Just what is it good for?

This time on ACFM, Jeremy Gilbert, Nadia Idle and Keir Milburn respond to the Ukraine invasion with a conversation about war. Is it an aberration, or an unavoidable product of human power struggles? Are conflicts between nations better understood as a reflection of domestic divisions? And how is war used to divert the working class from progressive politics at home?

The gang think through these questions and more as they relate to global politics and the UK left, with music from Stiff Little Fingers, Rage Against The Machine, Robert Wyatt, Digital Mystikz and more. An ever-expanding playlist of all the music discussed on the show can be found on Spotify.

Books & articles: Deleuze & Guattari – A Thousand Plateaus / Naomi Klein – The Shock Doctrine / Michel Foucault – Society Must be Defended / Jeremy Gilbert – The Bennites’ revenge: how Jeremy Corbyn and his allies survived political exile / Keir Milburn – The August riots, shock and the prohibition of thought / Why war? A letter from Freud to Einstein

Music: Rage Against The Machine – ‘Killing in the Name Of’ / Mala – ‘Anti-War Dub’ / Bob Dylan – ‘With God on Our Side’ / Jimmy Cliff – ‘Vietnam’ / Stiff Little Fingers – ‘Tin Soldier’ / Elvis Costello – Oliver’s Army / Robert Wyatt – ‘Shipbuilding’