#00: Welcome to interkom

This episode features two gentlemen with a background in the Russian antifascist movement, who actively monitor the country’s far right. Together, we discuss the complex topic of contemporary Russian fascism. While Russia’s war against Ukraine, with all its contradictions, is a significant point of reference, ideological influence and mobilizing factor for large segments of the country’s far right, some tendencies in the movement seem less directly connected to the war and might be better understood in the context of global trends. In this discussion, we try to sort through a range of aspects, from the current uptick in violent far right youth subculture, to regime-affiliated racist vigilante groups and the warrior cult borne out of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We also touch upon the fascist philosophy inspiring Putin, and the orthodox oligarch bankrolling different strands of nationalism in Russia today. The Nazi Video Monitoring Project, NVMP, which we mention at one point, can be found here. Music: Supra by INTRNLCMD (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0)

As Georgia is headed for elections, I sit down with Any Giorgadze and Giorgi Chagelishvili, of the leftist Georgian media outlet Mautskebeli, to talk about the country’s current political situation. The Georgian political landscape has long been dominated by a rivalry between two political camps: That of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who controls the conservative Georgian Dream party which is currently in power, and that affiliated with former president Mikheil Saakashvili and the neoliberal legacy he left behind. While the former is displaying ever more authoritarian tendencies, and the latter is pitching itself to voters as saviours of Georgia's European future, many of the country’s most pressing issues are left ignored. With Mautskebeli focusing specifically on social movements and on struggles over material rights, we try to get at what really should be on the agenda and discuss what it might take for Georgian politics to eventually move in a more progressive direction. If you want to read more about the deadly consequences of Saakashvili’s neoliberal reforms for Georgian miners, here is an article I wrote for Novara in 2019, after visiting the mining towns of Tqibuli and Chiatura. For reflections on the challenges of independent union organizing in contemporary Georgia, here is an interview I did in 2019, with co-founders of the Solidarity Network, representing the new generation of the Georgian labour movement. Music: Supra by INTRNLCMD (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0)

This episode is an audio version, read by myself, of an article I recently wrote for Meduza: "Builders in Solidarity - A rambunctious Russian-speaking union shakes up Sweden’s labor movement". It was published earlier in the summer, as part of Meduza's excellent English-language newsletter, The Beet. Here is a link to the article. And here is a link to a longer article I wrote for Jacobin in the spring, where I look more closely at the minutia of the so-called Swedish model of labor relations, and how Builders in Solidarity fits into the current crisis it is experiencing. Ivan Semenov’s channel “Sweden for Dummies” on YouTube and TikTok. Builders in Solidarity’s homepage. Music: Supra by INTRNLCMD (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0)

This is the second half of my conversation with Georgy Mamedov. Georgy is a Bishkek-based activist, curator, author and academic. He is currently assistant professor in the Television, Cinema, and Media Arts department, at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek. His writing has been published in Jacobin, OpenDemocracy, and elsewhere. Music: Supra by INTRNLCMD (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0)

In this episode I speak to Georgy Mamedov, an old acquaintance of mine in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, about how to reject the false choices of our time. Georgy is a Bishkek-based activist, curator, author and academic. He is currently assistant professor in the Television, Cinema, and Media Arts department, at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek. His writing has been published in Jacobin, OpenDemocracy, and elsewhere. The anti-war statement of the Kyrgyz anti-war committee, of which Georgy was a co-author, can be found (in Russian) here. Here is an article I wrote in 2016, about the ShTAB-collective, of which Georgy was a co-founder and driving force. Audre Lorde’s “Notes from a trip to Russia”, which Georgy refers to, can be found here. Here is an analysis I wrote on the latest uprising in Kazakhstan, from January 2022. Music: Supra by INTRNLCMD (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0)

One of Ukraine’s most prominent leftist organizations is Sotsialnyi Rukh, the "social movement". In the early days of the invasion, it was members of Sotsialnyi Rukh, like Taras Bilous, Volodymyr Artiukh, and others, who engaged most actively in international leftist debates about how to understand what was happening, and how to respond.  On a trip to Kyiv in December 2023, I visited Kateryna Kostrova, who was chairperson of Sotsialnyi Rukh at the time. Over a cup of tea, she told me about her own way into politics and into Sotsialnyi Rukh, about some of the challenges of organizing during wartime, and about the highs and lows of interacting with left movements in other countries. Kateryna has since left the organization and moved on to other projects. My article for Jacobin on the Ukrainian government's neoliberal reform program, which I mention in the show. My interview for Novara Media, with Sotsialnyi Rukh's previous chairperson, Vitaliy Dudin, on the March 2022 decree banning 11 political parties. An interview I did for Novara with Sergey Movchan, of Solidarity Collectives, about their work equipping comrades at the front with crowd-funded gear. Music: Supra by INTRNLCMD (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0)

Interkom is a podcast about politics and society in post-socialist Eurasia. On this show I look at rebellion and resistance, and the struggle against the politics of reaction and repression, in a region where the past weighs heavily and often complicates attempts at formulating leftist analyses of contemporary sociopolitical processes. To stay posted about upcoming releases, follow me on Twitter, where my handle is @VolodyaVagner. Music: Supra by INTRNLCMD (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0)