Released in conjunction with Peter Dale Scott's "lost" article (read "stolen by the CIA in 1970") originally intended for Ramparts, we present a 2011 debate between the two top experts on the Postwar Southeast Asian heroin traffic: Professors Peter Dale Scott and Alfred McCoy.

I add some context at the beginning which will hopefully be of interest to everybody!

Peter Dale Scott is the prolific poet, historian, and political theorist who gave us parapolitics as well as the deep politics approach.

Alfred McCoy is History Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin and the author of The Politics of Heroin—now in its third edition.

Apologies for the weird noises during the debate. We have no idea exactly what was making that intermittent whirring and clicking noise.

Special thanks to Casey Moore for the episode art and Dana Chavarria for the sound engineering!

Music: “Payroll” by Mock Orange

For all of the American Exception episodes, please subscribe at: www.patreon.com/americanexception

Episode 62: The Deep Politics of Heroin w/Peter Dale Scott and Alfred McCoy

In 1999, an anonymous Italian collective published a spy novel called Q. Imagined by its left-wing authors as an "operation manual for cultural disruption," the book has had a bizarre political afterlife, with its story arc and themes of Satanic ritual and paedophilia seemingly providing the basis for alt-right conspiracy theory QAnon. Did a '90s literary prank foment an American insurrection?

In a Microdose to accompany an ACFM Trip episode about magic, Keir Milburn speaks to Wu Ming 1, one of Q's co-authors and a founding member of the Wu Ming collective, about the universal appeal of conspiracies. 

Books: Q – Luther Blissett / La Q di Qomplotto – Wu Ming 1 / The Tyranny of Algorithms – Miguel Benasayag / The Critique of Judgement – Immanuel Kant

The stage magician mentioned by Wu Ming 1 is Mariano Tomatis and the walking tour of Leeds mentioned by Keir is a NovaraFM podcast called Riots and the Red Flag.

Novara Audio: Radio for a Different Politics

ACFM Microdose: Fantasy and Conspiracy with Wu Ming 1

In part two of our three-part interview on Jeremy's new book - co-written with Alex Williams - Hegemony Now: How Big Tech and Wall Street Won the World (And How We Win it Back) we discuss what Jeremy and Alex call 'actually existing neoliberalism' - the distinct form of the ideology fostered by the hegemony of finance and Big Tech through the 1980s, 90s and 2000s. We also discussed how neoliberal ideology was propagated, as much through material practices as through the mass media, and we touched on the transformative effects of neoliberal ideology on music culture.

Politics Theory Other

Hegemony Now (part two) - w/ Jeremy Gilbert

ACFM reunite for spooky season with one thing on their minds: the horror, the horror!

Nadia, Jeremy and Keir embark on a historical, literary and cinematic exploration of scary stuff. Why do (some) humans love to be terrified? What can horror teach us about the nature of the universe? What do the latest crop of scary movies say about the fears plaguing our society?

From Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to Jordan Peele's 'Get Out', from H.P. Lovecraft's cosmic horror to Sigmund Freud's idea of the uncanny, the gang discuss books and ideas spanning several centuries – along with music from Bauhaus, Gravediggaz and Metallica.

An ever-expanding playlist of all the music discussed on the show can be found on Spotify – just search ACFM. Remember you can find the  version of this show on Novara Media's SoundCloud.


Books: Joseph Conrad – Heart of Darkness / Sigmund Freud – The Uncanny / Susan Hill – The Woman in Black / Stephen King – On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft / H.P. Lovecraft – Various / Paul Santilli – 'Culture, Evil, and Horror’ / Mary Shelley – Frankenstein / Bram Stoker – Dracula / Horace Walpole – The Castle of Otranto / H.G. Wells – The War of the Worlds

Films: Everything Everywhere All At Once / Get Out / Halloween / Invasion of the Bodysnatchers / Night of the Living Dead / Poltergeist / Rosemary's Baby / White Zombie

Music: Dave Matthews Band - 'Halloween' / Bauhaus - 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' / Warren Zevon - 'Werewolves of London' / Jegsy Dodd - 'A Scouse Werewolf in London' / Metallica - 'Enter Sandman' / Ray Parker Jr - 'Ghostbusters' / Gravediggaz - 'Diary of a Madman' / Insane Clown Posse - 'Hocus Pocus' / Black Sabbath - 'Paranoid'

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley and Chal Ravens. PRS Licence Number: LE-0016481

ACFM Trip 28: Horror

Nancy Fraser joins PTO to talk about her new book, 'Cannibal Capitalism: How Our System Is Devouring Democracy, Care, and the Planet—and What We Can Do About It'. In the book, Nancy argues that we need to move away from seeing capitalism solely in economic terms, and instead reckon with how capital is always reliant on cannibalising the non-economic, from the natural environment to providers of care and social reproduction, and from the political sphere to racialised populations subject to brutal expropriation outside of the wage system.

Why capitalism is not 'an economy' w/ Nancy Fraser

We don't get enough of it. We take drugs all day to fend it off. We'll do it when we're dead. And it's our last line of defence against 24/7 capitalism.

Sleep, the main course in life's feast! The ACFM crew rouse themselves from slumber to wokeness in this month's Trip, exploring the political and cultural aspects of shut-eye. How has a biological necessity been manipulated by everything from mechanical clocks, electric lighting, screen addiction and the insatiable needs of capitalism?

Nadia Idle lives up to her name and argues we should all be spending more time in bed, Keir Milburn worries about an insomniac culture obsessed with productivity, and – despite his sideline as a party organiser and DJ - Jeremy Gilbert rails against the culture of all-night dancing. Plus, music from Faithless, The Fall and The Beatles.

An ever-expanding playlist of all the music discussed on the show can be found on Spotify.

Music: The Beatles - I'm Only Sleeping / Nirvana - Where Did You Sleep Last Night / John Coltrane - Russian Lullaby / Alex De Grassi - Luther's Lullaby / Faithless - Insomnia / The Beatles - I'm So Tired / Flowered Up - Weekender / The Fall - Rowche Rumble

Books & articles: E. P. Thompson - Time, Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism / Paul Lafargue – The Right to Be Lazy / Jonathan Crary - 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley and Chal Ravens. PRS Licence Number: LE-0016481

Novara Audio: Radio For A Different Politics

ACFM Trip 29: Sleep

For access to full-length premium episodes and the SJ Grotto of Truth Discord, subscribe to the Al-Wara’ Frequency at patreon.com/subliminaljihad.

Dimitri and Khalid answer questions from the Grotto of Truth discord about: Bill Casey’s Manhattan Institute, the PTK explanation for Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, the Grateful Dead’s synchromystical concert at the Giza Pyramid in 1978, whether Kubrick is a baddie, and Alison McDowell’s work on the coming epigenetic trauma-based “internet of everything” cybernetic panopticon. Part 1 of 2.

[PREVIEW] #134 - GROTTO OF TRUTH Q&A XVIII, Part 1

Cutting-edge research has recently revealed that festive movie The Muppet Christmas Carol is actually based on a book. Many are now speculating that there may even be historical context at play. But what could it be? To unwrap the politics of A Christmas Carol, Eleanor Penny is joined by James Butler, co-founder of Novara Media and a contributing editor at the London Review of Books. 

Together they discuss the hungry 1840s, deflationary economics, Scrooge's miserly capitalism and why Charles Dickens' conversion story is our most enduring ghost of Christmas past.

Happy Christmas from everyone at Novara Media!

Novara FM: A Christmas Carol w/ James Butler

Cameron Fetter (@nibiru_TRUTH) joins Charles and Alex to learn a lesson about molestation from '80s child sitcom star Webster. Fortune Kit on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fortunekit/

153 - Good Secrets! Bad Secrets! (ft. Cameron Fetter)

We head to Davos for the World Economic Forum—and are smiling, our mouths filled with bugs, our eyes blank and our noses flared, sniffing the winds of change—we are ready to Build Back Better

Episode 118: To Live And Die In Davos Pt. 1

We talk about McKinsey’s recent settlement over its role in the opioid crisis, the history of heroin, the Sackler family and Perdue Pharmaceuticals, and all the sickos making bank getting you and your family high as shit

Marketing of Oxycontin: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2622774/

History of Oxycontin told through Purdue docs: https://www.statnews.com/2019/12/03/oxycontin-history-told-through-purdue-pharma-documents/

Oxycontin Crusade: https://www.statnews.com/2016/09/22/abbott-oxycontin-crusade/

ACFM Microdose: Fantasy and Conspiracy with Wu Ming 1

Novara Media

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