Diving in the Wreckage - Independence, Decadence, and Renewal w/ C. Derick Varn

Our roundtable discusses the meaning of Trump's victory--the election's stakes, its international reverberations, what it tells us about the crisis of capitalist accumulation, how economics connect with the the race/class/gender demographic voting shifts, and the historic characters of the Republican and Democratic Parties.In Part 2, available for patrons at http://patreon.com/theantifada, we plot THE RESISTANCE!Panelists: C. Derick Varn Zhandarka Kurti Reid KaneSong: Los 3 de La Habana - Cancion de Trump

Sean and Andy are joined by Sean, prolific poster and blogger and short fiction writer, to talk about the changes he has seen over the last decade as an expat worker in both mainland China and Hong Kong. What shifts in politics, the economy and social life has he seen? What is the material basis for Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign? In what ways is the 'reform and opening up' period of 'market Stalinism' similar to Tony Blair's New Labour Britain? What does the imperial and post-imperial gaze on Hong Kong and the east more generally say about western precepts of China and Chinese capitalism? Is a new social explosion in China on its way or are we all, even in the west, lying flat for the foreseeable future?To support our work, become a patron today at www.patreon.com/theantifada Follow Sean on the shit app: https://x.com/nise_yoshimiCheck out his excellent blog: https://lateralthinkingtechnology.wordpress.com/

Sean is joined by labor activist and historian Jeff Schuhrke to discuss his new book Blue Collar Empire: The Untold Story of US Labor's Global Anticommunist Crusade out now from Verso Books.Why did American unions become a junior partner in US Empire during the Cold War ? How did anti-communists come to control US labor organizations in the 20th Century? What sort of high jinx were the AFL-CIO up to in Europe and the developing world? What did union activists do to expose this class collaboration and fight back against it? What might a reinvigorated working class internationalism look like in the 21st century? Join us for this great conversation about a great book that's absolutely essential reading for unionists and their allies.To access the bonus portion of this episode and years worth of other premium content, support the show at www.patreon.com/theantifadaBuy Jeff's book: https://www.versobooks.com/products/2979-blue-collar-empireGet involved:https://ilclabor.com/https://rankandfileproject.com/https://workerorganizing.org/training/https://rankandfilecrew.org/https://labornotes.org/Song: Neil Young - Union Man

Aidan Beatty, author of The Party is Always Right: The Untold Story of Gerry Healy and British Trotskyism joins us to trainspot the British Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP), a Trotskyist cult that was tight with Qaddafi, boasted Vanessa Redgrave as a member, and collapsed after the revelation of years of its leader's sexual abuse of membership.Sign up at http://patreon.com/theantifada for the bonus where we talk about Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon, the shared historical dynamics of the Irish and Jews, the WSWS's fascination with Woody Allen and Michael Jackson, and the macabre fate of Trotsky's death mask.Get the book from Pluto PressSong: Pop Smoke - For the Night

Jason, Daniel, and Andy talk about Fight Club to celebrate to the 25th anniversary of the movie and the Battle of Seattle that followed it. We look at the history of the book and Chuck Palahniuk's situationist influence and his embrace of his rightwing fans, the Gen-X ennui behind the creation of Tyler Durden, the politics of Project Mayhem, and Marla Singer's character as the story's ethical core.The full episode is available for free at http://patreon.com/theantifada. Sign up to support the show for the second episode about Joker 2!Check out Jason's essay on Fight Club and his New York on Earth substack: https://newyorkonearth.substack.com/

Sean and Andy are joined by returning guest and cofounder of ILC-Chicago Jamie Merchant (@pathtopraxis) to discuss his new full-length monograph, out now from Reaktion Books, called Endgame: Economic Nationalism and Global Decline. In it, Jamie provides a masterful, insightful and readable account of the political economy of the present moment.What is the connection between the functioning of the profit system and the world-historic shift away from globalization? How do ruling class ideas like economic nationalism spread and why has conspiracism racked the left and right in recent years? Why has a bipartisan consensus emerged around state industrial policy and beggar-thy-neighbor trade policy? And what might the left do about all this except tail the least worst elements of it? This, along with an update on Independent Labor Club of Chicago and how civil-social organizing might pose a path forward that doesn't end in WWIII or a Brave New World.Read an excerpt at Brooklyn Rail: https://brooklynrail.org/2022/03/field-notes/Endgame-Finance-and-the-Close-of-the-Market-System/ And stay tune for his 11/23 release event at https://www.woodbine.nyc/To support our work become a patron at www.patreon.com/theantifadaInterested in joining the Independent Labor Club of North America? There may be a branch near you or other workers nearby interested in starting one, here's our Telegram: https://t.me/+TNXgQOPkV18yOGRhSong: Rage Against the Machine - People of the Sun

&nders Lee and AP &y guest on the Quorators podcast to field questions about UFOs, cyptids, Pompeii, and, of course, ampersands. video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udhh_BrLui8

NEWS EP! We talk about the hurricane disaster, the Middle East disaster, the Ukraine disaster, and the Longshoremen's strike as a prelude to the war on Christmas.Sign up at http://patreon.com/theantifada for the fun half! We look at a proletarian get-rich quick scheme, an LAPD robbery gone wrong, and speculate on the REAL reason the Feds are taking down Mayor Eric Adams.Organized abandonment & campaign strategy in Appalachia: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/09/30/helene-aftermath-live-updates-monday-north-carolina/75447978007/https://www.axios.com/2024/09/27/kamala-harris-asylum-rules-border-crossingshttps://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/harris-alcohol-prices-trump-tariff-plan-1235113532/Biden on settling the "strike" https://x.com/greg_price11/status/1840576548992106698The strike he’s probably thinking of: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/us-east-coast-port-strike-set-start-tuesday-says-union-2024-09-29/Cruise ships and weapons shipments not effected by strike: https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/baltimore-cruise-ships-military-cargo-not-affected-by-dock-worker-strike/65-93d26a57-812c-44ba-bff6-5704ce08c292https://apnews.com/article/longshoremen-strike-ports-pay-consumers-automation-october-77289c12bf3c3eff5e42cb6372126576Asheville Mutual Aid Disaster Relief info: https://itsgoingdown.org/mutual-aid-hurricane-helene/Proletarian self activity: https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/infinite-money-chase-bank-customers-in-trouble-after-viral-glitch/article_4b062eb2-6978-11ef-8c96-2346f53d638b.htmlSong: Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees

While Marxist friend and historian Cosimo Pataleoni was in town from Italy, Sean decided to bring along Ross Wolf to get a taste of some badass history of piracy. We discuss Cosimo's work on the Uskoks, Croatian rebel sailors of the early modern period, as a lens for understanding the rise of commercial capitalism, proletarianization, debt bondage, and incarceration on the frontiers and the high seas. How do Cosimo's studies-inspired by figures like Eric Hobsbawm, Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker-help us understand the transition towards capitalism and, ultimately, how the transition towards communism might unfold?In the second half we talk about Cosimo's Italian Bordigist futurism project N+1 (no, not that one) then speculate about Houthi rebels and Yemeni pirates, maritime multipolarity, the fetters that your home wifi imposes on production and why intellectual property and the internet have become the new frontier in capitalist development... and perhaps its overcoming?For this bonus content, and so much more, become a supporter of our work at www.patreon.com/theantifadaSong: Vandals - Pirate's Life

Sean and Varn are joined by special guest, A.P. Andy of the Antifada podcast, to round out their previous conversation on current impasses on the left. For access to the full episode, and all our years of great bonus content, become a patron today at www.patreon.com/theantifadaHow did Andy’s Platypus Affiliated Panel go? What’s new with the American Communist Party and how have they Stalinized Bordigism? What has happened to make Marxism-Leninism into an anachronistic meme ideology? And, in the bonus section, out of all this decay what hope is there in some sort of renewal? (We’ve got some ideas on this front that are better than tailing MAGA and streaming it to underemployed 20-year-olds.) Platypus panel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQxb86UTmCoSong: Gary Numan - This Wreckage