Radicals in Conversation

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill is a far-reaching piece of legislation that would, if passed into law, result in an enormous and unprecedented extension of policing powers, severely curtailing the right to peaceful protest. Over the summer, many people have taken to the streets in #KilltheBill protests to voice their opposition and alarm. One aspect of the Policing bill that is perhaps less discussed is the manner in which it will specifically threaten Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities. In this episode we look at the histories, identities and lived realities of GRT people in Britain today, and the ways in which anti-GRT racism is already manifested institutionally. This episode is structured in two parts. Firstly we have an interview with Jo Clement, Managing Editor and Creative Director of Butcher’s Dog poetry magazine. Jo is also a Roma Gypsy and a member of the Drive2Survive team - a grassroots campaign against Section 4 of the Policing Bill, that threatens Gypsy, Roma and Traveller life in Britain. In the second part of the show we are joined on the panel for a more in-depth discussion with two fantastic guests: Luke Smith, a Romani-Gypsy activist and founder of GRT Socialists; and Ben Smoke, Politics Editor at Huck magazine, and one of the Stansted 15.  

Amelia Horgan, author of *Lost in Work: Escaping Capitalism*, discusses the disillusionment with traditional work norms. Sarah Jaffe, reporting fellow at Type Media Center, highlights the decline of job quality and societal misconceptions about meritocracy. Orlando Lazar, a political theorist, delves into the historical power dynamics in labor, linking these issues to emotional and reproductive labor. Together, they unravel the complexities of work under capitalism and advocate for collective redefinitions of personal and professional boundaries.

Content warning: suicide Academia was once thought of as the best job in the world - a career that fosters autonomy, craft, intrinsic job satisfaction and vocational zeal. And yet you would be hard-pressed to find a lecturer who believes that now. Indeed, there’s a strong correlation between the marketisation and commercialisation of higher education over the last 30 years and the psychological hell now endured by its staff and students. In his new book, Dark Academia: How Universities Die, Peter Fleming delves beyond the glossy brochures of smiling students, and lingering misconceptions of intellectual life in the ivory tower, into the hidden underbelly of the neoliberal university. It is a world dogged by mental illness and self-harm, authoritarian managerialism, students as consumers and ever-more competitive individualism which casts a dark sheen of alienation over departments. We are joined on the panel by Peter Fleming and Simon Lilley, Professor of Information and Organisation at the University of Leicester’s School of Management.

Borders are more than geographical lines - they impact all our lives, whether it's the inhumanity of deportations, or a rise in racist attacks in the wake of the EU referendum. Border Nation, the new book by Leah Cowan, shows how oppressive borders must be resisted. Laying bare the web of media myths that vilify migrants, Leah dives into the murky waters of corporate profiteering from borders by companies like G4S, and the ramping up of everyday borders through legislation. She looks at their colonial origins, and explores how a draconian approach to border crossings damages our communities. This month we are joined on the show by Leah, for a discussion all about borders: their history, whose interests they serve, and how people are actively resisting them today. We also talk about the compelling case for border abolition. Find out more about the book: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745341071/border-nation/ Listen to the unabridged version of the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/plutopress

We are in a moment of profound overlapping crises. The landscape of politics and entitlement is being rapidly remade. As movements against colonial legacies and state violence coincide with the rise of authoritarian regimes, it is the lens of racism, and the politics of race, that offers the sharpest focus. The 'hostile environment' and the fallout from Brexit have, over the last few years, thrown the centrality of race into sharp relief, and yet discussions around racism have too often continued to focus on individual behaviours. Empire’s Endgame foregrounds instead the wider political and economic context, and the authors trace the ways in which the legacies of empire have been reshaped by global capitalism, the digital environment and the instability of the nation-state. We are joined on the show this month by four of the co-authors of Empire's Endgame - Gargi Bhattacharyya, Sita Balani, Nadine El-Enany and Luke de Noronha. Our discussion covers the state's deployment of racialised 'folk devils', the persistent allure of nationalism, a collective longing for authoritarian state intervention and the role of gender and sexuality in how the performance and functions of the state. Find out more about the book: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745342047/empires-endgame/ Listen to the unabridged version of the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/plutopress

In the early hours of the morning of the 12th October 1984, a bomb exploded in the Grand Hotel in Brighton. Five people were killed and many more were injured. The bombing was an attempt by the Provisional IRA to kill the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and her cabinet. Patrick Magee, the man responsible for planting the bomb, was eventually apprehended, put on trial and imprisoned. He was released in 1999, under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. The following year he met Jo Berry, the daughter of Sir Anthony Berry MP, one of the 5 people killed at Brighton. The conversation they started at their first meeting had a profound impact on both of them, and it has continued ever since. Their ongoing dialogue, and their friendship, is now more than 20 years in the making, and an extraordinary example of what is possible, even in the face of profound differences, when there is a genuine commitment to honesty, inclusion and dialogue. This month Pluto publishes Patrick Magee’s memoir, Where Grieving Begins: Building Bridges after the Brighton Bomb. The book recounts the influences and events of Patrick's life, reflecting on his motivations and the political context in which he acted; on armed struggle, the peace process and the legacies of the conflict. The book’s foreword is written by Jo Berry. This month we're joined on the show by Patrick Magee and Jo Berry, to talk about the Troubles, the Brighton Bomb and healing the wounds left by the conflict. --- Building Bridges for Peace: http://buildingbridgesforpeace.org/

In 2019, over 10,000 possible victims of slavery were found in the UK. From men working in Sports Direct warehouses for barely any pay, to teenaged Vietnamese girls trafficked into small town nail bars, we're told that modern slavery is all around us, operating in plain sight. But is this really slavery, and is it even a new phenomenon? Why has the British Conservative Party called it 'one of the great human rights issues of our time', when they usually ignore the exploitation of those at the bottom of the economic pile? In January 2021, Pluto published a new book by writer and activist, Emily Kenway, called The Truth About Modern Slavery, in which she reveals how modern slavery has been created as a political tool by those in power. We are joined on the podcast this month by Emily Kenway; Ella Cockbain, Associate Professor in Security and Crime Science at University College London, and author of Offender and Victim Networks in Human Trafficking; and Molly Smith, co-author with Juno Mac of Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers’ Rights. The unabridged version of this podcast is available via patreon.com/plutopress --- Kalayaan - Justice for Migrant Domestic Workers kalayaan.org.uk SWARM - Sex Worker Advocacy and Resistance Movement swarmcollective.org

For decades we have spoken of the 'Israel-Palestine conflict', but what if our understanding and framing of the issue has been wrong all along?  That’s the argument of a new book published in January 2021, Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine. Joining us in conversation this month is the author, Jeff Halper, former Director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and a founding member of the One Democratic State (ODS) Campaign. We discuss the characteristics of a settler-colonial project, the unfeasibility of a two-state solution, Palestinian refugees' right to return, and the ODS campaign's call for a decolonial approach and a single democratic state.  The unabridged version of this podcast is available via patreon.com/plutopress --- Find out more: onestatecampaign.org plutobooks.com/9780745343396/decolonizing-israel-liberating-palestine/

Walk into any European museum today and you will see the curated spoils of Empire. They sit behind plate glass: dignified, tastefully lit. Accompanying pieces of card offer a name, date and place of origin. They do not mention that the objects are all stolen. Few artefacts embody this history of rapacious and extractive colonialism better than the Benin Bronzes - a collection of thousands of brass plaques and carved ivory tusks depicting the history of the Royal Court of the Obas of Benin City, Nigeria. Pillaged during a British naval attack in 1897, the loot was passed on to Queen Victoria, the British Museum and countless private collections. Now, more than 120 years later, the story of the Benin Bronzes sits at the heart of a heated debate about cultural restitution, repatriation and the decolonisation of museums.  In November, Pluto releases a new book on the subject, The Brutish Museums by Dan Hicks, in which he makes a powerful case for the urgent return of such objects, as part of a wider project of addressing the outstanding debt of colonialism. Joining us to discuss the new book and ongoing conversations around decolonisation and cultural restitution, are:  Dan Hicks, Professor of Contemporary Archaeology at the University of Oxford and Curator at the Pitt Rivers Museum; Nadine Batchelor-Hunt, a journalist and broadcaster; Chris Garrard, co-director of Culture Unstained; and Diya Gupta, Past & Present Fellow, Race, Ethnicity and Equality in History, Royal Historical Society.

Amazon is the most powerful corporation on the planet. Now with a net worth in excess of $200 billion dollars, its CEO, Jeff Bezos, has become the richest person in history, and one of the few people to profit from the global pandemic. Amazon’s dominance is so profound that it has reshaped the global economy itself: we now live in the age of 'Amazon Capitalism'. Servicing the expansion of its e-commerce empire, Amazon has in turn become one of the world's largest logistics companies as well, and its highly profitable Amazon Web Services (AWS) now accounts for more than half the world’s public cloud infrastructure market. Covering some of the corporation’s uniquely troubling facets - including automation, surveillance and the disruption of local democracy - we also discuss Amazon workers' resistance and organising over issues such as pay and working conditions, and developing networks of international solidarity.  On the panel are: Jake Alimahomed-Wilson, Professor of Sociology at California State University, Long Beach. Jake is the co-editor of Choke Points: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain as well as the new book The Cost of Free Shipping: Amazon in the Global Economy (Pluto, 2020); Ellen Reese, Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Riverside, and co-editor of The Cost of Free Shipping; Nantina Vgontzas, a labor activist and postdoctoral researcher at the AI Now Institute at New York University. Their research explores the global renewal of the labor movement amid growing crises of public health, climate change and authoritarian ascent; and Christian Zamarrón, a member of Amazonians United in Chicago - an autonomous, worker-based movement fighting for workers’ rights, better conditions and the democratization of their workplaces. --- Podcast listeners can buy The Cost of Free Shipping with 50% off, via plutobooks.com/podcastreading. Use the coupon 'PODCAST' at the checkout. The full, unabridged version of this episode is available exclusively to Pluto Patreon members. Join today and support independent, radical publishing.