Writer Rich Woodall on the financialization of music catalogues and the future of the music economy - for listeners and artists and profiteers, and his new article Mass Hipgnosis for The Baffler.

https://thebaffler.com/latest/mass-hipgnosis-woodall

IP Tunes: On the financialization of the music economy.

On episode 34 of The Electronic Intifada Podcast, Asa and Nora speak to journalist Rania Khalek.

We discuss the way the Palestine solidarity movement has been divided on the issue of Syria over the last decade.

Rania lives in Lebanon and her reporting from the region has provided critical insights into the wars there in recent years.

For more info, read:https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/podcast-ep-34-how-syria-divided-palestine-solidarity

Podcast Ep 34: How Syria divided Palestine solidarity with Rania Khalek

FULL EPISODE at https://www.patreon.com/empirefiles

With over 100 dead or missing in the US-backed government crackdown, we interview Pablo Simanca, a leading student organizer from Cali, the epicenter of the protest movement facing the worst repression. Learn what these historic protests are about, the details of the fascistic military crackdown, and the role the US Empire plays in facilitating it. 

PLUS: Abby and Mike share their frightening first-hand experiences reporting from Colombia in 2018.

Colombia On Fire w/ Student Leader From Protest Epicenter

Writer Richard Seymour on his article "The nationalist unconscious" for Red Pepper, and in a Moment of Truth, Jeff Dorchen wonders who put the pomp in Pompeo.

https://www.redpepper.org.uk/the-nationalist-unconscious/

1196: Nationalist pathology / Richard Seymour

On this week's episode of The Socialist Program's regular segment "Capitalism in Crisis" with Prof. Richard Wolff, we discuss the role played by economic factors in the growth of fascist movements. Brian and Prof. Wolff discuss how the core features of capitalism provide fascism with an opportunity to rise and take power.

Capitalism in Crisis: Economics and the Rise of Fascism

Statement by the Party for Socialism and Liberation

The paralysis that gripped the U.S. capitalist establishment in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Trump-instigated, fascist-led assault on the U.S. Congress and the continuing threats from armed fascist organizations came to an abrupt halt on Jan. 12 with the public letter sent to all members of the U.S. military signed by the eight generals who comprise the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The statement read: “The violent riot in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021 was a direct assault on the U.S. Congress, the Capitol Building and our constitutional process … [and was the result of] sedition and insurrection.” 

The letter sent to more than 1.3 million members of the armed forces by the Pentagon top brass is a clear sign that they are worried that military forces were being drawn into or participated in the seditious conspiracy. This letter comes after the extraordinary Jan. 3 statement from all ten living Secretaries of Defense warning the officials in the Pentagon to not allow the military to be used to alter the 2020 election outcome.

Also on Jan. 12, leaders of the Republican Party began to defect from Trump. Rep. Liz Cheney, the 3rd ranking House Republican, announced that she would vote for impeachment and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell let it be known to the media that he thought Trump had committed impeachable offenses. This constitutes the first real break within the Republican leadership against Trump. Cheney said, “The President of the United States summoned the mob and lit the flame of this attack,” adding, “There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of his oath of office and to the Constitution.” House Republican Rep. John Katko, the top Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, said, “To allow the president of the United States to incite this attack without consequences is a direct threat to the future of our democracy.” 

Also on Jan. 12, the FBI organized the first press conference where Acting United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin declared they had initiated “a significant international counterintelligence or counterterrorism operation” whose “only marching orders from me are to build seditious and conspiracy charges”. Sherwin announced that 70 had already been charged, charges against 100 more people were being prepared, and noted “That number, I suspect, is going to grow into the hundreds”. Steven D’Antuono, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington field office, stated, “The brutality the American people watched with shock and disbelief on the 6th will not be tolerated by the FBI,” adding that “The FBI has a long memory and a broad reach”.  

Powerful tech companies have also come together to ban Trump from using social media platforms on the basis that he used these same networks to incite a violent assault against the seat of government. Trump is banned from Twitter, Facebook and now YouTube as well as many others.

On the same day, a large number of capitalist corporations, banks and other institutions took action to break from any association with Trump or his family-owned company. Deutsche Bank, which has been Trump’s primary lender for decades, announced their decision not to do business with Trump or his company in the future. The Trump Organization owes Deutsche Bank more than $400 million. The PGA said it would no longer hold the PGA Championship at Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey which had been set for May 2022. Universities stripped Trump of honorary degrees. Shopify, the company that serves e-commerce sites, closed to online stores tied to Trump. The online payment platform Stripe will no longer process payments for Trump’s campaign website. 


Read the full statement here:
https://www.liberationnews.org/the-paralysis-ends-trump-fascism-and-the-capitalist-state/

The Paralysis Ends: Trump, Fascism and the Capitalist State

Various ruling class factions, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have coalesced against Trump and the fascist-led insurrection against Congress. What comes next?

The Real Story: The Fascist Assault -- The Ruling Class Response

Professor Gerald Horne sat down for a conversation with Brian about his latest book "The Bittersweet Science -- Racism, Racketeering, the Political Economy of Boxing." From Jack Johnson to Muhammad Ali, Gerald Horne offers a fresh and fascinating look at the role of boxing and professional sports and their impact on capitalism and Black America.

The Real Story: Gerald Horne on Racism, Racketeering and the Political Economy of Boxing

On  this week's episode of The Socialist Program's regular segment  "Capitalism in Crisis" with Prof. Richard Wolff, we discuss the economic  stimulus bill proposed by President Biden  and how it falls short of the dramatic steps needed to address the  suffering caused by the pandemic.

Richard  Wolff is the co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work and the  author of many books, the latest being “The System is the Sickness: When  Capitalism Fails to Save Us from  Pandemics or Itself”. You can check out his work at rdwolff.com.

Capitalism in Crisis: Biden's "Relief" Package an Insult to the Working Class

Will the U.S. continue under Biden to push towards confrontation with China? As the Biden administration takes the reins, what will change about U.S. policy towards China, and what will remain the same?

Kenneth Hammond, a Professor of East Asian and Global History at New Mexico State University and an activist with the organization Pivot to Peace, discusses these questions and more with Brian.

The Real Story: Biden Targets China

It’s been a long time since the sun set on the British Empire and many institutions in British society have changed a great deal. In some ways, the British Army is the exception - a living linkage between imperial great power status and the current post-colonial European nation. In other ways, like the US military, the British Army has been comprehensively transformed by the long campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11.&nbsp; The way the British Army has altered - and also failed to react - over the last two decades is the subject of the new book The Changing of the Guard: The British Army Since 9/11. Here to talk about it is the book’s author Simon Akam. Akam is a journalist whose work has appeared basically everywhere, including Reuters, the Economist, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Outside, Bloomberg Businessweek and GQ. &#10;&nbsp; <hr>See <a style='color: grey; ' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.

How 9/11 Changed the British Military

News and views about the world for those who want to change it, with Brian Becker

The Real Story: The Fascist Assault -- The Ruling Class Response

The Socialist Program with Brian Becker