Understanding Disaster Nationalism and Its Implications

Happy Monday! Sam and Emma speak with Richard Seymour, writer & commentator based in London, to discuss his recent book Disaster Nationalism: The Downfall of Liberal Civilization. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on the still-burning LA Fires, the GOP’s tie of California aid to Trump’s debt ceiling raise, the second Trump Administration, the Laken Riley Act, the TikTok ban, Jack Smith’s resignation, and Biden’s immigration move, before touching on the Democratic Party’s continuing inability to act like an opposition party with just seven days to Trump’s inauguration, and watching GOP Senator John Barrasso put the right’s inhumanity on full display over the ongoing devastation in California. Richard Seymore then joins, diving right into his idea of “Disaster Nationalism” as a type of proto-fascism that seeks to take the ever-increasing frequency of real-world disasters with often abstract causes (climate change, inequality, etc) and tie them to singular, concrete perpetrators, frequently represented by ethnic and political minorities, tackling examples out of Oregon in the wake of the 2020 wildfires and Gujarat following the 2002 train burning – with the latter providing a particularly gruesome lens into Disaster Nationalism’s emphasis on extreme ethnic violence as a key selling point, as it provides an outlet for pent-up anxiety rather than a solution to its real causes. After expanding on Disaster Nationalism’s complex relationship to democracy (as a tool) and dedication to capitalism, Seymore walks Sam and Emma through the centrally motivating role of economic anxiety in this equation, tackling its distinction to general economic deprivation in its emphasis on loss and social status, looking at how the hyper-individualism of neoliberalism exacerbates socio-economic inequality while blaming those on the losing end for their situation, cultivating a sadistic culture of pseudo-meritocracy that craves social distinction, something threatened by any attempt to deconstruct the dominant hierarchies. After touching on the particular display of Disaster Nationalism developing in Israel’s ongoing genocide of Gaza, Richard, Sam, and Emma then look at the role of the left in combatting these pressures, tackling the history of trade unions in leading the fight against fascism, and the importance of organizing when it comes to finding agency, empowerment, and community in the face of systems that want you to have anything but.

And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma watch Hasan Piker’s pressing interviews with LA’s incarcerated firefighters, Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty pins the fires on the donkey (Dems… and DEI), and Leninade unpacks the unfounded argument that any city could’ve contained the climate devastation facing LA right now. Ronald Raygun explores how the criminal justice and immigration systems work together (and against each other) to make this world worse for immigrants (particularly with the incoming Laken Riley Act), Alex from New York discusses climate change and California, and Joe Rogan continues his work as butler to the billionaires as he brings on Zuckerberg to platform his agenda (and his aggrievement), plus, your calls and IMs!

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Check out Richard’s book here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3147-disaster-nationalism?srsltid=AfmBOoqT_iaW9QBOiDijkrdU_wWXur6_0TumVPBwYYJKSMs9nu5ifsoD

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