Anti-Self-Helpline ep. 4 w/ Ordinary Unhappiness (Abby Kluchin & Patrick Blanchfield)

Communist geographer Phil Neel joins the podcast for the final episode until 2027. He discusses his recent book Hellworld: The Human Species and the Planetary Factory, specifically how the power of capital is able to transform us and the world in new and horrific ways. SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicine Soundtrack by Mark Pilkington Twitter: @red_medicine__ www.redmedicine.substack.com/

Jason E Smith joins the podcast to talk about automation, AI, service work and economic stagnation. He explains how these developments connect and inform each other by explaining the appeal of automation in a time when more and more workers find themselves in the service sector.  Jason E Smith is a writer and academic. His work often appears on the Field Notes section of the Brooklyn Rail magazine, and his book Smart Machines and Service Work: Automation in an Age of Stagnation (published with Reaktion books in 2020.) He is currently working on his next book which looks at demography and population change in relationship to capitalist development.  SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

Philosopher and historian of science Joelle Abi-Rached approaches the topic of trauma, asking whether it is a sufficient category for the psychic impact of the ongoing violence of Zionist settler colonialism. Joelle Abi-Rached is a philosopher and historian of science; she is Associate Professor of Medicine at the American University of Beirut. And the author of Asfuriyyeh: A History of Madness, Modernity, and War in the Middle East, co-author of Neuro: The New Brain Sciences and the Management of the Mind, and coeditor of Lebanon: Anatomy of a Collapse, a forthcoming collection of essays on Lebanese politics and society. SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicine Soundtrack by Mark Pilkington Twitter: @red_medicine__ www.redmedicine.substack.com/

A talk by Evan Sedgwick-Jell on the history of communist drug treatment services in Weimar Germany, given at the Political Pathologies conference in Glasgow. Evan Sedgwick-Jell is a researcher, particularly interested in the interrelation of the psy-disciplines and mental health, with political movements and healthcare systems. Their forthcoming work Capitalist Pathology: The Cultural Logic of Mental Health, examines depression as represented in contemporary non-fiction and its implications for the capitalist subject and a new radical politics of mental health. Their current research examines the convergence of social medicine and radical politics in Weimar Germany. SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicine Soundtrack by Mark Pilkington Twitter: @red_medicine__ www.redmedicine.substack.com/

A recording of the very first in-person edition of the Anti-Self-Helpline, co-hosted with Prometheus Magazine's very own Harry Holmes. This edition of the helpline was recorded at the Festival of the Oppressed, held in June. Pre-order print copies of Prometheus Magazine issue 1 at this link: https://www.ebb-books.com/shop/p/prometheus-subscription SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicine Soundtrack by Mark Pilkington Twitter: @red_medicine__ www.redmedicine.substack.com/

In this episode Beatrice Adler Bolton, Callum Cant, and myself talk about the general strike: not as something consigned to history but as a tactic we need today. Specifically, we talk about how the strike emerged as a tactic, what that means about struggle today, and how the struggle against ICE in Minneapolis (and elsewhere) offers us a way to answer some of these questions.  SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

Abby Kluchin & Patrick Blanchfield from the Ordinary Unhappiness podcast join for the next installment of the Anti-Self-Helpline. The Anti-Self-Helpline is where listeners write in with their experiences of political struggle so we can talk through the psychic and emotional content of those experiences.  SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

Callum Cant and Matthew Lee rejoin the podcast as we travel around the country speaking with people about work, struggle, and the 1926 general strike. We speak with mental health workers, trade union organisers, communists and local historians across Scotland, Manchester, and the Midlands.  SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

Callum Cant and Matthew Lee talk us through the history of the 1926 general strike in Britain. To mark the centenary and publication of their book The Future In Our Past: The General Strike 1926/2026, we talked about how workers in Britain brought the country to a standstill and engaged in open conflict with the British state. We also talked about what this moment tells us about class struggle today. In addition to this discussion, we’re going to be traveling up and down the country taking part in events. At these events we’re going to be recording more conversations and we want to hear from YOU! We want to talk about work, struggle, organising and the strike. So grab a ticket to an event, come along and say hi: https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/the-future-in-our-past-uk-book-tour?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=the_future_in_our_past_26 SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicine Soundtrack by Mark Pilkington Twitter: @red_medicine__ www.redmedicine.substack.com/

James Schneider returns to the podcast to talk about Britains relationship to the United States of America, how this relationship is shaping the terrain of struggle in in the face of escalating imperialist aggression and the resulting economic turbulence this is causing. We also discuss his recent trip to Cuba as part of the Nuestra América Convoy.   James Schneider is a writer and political organizer. He serves as the Communications Director for the Progressive International and was Director of Strategic Communications for the Labour Party under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. He is the author of Our Bloc: How We Win (Verso books, 2022.) SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/