Politics Theory Other

If you'd like to listen to this episode of PTO Extra! please consider becoming a £5 patron of the show at patreon.com/poltheoryother Richard responds to some more excellent listener questions. Topics included: - What a left foreign policy might look like in the context of collapsing US hegemony. -Why Mark Carney called time on the so-called 'rules based order' before any major European state. - Marxist theorisations of war and whether conflict lays the basis for future economic growth - Violence and resistance in Minnesota.

Nikhil Pal Singh, historian of race and U.S. political history and NYU professor, outlines the idea of a 'homeland empire' where foreign and domestic power blur. He discusses how policing adopts wartime tactics, the shift from border walls to interior enforcement, continuities and novelties in recent administrations, and why the current project struggles to build lasting hegemony.

On January 7th, Renee Nicole Good, a 37 year old prize winning poet and mother of three was murdered in Minneapolis by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jonathan Ross. Sarah Jaffe has reported extensively on protests and organising in Minnesota and in today's episode we spoke about the political background to the current situation in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul. We talked about the central role of the Somali community in resistance and union organising (and how this has drawn the ire of Donald Trump). And we talked about longer recent history of protest in the region that includes the state's central role in the Black Lives Matter movement. We also spoke about the entwinement of the tech industry, the surveillance state, and the border regime, and how protesters in some US cities have sought to target tech company assets that are believed to be aiding ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. SHOW NOTES: From the Ashes: Grief and Revolution in a World on Fire - Sarah Jaffe https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/from-the-ashes-grief-and-revolution-in-a-world-on-fire/7683592?ean=9781541703490&next=t&affiliate=172 The Most Important Labor Story Right Now Is in Minnesota—It Might Be the Model We All Need: https://inthesetimes.com/article/minneapolis-stpaul-minnesota-unions-labor-strike Sarah's suggested resources: The Awood Center: https://www.awoodcenter.org/ UNIDOS-MN https://unidos-mn.org/ New Justice Project: https://www.newjusticeprojectmn.org/ Tending the Soil: https://tendingthesoil.org/ SEIU Local 26: https://www.seiu26.org/ INQUILINXS UNIDXS POR JUSTICIA: https://www.inquilinxsunidxs.org/ UNITE HERE Local 17: https://www.uniteherelocal17.org/ Take Action MN: https://takeactionminnesota.org/

In the latest episode of Interregnum, Richard Seymour discusses the Trump administrations' attack on Venezuela and its broader global and regional implications. We spoke about whether the US is retreating to becoming a mere regional power, how unprecedented the attack was (given the history of US intervention in central and South America) and we talked about why Trump's actions are - in Richard's view - hastening America's imperial decline and facilitating China's global rise.

If you'd like to listen to the rest of this episode of PTO Extra! please consider becoming a £5 supporter at patreon.com/poltheoryother

Last month the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference - better known as COP30 - was held in the Amazonian city of Belem in northern Brazil. The conference was widely seen as a disappointment - with a binding agreement for a roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels being blocked by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other oil producing states. In the today's episode economist and activist Sabrina Fernandes joins PTO to talk about her thoughts on COP30. We spoke about how the structure of the COP process could conceivably be reformed in order to stop recalcitrant states vetoing action on climate. And we also talked about whether multi-lateral climate negotiations are being rendered irrelevant by developments in the global economy and the rapid expansion of renewable energy. We went on to talk about Sabrina's recent article in 'The Breakdown', titled Lula's Dilemma. We talked about the contradictory approach of Lula and the Brazilian worker's party towards climate and the environment and what Sabrina sees as a failing politics of "class conciliation" that has disastrous environmental consequences.

In 2006, the music streaming service Spotify, founded by Swedish entrepreneurs Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon was launched in the context of widespread music piracy, file sharing, and declining profits for the music majors. Presenting themselves as music fans who were intent on saving the music industry, Spotify has since gone on to become the dominant music streaming platform, far eclipsing any of its rivals, and making Ek and Lorentzon billionaires. While once lauded by the media, Spotify's reputation has significantly declined as understanding of how little most musicians receive from streaming has become more widespread and as Spotify has courted controversy by populating some of its playlists with so-called "perfect fit content" - stock music produced for Spotify in order to reduce the amount of royalties the company pays to rights holders. Journalist Liz Pelly has done more than most to bring to light practices such as these and to challenge the myth-making of Spotify's founders. In today's episode we spoke about the early years of Spotify, as it emerged in the context of mass file sharing and as the major music labels were coming to see Sweden as a lost market - making it ripe as a site for experimentation with streaming. We went on to talk about how Spotify is shaping the user habits of listeners and about the damaging consequences of the datafication of music. Finally, we chatted about some of the inspiring efforts to challenge the dominance of Spotify that have emerged in recent years, as both musicians and listeners seek to find ways to create music communities and to preserve and curate music history - practices that Spotify's dominance has severely eroded.

In this discussion, political writer Richard Seymour dives into the murky waters of contemporary politics. He provocatively claims that the bourgeois state is borrowing fascist aesthetics to gain political leverage. Seymour elaborates on how this cynical mimicry paves the way for more authoritarian governance, raising questions about the implications for society. His insights challenge listeners to rethink the intersections of fashion, ideology, and power in today's political landscape.

Alexander Gallas, an Assistant Professor in Political Science at the University of Kassel and author of 'The Thatcherite Offensive', delves into the nuances of Thatcherism. He discusses the contrasting views of Stuart Hall and Bob Jessop on hegemony. Gallas distinguishes between one-nation and two-nation hegemonic strategies, revealing the divide exploited by Thatcher's policies. He also examines the enduring influence of Thatcherism on New Labour, the rise of a finance-led economy, and the lessons this holds for contemporary politics, especially in relation to union strategies.

Sofia Menemenlis joins PTO to chat about her recent article in The Breakdown on the concept and history of solar geoengineering - or “solar radiation management" as it has become known. We talked about how the implementation of SRM is imagined, what the potentially catastrophic side effects of such a project might be, and who the key players are in terms of research and potential deployment of the technology.