Cosmopod

Rudy joins Darko Suvin, author of many books and pieces on science-fiction and also, an Splendour, Missery and Possibilities: An X-Ray of Socialist Yugoslavia for a discussion on his life-long work. We talk about the role of science fiction in socialist politics, Bertolt Brecht and the estrangement effect, and what emancipation means. We also talk about his life in Yugoslavia, and what he saw as positive and negative from the Yugoslav experience, and what were ultimately the hurdles that prevented Yugoslavia from achieving full emancipation.

Revolution won’t follow a neat and clean schema, fitting easily into one stage or another, argues Tom Frome. Instead, revolution will be a long process, a process that cannot always be categorized with preconceived definitions. The ideal of revolutionary vision never fully survives contact with the messy and unpredictable realities of political change. Narrated by: Riley Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.

Rudy joins Esme and Lizette, from the LA Tenants Union for an introductory discussion on language justice. We discuss what language justice and linguicism are and what kind of barriers people face, before discussing the ways the LATU tries to bridge these barriers through their language justice work. We talk about interpretation, how it can be categorized as a service, how to adequately relate to bilingual members in organizing and why they can often feel alienated or burnt out. We finish by discussing where to start with language justice in an organization that has no prior experience with it. Links / Resources mentioned: Antena Aire's Language Justice Resources Language Justice Curriculum at the Center for Participatory Change Simultaneous Interpretation Drives the LA Tenants' Movement

Donald Parkinson sits down with Mike Taber, editor of 'Under the Socialist Banner', a collection of resolutions from the Congresses of the Second International's revolutionary period (1889-1912). Donald and Taber go through the various Congresses and discuss their approaches to a variety of issues such as imperialism, the general strike, immigration, women's emancipation, colonialism, and cooperatives. Struggles between reformists and revolutionaries, militarists and militarists, orthodox Marxists and revisionists would culminate in the collapse of the International with the outbreak of World War One. Taber and Parkinson discuss these struggles and the overall strengths and weaknesses of the Second International.

Amelia Davenport and Renato Flores argue that social media cannot be ignored despite its negative effects on modern culture. Instead, the left needs its own approach to social media that takes into account the values encoded into tech platforms. Narrated by: Allen Lanterman Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.

Amelia Davenport argues for the relevance of cybernetics to the project of developing a communism that transcends the modernist project. Read by Will Intro Music: ворожное озеро Гроза vwqp remix Outro Music: We are Friends Forever performed by Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.

Rudy joins Robbie McVeigh and Bill Rolston, authors of Anois ar theacht an tSamhraidh: Ireland, Colonialism and the Unfinished Revolution for a discussion on Irish history from colonization to the present. We discuss the earliest colonization attempts, the Ulster plantation and the formation of the planter/gael binary and Protestant Ascendancy, the Act of Union and how the Act co-opted a Catholic minority and made colonialism in Ireland distinct. We then follow by discussion how Partition came about and the resulting Northern Ireland state through the Protestant Ascendancy period to the post-troubles Good Relations state. We also discuss the remaining the story of the remaining 26 counties, how they were thrust into whiteness first as a White Dominion and later as part of the EU, and how the contradiction between anti-imperialism and European citizenship plays out. We finish by discussing the prospects of a unified Ireland.

Alexander Gallus pushes against the haze of propaganda to assess the current course of the war between Ukraine and Russia. Article read aloud by John Turner.

Discussions revolve around Constructive Criticism: A Handbook, and how it utilizes Marxism and Maoism for self-criticism. The importance of unity and constructive criticism is explored, along with effective communication methods. They also discuss conflict resolution and the significance of vulnerability and equality in fostering a communist society.

Lydia Apolinar, Alexander Gallus, and Ryan Tool pay tribute to the revolutionary and plebeian origins of Christianity.  Read by William (Note: Originally Published December 25th 2020)