The Another Europe Podcast

Expressing international solidarity is easy. But taking steps to build transformative change on a European and international level is much harder. At the World Transformed Festival, Another Europe's Zoe Williams hosted a discussion bringing together perspectives from two countries with quite different experiences of the EU: Portugal has been on the frontline of austerity and successfully stood up to a neoliberal Europe with its leftist government now riding high in the polls; Germany has been one of the most powerful and conservative of Europe's states. What can we learn from these experiences? With Kevin Kühnert of the German SPD, Ana Gomes from the Portuguese Socialists, Katja Kipping of Die Linke and the Labour Party MP Clive Lewis. Produced in collaboration with Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Brussels Office. Funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.

Jolyon Maugham QC ... Was the prorogation of Parliament illegal? And is the Supreme Court set to find against the Boris Johnson administration? As the British executive faces off against the two other pillars of the liberal democratic system - Parliament and the Courts - hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams talk to one of the barristers at the centre of the case. Quite sensationally he says the government has failed to offer a defence in Court that its motives for prorogation were sound. He names two members of the government, which, it is said, according to a high level source, refused to sign pre-prepared affidavits from the government legal service. Maugham is confident that the Supreme Court will now find against the government. We apologise for the quality of some of the sound recording on this episode which was due to a technical fault.  

The Boris Johnson regime is moving from one crisis to another. And they are lashing out. This increasingly authoritarian government has even labelled the opposition traitors. As strategic debates break out on the left over how to defeat the most right wing government in Britain's post-war history, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to the economist James Meadway, the Labour MP Lloyd Russell Moyle as well as Ana Oppenheim and Michael Chessum from the Another Europe Is Possible team. 

In this podcast Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams head to Parliament Square to join protests on the day that Boris Johnson announced his intention to shut down Parliament. We take in the atmosphere and discuss the constitutional crisis in Britain. Featuring a range of speeches and insights including from Nick Dearden, Amelia Womack, Owen Jones, Eloise Todd and Laura Parker.

Saving Europe From Itself is a new series from the Another Europe team. Each episode we’ll take one big idea, from one big thinker – and put it through its paces. In this show campaigner and broadcast journalist, Shaista Aziz argues that Europe needs to get serious about intersectional feminism. A former aid worker, who once described the culture in the sector as "patriarchy on speed", she picks apart how the idea of feminism has been used in international development and foreign policy across Europe. A different way of thinking about the agency of women and people of colour is urgently needed.  The European Cultural Foundation supports this initiative as it is rethinking Europe as an open and democratic space.

When Syriza won the 2015 elections they were the first government of the radical left seen in Europe since the 1930s. Leading the people into a historic clash with the European Union they were left bruised and defeated when they were forced to accept a new round of austerity six months later. Today they have lost power to a new right wing government.  In this special edition of the Another Europe podcast, we sent Luke Cooper to Athens to learn about the Greek crisis four years on. What are the lessons of the Syriza experiment? Should Greece have left the eurozone - and what would that have entailed for the Greek people? Were the alternatives? We answer these questions and more. Tune in.  The European Cultural Foundation supports this initiative as it is rethinking Europe as an open and democratic space.

Nick Dearden ... As Boris Johnson enters number 10 the spectre of a post-Brexit trade deal looms large. Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams spoke to Nick Dearden, a long time champion of trade justice, about the horror of a trade deal with Donald Trump and how trade  affects every aspect of our lives. We also pick his brains on Brexit, globalisation and the rise of authoritarian nationalism.

Stephen Bush ... Following the Byzantine process for how the European Union selects its leadership is tough even for seasoned observers. Worry not. We have everything you need to know. Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Stephen Bush from the New Statesman to get their heads around the European corridors of power. 

Timothy Snyder ... The EU has a big historical narrative about itself. Once upon a time waring nation-states decided to finally put aside their differences. A project for peace and reconciliation was born. But what if the story is wrong? What if it's a myth? Luke Cooper caught up with Yale historian Timothy Snyder to get the alternative story on origins of Europe. He suggests Europeans keen to forget their imperial histories have lost sight of the real lesson and importance of today's EU. It's about life after empire. You can find out more about the ideas Tim’s discusses in the pod in his latest book, The Road to Unfreedom. 

Saving Europe From Itself is a new series from the Another Europe team. Each episode we'll take one big idea, from one big thinker - and put it through its paces. In our inaugural show Oxford professor and author of numerous books, Danny Dorling, tears up the brief and argues that, with some of the most equal societies in the world, Europe could actually tell us a thing or two about how Britain could be saved from itself.