Everyday Anarchism

Constance Bantman joins me to discuss the history of anarchist political violence through the prism of Luigi Mangione - and vice versa. Some of the questions we cover include:

Can the history of nineteenth-century anarchist terrorism help us understand the recent assassination of healthcare CEO Brian Thompson by Mangione, and its rapturous reception in some quarters of public opinion? What is the place of political violence in democracies? And what of Mangione’s forthcoming trial?

For more historical context, I highly recommend the recent podcast episode of In Our Time about the Haymarket Affair, which features Ruth Kinna: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0023gm2

Avi Khalil joins me to discuss the concept of everyday anarchism with respect to Star Trek. Although Star Trek purports to be a perfect neoliberal bureaucracy, all of the heroes are constantly breaking the rules. You can read Avi's blog post that served as an inspiration for the episode here: https://avikhalil.com/2023/06/15/the-spock-rule/

This week I'm joined by Corey Robin, author of The Reactionary Mind, to discuss American democracy in the wake of the January 6th attack and the supposed crisis of democracy it caused. Corey and I discuss democracy as a process, the work that needs to be done to support that process, and how Karl Rove was right about one thing: it's our job to imagine and realize a different world.

Jaz Brisack joins me to discuss their new book, Get on the Job and Organize. Jaz and I discuss why billionaires take union organizing personally, how organizing is different in the 21st century, and how you can organize your workplace.

Jaz might be coming to a town near you soon - here's the link to their book tour sites: https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Jaz-Brisack/225399070

And a link to buy the book:

https://flyleafbooks.com/book/9781668080795

James K. Galbraith joins me to discuss the flaws in the field of economics and its pseudoscientific justifications