As the UK hurtles towards the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, the chaos engulfing Parliament has all but eclipsed any other political issue. And yet there are cruelties being enacted through policy that predate the current political crisis, which demand our attention and our resistance. This month we discuss healthcare and the 'hostile environment' - the 'sprawling web,’ as described by Liberty, ‘of immigration controls embedded in the heart of our public services and communities.’ Covering the Wi...
Jan 31, 2019•45 min•Ep. 18
On 1st December, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (or AMLO) was inaugurated as the 58th President of Mexico. A progressive politician often compared to Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders, AMLO's campaign for office galvanised people across Mexico. His decisive victory in July speaks volumes about the corrupt state of the Mexican political elite and the temperament of the people, and has potentially huge implications for the country, for the United States, and for the international progressive Left. It ...
Dec 06, 2018•44 min•Ep. 17
This September, Pluto relaunched the Left Book Club, a project originally founded by Victor Gollancz in 1936. The aim of the Left Book Club was simple, to popularise ideas of the left and combat the rise of fascism. By the eve of the Second World War, the LBC had reached a membership of nearly 60,000 - with 1,200 reading groups scattered around the country. What made the LBC so necessary in the 1930's are the same things that make its relaunch so important today. In a context of rising ethno-nat...
Nov 15, 2018•42 min•Ep. 16
'There were Africans in Britain before the English came here.' In a special Black History Month episode, we are joined by David Olusoga - a broadcaster, historian and author of many award winning books, including Black and British: A Forgotten History (2017), and Civilisations: First Contact / The Cult of Progress (2018). Celebrating the recent re-publication of Peter Fryer's Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain , we discuss questions of racism and identity; the link between the...
Oct 11, 2018•47 min•Ep. 15
There are over 11 million private renters in the UK, accounting for 20% of all households. For many, life as a tenant is precarious, unsafe and increasingly expensive. Londoners face some of the highest rents in Europe, beholden to a housing market stacked in favour of landlords and investors. But communities and campaigners are fighting back against the many injustices within the housing sector: from social cleansing and gentrification, to deregulation and ‘no fault’ evictions. We are joined in...
Sep 11, 2018•37 min•Ep. 14
In 2015, students at the University of Cape Town demanded the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes, the imperialist, racist business magnate, from their campus. The battle cry ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ heralded an international movement calling for the decolonisation of the world’s universities. Over the last three years this movement has grown, voicing a radical call for a new era of education, and an end to coloniality both inside and outside the classroom. Unpacking the 'decolonise' framework, and ex...
Aug 08, 2018•45 min•Ep. 13
Today’s global economy relies on the steady flow of goods, products and raw materials around the world. Companies like Amazon have become so massive that they now ship as many as 400 packages per second. But this all depends on the labour of millions of workers in docks, warehouses and logistics centres. If the global supply chain is broken, capitalism grinds to a halt… Discussing the power - both potential and realised - of these logistics workers around the world, we are joined by: Jake Alimah...
Jul 09, 2018•54 min•Ep. 12
On 22nd May, we held the first ever 'Pluto Live' event with Ben White and Karma Nabulsi. Hosted by Amnesty International in London, the evening comprised of a wide ranging discussion around the themes of the new book Cracks in the Wall: Beyond Apartheid in Palestine/Israel . From the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, to the growing polarisation of US politics over the question of Israel/Palestine, this special episode of Radicals in Conversation explores the emerging 'cracks in t...
Jun 06, 2018•48 min•Ep. 11
The Republic of Ireland is one of the last places in the EU in which having an abortion remains a criminal offense. Every day, an average of 12 people in Ireland have an abortion - either by travelling to the UK, or through using illegal abortion pills bought online. On 25th May, voters in the Republic will go to the polls in a referendum to decide whether or not to repeal the eighth amendment to the constitution, which has kept abortion illegal under almost all circumstances since it was first ...
May 08, 2018•31 min•Ep. 10
At a time when EU nationals are being deported for sleeping rough; when banks, landlords, schools and even the NHS are deputised in the hunt for 'illegal' immigrants; and when detainees are forced to go on hunger strike to protest the failures and abuses of the Home Office, the issue of immigration has clearly never been more urgent. Chris Browne is joined by Gracie Bradley from Liberty , and Luke Butterly from Right to Remain , in a timely discussion about the UK government's 'hostile environme...
Mar 05, 2018•38 min•Ep. 9
