2021 is here with a spear (the 1 is a spear). Perfect time for a rebrand! We discuss the CIA’s embrace of new media aesthetics and effort to recruit people from backgrounds historically fucked with by the CIA. There is an effort to emphasize surveillance culture. We discuss how “cyber attacks” are being utilized to … Continue reading "Episode 106 – CIA Rebrand"

Tis the season to have a wide ranging discussion on spirituality. We start with Gnosticism and end with Falun Gong lol. Religion and tradition are being thrown around by all sorts of political actors, can the left compete without the big untraceable and untaxable bux?? We’re stuck in the Merry Christmas Let Them Eat Cake … Continue reading "Episode 105 – Christmas Stimulus"

We’re joined by journalist and eminent historian of Posadsim, Andy Glittliz aka @spaceprole of @the_antifada podcast! We discuss his excellent book from Pluto Press I Want to Believe Posadism, UFOs and Apocalypse Communism. How did a principled working class organizer become a cult leader? Are there parallels to conspiracy theories today? Even massively popular reforms … Continue reading "Episode 104 – UFO IS NURSE FOR OUR SIN PLANET with Andy Gittlitz"

We pump the breaks on our quarantidinal (word I just made up) looseness and read Emilie Anne-Yvonne Luse’s “This Is the Future Liberals Want”: The Crisis of Democracy and the Salon des Indépendants in Interwar France (1918–1939) from the second issue of Selva Journal. Read the piece and the of rest of the issue here! … Continue reading "READING – Selva Journal on the Salon des Indépendants"

We revisit Hito Steyerl’s “In Defense of Poor Image” to make a point about naiveté of the American left during the Obama administration. The web was a frontier, meaning conditions have always been ripe for dissemination of far right disinformation as well as highly polished neoliberalism. It’s a positive development that left popular discourse is … Continue reading "Episode 103 – Indefensible Poor Image and Prestige TV"

This is (almost) the dawning of the age of Aquarius, how red will that dawn be? OK’s been a little fixated on China, would a new global superpower be beneficial to international communist movements? We try to focus back in the art and labor realm with the 3rd part of the Nika Dubrovsky and David … Continue reading "Episode 102 – Can We Abolish the Art World?"

In a crumbling democracy dictated by the bourgeois, regime change is mostly aesthetics. Biden Harris is serving us a kinder, gentler imperialism, while also giving the wink big to Thatcherism. Complete with corporate sponsored jingoism and drones. More the vibes of a Superbowl commercial than a celebratory tailgate. We also discuss local strategies, the Trump … Continue reading "Episode 101 – Election Aesthetics"

*Join us on twitch for a special 100th episode/fuck the election stream on Tuesday! Don’t go through the horrors alone!!* We discuss the Contrapoints voting video, catch up on a recent art worker round table, and have a light debate on the Baltimore Museum of Art deacquisition controversy. There’s a very funny idea to make … Continue reading "Episode 99 – Public Process and Deacquisition"

We start with some clarity on the question of sex work under communism (well mostly this essay does), but eventually we enter the territory of “we don’t know” when it comes to the very differing left tendencies and strategies. Lucia has a beautiful show of paintings, the gallery is surrounded by beautiful upstate autumn, go … Continue reading "Episode 98 – Modes of Production"

Anti-government plots from the right, and feminist art from cis men? It’s more likely than you think. Getting public art contracts and getting away with murder is WAY easier if you’re man. Also, why are American dudes on Reddit so into defending Hong Kong, is there a reason why the BLM protests aren’t as respected?? … Continue reading "Episode 97 – New Cold and Civil Wars"