Interregnum - Living in the Pyrocene

It's become commonplace to describe our current epoch in terms of "uncertain times", whether when talking about the Covid-19 pandemic, geopolitical ruptures, or the rapid rise of insurgent political forces. But Natasha Lennard argues that talk of uncertainty and doubt often masks the violent certainties that structure our world - from the seeming inviolability and permanence of property and border regimes, to entrenched conceptions of gendered experience. In today's episode we talked about how Natasha came to focus on this question, and the political implications of making a distinction between knowledge and certainty. Notes: On Un/Certainty:The Uses of Doubt in Dangerous Times https://www.versobooks.com/products/3217-on-un-certainty?srsltid=AfmBOopaoxZxzJRVsNnOCKTkvlvzWGzrj5cm69etz4IrZS7MjV9x1cET

Richard returns to talk about this year's wildfires. We talked about the scale and extent of the wildfires, how they compare to recent years, and the threat of the so-called weather whiplash effect, with heatwaves and wildfires being followed by severe flooding. We also talked about how fire is impacting biodiversity, how better land use management could reduce the threat posed by wildfires, and why Richard thinks we should be cautious about applying an apocalyptic framing to the phenomenon. Notes: Welcome to the Pyrocene: https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/climate-international-politics/2026/08/welcome-to-the-pyrocene Europe’s summer of wildfires is just a taste of what’s to come: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/europes-summer-of-wildfires-is-just-a-taste-of-whats-to-come/

James Meadway joins PTO to discuss the report he recently authored for the Verdant think tank on the economic costs of the recent UK heatwaves. We talked about how the extreme weather hit productivity right across the economy - from construction workers and delivery drivers to office workers. And about how the increasing casualisation of the workforce makes UK workers increasingly vulnerable to the physical and financial damage caused by such events. We also talked about the impact on infrastructure and about the inadequacy of the Burnham government's response to the situation. Notes: The Cost of Heat: Summer 2026 UK heatwaves - an economic impact update: https://www.verdantthinking.org/publications-and-events/the-cost-of-heat-may-to-july Adam Tooze - "Mad dogs and ...": Heatwave economics - summer 2026: https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-467-mad-dogs-and-heatwave

In the Wisconsin primary last week the socialist candidate Francesca Hong was narrowly defeated by her more centrist opponent. It's a result that some argue shows the limits of left politics in swing states and outside of Democrat voting heartlands - in spite of the prior victory of Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. To talk through both campaigns, and what they tell us about the viability of left politics in the United States, PTO is joined by Maurice Weeks - co-founder of the Action Center on Race and the Economy.

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Although it's increasingly common to describe the Palestinian struggle for liberation in terms of a conflict with settler colonialism, it's more rare for Palestine to be situated in the broader context of anti-imperialist struggles of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and specifically the wars for liberation conducted by the FLN in Algeria and the Vietminh and the National Liberation Front in Vietnam. Hamza Hamouchene seeks to do just that. In our conversation we talked about the importance of recognising that although the success of past decolonisation struggles is seen today as inevitable, they were not so perceived at the time and that in the cases of both Algeria and Vietnam their battles for independence endured for an extremely long time and were punctuated by what seemed to be possibly permanent defeats. We also talked about the Vietminh's victory of the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and the shockwaves this sent through territories under the control of the French and other European empires elsewhere. We went on to talk about the direct assistance the Vietnamese and Algerians provided to each other, and how both aided the Palestinians after they had achieved independence. Finally, we talked about the relevance of the moment of the high point of anti-colonial struggle to the Palestinian cause now, given the even more challenging geopolitical situation that Palestinian resistance faces today. Notes: Towards Palestinian Liberation: Global Perspectives on Anti-Colonial Resistance and Solidarity, edited by Abi Bae and Hamza Hamouchene: https://www.tni.org/en/publication/towards-palestinian-liberation

The conflict between the United States and Iran is now in its sixth month. In today's episode security expert Paul Rogers joins PTO to talk about the current situation and the prospects of a deal between the United States and Iran that might lead to the opening of the straits. We talked about why Donald Trump recently backed away from launching a major attack on Iranian infrastructure, the current posture of the UAE, Saudi Arabia ,and the other Gulf monarchies and the prospect of Israel potentially embarking on further escalation if a deal - likely to be highly detrimental to Israel's regional position - were to be concluded between Washington and Tehran.

Richard Seymour responds to listener questions on the politics of new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham. If you'd like to hear the rest of this episode of PTO Extra! please consider becoming a £5 supporter on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/poltheoryother

From rising geopolitical tensions, to the worsening climate situation, and from the Gaza genocide to hot wars that threaten to spill into great power conflict, the world of the 2020s is one of concatenating crises. But is our moment an interregnum that will be followed by a new moment of relatively ordered hegemony? Juliano Fiori, director of the Alameda Institute, argues otherwise and makes the case that we have entered a post-order situation in which crisis is the new normal. In our conversation today, we talked about why Juliano believes the creation of a relatively stable new international order is unlikely and why China will probably not be able to assume a position of international leadership on the scale needed to create such an order. We also talked about Gramsci's concept of the Interregnum, and how disordering at the international level is mirrored and mutually constituted by the disordering of national polities and the world of work. And we also talked about the extent to which the pre-Donald Trump era really was a rules-based system given the extreme violence that the United States and its allies have been the authors of since WWII.

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