Mining and the Environment with Martin Lallana

04/01/24 • 65 min

Rudy joins Martín Lallana for an introductory discussion on mining. We talk about the importance of mining to capitalism, the ecological impacts of different kind of mining, the way that the materials extracted have changed along history focusing on the materials needed for an energy transition and the way the Ukranian war has changed the needs of European countries before discussing the possibilities to have more just forms of mining and the potentialities of "urban mining"

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Jihadism and Military Juntas in the Sahel with Alexander Thurston

Rob joins Alexander Thurston for a discussion on his work on the Sahel region, focusing on the interplay between radical Islamic groups, the civilian governments/military juntas of the regions and international players like the US and France. They discuss the social basis of the groups, the role of different countries and different armies, the reasons behind the military coups and their possible future paths as well as how much is not really known about these groups.

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The Frankfurt School in Context (1923-69)

Exir, Toby and Jackson join for a discussion on the (in)famous Frankfurt School. They discuss the history of the Institute for Social Research from its founding as a think tank for the study of the workers’ movement, through the turn to critical theory and empirical social research in the 1930s, its flight to America in the wake of the Nazis’ rise to power, and its return to Germany after the Second World War. Focusing in on Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, and Herbert Marcuse, they use the trajectory of these thinkers and the Institute to consider questions of how intellectuals should relate to political movements, the relationship between theory and empirical research, and the possibility and desirability of intellectual independence. They also discuss some of the key ideas of the Frankfurt School, including the critique of instrumental reason, the concept of the totally administered society, and Marcuse’s development of psychoanalytic ideas.