David Edgerton, a professor at Kings College London and author of The Rise and Fall of the British Nation.
For more information on the ideas covered in the podcast see:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/01/brexit-bonfire-national-illusions-labour-alternative-future
https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/David-Edgerton/The-Rise-and-Fall-of-the-British-Nation--A-Twentieth-Century-History/14131279
Producer: Luke Cooper Sound editor: Ben Higgins Milner
The Coronavirus pandemic can be seen as a huge ecological warning: a sign that our footprint on planet Earth is becoming terribly unsustainable. And while that crisis continues to - rightly - dominate global headlines it is still rarely seen as the environmental crisis that it is. In the year that the UK will host COP26, the annual global climate conference in Glasgow, and following Joe Biden's victory in the United States, we ask whether campaigners can turn this to our advantage, and get the much more ambitious commitments we need? To answer this question and more hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Green Party co-leader, Sian Berry, to appraise the current state of the global climate emergency and what we need to do next.
Will he do it? If Boris Johnson leads the UK to a no deal crash out from the transition period he'll surely be remembered as the most irresponsible prime minister in British history. His flag waving jingoism risks an economic and social disaster. Is it all a bluff? Will he climb down at the 11th hour? To find some answers hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Katy Hayward, professor of political sociology at Queens University Belfast and senior fellow with UK in a Changing Europe. In a wide ranging discussion they talk about the current state of play with the talks, how the promises of the 2016 referendum fit with the reality of 'no deal', the contradictions of the UK view of 'sovereignty' and the implications of Brexit for the politics and economics of Northern Ireland.
After what seemed like a lifetime, the final results are in: America has said "no more" to Donald Trump. Collectively the world breathed a sigh of relief as the results came in. But many questions still remain unanswered. How much damage can Trump do between now and his exit day, the 20th January next year? Will his racism and unfounded attacks on the democratic process prompt 'white riots' in America's streets? Where will the American radical right and Trump dynasty go next? And what kind of impact can we expect Biden to have, either domestically or on world politics, especially without control of the Senate? Nick Dearden, Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper meet up to make sense of it all and ponder the future of global democracy in a century of crisis.
We talk about authoritarianism a lot on this podcast and how it's resisted from below by grassroots movements. But we haven't yet broached what the principles are in how democratic states should operate in an increasingly dictatorial world order. In this podcast we talk to Mary Kaldor, emeritus professor of global governance at the London School of Economics, on what an ethical foreign policy should look like. Drawing on her experience advising the late Labour foreign secretary, Robin Cook, in the 1990s, she outlines the principles of a progressive foreign policy today. A critical part of this is seeing supporting pro democratic civil society movements as part of foreign policy - not simply something that is beyond what democracies should do. She also offers an explanation of the roots of American authoritarianism that goes beyond the "Trump is evil" statement and explores the problematic structures of contemporary US power.
This definitely isn't normal is it? The world feels increasingly like a strange absurdist theatre we have all found our collective selves in. A new book tells the story of the last four years and how we got here. Hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Will Davies, professor of political economy and co-director of the Goldsmiths Political Economy Research Centre. His new book offers a timeline and chronology from the Brexit referendum to the 2019 general election and is full of fascinating insights into the changing politics, economics and culture of these new and dangerous times.
For more on the ideas discussed in the podcast check out:
This Is Not Normal by Will Davies
Neoliberalism is over – welcome to the era of neo-illiberalism by Reijer Hendrikse
The difficulty of 'neoliberalism' by Will Davies
As American democracy faces the most troubling moment in its modern history, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to one of the world's leading experts on the far right about where it all went wrong. Cas Mudde is Professor of International Affairs at the University of Georgia he challenges the conventional wisdom that sees Trump as 'evil' and the Republican party as 'moderate'. Instead he explains how Trump is a symptom of the shift in American Republicanism towards the populist radical right - a move that has huge implications for American democracy in the century ahead. We also pick his brains on the challenge the authoritarian right represents to the future of democratic societies this side of the Atlantic and ask - above all - what we can do about it. For more on the ideas discussed in today's podcast check out these links: The Republican convention is proof that traditional Republicans have given up The Far Right Today (Book) One thing all sides agree on: the 2020 election is about the soul of America How Orbán played Germany, Europe’s great power
It is no exaggeration to say that dark money is now a major factor in our politics - and the lack of transparency threatens the democratic process. The 2016 Brexit referendum was the pilot episode of a new global horror show: nationalistic politics fuelled by hidden global donors. In this episode hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams talk to Peter Geoghegan on his path-breaking new book, Democracy for Sale. In a jaw dropping discussion he explains how we still have no idea about the ultimate source of the huge amounts of cash that the Democratic Unionist Party and Arron Banks spent in the 2016 referendum.
This podcast is part of an on-going collaboration between the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Another Europe Is Possible.
For more information on the ideas discussed in this podcast check out Peter's book: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Peter-Geoghegan/Democracy-for-Sale--Dark-Money-and-Dirty-Politics/24294091
In this podcast Another Europe's Zoe Williams talks to Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, about his new book, Trade Secrets. They unravel the corporate agenda at the heart of modern trade policy and the terrible implications it has for our food standards, consumer rights and environmental protections. To get your copy of the book go to the Global Justice Now website.
He made a fortune in the last financial crisis betting against a recovery. Now one-time City trader Gary Stevenson tells his jaw-dropping story. He won his job in a card game at one of the world's top universities and was the most profitable trader globally at Citigroup in 2011. But his maths-based predictions of currency movements hit upon a problem: global inequality was paralysing the economic future of the entire world. In this podcast, Gary tells hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper why the system has to change. He laments the failure of the Economics discipline to steer a new course and believes we are on the cusp of the total destruction of social mobility in every country in the world.
This podcast is part of an on-going collaboration between the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Another Europe Is Possible.
For more information on the ideas discussed in this podcast check out these bits of reading:
Gary's Stevenson's articles for Open Democracy
For a more technical, economics-take on the issues discussed see this paper from the economists Gary mentioned in the podcast.
Paul Mason and Christabel Cooper ... The Coronavirus crisis has turned on its head many assumptions about how politics works. It used to be taken for granted that the Tories want to make the state smaller, and the market bigger. But does that assumption still hold? And if not what is the nature of the new Toryism being formed through the course of the Coronavirus crisis? On this episode hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams are joined by journalist and author Paul Mason and data scientist and Labour councillor Christabel Cooper, to discuss how the centre-right is evolving. They place the analysis in a global and historical perspective and ask if Thatcherism is indeed coming to an end, then what happens next? The alternative, sadly, isn't necessarily better and could even be seen as continuity neoliberalism but with a big dose of nationalism and authoritarianism.
This podcast is part of an on-going collaboration between the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Another Europe Is Possible. For more information on the ideas discussed in this podcast check out these bits of reading:
Paul Mason's Clear Bright Future
The Devastating Defeat
The Dangers Ahead
The killing of George Floyd unleashed a huge global uprising. Black Lives Matter has become a global movement against racism and for social and political justice. In Britain and across Europe discussion of American politics can sometimes serve as a convenient way to avoid discussing the issues faced by people of colour on this side of the Atlantic. In this podcast we set out to challenge this tendency by politely pointing out that black lives often don't matter in Europe too. And mass movements have erupted to demand that we too have a reckoning with the huge injustices faced by ethnic minorities. To explore these linkages we talk to Ndindi Kitonga, a Black Lives Matter activist based in Los Angeles, Quinsy Gario, a performance artist and activist in the movement against Zwarte Piet from Amsterdam. And Shaista Aziz, a Labour councillor in Oxford involved in the Rhodes Must Fall campaign.
This podcast is part of an on-going collaboration between the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Another Europe Is Possible.
As Boris Johnson is set for a video conference negotiation with the EU next week, we look at the sorry state of his Brexit negotiations. Hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams are joined by Laura Bannister of the Trade Justice Movement and Christos Katsioulis, the director of the London office of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung to talk about the state of the Brexit negotiations. As the world is facing multiple, deeply serious crises, Brexit appears as an absurd distraction. But the results of the UK-EU talks will have a huge impact on the future economic prosperity of the UK (and to a lesser extent, the EU too) and the ability to recover from Covid-19. We discuss how the EU's ideas for this trade deal are quite different from their traditional approach to other trade deals such as the failed attempt to strike a deregulating deal with the United States. Laura explains how the Trade Justice Movement have developed a new plan for trade deals that prioritises the public interest and environmental regulations, not the profits of big multinationals.
This podcast is part of an on-going collaboration between the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Another Europe Is Possible.
For more information on the ideas discussed in the podcast check out:
Sustainable Regulation and Trade Agreements for the EU-UK relationship
As Brexit talks continue, we need a deal fit for a post-Covid world
We are at a pivot moment in history. The choices we make today could determine the fate of future generations. Coronavirus has been correctly recognised as a giant wake up call to the realities of a failing system. Without question huge opportunities exist to catalyse positive change. But what comes next might well be worse: a much more authoritarian system, with huge inequalities protected by the state and legitimised by political nationalism. In this podcast hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to writer, academic and campaigner for universal basic income, Guy Standing, about his analysis of 'rentier capitalism' and the threat it represents to 'the commons'. He tells the story of the 'free market' myth. At every stage in the development of the system often referred to as 'neoliberalism', state intervention has been mobilised to protect the interests of the hyper wealthy minority.
It's time for change. But how? Find out in a great discussion.
This podcast is part of an on-going collaboration between the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Another Europe Is Possible.
There aren't too many good news stories about. But here's a great one. A new model for financing sustainable development projects in a democratic and participatory way. Hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams talk to democratic finance geeks Bruce Davis and Mark Davis about type of debt they've developed for local councils. It's a whole new mission for local government to put itself at the heart of green sustainable investment. By raising money through local municipal bonds local councils can develop local forms of energy production but also fund other things like social housing. It really could transform our economy.
For more on the ideas discussed in the podcast check out their report.
Production: Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper Editing: Ben Higgins Millner
It seems some things don't change after all. A now familiar row has broken out in the Labour Party over the idea of patriotism and nationality. This has been a continuous theme of the party's travails in the post-Blair era. But as debates go it's pretty thin gruel: lots of angst but little in the way of ideas. In this episode we try to go a little deeper and lay out the pitfalls and power of patriotism as a way of doing politics. To shed light on these topics, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Labour MP Jon Cruddas, who has argued for some time now the left need to engage pragmatically with the politics of land and territory associated with nationality, and Ash Sarkar, Senior Editor at Novara Media, who has repeatedly told the likes of Piers Morgan and David Starkey that criticising your country doesn't mean you hate it. They discuss George Orwell's famous essay, 'notes on nationalism', and the work of Stuart Hall, the founder of Cultural Studies and one of the most eminent figures on the post-war new left. Editor: Camilo Tirado Producer: Luke Cooper The podcast is published as a collaboration between the Another Europe Is Possible team and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung London office.
For more information on ideas discussed in today's podcast check out these links: George Orwell's "Notes on nationalism" Stuart Hall interview: "we need to talk about Englishness" Jon Cruddas critque of "cyborg socialism"
Increasingly it looks like there's a way of doing politics that suits the terrible ravages of capitalism in the twenty-first century. It's authoritarianism spliced with racism. And it rejects the international cooperation needed to put humanity back on the right footing. As the latest moment of this extended crisis grips the planet with the Covid-19 pandemic, hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams are joined by Cambridge scholar and author of Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance & British Dissent, Priyamvada Gopal. She tells the story of how extreme racism became normalised in India. And draws out the terrible implications this had for the country's Muslim population and the people of Kashmir. It's essential listening for anyone who wants to understand the scale of the reaction that humanity must face down in this century.
It's quite simply the biggest peacetime crisis capitalism has ever faced. The entire global system has ground to a halt. In this moment of great danger and turmoil, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by economist Ann Pettifor, author of The Case for the Green New Deal, and Nick Dearden, regular on the show and director of Global Justice Now. They outline how behind the scenes central banks are undertaking a huge bailout of the financial system to keep it afloat. Will this repeat the mistakes of the 2008 crisis - of socialising the losses but privatising the profits? Or can we radically reform our economy for the challenges of this century? Find out on today's podcast.
Editor: Ben Higgins Milner
Producer: Luke Cooper
Italy was the first European country to be hit by the terrible coronavirus pandemic. This week hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Andrea Pisauro, Italian leftist and neuroscientist based at the University of Oxford, and Laura Parker, former national coordinator of Momentum, to discuss what Europe and the world might learn from the country's brutal struggle with Covid-19. Laura joins the conversation from the Piedmont region, close to the epicentre of the outbreak in Italy, where she is staying with her Italian family. In the week that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson went into intensive care, they discuss the comparison between the Italian and British responses, give a rough guide to the Italian political landscape, and ask whether the long-awaited reform of the Eurozone area might now finally happen under the huge economic pressures created by Coronavirus.
For more information on issues covered in the show, we recommend:
The New York Times virtual map on the Italian outbreak
The FT feature on how Italy fell out of love with Europe
Political economist prof Erik Jones on the simple case for Eurozone reform
How Britain got it wrong. The Reuters special report on the UK govt response
Finally, Andrea Pisauro, one of the guests on the show, drafted this letter to Angela Merkel in advance of this week's eurozone talks.
Hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by NHS doctor Sonia Adesara and Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, to discuss the enormous challenges facing Britain's underfunded healthcare system. As public anger with the lack of testing and protective equipment for frontline staff mounts, but, at the same time, the extraordinary feat of building whole new field hospitals in a week is achieved, we take a balanced look at whether the NHS can pull through the most serious crisis in its history.
Producer: Luke Cooper
Sound editor: Camilo Tirado
Covid-19 is the most serious crisis human civilisation has faced since the Second World War. It’s a global emergency that will change every aspect of our society. Life will go on but not as we know it. In the first of a new series of podcasts, Coronavirus Lockdown, Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to economist James Meadway about the extraordinary economic impact of a virus that is closing down the global economy. How must the government respond? What will the capitalism that emerges from all this look like? And has the time come for an entirely new economic order?
For more information on the issues covered in today's show check out these articles:
Coronavirus is the greatest challenge capitalism has ever faced: will a new system result?
Only Scrutiny Will Keep This Government on the Right Path
In the last of our Saving Europe From Itself series, Luke Cooper is joined by Carl Miller, research director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media (CASM) at Demos and author of The Death of the Gods: the New Global Power Grab. As the global pandemic is combined with an infodemic, a proliferation of fake or misleading viral news stories, Miller offers 7 rules for digital hygiene: to stay informed, stay educated and stay smart.
For further material on issues covered in today's show check out:
A long read from Carl Miller for Wired
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/taiwan-democracy-social-media
Can Taiwan reboot democracy? A doc for the BBC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbCZvU7i7VY
The rise of the far right across Europe has given new life to the anti-feminist agenda. How do we stop the roll back and go on the offensive for a new agenda for a feminist Europe? On this podcast, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by a panel of guests in Berlin to discuss the state of women's rights in Europe and the need for new and intersectional feminist vision. Saboura Naqshband is an academic, activist and co-founder of the Berlin Muslim Feminists Collective, Daphne Büllesbach is a pan-European activist and the vice-president of European Alternatives Berlin, and Prune Antoine is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Sisters of Europe. The podcast was recorded at a live audience event in Berlin organised in collaboration with European Alternatives in Berlin and supported by the European Cultural Foundation as part of its Democracy Needs Imagination programme.
It's been emotional. Nearly four years on from the referendum result and with Britain having decisively left the EU, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Nick Dearden, from Global Justice Now, to look back on it all. We chart the highs and lows of the historic defeat. We look back on some all too optimistic interviews we did on the podcast with Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle and anti-Brexit campaigner Eloise Todd, and review the news archive for all the big turning points in the Brexit crisis.
Brexit has been a rough ride for the people of Northern Ireland. Having never voted to Leave the EU it felt like a colonial act of English nationalism. But it also has created a new spirit of hope that the north of Ireland's deep sectarian divisions might be overcome. Whereas the English left were thrown into mourning the day after the general election, in Northern Ireland, much like Scotland, there was a different atmosphere. A historic breakthrough for the cross-community Alliance Party, winning 17 per cent of the vote, was matched by Unionist parties returning less seats than the Nationalist parties for the first time ever. Hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Joseph Healy, longtime Irish immigrant in London and principal speaker for the Left Unity party, and curator and Northern Irish community activist, Jane Wells, to discuss whether Ulster Unionism now faces an existential crisis.
The second half of our podcast on Europe after 1989, with Andras Bozoki, Mary Kaldor, Alena Ivanova, and Quinsy Gario joining Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams.
Andras Bozoki, Mary Kaldor, Alena Ivanova, and Quinsy Gario join Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper to discuss the thirty year anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain. As Europe looks ever more mired in nationalism, we ask: what's left of the hopes and dreams of the peaceful revolutions? How in retrospect do we understand the revolutions of 1989? And was there an alternative to the quick-fire turn to neoliberalism? We discuss this and more in a podcast that will be published in two parts. The event was recorded with a live audience in Amsterdam. The podcast is supported by the European Cultural Foundation as part of its Democracy Needs Imagination series.
A landslide victory by the Conservative Party has extinguished the hope that Britain might yet stay inside the EU. So where next after the historic defeat? Hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams are joined by Michael Chessum from the Another Europe office to reflect on the anguish, agony and anger of the general election. They discuss the failure of the Labour Party to galvanise the country behind a radical, transformative vision of change, and the prospects for the left in the difficult and challenges days that lie ahead.
How about giving everyone a guaranteed basic income – a universal benefit to provide a basic foundation for our daily life? It is one of the most contested and controversial ideas of the modern age. But as the world of work transforms beyond recognition, is it only a matter of time before utopia becomes reality? Economist and financial journalist Stewart Lansley thinks so. He talks to hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper about the case for a UBI.
The European Cultural Foundation supports this initiative as it is rethinking Europe as an open and democratic space.
In this, the second part of our two part documentary The Forgotten Troubles, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper explore the contemporary politics of Northern Ireland and the extent to which the Good Friday Agreement makes it difficult to break out of sectarian division. They meet the Alliance Party on the campaign trail in the traditionally unionist area of Lagan Valley and ask whether it is possible or desirable to go 'beyond Orange and Green'. They explore the possible futures of the island of Ireland in the Brexit crisis, and the difficult challenges it faces.
Featuring: Sorcha Eastwood, Alliance Party candidate for Lagan Valley, Katy Hayward, a sociologist at Queen’s University Belfast, Garrett Carr, author of The Rule of the Land, and Mickey Brady, the Sinn Fein MP for Newry and South Armagh.
Editing and mixing: Jamie Coward
The documentary was produced in collaboration with Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Brussels Office. Funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.
The European Cultural Foundation supports this initiative as it is rethinking Europe as an open and democratic space.
Northern Ireland occupies a strange position within the Brexit debate. It is at once at the centre and at the periphery of the constitutional uncertainty and political crisis Brexit has created. Poorly understood in Britain even amongst the most well informed, the political future of those living on the island of Ireland has been thrown into huge doubt by the 2016 referendum. Hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper went to Northern Ireland to understand how its troubled history shapes the present day. In this two part documentary they explain what they learnt. Part one looks at how the past reverberates into today and the on-going problem of sectarian division.
Featuring: Katy Hayward, a sociologist at Queen's University Belfast, Garrett Carr, author of The Rule of the Land, and Mickey Brady, the Sinn Fein MP for Newry and South Armagh.
Production and mixing: Jamie Coward
The documentary was produced in collaboration with Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Brussels Office. Funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.
The European Cultural Foundation supports this initiative as it is rethinking Europe as an open and democratic space.
Hilary Wainwright and Mary Kaldor ... It seems almost everyone accepts there is a democratic crisis in Britain and Europe. But there is very little agreement what to do about it. For Brexiters satisfying the demand of the referendum in 2016 to leave the EU whatever the cost has become the catch-all solution to the country's democratic woes. Too many remainers, in contrast, deny there is even a problem with citizens participation today. In our latest podcast - recorded at a recent live audience event in London - hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Hilary Wainwright and Mary Kaldor to discuss how we really 'take back control' in the twenty-first century.
The European Cultural Foundation supports this initiative as it is rethinking Europe as an open and democratic space.
Kojo Koram and Ana Oppenheim ... As Britain lurches into an unknown political moment we review the deeper issues and wider context. Hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Kojo Koram, a lecturer at Birkbeck who has written widely on the colonial fantasies animating the Brexit project, and Ana Oppenheim, a staff member of Another Europe Is Possible and, when she's not busy with that, a Polish anti-fascist. They discuss the moment of huge danger and opportunity we find ourselves in. The podcast was recorded at the Another Europe podcast and party event on Sunday 27th October.
The European Cultural Foundation supports this initiative as it is rethinking Europe as an open and democratic space.
The best thing that ever happened for organised crime was financial globalisation. If you've stolen a massive wad of money there is an entire - largely legal - global infrastructure for you to pump it through. And if you've ever wondered why dark money loves the new far right, there's a simple reason: anyone who hates international cooperation is a friend of those moving dark money across borders. In the latest episode of our Saving Europe From Itself, Oliver Bullough has a big idea for Europe: get tough on the crooks.
The European Cultural Foundation supports this initiative as it is rethinking Europe as an open and democratic space.
In the latest episode of our Saving Europe From Itself series, we were joined by Cambridge scholar, Priyamvada Gopal. Her idea for saving Europe? Decolonise our politics and our entire way of thinking about global politics. This, she argues, can be the basis for a unifying narrative, that binds working class Europeans and the peoples oppressed by European empires together in a common, entangled history of democratic resistance. She draws out how the very essence of the contemporary EU is its status as 'a paradoxical formation', entangled with deeply entrenched colonial legacies but also positing, at least potentially, a step to a truly decolonial world.
The European Cultural Foundation supports this initiative as it is rethinking Europe as an open and democratic space.
Niccolo Milanese and Ruth Wodak ... What does it mean to say Europe is in a democracy crisis? And what exactly is the idea of illiberal democracy mobilised by the new far right? As the Austrian elections saw a drop in support for the far right did the centre-right just steal their clothes? Luke Cooper went to Vienna to talk to Ruth Wodak and Niccolo Milanese to find some answers.
Expressing international solidarity is easy. But taking steps to build transformative change on a European and international level is much harder. At the World Transformed Festival, Another Europe's Zoe Williams hosted a discussion bringing together perspectives from two countries with quite different experiences of the EU: Portugal has been on the frontline of austerity and successfully stood up to a neoliberal Europe with its leftist government now riding high in the polls; Germany has been one of the most powerful and conservative of Europe's states. What can we learn from these experiences? With Kevin Kühnert of the German SPD, Ana Gomes from the Portuguese Socialists, Katja Kipping of Die Linke and the Labour Party MP Clive Lewis. Produced in collaboration with Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Brussels Office. Funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.
Jolyon Maugham QC ... Was the prorogation of Parliament illegal? And is the Supreme Court set to find against the Boris Johnson administration? As the British executive faces off against the two other pillars of the liberal democratic system - Parliament and the Courts - hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams talk to one of the barristers at the centre of the case. Quite sensationally he says the government has failed to offer a defence in Court that its motives for prorogation were sound. He names two members of the government, which, it is said, according to a high level source, refused to sign pre-prepared affidavits from the government legal service. Maugham is confident that the Supreme Court will now find against the government. We apologise for the quality of some of the sound recording on this episode which was due to a technical fault.
The Boris Johnson regime is moving from one crisis to another. And they are lashing out. This increasingly authoritarian government has even labelled the opposition traitors. As strategic debates break out on the left over how to defeat the most right wing government in Britain's post-war history, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to the economist James Meadway, the Labour MP Lloyd Russell Moyle as well as Ana Oppenheim and Michael Chessum from the Another Europe Is Possible team.
In this podcast Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams head to Parliament Square to join protests on the day that Boris Johnson announced his intention to shut down Parliament. We take in the atmosphere and discuss the constitutional crisis in Britain. Featuring a range of speeches and insights including from Nick Dearden, Amelia Womack, Owen Jones, Eloise Todd and Laura Parker.
Saving Europe From Itself is a new series from the Another Europe team. Each episode we’ll take one big idea, from one big thinker – and put it through its paces. In this show campaigner and broadcast journalist, Shaista Aziz argues that Europe needs to get serious about intersectional feminism. A former aid worker, who once described the culture in the sector as "patriarchy on speed", she picks apart how the idea of feminism has been used in international development and foreign policy across Europe. A different way of thinking about the agency of women and people of colour is urgently needed.
The European Cultural Foundation supports this initiative as it is rethinking Europe as an open and democratic space.
When Syriza won the 2015 elections they were the first government of the radical left seen in Europe since the 1930s. Leading the people into a historic clash with the European Union they were left bruised and defeated when they were forced to accept a new round of austerity six months later. Today they have lost power to a new right wing government.
In this special edition of the Another Europe podcast, we sent Luke Cooper to Athens to learn about the Greek crisis four years on. What are the lessons of the Syriza experiment? Should Greece have left the eurozone - and what would that have entailed for the Greek people? Were the alternatives? We answer these questions and more. Tune in.
The European Cultural Foundation supports this initiative as it is rethinking Europe as an open and democratic space.
Nick Dearden ... As Boris Johnson enters number 10 the spectre of a post-Brexit trade deal looms large. Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams spoke to Nick Dearden, a long time champion of trade justice, about the horror of a trade deal with Donald Trump and how trade affects every aspect of our lives. We also pick his brains on Brexit, globalisation and the rise of authoritarian nationalism.
Stephen Bush ... Following the Byzantine process for how the European Union selects its leadership is tough even for seasoned observers. Worry not. We have everything you need to know. Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Stephen Bush from the New Statesman to get their heads around the European corridors of power.
Timothy Snyder ... The EU has a big historical narrative about itself. Once upon a time waring nation-states decided to finally put aside their differences. A project for peace and reconciliation was born. But what if the story is wrong? What if it's a myth? Luke Cooper caught up with Yale historian Timothy Snyder to get the alternative story on origins of Europe. He suggests Europeans keen to forget their imperial histories have lost sight of the real lesson and importance of today's EU. It's about life after empire. You can find out more about the ideas Tim’s discusses in the pod in his latest book, The Road to Unfreedom.
Saving Europe From Itself is a new series from the Another Europe team. Each episode we'll take one big idea, from one big thinker - and put it through its paces. In our inaugural show Oxford professor and author of numerous books, Danny Dorling, tears up the brief and argues that, with some of the most equal societies in the world, Europe could actually tell us a thing or two about how Britain could be saved from itself.
Laura Parker and Amelia Womack ... What do the European elections mean for the European left in all its variety? Co-host Luke Cooper surveys the electoral scene across Europe and takes in the atmosphere at the Another Europe results night party. He spoke to Laura Parker, the national coordinator of Momentum, as she failed to win a seat in the European Parliament. She talks candidly about the problems facing the Labour Party after the elections. He also talked to Amelia Womack from the Greens after their historic UK election result saw them return seven MEPs to Brussels, as well as a range of other grassroots activists.
Peter Oborne … Hosts Zoe Williams and Jamie Coward are joined on the show by Daily Mail columnist Peter Oborne. In recent years Oborne has gained a reputation as the idiosyncratic representative of British conservatism. First he shocked polite opinion by having warm words for Jeremy Corbyn. Now he's expressed deep regret over Brexit, and the role he played as a columnist promoting it back in 2016. On the show he muses over whether the whole thing should be called off and observes the radical transformation of British conservatism into what he calls "a revolutionary party".
Clive Lewis ... Hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Labour MP Clive Lewis, who has been heavily involved in developing the ideas and campaigning initiatives we need to save the planet. We chat Extinction Rebellion and how to connect the goals of a climate revolution to social justice, asking whether there are opportunities as well as sacrifices ahead. We also link these huge global challenges to the upcoming European elections - what better place to promote these policies, you might be forgiven for thinking. And - inevitably, of course - pick Clive's brains on the Labour line on Brexit and the future of the European Union.
Ruth Wodak .... Has Britain exhausted the reserves of patience in Europe? As the extension is granted, but with no end in sight to the parliamentary deadlock, the Another Europe podcast heads to Vienna to find out. Co-host Luke Cooper is joined by Ruth Wodak, distinguished emeritus professor at the University of Vienna and expert on the European far right, to take stock of what it all means for the future of Europe and the left.
Owen Jones, Brian Carty, Elena Crasta, Alena Ivanova, Helmut Scholz, Luke Cooper ... As Britain stares down a "no deal" Brexit abyss, we head to Brussels to talk to groups across the European left. In the latest in our series of international live audience events, we place Brexit in the context of the upcoming European elections and ask whether there is a way out of this terrible mess.
Sam Tarry ... Hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Sam Tarry, national political officer from the TSSA union who has spent much of his time of late in Parliament convincing MPs to do the right thing on Brexit. After another extraordinary week in UK politics we talk to him about the next steps and whether hard Remainers are on the cusp of victory or defeat.
Alena Ivanova ... There is a new centrist party in Britain as the Brexit crisis rumbles on. The electoral coalition to deliver a radical political agenda suddenly looks in peril. So this hasn’t been an easy week for left radical Remainers – with the forces of the status quo centre suddenly looking stronger. How do we beat the centrists, deliver the socialist programme that Britain urgently needs and stop Brexit in its tracks? Hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Coopear are joined by Alena Ivanova from the Another Europe office to lay out a strategy for where we go next.
Ruth Wodak and Rafal Pankowski …
Europe is facing an explosion of far right movements not seen since the Second World War.
This new fascism is well financed, increasingly transnational, and intent on turning the clock back decades on democracy, human rights, gender politics and the freedoms of minorities. What is it that’s tantalising millions of Europeans into this hallucination of the past? And how can civil society and progressive activists respond?
These are the questions we’re discussing on our first ever live international edition of the Another Europe Is Possible Podcast in Vienna, with Luke Cooper, a visiting fellow at the IWM, and Zoe Williams from the Guardian.
Joining us on today’s panel are two leading lights of the European academic community.
Rafal Pankowski is a sociologist based in Warsaw. His four books on Polish fascism and his irrepressible campaigning on antisemitism and minority rights in Poland has moved the ruling far right Law And Justice party to denounce him as an enemy of the state.
Ruth Wodak is an award winning linguist based in Lancaster and Vienna. She’s a leading specialist on European fascism and an outspoken critic of the ruling Freedom Party in Austria, and her indispensable 2015 book The Politics Of Fear mercilessly dismantled the strategies and fictions of Europe’s rightwing populists.
Produced in collaboration with Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Brussels Office. Funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. Hosted by the Institute of Human Sciences (Vienna).
Fintan O’Toole ...
Brexit is the long agony of English nationalism: a nationality in a multinational state that has struggled to find a place in the world after the end of empire. But a short boat ride away, an often neglected part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, has had its own struggles with monolithic national identity.
What can a divided Britain learn from the Northern Irish experience? And could Brexit tear it all apart? These are the questions we’re asking in this special edition of the Another Europe Is Possible podcast with Zoe Williams from the Guardian, and Luke Cooper from Anglia Ruskin University.
Our guest on today’s show is Fintan O’Toole, and his explosive new book, ‘Heroic Failure; Brexit And The Politics Of Pain’ sees the vote to leave the European Union as indicative of a crisis of Englishness, a national identity in search of a story.
Tim Bale ... How divided is Britain? A case of when two tribes go to war? Or is it time to give peace a chance? In Parliament, the Tories and Labour look incredibly divided on where to go next - with splits crossing traditional party lines. But this isn’t the case with their voters, let alone their members. Tories are more pro Leave than ever, while for Labour voters the opposite holds true. When it comes to party members the trend is even starker. Our guest in this podcast is political scientist Tim Bale from Queen Mary University. He’s led a lot of the research in this area, finding out what Britain’s political party members really think. As Theresa May’s deal looks set to be defeated in Parliament this week we pick Tim’s brains on what on earth will happen next.
Lloyd Russell Moyle MP ... Britain is in the middle of a constitutional crisis. With Theresa May facing a huge defeat on her Brexit deal she pulled the vote. Parliament was denied its say even though MPs had already debated the bill for several days. And our guest on this podcast wasn’t having any of it. In an act of defiance Labour MP Lloyd Russell Moyle grabbed the mace - a symbol of royal authority in Parliament that Oliver Cromwell referred to as a "fools' bauble". Now May is facing a no confidence vote from Tory MPs. She is scrambling for support at home, while in European capitals she is begging for concessions that won’t be forthcoming. So what next for the Brexit crisis? Are we looking at the dying days of the Tory administration?
Asad Rehman ... Tommy Robinson has called a 'Brexit Betrayal' march in London. Backed by North American money - and with nearly a million followers on Facebook alone - Robinson has become an icon of this dangerous far right insurgency. How do we analyse this new movement? What lessons should we draw from the past? And how does Brexit fit in? These are some of the questions we discuss on the podcast with Asad Rehman, who works in the NGO sector but is speaking in a personal capacity. He's been very involved in the Stop Trump Coalition and is a seasoned campaigner in numerous anti-racist struggles down the years. We’ve also pulled in Alena Ivanova and Michael Chessum from the Another Europe office.
with Eloise Todd ... On what must be the most momentous day since the referendum result, with cabinet ministers resigning every hour, listen NOW while we're at the peak of our relevance and freshness. Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Eloise Todd from Best for Britain, who is a leading campaigner against Brexit and is well-equipped to explain what might happen next.
Ash Sarkar, Mary Kaldor and Gian Giacomo Migone ... Europe has been gripped by crises in recent years that increasingly throw the entire future of the European Union into question. In this first ever 'live audience' event, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by three guests that cross generations and perspectives. They explore the history of the union, the distinctive vision of the socialist left for a united Europe free of capitalist exploitation, the entanglement of the project of unity in the continent's history of colonialism, and the contemporary prospects for an internationalist and transformative politics at the European level.
Zoe Williams, Luke Cooper and Jamie Coward … The Tory conference and May’s speech: a great exercise in fantasy and delusion or a fightback from our embattled prime minister? That’s the question on the latest Another Europe podcast. After the catastrophe of last year’s speech - when May could hardly speak and the sign fell off the boarding at the close of her disastrous performance - it could hardly have been any worse this time round. May has won plaudits for steadying the ship, some people even seemed to like her busting out some moves to Dancing Queen. And Tory moderates have described it as a surprisingly successful exercise in facing down the hard right in her party. But there’s one simply problem with this narrative: it assumes the outside world doesn’t exist. A context-less analysis won’t get us anywhere. We put the context - of Britain's Brexit crisis- back in.
Alena Ivanova and Michael Chessum ... Are Labour about to perform what would be one of the great political u-turns of all time and swing behind the campaign for a people’s vote on the final Brexit deal? As over a hundred motions on the Brexit question are submitted to the conference, are the members, to coin a phrase, looking to ‘take back control’? In this podcast, which is published a little ahead of our usual fortnightly schedule, we take stock of what’s happening with the Labour Party prior to its conference in Liverpool. To get a handle on what’s going on we’re joined by Alena Ivanova and Michael Chessum from the Another Europe Is Possible campaign HQ. They’ve been leading the efforts to get Brexit onto the conference agenda and give us the inside track on the latest developments.
Alfie Stirling and Alena Ivanova … Remember project fear? It was Cameron and Osborne’s scare campaign. The economic collapse that never came. We on the left never bought this narrative. Ours was a positive vision for Europe. But as the possibility of a ‘no deal Brexit’ has come into view, project fear might be looking a little like project fact. What are the actual economic implications of Brexit anyway? And what do they mean for British workers? We talk to Alfie Stirling from the New Economics Foundation to find out. In part two we turn to practicalities and get the lowdown on how the Another Europe campaign is going.
Paul Mason ... Oxi, Oxi, No, No, the Greek people chanted in the summer of 2015 only for their government to then - perhaps inevitably - accept Europe’s demands for a brutal austerity and privatisation programme. Back in 2015 no British journalist followed these events more closely than Paul Mason, who has since become a high profile backer of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party. In this podcast we talk to him about Europe and the left, taking in some of the history of Europe’s disastrous turn to neoliberalism. We’ll also be looking at the tensions that exist between Britain’s Corbynistas and the Remain movement.
Omar Khan and Brendan McGeever … This podcast returns to the question we’ve been puzzling over for some time: how can progressives push back against the rising tide of racism? Brexit is only one part of the nationalist resurgence. From Steve Bannon to Geert Wilders and Tommy Robinson a new far right international has emerged. Not only have they raised huge sums from American white supremacists, they also stand to make a breakthrough in European elections next year. What are the causes of the anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment these far right forces are feeding off? And how can we turn it around? Jamie Coward, Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Omar Khan from the Runnymede Trust and Brendan McGeever from Birkbeck University to reflect on these questions.
Grace Blakeley and Michael Chessum ... Are the left at risk of sleep-walking into a Brexit emergency for Britain, or does the process of leaving the EU create new opportunities for radical change? A recording of a live audience debate with economist Grace Blakeley and Another Europe national organiser Michael Chessum.
Michael Chessum ... This week we’re putting our heads together to get a grip on what’s been a quite remarkable ten days in UK politics. David Davis resigned from the cabinet along with Brexit zealot Steve Baker. He was followed shortly afterwards by Boris Johnson - whose letter of resignation warned that the “Brexit dream is dying”. Somehow May managed to hold on for the long-awaited summit with Donald Trump. But just when she thought the ship might have been steadied, the Sun published an explosive interview with the American president. Trump openly backed the Tory rebels. “May has wrecked Brexit”, “the deal’s off”, he told the Murdoch paper. Meanwhile, the streets of Britain were flooded with anti-Trump protestors. We ask what this all means for the parlous state of the UK's negotiations with the EU and the prospects for defeating Brexit.
Niccolo Milanese ... This week we’re joined by Niccolo, one of two co-authors of an excellent new book, 'Citizens of Nowhere; How Europe can be saved from itself'. As the name suggests, the book challenges Theresa May’s infamous phrase – that if you are a citizen of the world, then you’re a citizen of nowhere – and offers a radical new agenda for political change. The book isn’t just a new political vision but is also in part a history of the authors' own, decade-long attempt to catalyse social change with the establishment of European Alternatives, a transeuropean NGO. We ask Niccolo for his thoughts on how the rise of the far right can be resisted, the place of Eastern Europe in the European story, and the history of 'Europe from below'.
Stephen Bush ... Host Zoe Williams and producer Jamie Coward are joined by the irrepressible Stephen Bush to discuss Labour and Brexit. He’ll give us the lowdown on Theresa May’s awful escape, and the prospects for a Labour reversal on Brexit. What he doesn’t know about the hidden wiring of the Labour Party is almost certainly bollocks. Is it mad to think Corbyn might be persuaded to oppose Brexit? Find out in our unmissable podcast.
Ann Pettifor and Sirio Canos Donnay ... Reflecting on the polarisation between the right and left which has opened up in European politics since the financial crisis this podcast discusses the neoliberal conundrum: if the EU has been dominated by free market economic thinking does that mean progressive forces across the continent should support an exit? What are the lessons we might derive from Spain and other countries? And how can progressives mobilising across borders effectively confront the insurgent far right?
Gary Younge and Kerem Nisancioglu
... The first ever Another Europe is Possible podcast, with guests Gary Younge and Kerem Nisancioglu. Hosted by Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper.
Today we'll talk about imperial fantasies and British exceptionalism. Was the case for Brexit essentially animated by golf club delusions about Britain's place in the world, and did that hubris make it inevitable that our leaving negotiations would play out in this shambolic way?