On the 27th of September Israel dramatically escalated its war on Hezbollah, by assassinating its Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah. Four days later Iran responded to the killing of its long-standing ally by launching a missile attack on Israel - targeting military and intelligence facilities. In today's episode Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi and Nat…

In part one of a two part listener's questions episode Richard responds to questions on Israel's murderous attack on Lebanon, the prospects for Gaza, the appointment of Michel Barnier as French prime minister and psychoanalytic insights into nationalism.Become a £5 supporter of the show at patreon.com/poltheoryother to get access to this episode an…

Jeremy Gilbert returns to PTO to discuss the news that Oasis have announced that they will be reforming to perform a series of gigs next summer. We discussed the reaction to that news, why 90s nostalgia is so prevalent, and why it was that of the various guitar groups of the time, it was Oasis who became so successful in the mid 1990s.…

Zionism, and the project of ethnic cleansing and colonial settlement in historic Palestine, is often rightly compared to other projects of European colonialism. But in a recent essay for Parapraxis, my guest Jake Romm argues that Zionism not only has been influenced by the European imperial project, but that it has also been massively shaped by ant…

Phil Burton-Cartledge joins PTO to discuss the first few weeks of Keir Starmer's Labour government. To get access to this episode of PTO Extra please consder becoming a £5 supporter on patreon:https://www.patreon.com/poltheoryotherAutor: Politics Theory Other

On July 30th, a week of Islamophobic and racist violence broke out in England and Northern Ireland, following a mass stabbing even in the seaside town of Southport in which three children were murdered. The subsequent racist attacks were fuelled by misinformation, spread by far-right groups, that the perpetrator was a Muslim and an asylum seeker. I…

Richard Seymour returns to the show to respond to more listener's questions and to address the recent outbreak of racist and Islamophobic violence in the UK.Become a £5 supporter on patreon to get access to all episodes of PTO Extra: https://www.patreon.com/poltheoryotherAutor: Politics Theory Other

Bue Rübner Hansen joins PTO to talk about his recent essay The New German Chauvinism. In the first part of our conversation we discussed the history of the German-Israeli alliance and how its emergence was far more complicated than is commonly supposed. We discussed the contrasting attitudes to Israel amongst the German public and the political and…

In today's episode Richard Seymour returns to answer some of the excellent questions sent in by PTO patrons. To become a PTO supporter go to patreon.com/poltheoryotherAutor: Politics Theory Other

On January 22nd the new Ram temple in Uttar Pradesh was consecrated in a ceremony led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The event kicked off Modi's election campaign that was widely expected to lead to a landslide for Modi and the BJP. Instead, the Hindu nationalist party lost 63 seats and the opposition coalition led by congress made signifi…

Sebastian Budgen returns to the show to discuss the recent shock result in the French legislative elections that saw the left wing New Popular Front win the highest number of seats, beating both Emmanuel Macron's Ensemble and the far-right National Rally, who had been widely expected to emerge with the most deputies in the French parliament.…

Today’s show is a crossover episode with our good friends over at the Macrodose podcast, which is hosted by economist James Meadway. In the episode James is joined by Richard Seymour to discuss the upcoming UK general election. We talked about the crisis in the Conservative Party and the prospects of a post-election merger with Nigel Farage's Refor…

Andy Beckett joins PTO to talk about his new book, The Searchers: Five Rebels, Their Dream of a Different Britain, and Their Many Enemies. The five rebels in question being Tony Benn, Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott, John McDonnell, and Ken Livingstone. We talked about the role of the global tumult of 1968 in the development of the politics of the five…

This week's episode is the recording of our recent live event. Gargi Bhattacharyya, Richard Seymour, and Eleanor Penny were joined by an audience in Finsbury Park, London to discuss the fascism debate, disaster nationalism, and the relationship between fascism and racial capitalism.Autor: Politics Theory Other

James Schneider joins the show to discuss Rishi Sunak's announcement that the UK general election will take place on July 4th, and to talk about his book 'Our Bloc: How We Win' in which James argues for a left bloc - a federated alliance of socialist forces comprising social movements, unions, and the residual left in parliament. In the interview w…

Israeli universities have long enjoyed a reputation as liberal bastions of freedom and democracy and they enjoy warm relationships with their counterparts in north America and Europe - including the University of Columbia. However, as Maya Wind explains in today's episode, contrary to the depiction of Israeli universities as centres of pluralism an…

In today's PTO Extra! Richard Seymour responds to some more excellent listener's questions. We talked about the protests against Israel's genocidal war on Gaza taking place at American universities and the extremely repressive response from university authorities. We went on to discuss the situation regarding Iran and Israel, and Richard responded …

Paul Rogers returns to PTO to talk about Iran's attack on Israel on the 13th of April - the first such direct operation carried out by Iran. We discussed whether the operation was a failure or a qualified success, and the role of the United States, Britain, France, and Jordan in the downing of Iranian missiles and drones. We also talked about the p…

Since October 7th Israeli politicians, spokespeople, and Israel's supporters have mobilised feminist narratives in defence of the state's genocidal actions in Gaza and sought to portray Palestinian resistance to Israel as suffused with religiously inspired misogyny. In a recent article in Salvage, Sophie Lewis wrote about the way in which Zionist f…

In part one of a two-part episode Richard returns to give his thoughts on an apparent turn against Israel on parts of the American right, the significance of the protests against Netanyahu within Israel, the role of students in the Palestine solidarity movement, and his view of post-Marxist thought.To get access to the full episode become a £5 PTO …

Yanis Varoufakis joins PTO to discuss his book, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism. We discussed why Yanis believes capitalism is no longer the appropriate term to describe contemporary economic and social relations. We also talked about the financial crisis, the Covid19 pandemic, and how central bank responses to both crises served to build t…

If you'd like to hear the rest of this episode of PTO Extra! Please consider becoming a £5 supporter at patreon.com/poltheoryotherRichard Seymour returns to discuss the likelihood of Israel launching its assault on Rafah (in the context of Israel's deliberate starvation of the Gazan population). We talked about the position of the United States and…

The 1970s is often depicted straightforwardly as the moment when the radical movements of the 1960s fractured, failed, and radicalised in ways that were self-destructive. In The Subversive Seventies Michael Hardt argues that not only is that a much too simplistic understanding of the decade, but that it serves to prevent us from drawing important l…

Thirteen years have passed since the Arab Spring and the great hopes aroused in 2011 have been overwhelmed by counter-revolution and civil war. And yet, the region is anything but restabilised: Instead of the events of 2011 heralding a brief period of democratic transition akin to earlier developments in East Asia and Eastern Europe they instead, G…

In the latest PTO Extra! Richard Seymour returns to answer your questions on the impact of the Gaza protest movement, Israel's eroding international support, what a Trump presidency might lead to in US domestic politics, and where the late Christopher Hitchens' would have positioned himself in the current conjuncture.To listen to this episode becom…