Amia Srinivasan joins PTO to talk about her new book, The Right to Sex. We spoke about whether it's legitimate to interrogate our sexual desires and to think about how desire is shaped by patriarchy, racism, capitalism, and heteronormativity. We also talked about why Amia takes the case of so-called incels as the way into discussing those questions. Finally, we considered the anti-pornography critique of Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon, and whether their work can be generative in spite of its obvious drawbacks and failings.

Sex and the politics of desire - w/ Amia Srinivasan

Lea Ypi joins PTO to talk about her new book Free: Coming of Age at the End of History. It tells Lea's story of growing up in Stalinist Albania, the end of communist party rule in 1990, and the country's slide into violent chaos in 1997. We talked about Albania's isolation during the cold war after schisms with first the Soviet Union, and then with China, and how the regime made sense of Albania's place in the world. We also discussed Lea's childhood and her reaction to learning that her parents were not the communist true believers she'd thought them to be. Finally, we talked about Lea's views on what liberalisation meant for Albania and why her experience of the post-communist transition left her profoundly sceptical about liberal notions of what constitutes a truly free society.

Coming of age at the end of history w/ Lea Ypi

Government intervention is back in a big way, as countries turn back on years of free market ideology to actively support national industries in an increasingly competitive and unstable world. The session presents the case for an active industrial strategy to meet social and economic goals.

Chair: Patrick Allen
Speakers: Paul Sweeney, David Edgerton, Michael Jacobs

Progressive Economy Forum - Industrial Strategy Or Industrial Decline

Sophie Lewis returns to PTO to discuss the US Supreme Court's decision to reverse Roe vs. Wade. We talked about why millions of Americans already lived in a post-Roe situation - with abortion services made punitively difficult to access. We also talked about the weaknesses of the original Roe vs. Wade ruling, whether the Supreme Court's decision may herald a breakdown in support for American institutions amongst American liberals and we also discussed Sophie's article in the Nation, in which she argued that we should not shy away from thinking of abortion as an act of killing, but should instead see it as an act of violence that is entirely appropriate, regardless of the circumstances, since no one should surrender their bodily autonomy be coerced into performing care work.

The overturning of Roe vs. Wade w/ Sophie Lewis

David de Jong joins PTO to talk about his extraordinary new book, Nazi Billionaires: The Dark History of Germany's Wealthiest Dynasties, which tells the story of how German tycoons made billions during the Nazi era and WWII and how many of those industrialists and financiers and their heirs continued to be central figures in first the West German Economy and then the reunited Germany. We talked about the Quandt family - for decades the controlling interest behind BMW - and their intimate links to Hitler's inner circle. And we also talked about why German businessmen who were directly implicated in the persecution and murder of European Jewry were largely able to maintain their business empires after the war.

Nazi Billionaires w/ David de Jong

Arun Kudnani joins PTO to talk about his article, The Racial Constitution of Neoliberalism which appeared in the Race & Class journal. We talked about how neoliberalism has generated novel forms of racism that cannot be understood simply as residual phenomena from the pre-neoliberal era, why it was that the key neoliberal thinkers were as fixated on defeating leftist movements in the global south during the Cold War as they were on defeating the European and American Labour movements, and finally we talked about whether it is possible to imagine a form of capitalism that is able to dispense with racialisation.

The racial constitution of neoliberalism w/ Arun Kudnani

Richard Seymour on Britain's new prime minister, Liz Truss. We talked about how she might govern, her likely response to the cost of living crisis, and how she is far from the obsessive ideologue she's portrayed as in some quarters. We also talked about the devastating floods in Pakistan, and about the death and legacy of the late Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.

Interregnum - How will Truss govern?

Historian of Italian politics David Broder returns to PTO to discuss the victory of Giorgia Meloni, who is set to lead the most right-wing government since World War II. We talked about the history of the Brothers of Italy and their neofascist roots, and why the far left achieved such a poor result in the election.

Plotics Theory Other

The far right victorious in Italy w/ David Broder

In today's episode Richard Seymour responds to the UK government's partial u-turn on its disastrous mini-budget, and discusses why Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng have demonstrated such political ineptitude since Truss came to power.

Politics Theory Other

Interregnum - Truss is for turning

Jeremy Gilbert returns to PTO to talk about his new book - co-authored with Alex Williams -  Hegemony Now: How Big Tech and Wall Street Won the World (And How We Win it Back). 

In part one of our three part conversation we talked about Antonio Gramsci's notion of Hegemony and how, in the view of Jeremy and Alex, we live in an era in which an alliance between big tech and finance structures the global economy and whose values suffuse the cultural field. We talked about why tech and finance play the leading role in the global economy, in a way that does not characterise the energy sector or other extractive industries. We also discussed why - in contrast to tech and finance - neither the New Left of the 1960s, nor the New Right associated with the Reagan and Thatcher administrations got the world they wanted by the century's end, even if they achieved certain partial victories. We also talk about why Jeremy and Alex argue that the left should appeal to people on the basis of shared collective interests, rather than on the basis of moral values.

Hegemony Now (part one) - w/ Jeremy Gilbert

Last month historian David Broder joined the show to talk  about Giorgia Meloni and the Brothers of Italy's election victory. Today David has kindly returned to answer some of the excellent questions sent in by listeners. Before putting those questions to David, I began by asking him to comment on developments in Italy since the election and I asked him for his thoughts on how the expected coalition of Meloni's Fratelli D'Italia, the Lega led by Matteo Salvini, and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia seems to be shaping up.

Excerpt - PTO Extra! David Broder responds to listeners' questions

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.

Hegemony Now (part two) - w/ Jeremy Gilbert

Richard Seymour discusses the resignation of Liz Truss and the ongoing civil war within the Conservative party. We also talked about why Richard characterises the conservatives as a "middle class protest party", and finally we discussed whether or not Labour's impressive poll leads are vindication of the strategy of labour leader Keir Starmer.

Interregnum - After Truss

Narges Bajoghli returns to PTO to talk about the ongoing protests in Iran, which erupted in mid-September following the killing of the twenty-two year old Mahsa Amini, by officers of the so-called guidance patrol. We talked about why Amini's death has sparked such wide scale opposition to the Iranian regime, and the class composition and geographical spread of the protests. We also talked about how the regime is seeking to portray the protest movement as being instigated by foreign powers, and finally we talked about how the left should respond to those who seek to weaponise the cause of women's rights in Iran to justify Islamophobic politics or to advance geopolitical objectives.

“Woman, Life, Freedom” - On Iran's protest movement w/ Narges Bajoghli

Richard Seymour on why Lula's margin of victory was so narrow in Brazil's presidential election and how it is that Jair Bolsonaro maintained such substantial support, despite Brazil's poor economic performance and his disastrous handling of the covid-19 pandemic. We also talked about what to expect from Lula's third term in office, both domestically and regarding Brazil's foreign policy.

Interregnum - Lula's knife-edge victory

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

Richard responds to the questions that were sent in by listeners on the seeming demise of Twitter, the Democrats' surprisingly strong showing in the US mid-terms, and Cop27 and where the global climate movement goes from here.

Excerpt - Richard Seymour responds to listener's questions

Excerpt - Richard Seymour on the climate movement we need

On the first episode of Macrodose James Meadway breaks down the the OECD warning that the UK’s growth prospects are the worst of all the G7 countries (1:06); the austerity 2.0 measures of Rishi Sunak’s government (6:05); and the new IMF report on inflation, which debunks the idea that advanced economies, like the UK, are experience rising prices due to an increase in worker pay (13:05).

Macrodose -  Inflation, austerity and the wage-price spiral

On this week’s episode of Macrodose James Meadway breaks down the economics behind the strikes that are spreading across the U.K, from the railways, to teachers to nurses and oilworkers (0.49s). We take a historical view on this new wave of industrial action (7:10), and then reflect on the U.K’s worsening energy crisis, examining how record levels of debts could push households over the edge this winter (10:55).

Macrodose - Episode 2: Strike Economics

Jeremy Gilbert returns to PTO for the final part of our conversation on his new book, co-authored with Alex Williams, Hegemony Now: How Big Tech and Wall Street Won the World (and How We Win it back). In this part of our conversation we talked about some of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's key concepts, including the assemblage and multiplicity, and how their ideas inform Jeremy and Alex's understanding of political change and left strategy.

Hegemony Now (part three) - w/ Jeremy Gilbert

On this week’s episode of Macrodose James Meadway breaks down the G7-backed price cap on Russian oil (1.46), the warning from the National Farmers' Union that Britain is sleepwalking into a food crisis (5.37), and the results of an experiment in a 4-day working week (11.27).

Macrodose - Russian oil, the food crisis and a 4-day work week

Jane Hayward joins PTO to talk about the protests in China that have resulted in Xi Jinping's loosening of the country's zero covid strategy. We talked about the widespread grievances and sporadic protests that have taken place in China over the last decade, and the particular importance of the recent worker protests at the giant Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou. We also talked about why it might be that the Chinese state has failed to provide adequate vaccine coverage - especially for the elderly population. And finally we talked about Western media coverage of the situation.

China's protests and the end of zero-Covid w/ Jane Hayward

On this week’s episode James Meadway breaks down the public sector pay dispute (0.50s), Sunak’s move to further deregulate finance (8:27), and the interest rate hikes by central banks (14:10)

Macrodose - Public pay, bankers' bonuses, and who benefits from interest rate hikes?

Richard Seymour discusses Britain's fraying public infrastructure and the wave of strikes that are taking place, including the first ever nationwide strike by NHS nurses. We chatted about the extent to which the public perceive the UK as being in a state of increasing decline, the state of the trade unions, and how current industrial action compares with the so-called winter of discontent of 1978-79. Finally, we talked about how the Conservative government, and the Labour opposition, are responding to a revivified labour movement.

Interregnum - Britain unravelling

On this week’s MACRODOSE James Meadway takes a look at a new House of Lord’s report on economic inactivity (0:52s), the financial waste of covid contracts (7:03) and an unexpected move by Japan’s central bank (12:16).

Macrodose - The economics of inactivity, covid contracts and Japan’s policy twist

Jane Hayward returns to PTO to discuss the situation in China following the scaling back of the zero-covid measures and the resulting decline in public protests. We talked about the apparent scale of the covid-outbreak in the country, and the effects upon the Chinese health system. We also talked about the way in which Western media have, with little comment, dropped the prior narrative of the protests as representing a new Tiananmen square moment.

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Excerpt - What happened to China's new Tiananmen moment? w/ Jane Hayward

In the latest episode of MACRODOSE, James Meadway breaks down a new IMF forecast that predicts China’s economic downturn, a set of predictions for our economic future from multinational asset manager Blackrock, and asks what’s happening to the wealth of the tech billionaires?

Macrodose - China’s downturn, Blackrock’s predictions and the struggling tech billionaires

James Meadway returns to discuss his predictions for the world economy in the year ahead, and why the notion of the polycrisis - while in some ways useful -  fails to reckon with the fact that in a world of increasingly frequent severe weather events, climate disasters, and greater interstate rivalry, the notion of any kind of time-bounded crisis is increasingly at odds with reality. We talked about the prospect of debt defaults in the global south, why mainstream economics is failing to factor the deteriorating ecosphere into its modelling, and finally we talked about the UK and the question as to whether or not the country is now in a unique moment of economic decline.

2023 Crisis is the new normal w/ James Meadway

On this week’s episode of Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down talk of a “poly crisis” at the World Economic Forum in Davos (00:50), the threat of default as the US breaches it’s debt ceiling (06:03), and a new report from the think tank Autonomy exploring the future of work in an era of climate breakdown (12:38).

Macrodose - Davos, US in debt, and deadly heatwaves

Polly Smythe, the labour movement correspondent for Novara Media joins PTO to talk about how strikes achieve their aims and the importance - or otherwise - of public support. We also discussed the new anti-strike law being brought in by the Conservative government, what its consequences may be, and whether it will have the chilling effect on industrial action that the Sunak government hopes for. Finally, we talked about the prospects for the current public and private sector strikes in Britain and whether either the unions or the government have a path to victory.

Can the unions win? w/ Polly Smythe

In this week’s Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down the shift away from the dominance of the dollar (0:41), what this means for US economic power (3:13), and a call from noble-prize winning economist Jospeh Stiglitz to tackle wealth inequality (11.26).

Macrodose - Dedollarisation, Bretton Woods III, and a global wealth tax?

A podcast on radical politics, critical theory, and history. Hosted by Alex Doherty.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/poltheoryother

Contact: politicstheoryother@gmail.com

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