Casement's Leftovers

Our Halloween episode is about the scariest thing of all: Neoliberalism and the futures it robbed from us. We're joined by political and cultural blogger Matt Wrafter - @therockisdead - in a tribute to The OG blogger, Marxist theorist Mark Fisher, with a focus on his work about Hauntology. Are we haunted by potential futures that feel promised but never came? Is this the end of history or does the Left have a coherent vision of the future to struggle for? Were things truly better in the 70s? How have we let a revolutionary tool like the internet become the playground for hyper capitalists and surveillance? How can we create class consciousness in the high-panic individualised society that Neoliberalism has created? And most importantly, if the recession proved that Neoliberalism is a zombie, proved a failure but still struggling on, how can we ever kill it? If you seek answers you'll find them in this episode, but for now we'll leave you with some of Fisher's words: "Our struggle must be towards the construction of a new and surprising world."Some of Fisher's work that's publicly available: Exiting the Vampires Castle: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/exiting-vampire-castle/How to Kill a Zombie: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/how-to-kill-zombie-strategizing-end-of-neoliberalism/Support the show

It's the one you've all been waiting for: The People vs. RuPaul Andre Charles. The people being Dublin's brightest and best drag entities, Avoca Reaction and Goblins Goblins Goblins. Should Mama Ru be taken to task for her completely unqualified therapising, her commodification of queer experience and her profiting off vulnerable contestants? Or is she offering unprecedented cultural and economic opportunities to a historically downtrodden community, unashamedly thrusting the gay agenda into the lives of the straights and ushering in a new era of acceptance and prosperity? With Glen and Helen on the prosecution and Avoca on defence, it is now up to you, The Grand Jury of the Listeners, to decide the fate of the most frackin' controversial queer this town has ever seen. Support the show

Get our your torches and gather tightly around the campfire girls cause we've got a spooky one tonight: this is the tale of the spectre haunting Ireland. A loyal Fianna Fáil front bencher throughout their most heinous and ghoulish period in Irish history who refuses to give up on the vampiric neoliberalism that caused the Recession, how does our current Taoiseach still paint himself as sort of everyman altar boy figure? Join us for an exploration into Micheál Martin's life as a politician, his gaffes, his policy choices and why he will forever be haunted by the ghosts of 2008. Support the show

In this overview of the Irish working landscape Helen and Glen graciously hand the reins over to you; the listeners. We asked you to send in your worst work stories, and you did, and here they are. Enjoy. Support the show

The liberal fantasy of civil debate is dead and gone: we live in an age of post truth and conspiracy theories, and we need new arguments and methods to tackle the growing far right, who will use every trick in the book. In the second half of this emergency miniseries Helen and Glen debunk the ideologies, methods and myth-making of the Irish far right. Why do they use revolutionary figures from the likes of the 1916 Rising to promote their conservative values? How is it possible that the Left and the Right in Ireland can have the same heroes? Do they have any legitimate concerns? And most importantly, how can we fight back? Support the show

You've read the long reads: the growing anti-mask movement has provided space for several far right movements, heavily inspired by the American alt-right, to flourish in Ireland. They've moved from social media to the streets, and they employ emancipatory republican imagery to appeal to people's heightened emotions in this time of panic. It's essential that we can identify and debunk these strategies, so welcome to your toolkit. In part one of this two part series Glen and Helen set the scene: outlining the different movements and their main ideologies. Listen quick, cause this Thursday we're dropping pt. 2, which demystifies these ideologies and their strategies and provides you with counter arguments to try and stop the spread. Support the show

Ever wondered why we've had the same two gangs of lizards running the country since its very inception? Ever wondered if it could be something to do with our ... state broadcaster? This episode's guest Adam joins Helen and Glen on an adventure into how RTÉ employed capitalist realism to ruin all our individual lives and the collective life of the state. Plus, they find a possible answer to the question that still plagues Ireland: why did we have a collective meltdown in 2014 when Garth Brooks cancelled his tour dates? Was it something to do with the stream of Western movies and Southern country music that RTÉ's first Director General, Irish-American Edward Roth, fed to us all the way back in the '60s? Tune in to find out. Support the show

Episode 10 is an exploration of racism in Ireland. Anxious to avoid using only American paradigms and to interrogate Irish racism as a specific and nuanced entity, Helen and Glen give an overview of historical racism in Ireland, debunk the Irish slaves myth and talk about the complicated identity of Irish-Americans. They are joined in the second half by Capricia, a pro-black, pro-worker mom and social worker from Iowa. Capricia lived in Dublin for five years and shares her experiences of racism in Ireland, compares it to her experiences in the US and discusses how it could be tackled. *Edit note: The podcast Helen refers to at the end is actually called Box'd Out - here's a link to the ep: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5V8ak2zR6MkBY9K49jRxwM?si=bNV-XLkEQJe9XZiRQhkN0Q* Support the show

Did you know that Leo Varadkar started his career as a blogger? This week we're taking a break from our Republicanism series to bring you a deep dive into the man, the myth, the legend: the political career of Leo the Lion. Join us to hear about his dodgy campaign dealings, his explosive first week in the Dáil, his reputation as a far-right liability and a special re-enactment of his youthful blog entries during his time working for a Republican senator in Washington. Support the show

Episode Two of our Republicanism mini-series is all about the history of the Irish Republican tradition. We start with Wolfe Tone and work through the definitive Nineteenth century up to the start of the Twentieth, highlighting the influence that French Republicanism had on Ireland and detailing where the different ideological threads that make up Irish Republicanism started to develop. Glen and Helen are joined on this ambitious journey by Ciara and talk The Battle of Widow McCormick's Cabbage Patch, The Republic of Connaught and why the Irish Republican Brotherhood loved a good cricket match. Support the show