Politics Theory Other

Sophie Lewis returns to PTO to discuss the US Supreme Court's decision to reverse Roe vs. Wade. We talked about why millions of Americans already lived in a post-Roe situation - with abortion services made punitively difficult to access. We also talked about the weaknesses of the original Roe vs. Wade ruling, whether the Supreme Court's decision may herald a breakdown in support for American institutions amongst American liberals and we also discussed Sophie's article in the Nation, in which she argued that we should not shy away from thinking of abortion as an act of killing, but should instead see it as an act of violence that is entirely appropriate, regardless of the circumstances, since no one should surrender their bodily autonomy be coerced into performing care work.

Government intervention is back in a big way, as countries turn back on years of free market ideology to actively support national industries in an increasingly competitive and unstable world. The session presents the case for an active industrial strategy to meet social and economic goals. Chair: Patrick Allen Speakers: Paul Sweeney, David Edgerton, Michael Jacobs

Covid-19 accelerated the digitisation of our economy, as more and more activity has moved online. But the technologies we have threaten an uncertain future at best: unemployment, huge inequalities of wealth and power, and a lack of democratic oversight. What might we expect, and what are the alternatives? In this panel discussion Dalia Gebrial, Aaron Benanav and Ursula Huws grapple with these questions about our digital future.

Last month the Progressive Economics 2022 conference, a one-day festival of transformative economic thinking, took place at the University of Greenwich. In a world battered by crises, facing environmental collapse, PEF brought together leading thinkers from across the progressive movement to present the arguments and solutions we need to build a radically better economy. Speakers included Gargi Bhattacharryya, Aaron Benanav, Francesca Bria, James Meadway, Kate Pickett, John Mcdonnell MP, and David Edgerton amongst many others. PTO was pleased to be an official media partner of the event and in the coming weeks we'll be posting some of the excellent panel discussions that took place at the event. First up, is a session on the Cost of Living Crisis. In the panel discussion James Meadway, Susan Newman, and Rupert Russell discuss the causes of price rises, the disastrous effects of conventional policy responses, and what the real solutions are to high inflation.

Richard Seymour and I discuss the Conservative Party leadership election and the legacy of Boris Johnson. We talked about which conservative candidate has the most dangerous agenda and why it is that both labour and the conservatives seem so intellectually adrift. Finally, Richard explained why the presence of several BAME candidates in the election can't simply be dismissed as mere tory tokenism.

Richard Seymour on the recent wave of strikes in the UK, and whether the upsurge of industrial action signals the long hoped for revival of Britain's labour movement.

Sebastian Budgen returns to the show to talk about the second round of the French legislative elections. We discussed the breakthrough of Jean Luc Melenchon's NUPES coalition and the broader prospects for the left following Emmanuel Macron's failure to secure a majority. We also talked about the historic breakthrough of Marine Le Pen's national rally and the breakdown of the so-called Republican front against the far right. Finally, we talked about where Emmanuel Macron goes from here, and whether or not his Ensemble coalition will be able to ally with the conservative Republicans, in order to pass legislation.

Anna Della Subin joins PTO to talk about her book Accidental Gods: On Men Unwittingly Turned Divine. The book tells the stories of men who have inadvertently been turned into living Gods - from Gandhi and Haile Selassie to Prince Philip and Narendra Modi. In the book Anna shows how deification and violence were intertwined in the colonial enterprise and in the present day cult of the political strong man, yet - she argues - it's also a process that's been central to struggles of liberation. In our conversation we focussed on the chapters of the book on Haile Selassie and the emergence of the Rastafari in Jamaica in the 1930s, and on the history of deification in the British Raj - regarding both the colonial authorities and the iconic leaders of the independence movement.

Sebastian Budgen returns to PTO to discuss the upcoming French legislative elections and the prospects for the new left popular union coalition, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon and La France Insoumise. We talked about the prospects for the popular union and whether Mélenchon becoming Prime Minister is a realistic prospect. We also talked about the creation of the new coalition which includes the french socialists and the greens, hitherto fierce critics of Mélenchon. Finally, we discussed why Marine Le Pen's National Rally and Eric Zemmour's Reconquête party have failed to make an electoral pact - and why this is likely to lead to a poor electoral result for the far right. Become a £5 support of PTO to get access to this and all other episodes of PTO Extra: https://www.patreon.com/poltheoryother

Ukrainian filmmaker and writer Oleksiy Radynski joins PTO from Kyiv. We talked about the current situation in the city and the popular mood in Ukraine. We went on to talk about Oleksiy's article 'The Case Against the Russian Federation' which appeared in E-Flux magazine. Oleksiy described the key features and history of Russian nationalism and why it is that Vladimir Putin, and the clique around him, repeatedly misunderstand the political realities of Ukraine.