Politics Theory Other

What will come after the capitalocene - and is that even the right term to describe our geological era? Rosie Warren joins me to talk about 'The Tragedy of the Worker: Towards the Proletarocene' - an essay coauthored by Rosie that considers the entwined processes of climate change and the proletarianisation of the world's population. We talked about the debate over whether to describe our geological age as the anthropocene or the capitalocene and we also discussed Walter Benjamin's notion of capitalism as a "cultic religion".

On Sunday Alexander Lukashenko, ruler of Belarus since 1994 claimed a landslide victory in the country's presidential election with an implausible 80% of the vote. Large protests broke out in the wake of the announcement of the result. I spoke to Nelly Bekus about Lukashenko's rise to power, how Belarus differs from other post-Soviet states in its relationship to the Soviet era, and how Covid19 and its economic impact helped spark the protests.

On Monday the Nobel laureate, and co-architect of the Northern Ireland peace process John Hume passed away at the age of 83. A giant of the political scene in Northern Ireland he was most well known for his role in the Good Friday Agreement that brought the so-called Troubles to a close and for his commitment to nonviolent support for a gradualist route to a united Ireland. I spoke to Daniel Finn, author of 'One Man's Terrorist: A Political History of the IRA' about Hume's legacy, the simplistic contrast made between the politics of Hume and supporters of the armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland and the class and generational factors that informed Hume's political outlook. To get access to this episode sign up as a $5 supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/poltheoryother

Tobita Chow and Jake Werner join me to talk about the roots of the increasingly antagonistic relationship between China and the United States, the reasons for bipartisan consensus on China's increasing technological prowess, and the specific character of anti-Chinese racism in the United States. We also talked about how the crushing of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 signalled China's deepening integration into the US-led international order

Rachel Shabi joins me to talk about her recent article in the New York Review of Books - 'The Pro-Privatization Shock Therapy of the UK’s Covid Response'. We talked about why the UK Government's response to the coronavirus pandemic was so heavily dependent on outsourcing to private corporations, and whether the UK's very heavy Covid19-related death toll will eventually erode public support for the Conservative government.

In the latest episode of #RedHacks - a series of conversations on journalism in the neoliberal world - Joana Ramiro talks to filmmaker and writer Ana Naomi de Sousa about being a non-white journalist in an industry stymied by privilege.

Astra Taylor and Troy Vettese join me to talk about their recent article in the Guardian in which they argue that the principal driver of zoonotic diseases is the factory farming of animals and that the covid19 pandemic shows that we need to transition away from a meat-centred global food system. We also talked about an article Troy co-wrote in Jacobin, entitled The Climate Crisis and COVID-19 Are Inseparable. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/16/coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-food-animals https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/05/climate-change-crisis-covid-coronavirus-environment

On the 30th of June the city of Leicester, in the East Midlands of the UK was put back into lockdown following a spike in Covid-19 cases. The new outbreak of the virus put the spotlight on the garment district of the city - where the new outbreak may have emerged - much of which is characterised by extremely exploitative labour practices in small factories serving giant online retailers such as Boohoo and major high street brands. I spoke to Ashok Kumar about the reshoring of garment production in the UK, how Covid-19 has affected and changed the manufacturing of clothes in both the global north and south, and how fast fashion helps to prevent increased investment in technology and serves to maintain labour-intensive forms of production.

Andreas Malm joins me to talk about his new book, 'Corona, Climate, Chronic Emergency: War Communism in the Twenty-First Century'. We talked about why in the case of Covid19 most of the rich countries of the north were able to make the kinds of decisive interventions that seem to elude them when it comes to climate change. And we also talked about the experience of the Bolsheviks during the Russian civil war, and why war communism is a better model for the kind of mobilisation needed in the climate crisis than the usual invocation of the ramping of up of industrial production by the Western allies during WWII.

Award-winning author, broadcaster and academic Gary Younge joins me to talk about his experience of reporting on racism in the United States for the Guardian, the current Black Lives Matter movement in the US and abroad, and why comparisons between BLM and the civil rights movement are misplaced. To get access to this episode become a $5 PTO supporter on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/poltheoryother