147. Luigi Mangione and Anarchist Terrorism -- Constance Bantman

Explicit content warning

03/12/25 • 58 min

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

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:

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

Previous Episode

146. James C. Scott's Two Cheers for Anarchism -- Luke Kemp

Luke Kemp returns to the show to discuss Two Cheers for Anarchism, James C. Scott's six essays or "fragments" applying an anarchist squint to the world. Luke and I discuss the joy of Scott's book, it's controversial place in anarchist theory, and why it's a good place for the anarcho-curious to start their journey into anarchism.

Along the way I also highly recommend Agnes Varda's amazing film, Daguerréotypes https://www.criterionchannel.com/daguerreotypes

Luke should appear on the podcast later this year to discuss his new book about societal collapse, Goliath's Curse! https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/691357/goliaths-curse-by-luke-kemp/

Next Episode

148. Debt Discussion 12, In the Middle of Something New with Yanis Varoufakis

Yanis Varoufakis joins me to discuss his new book, Technofeudalism, how the world economy has changed since Graeber wrote Debt, and where things might be going next.

Live long and prosper.