How do mainstream politicians and pundits contribute to the normalisation of far-right ideas, even as they claim to reject racism and populism? That’s one of many vital questions asked by Aaron Winter and Aurelien Mondon in their book, Reactionary Democracy. Following ACFM’s recent Trip about Fascism, Keir and Jem speak to Aaron and Aurelien about […]

ACFM Microdose: Reactionary Democracy w/ Aaron Winter & Aurelien Mondon

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After investigating the politics of cool on the last Trip episode, the crew turn their attention to another distinctly modern sensibility: camp.
Digging into Susan Sontag’s formative 1964 essay on the camp aesthetic, Nadia, Keir and Jem think about how elements of the artificial, the theatrical and the sentimental come together in camp objects, from porn movies to Tiffany lamps to risqué radio comedy. 
Find our ever-expanding playlist on Spotify by searching “ACFM”.
Sign up to the ACFM newsletter: https://novaramedia.com/newsletters
Produced and edited by Matt Huxley and Chal Ravens. PRS licence number: LE-0016481
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ACFM Microdose: Notes on Camp

Renewable energy technology is only getting cheaper. And yet it hasn’t increased its share of the energy mix for two decades.
So what explains this paradox: cheap green energy with incredibly slow adoption?
According to Brett Christophers, there is a straightforward explanation for this seeming paradox: the capitalist need for profits. And green energy projects are not as profitable as oil and gas.
So can capitalism address the climate crisis? Does the state need to play a decisive role? How is it possible that China is both a global leader and a laggard in greenhouse gas emissions? And is Europe over?
You can buy Brett’s book, “The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won’t Save the Planet” here.

Downstream: Everything You’re Told About Green Capitalism is Wrong w/ Brett Christophers

The right have ditched climate denial and found something worse.
They’re doubling down on the exhaustion of people and planet alike, making us run ever-faster just to stay in place.
Can we turn our collective exhaustion into a climate politics of rest and recuperation?
That’s the urgent question Ajay Singh Chaudhary asks in The Exhausted of the Earth: Politics in a Burning World.
On Novara FM, he told Richard Hames about the strange new alliances forged by climate change, what we can learn from global peasant struggles, and the possibilities buried in a world coming apart at the seams.

Novara FM: The Right Is Getting Real On Climate. Can We? w/ Ajay Singh Chaudhary

The Indian election will be one of the largest the world has ever seen, with almost 1 billion people eligible to vote. It’s often said that India is the world’s biggest democracy. But what if that isn’t quite true? What if Narendra Modi, India’s Prime Minister for the last decade, has undermined the very building blocks of what we consider a democratic state to be?
To discuss the caste system, political assassinations and state-sanctioned pogroms, Aaron is joined by anthropologist Alpa Shah, author of ‘The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India’.

Downstream: Is India Really a Democracy? w/ Alpa Shah

What exactly is cool? Well, if it was that easy to describe, it obviously wouldn’t be cool. In this Trip, Keir, Jem and Nadia wonder if cool can ever be politically useful, and what happens when cool is used as a disciplining force.
With ideas from Pierre Bourdieu, Norman Mailer and Paul Gilroy, and music from OutKast, Gwen Stefani and Miles Davis, the gang adopt a blank expression to explore the mysterious rules of this singular modern concept.
Check out all the books and music mentioned in the show: https://novara.media/acfm
Find our ever-expanding playlist on Spotify by searching “ACFM”.
Sign up to the ACFM newsletter: https://novaramedia.com/newsletters
Produced and edited by Matt Huxley and Chal Ravens. PRS licence number: LE-0016481
*
Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support

ACFM Microdose: Reactionary Democracy w/ Aaron Winter & Aurelien Mondon

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