Climate change is better understood as climate systems breakdown, and it's only through the lens of the latter that we can grasp the scale of the crisis ahead. Aaron Bastani is joined by Mat Lawrence and Laurie Laybourn-Langton to discuss their new book, Planet on Fire: A Manifesto for the Age of Environmental Breakdown.

Novara Audio: Radio for a Different Politics

Downstream: Why It's Eco-Socialism or Collapse

Adom Getachew and Branko Marcetic join PTO to talk about the US election results, why the 'blue wave' failed to materialise and how Joe Biden will govern with a Republican senate and a republican majority on the supreme court.

#101 What happened to the 'blue wave'? w/ Adom Getachew and Branko Marcetic

Mohamed Abdou on his essay "Let Empire collapse: why we need a decolonial revolution" for ROAR Magazine.

https://roarmag.org/essays/let-empire-collapse-why-we-need-a-decolonial-revolution/

1257:  Let it all fall / Mohamed Abdou

Journalist Federico Fuentes reports on Venezuela's recent parliamentary elections and his article "Why Venezuela’s National Assembly elections matter" for Green Left.

https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/why-venezuelas-national-assembly-elections-matter

1273: Venezuela parliamentary election report / Federico Fuentes

“‘Oh!’ say the technophiles, ‘Science is going to fix all that! We will conquer famine, eliminate psychological suffering, make everybody healthy and happy!’ Yeah, sure. The technophiles are hopelessly naive (or self-deceiving) in their understanding of social problems. Thus it will take a long and difficult period of trial and error for the technophiles to work the bugs out of their Brave New World (if they ever do). In the mean time there will be great suffering.”
—T. Kaczynski, Industrial Society and Its Future (1995).

Cabin is the new season from The Relentless Picnic. It's one story told over multiple episodes. It's a story about solitude and isolation, community and loss, Henry David Thoreau and Ted Kaczynski—and it's told through audio recorded throughout 2019 and 2020.

Support us at patreon.com/relentlesspicnic for access to a ton of bonus content.

Our web site is relentlesspicnic.com

SOURCES (Ep. 7):
 - The Unabomber In His Own Words (2018), dir. Mick Grogan, on Netflix: bit.ly/2DbHkuh ; 
 - Technological Slavery: The Collected Writings of Theodore J. Kaczynski, a.k.a. “The Unabomber”, ed. and introduction by David Skirbina, 2010: amzn.to/2STTFYH ;
 - Walden; or, Life in the Woods, by H.D. Thoreau (1854): bit.ly/35RyPPQ ;
 - Patrick Conley: bit.ly/3pGdIIL ; 
 - Ken Baumann: bit.ly/2WUmHK1 ; 
 - Jacques Ellul, The Technological Society (1954): amzn.to/3o2zdmy ; 
 - Eric Hoffer, The True Believer (1951): amzn.to/34TDrFl ; 
 - The History of Violence in America, eds. H.D. Graham & T.R. Gurr (1969): amzn.to/3rCmGsl ; 
 - Chester C. Tan, Chinese Political Thought in the Twentieth Century (1971): amzn.to/3aUNCgQ ; 
 - L. Sprague de Camp, The Ancient Engineers (1963): amzn.to/3o8lavW ; 
 - “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us,” by Bill Joy (WIRED, Apr., 2000): bit.ly/3hw5uQD ;
 - season photo: "Untitled #2214" by Todd Hido, 1998.

The Relentless Picnic: CABIN

Cabin - Ep. 7

Support us on Patreon

Historian Gerald Horne on the intertwined histories of boxing and Black men in America, and his book “The Bittersweet Science: Racism, Racketeering and the Political Economy of Boxing” from International Publishers.

https://www.intpubnyc.com/product/the-bittersweet-science-racism-racketeering-an-the-political-economy-of-boxing/

1278: Boxing and Blackness / Gerald Horne

Anthropologist Ida Susser on her FocaalBlog article "Covid, police brutality and race: are ongoing French mobilizations breaking through the class boundaries?" and in a Moment of Truth, Jeff Dorchen revisits the US military’s violations of the hospitality code.

http://www.focaalblog.com/2020/12/03/ida-susser-covid-police-brutality-and-race-are-ongoing-french-mobilizations-breaking-through-the-class-boundaries/

1284: Police violence, protest and working class convergence / Ida Susser

Dr. Gerald Horne offers his insights and historical perspective on the fascist-led mob that seized temporary control of the Capitol Building and dispersed Congress for hours in an effort to alter the 2020 election outcome. Professor Gerald Horne originally sat down for a conversation with Brian about his latest book "The Bittersweet Science -- Racism, Racketeering, the Political Economy of Boxing." This episode covers both topics and draws the connection between racism, fascism and capitalism.

Special Episode: Racism, Fascism, & the New Book "The Bittersweet Science"

Under the cloud of a massive military occupation of Washington DC Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president. In a highly polarized country Biden announced 17 Executive Orders and started unveiling the policies and objectives of the new administration. Hunger, unemployment and homelessness is surging. More than 100,000 have died from Covid in just the last four weeks. We take a look at the Biden's domestic and foreign policy positions and talk about the imperative need for a new, massive and militant working class movement without which the Biden White House will enforce its number #1 promise to voters that "nothing will fundamentally change."

The Real Story: What is Biden Planning?

After 45 Senate Republicans voted to declare his impeachment trial unconstitutional, Donald Trump is almost assured an acquittal. It marks a stunning turnaround for a man who just a few weeks ago was completely isolated and facing the prospect of jail time for seditious conspiracy. How did the Democratic Party fail so spectacularly? Will impeachment ironically be the thing that paves the way for Trump’s reentry into the political spotlight? What does this mean for the rising danger of fascism?

The Real Story: Why Impeachment Helps Trump

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.

1284: Police violence, protest and working class convergence / Ida Susser

This Is Hell!