What Do We Want? Is a podcast about the weird, wild and wonderful things that draw social movements together… and drive them apart. We ask the tough and uncomfortable questions that keep organizers for ecological, economic, social, gender and racial justice awake at night!
Drawing on co-host Sarah Stein Lubrano’s specialization in politics and the cognitive sciences and co-host Max Haiven’s writing on activism and the radical imagination, each episode shares research, stories and insights to help social movements and the people who care about them change the world.
The podcasts’ first season’s six episodes focus on heartbreak, conspiracy, despair, fantasy, shame and pleasure and special guests include Rachel Donald, Lola Olufemi, Brent Lee and Sophie Lewis.
What Do We Want is an initiative of Max and Sarah’s project Sense & Solidarity, a platform for radical social movements and their protagonists ot learn about ideology, psychology and how to change hearts and minds. For more information about that project, including the online and in-person workshops they offer, visit http://senseandsolidarity.org
What Do We Want is written and hosted by Sarah Stein Lubrano and Max Haiven and produced and edited by Alastair Elphick. Music and sound mastering is by Daniel Gouly. The project has been supported by ​RiVAL: The ReImagining Value Action Lab and our many crowdfunding supporters whose names can be found on our website.

What Do We Want? A Podcast about what draws movements together... and drives them apart

In this trailer, Max and Sarah discuss what motivated them to produce WHAT DO WE WANT? (a podcast about what draws movements together... and drives them apart) and what they're looking forward to in season 1, with episodes on heartbreak, conspiracy, despair, fantasy, shame and pleasure and special guests including Rachel Donald, Lola Olufemi, Brent Lee and Sophie Lewis.
For more information, visit http://senseandsolidarity.org/podcast

Wait... what DO we want? (trailer s01)

“Heartbreak is at the heart of revolutionary consciousness” writes Gargi Bhattacharyya. So let’s get used to it! 
In this episode of What Do We Want? (a podcast about what brings social movements together and drives them apart), Sarah and Max ask the tear-jerking questions about movement breakups, wounded hearts and petty revenge fantasies.

Should we try and hit on (recruit) everyone?
How can we keep our movement romance alive (or should we fight about the kitchen)?
And should we utter goblins have more schisms (and can we even help it)?
Then, thank god, Black feminist writer and activist Lola Olufemi joins us to set the record queer.
It’s podcasting that hits you like cheap wine and a romcom. Get back out there, tiger.
For more information, visit: https://senseandsolidarity.org/podcast/

Heartbreak (What Do We Want? S1E1)

Unless you are a lizard person hiding under a tin-foil rock, you, dear activist, have met your fair share of conspiracists.What the f*ck is wrong with these people? And why are they so damn successful in attracting others when their stories are so implausible?
In this episode of What Do We Want? (a podcast about what brings social movements together and drives them apart), Max and Sarah sail to the farthest reaches of our beautiful flat earth to answer questions about CONSPIRACY like…
What actually separates us radical malcontents from conspiracy theorists?
Should movements have better enemies?
And should we bother trying to drag people out of the rabbit-hole?
Then ex-conspiracist and anti-conspiracy podcaster Brent Lee of Some Dare Call it Conspiracy patiently explains all the things we got wrong.It’s podcasting that wakes up the sheeple.
For more information, visit: https://senseandsolidarity.org/podcast/

Conspiracy (What Do We Want? S1E2)

Do you sometimes feel like a little cartoon dog, surrounded by flames? 
Is the dog also our movements for justice? 
Are the flames systems of domination? 
Is nothing, in fact, at all “fine”?
Then break out the marshmallows and join us for an episode of What Do We Want? (a podcast about what brings social movements together and drives them apart) about despair!
This time Sarah and Max go deep and dark with questions like... 
Should we just give up hope? 
Should we embrace nostalgia?
And should we stop being sad and… just do something?
But wait! Who is that on the bleak horizon? It’s climate-corruption journalist Rachel Donald of the Planet Critical podcast, joining us to deliver the tough love and a shot of common courage!
It’s podcasting that will make you feel cruelly optimistic or your money back (it’s also free).  
Fore more information, visit https://senseandsolidarity.org/podcast/#despair

Despair (What Do We Want? S1E3)

Why do so many people insist on believing in systems that hurt them? 
Why do so many of us dwell in fantasy, rather than facing reality? 
(Wait, is dwelling in fantasy an option? Why weren’t we told?) 
In this episode of WHAT DO WE WANT? (a podcast about what brings social movements together and drives them apart) Max and Sarah dive deep into the murky waters of FANTASY, desire and illusion to ask questions like: 
How do we break through destructive ideologies? 
How can we win arguments (and when should we)? 
And should we just abandon activism? 
Then we’re joined by veteran Toronto-based activist, movement trainer and editor Sharmeen Khan, who tells us about the state repression that broke her fantasies and what she dreams of now. 
It's podcasting that accompanies you right to the precipice of Mount Doom and helps you throw away your Precious.

ACTION ALERT! Our guest, Sharmeen, is facing outrageous, repressive charges for standing up for Palestinian human rights. Read Naomi Klein’s summary of the case (https://breachmedia.ca/naomi-klein-calls-on-heather-reisman-drop-charges-indigo-11/), and please consider donating to the legal defence fund (https://www.tcjf.ca) or signing the letter demanding the charges be dropped (https://www.cjpme.org/drop_the_charges). 

To learn more about the many things we do and support us financially or otherwise, visit us at Sense and Solidarity .org

Fantasy (What Do We Want S1E4)

On 21 May 2025, Sarah Stein Lubrano, author of Don't Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st-Century Minds sat down with Max Haiven at Berlin's Shakespeare and Sons bookshop.

"Democracy is dying because we are clinging to a dangerous and outdated myth: talking about politics can change people's minds. It doesn't.

This provocative debut from a bold new voice combines a fascinating range of research to show us the psychological and sociological factors that really shape our politics.

Drawing from ancient philosophy to modern neuroscience and social science, Dr Sarah Stein Lubrano reveals the surprising truth about how people think and behave politically. From friendship to community organizing and social infrastructure, she explores the actions that actually do change minds.

In a world where politics keeps getting more irrational, dishonest, violent and chaotic, it's getting much harder to reach people with words alone. So people who really care about democracy must ask: how can we stop arguing and do the deep work to build stronger foundations for political life, and a better world for us all?"

Buy from Bloomsbury

Don't Talk about Politics: Changing 21st Century Minds - Berlin launch

In this inaugural episode of The Order of Unmanagable Risks we talk with artist and writer James Bridle, about the politics of algorithmic opacity, populist technologies, and new ways of seeing through capitalism’s darkness.

James' artworks have been commissioned by galleries and institutions and exhibited worldwide and on the internet. Their writing on literature, culture and networks has appeared in magazines and newspapers including Wired, the Atlantic, the New Statesman, the Guardian, and the Observer. "New Dark Age", their book about technology, knowledge, and the end of the future, was published by Verso (UK & US) in 2018, and they wrote and presented "New Ways of Seeing" for BBC Radio 4 in 2019 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000458m). Their work can be found at http://jamesbridle.com.

The Order of Unmanagable Risks is an occasional podcast hosted by Dr. Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou and Max Haiven about capitalism, anxiety and points inbetween. It is produce by the Common Anxieties Research Project (http://anxious.community) and supported by the ReImagining Value Action Lab (RiVAL) and UCL's Institute for Advanced Study.

"The gifts of darkness?" with James Bridle (OUR001)

The ReImagining Value Action Lab (RiVAL) is a research and creativity workshop for the radical imagination active around the world and locally in Thunder Bay, Canada.

Don't Talk about Politics: Changing 21st Century Minds - Berlin launch

The ReImagining Value Action Lab

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