Politics Theory Other

Lola Olufemi joins PTO to talk about her new book, Feminism, Interrupted: Disrupting Power. We chatted about the history of black feminist organising, the problem with mainstream liberal feminism, and the generational divide in feminist circles over trans rights.

Richard Seymour joins PTO to discuss the recent anti-lockdown protests in London, the broader phenomenon of covid denialism, and whether the emergence of anti-political currents - combined with the left's decline with the defeat of the Corbyn project - is laying the basis for the emergence of fascism. We also talked about how Donald Trump's Covid-19 diagnosis might effect his electoral chances.

In a special episode - recorded for The World Transformed festival 2020 - Tobita Chow and David Brophy discuss how the socialist left should think about China, how to characterise China's economy and mode of governance, and what to make of the emerging Cold War between China and the United States and US allies.

Will Davies joins PTO to talk about the possible emergence of a UK equivalent of Fox News, what that might do to UK politics, and why breaking into broadcasting is so important for right wing media owners such as Rupert Murdoch. We also talked about whether in the years preceding the Brexit vote the left should have paid more attention to the ideology and attitudes being fostered by people such as Paul Dacre, former editor for the Daily Mail - rather than the more obvious faces of the neoliberal economic revolution of the 1980s and 90s.

Kate Soper joins me to talk about her new book, 'Post-Growth Living: For an Alternative Hedonism'. We chatted about why a transition to a sustainable, post-growth economy need not mean privation and a reduction of pleasure but instead an increase in human flourishing. We also talked about why consumerism should be seen neither as an expression of sovereign public choice, nor as mere surrender to the manipulations of the advertising industry.

Nesrine Malik joins PTO to speak about the confected media furore over the BBC proms and what it tells us about the UK's culture wars. We also talked about the trajectory of the right wing press and how the left can best respond to the right's cultural turn.

Bhaskar Sunkara joins me to talk about the violence in Kenosha, Wisconsin and collusion between the far right and the police, whether the frightening prospect of a second Trump administration makes a rerun of the 2016 election result less likely - in spite of Joe Biden's underwhelming policy platform - and we also talked about the prospect of the American right breaking from its relative economic orthodoxy and moving towards advocacy of a meaningful industrial policy.

Britain is officially in its deepest recession since records began following the unprecedented economic shutdown in response to the Covid19 pandemic. In the past six months, the UK has shed close to three quarters of a million jobs - a grim foretaste of what could be the kind of mass unemployment not seen in the UK since the 1980s. PTO spoke to James Meadway about why Britain's recession is more severe than those faced by comparable economies, whether central bank economic crisis fighting measures may lay the basis for a financial crisis, and why the Government could be forced to extend the furlough scheme beyond the autumn. Become a PTO supporter on Patreon to get access to the full episode: https://www.patreon.com/poltheoryother

Haim Bresheeth-Zabner joins me to talk about his new book, 'An Army Like No Other: How the Israel Defense Force Made a Nation'. We discussed how the the Zionist project in Palestine depended upon the erasure of the culture of the Pre-WWII Jewish diaspora, why it is that Israeli military operations command near unanimous support within Israel, and how Israel's economy has become massively dependent on its military industrial complex and permanent conflict. Read more about the book here: https://www.versobooks.com/books/3168-an-army-like-no-other

In late March PTO spoke to Adam Tooze whilst he was in New York as the Covid19 crisis was escalating. In today's episode we return to some of the issues we discussed back then, including the pandemic's role in the rise of China, the increasing entwinement of government and private corporations in the United States and Europe and the return of austerity politics.