Quinn Slobodian returns to answer questions sent in by listeners in response to our recent episode on Quinn's new book, Hayek's Bastards: The neoliberal Roots of the Populist Right. If you'd like to get access to this and all other episode of PTO Extra! please consider becoming a £5 supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/poltheoryother
Quinn Slobodian returns to PTO to talk about his new book 'Hayek's Bastards: The Neoliberal Roots of the Populist Right'. Whilst politicians and thinkers of the new right are typically characterised as fierce opponents of neoliberalism, Quinn explains how the emergence of the populist right developed through a split within the neoliberal movement itself. We talked about the intellectual development of the new right, why their neoliberal heritage is often ignored, and how their racism and obsessi...
Natasha Lennard joins PTO to talk about her recent writing on how the Democrats are making sense of their electoral defeat in November and how the mainstream of the party is adopting conservative social policy while flirting with far-right activists and influencers. We also talked about the enduring and ever more bizarre democrat obsession with civility and bipartisanship.
In the latest episode of Interregnum Richard Seymour comments on the the fallout from the calamitous meeting between Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky, and JD Vance. If you would like to listen to this episode of PTO Extra! please consider becoming a £5 p/m supporter on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/poltheoryother
Hannah Proctor joins PTO to discuss her book Burnout: The Emotional Experience of Political Defeat. Amongst other aspects of the book, we discussed the practice of Maoist self-criticism and its influence on the American and European New Left, the accounts of women involved in the 1984-85 miners strike following its defeat at the hands of the Thatcher government, and about the Paris Commune of 1871 and the fate of the communards who were exiled to the French penal colony in New Caledonia.
Adam Tooze returns to answer the many excellent questions sent in by PTO supporters. If you would like to listen to this episode of PTO Extra! please consider becoming a £5 p/m supporter on patreon: www.patreon.com/c/poltheoryother
Richard returns to answer more questions - including on the Gaza ceasefire, bible study in American schools, and what might be learned from Mexico's Morena party.
PTO is joined by the Palestinian writer and analyst Muhammad Shehada. In our conversation we talked about the humanitarian situation in Gaza after fifteen months of war and genocide. We also talked about the military capabilities of Hamas and why Israel was unable to inflict a total defeat on the group. We dicussed how the Trump administration will relate to Israel, and finally Mohammad shared his thoughts on the effects of the international solidarity movement during the genocide. Our conversat...
Will Davies joins PTO to talk about his recent article in the London Review of Books on the UK government's economic agenda. We discussed the policies that Labour has adopted in its attempt to break out of the low growth and low productivity rates that have characterised the UK economy in recent years. We also chatted about the extent to which the Starmer-Reeves project emulates and diverges from the Biden administration's economic policies, and the left de-risking critique of so-called 'modern ...
If you would like to listen to this episode of PTO Extra please consider becoming a £5 patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/poltheoryother In today’s episode Richard Seymour responds to listener questions on the overthrow of Assad in Syria, the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the significance of widespread public sympathy for Luigi Mangione. We also talked about “normie socialism”, a Soviet counterfactual, and what books Richard has been reading this year. As always, t...
If you would like to listen to this episode of PTO Extra please consider becoming a £5 patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/poltheoryother In today’s episode Richard Seymour responds to listener questions on the overthrow of Assad in Syria, the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the significance of widespread public sympathy for Luigi Mangione. We also talked about “normie socialism”, a Soviet counterfactual, and what books Richard has been reading this year. As always, t...
To get access to episodes of PTO Extra please consider becoming a £5 supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/poltheoryother In this second part of a two-part episode Richard Seymour responds to more of the questions sent in by listeners on the US presidential election and its ramifications. We also talked briefly about the International Criminal Court's decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant. As always than...
To get access to episodes of PTO Extra please consider becoming a £5 supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/poltheoryother In part one of a two part episode Richard Seymour responds to some of the excellent questions sent in by listeners on the US presidential election and its ramifications. Richard answered questions on the role of social media in the election, the nomination of RFK Jr. to the position of secretary of health and human services, the racial dynamics of Donald Trump's vot...
Today we're publishing a crossover episode with our friends at the Macrodose podcast, hosted by James Meadway. In the episode talk about the economics of Donald Trump's election victory and why James lays much of the blame for Kamala Harris' defeat at the door of mainstream economics. We also talked about why Donald Trump did so well amongst young white men, and about what role the Democrats' enabling of the Gaza genocide had in the election results. You can get more excellent economic analysis ...
Adam Tooze returns to PTO to discuss the extent to which war with China is increasingly being treated as a serious prospect in Washington and the Pentagon. We also talked about how successful, or otherwise, the Biden administration has been in constructing regional alliances against China during the last four years. And we went on to talk about why the Chinese Communist Party leadership's decisions over climate policy dwarf the US presidential election in significance. Finally, we discussed the ...
In today's episode Richard Seymour responds to more of the great questions sent in by PTO supporters. Those questions covered topics including degrowth, the extent to which Green party's can be vehicles for radical change, the left's impasse in the UK and Richard's appearance in the audience on BBC Question Time at the tender age of twenty-one. Become a £5 supporter of PTO on patreon to get access to this and all other episodes of PTO Extra: https://www.patreon.com/c/poltheoryother
As Israel's genocide in Gaza escalated in the autumn of last year, there was much speculation as to whether we would see mass uprisings in the Arab States of the region. Yet although there have been major Palestine protests in the region, and other acts of solidarity, we have not seen the kinds of uprisings that many hoped for. Nihal El Aasar takes up this question and argues that repression and the threat of violence alone cannot be the sole explanation for the relative lack of public tumult. I...
On the 27th of September Israel dramatically escalated its war on Hezbollah, by assassinating its Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah. Four days later Iran responded to the killing of its long-standing ally by launching a missile attack on Israel - targeting military and intelligence facilities. In today's episode Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi and Nathaniel George join PTO to talk about whether the killing of Nasrallah - and the wider leadership - represents an existential threat to Hezbollah, and ...
In part one of a two part listener's questions episode Richard responds to questions on Israel's murderous attack on Lebanon, the prospects for Gaza, the appointment of Michel Barnier as French prime minister and psychoanalytic insights into nationalism. Become a £5 supporter of the show at patreon.com/poltheoryother to get access to this episode and all other episodes of PTO Extra
Jeremy Gilbert returns to PTO to discuss the news that Oasis have announced that they will be reforming to perform a series of gigs next summer. We discussed the reaction to that news, why 90s nostalgia is so prevalent, and why it was that of the various guitar groups of the time, it was Oasis who became so successful in the mid 1990s.
Zionism, and the project of ethnic cleansing and colonial settlement in historic Palestine, is often rightly compared to other projects of European colonialism. But in a recent essay for Parapraxis, my guest Jake Romm argues that Zionism not only has been influenced by the European imperial project, but that it has also been massively shaped by anti-semitism, and that in its recapitulation of anti-semitic stereotypes, and even anti-semitic practice, it makes sense to view Zionism as a species of...
Phil Burton-Cartledge joins PTO to discuss the first few weeks of Keir Starmer's Labour government. To get access to this episode of PTO Extra please consder becoming a £5 supporter on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/poltheoryother
On July 30th, a week of Islamophobic and racist violence broke out in England and Northern Ireland, following a mass stabbing even in the seaside town of Southport in which three children were murdered. The subsequent racist attacks were fuelled by misinformation, spread by far-right groups, that the perpetrator was a Muslim and an asylum seeker. In today's episode Nesrine Malik joined PTO to talk about how best to characterise the week of violence and intimidation, and the degree of culpability...
Richard Seymour returns to the show to respond to more listener's questions and to address the recent outbreak of racist and Islamophobic violence in the UK. Become a £5 supporter on patreon to get access to all episodes of PTO Extra: https://www.patreon.com/poltheoryother
Bue Rübner Hansen joins PTO to talk about his recent essay The New German Chauvinism. In the first part of our conversation we discussed the history of the German-Israeli alliance and how its emergence was far more complicated than is commonly supposed. We discussed the contrasting attitudes to Israel amongst the German public and the political and media class and big business. And we went on to discuss the distinct memory culture around the crimes of Nazism and the Holocaust, that emerged in We...
In today's episode Richard Seymour returns to answer some of the excellent questions sent in by PTO patrons. To become a PTO supporter go to patreon.com/poltheoryother
On January 22nd the new Ram temple in Uttar Pradesh was consecrated in a ceremony led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The event kicked off Modi's election campaign that was widely expected to lead to a landslide for Modi and the BJP. Instead, the Hindu nationalist party lost 63 seats and the opposition coalition led by congress made significant gains. In today's episode I spoke with Radhika Desai about the causes of the electoral upset, the image and reality of the Indian economy and wha...
Sebastian Budgen returns to the show to discuss the recent shock result in the French legislative elections that saw the left wing New Popular Front win the highest number of seats, beating both Emmanuel Macron's Ensemble and the far-right National Rally, who had been widely expected to emerge with the most deputies in the French parliament.
Today’s show is a crossover episode with our good friends over at the Macrodose podcast, which is hosted by economist James Meadway. In the episode James is joined by Richard Seymour to discuss the upcoming UK general election. We talked about the crisis in the Conservative Party and the prospects of a post-election merger with Nigel Farage's Reform party. We also discussed whether Farage's comments on Ukraine damage his electoral prospects, the likelihood of Labour implementing austerity and wh...
Andy Beckett joins PTO to talk about his new book, The Searchers: Five Rebels, Their Dream of a Different Britain, and Their Many Enemies. The five rebels in question being Tony Benn, Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott, John McDonnell, and Ken Livingstone. We talked about the role of the global tumult of 1968 in the development of the politics of the five, the extraordinary racism that Diane Abbott has faced since entering parliament, and whether the current Labour leadership think there are votes to b...
