COUNTER•POWER

Asking whether "Brexit is racist" might be seen as the "is the pope a Catholic" question of our era. But calling out the racism of Brexit is often seen as unacceptable in contemporary British politics. In this podcast, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Martin Shaw, emeritus professor in International Relations at the University of Sussex, about his new book, Political Racism; Brexit and its Aftermath. They discuss the history of the Brexit vote and the lessons that for anti-racists today. Listeners to the Another Europe podcast get a 30% discount on the book when they use the code EMAIL30 at the Agenda Publishing website. 

As the Russian invasion moves into its second month, in this special edition of the Another Europe podcast we were joined by a panel of experts to analyse this new age of catastrophe in a live podcast event with listener questions.

How should we explain the rise of authoritarianism, fascism and ‘Putinism’? Can Ukraine win the war – and if so, how? How can we support Ukraine’s civil society?  How is the war changing the European Union? What does it mean for the future of other international organisations and alliances like Nato? And what should the future of European and global security look like?

To consider some of these – and your own! – questions, we talk to:

The discussion was hosted by Zoe Williams from the Guardian and co-host of the Another Europe Is Possible podcast.

Some reading from the panel 

Denis Pilash – We need a peoples’ solidarity with Ukraine and against war, not the fake solidarity of governments

Dmitri Makarov and Mary Kaldor – Why we need to unite for peace and human rights across the old divides

Mary Kaldor – Putin is the product of a corrupt economic system that we must now reform

Luke Cooper – Don’t forget that Putin supported Brexit 

Luke Cooper – The dangerous allure of ‘Europe first’

In the last twenty years Britons and Eastern Europeans have become closer and more intertwined than ever before. But it's often been a relationship of frustration, and, through the rise of anti-immigration and Eurosceptic politics, marked by xenophobia and racism. In this podcast hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams talk to Yva Alexandrova and Alena Ivanova about Yva's new book, Here to Stay: Eastern Europeans in Britain (Repeater Books, 2021). They discuss the problems the left in the UK has had in engaging the issue of European migration and giving voice to these experiences, and reflect on the myriad of ways in which the peoples of these islands are now connected to Eastern Europeans.  

Here to Stay is out now: 

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/677207/here-to-stay-by-yva-alexandrova/ 

As his government lurches from scandal to scandal there is a new sense of hope that the Tories can be defeated. So what role can Another Europe play in building mass opposition and resistance? In this podcast, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Seema Syeda, a new staff member in the Another Europe office, about our plans for 2022 and how you can get involved. She warns that despite the government's travails there is no room for complacency. They still have a massive parliamentary majority and a deeply reactionary agenda. We discuss Another Europe's campaigning work on resisting the Nationality and Borders Bill, the worrying new government 'consultation' that threatens to unravel the protections of the Human Rights Act, and our pan-European initiatives on resisting Islamophobia and building international solidarity and opposition to the Russian threat of war against Ukraine. 
For more information on some of the ideas mentioned in the podcast check out these links: 
Event: Is the Human Rights Act at riskBrexit Spotlight: for meaningful accountability in the Brexit era

Ex-staff member Michael's Chessum report of the Chile elections

Spain has one of the most successful vaccination programmes in the world. It's also set to launch the most ambitious national investment strategy in its post Franco history. But its trailblazing left wing coalition are, despite these tremendous achievements, not as popular as we might expect. Meanwhile, the far right Vox party has established itself in public opinion in third place. In this podcast, to make sense of these difficulties and challenges, hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams, talk to Marga Ferra, one of the co-presidents of Transform! Europe, the education think tank connected to the European Left Party and a member of Izquierda Unida (United Left), the party that stands in elections with Podemos as part of a common platform – and together they are a junior partner in the Spanish government. Marga offers an un-tribal and frank assessment of the current situation, but with plenty of 'practical optimism' for the future of the European left.  

As COP26 comes to a close, we investigate the global environmental and economic challenge facing humanity. In this podcast, Luke Cooper talks to economist Laurie Macfarlane, a columnist at Open Democracy and a fellow at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, to get a digest on COP26 and discuss the relationship between social justice, global development and the green transition. It's a wide-ranging chat, taking in how we conceptualise the idea of development in the 21st century, the seeming paradox that societies most at risk from climate change, such a Australia, have often been the most trenchantly committed to fossil fuels, and the emergence of a new paradigm of capitalist extractivism with the dash for raw materials required to harness renewable energy.

It wasn't so long ago that Germany's declining social democratic party was seen as a a classic example of 'Pasokification' in Europe, a term referring to the steep decline of centre-left parties derived from the experience of the now deceased Greek party, Pasok. Polls at the start of the year put the party pretty clearly in third place. But the centre-left have now stormed to an - albeit narrow - general election victory. So, what happened? In this podcast, to make sense of it all, Luke Cooper talks to Jeremy Cliffe, the Berlin-based International Editor at the New Statesman on Germany's new political era. 
For more from Jeremy check out his articles in the New Statesman and his podcast, The World Review: 

https://www.newstatesman.com/podcasts/world-review-podcast 

https://www.newstatesman.com/author/jeremy-cliffe 

Fascism - the twentieth century's most barbaric ideology - is back and winning support on the streets and at the ballot boxes all over the world. What can we learn from the struggles against fascism in the past? How do we understand the source of the potency of the fascist appeal? In this podcast hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Paul Mason about his new book, How to Stop Fascism (Allen Lane, 2021). It's a harrowing outline of how fascism is on the march. But it also outline a strategy to defeat this deadly threat. We explore the contents of the book and ask Paul why he remains optimistic for humanity. 
Links to material mentioned on this podcast: 
How to Stop Fascism (Allen Lane, 2021) 

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/442/442868/how-to-stop-fascism/9780141996394.html 
Authoritarian Contagion (Bristol University Press, 2021) 

https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/authoritarian-contagion 
Eric Hobsbawm's Age of Extremes (Little, Brown Book Group) 

https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Eric-Hobsbawm/The-Age-Of-Extremes--1914-1991/859532 
Karl Kautsky's critique of the Soviet Union 

https://www.marxists.org/archive/kautsky/1918/dictprole/index.htm 
Novecento (film) 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074084/ 
Arditi del Popolo - The First Anti-Fascists

https://libcom.org/library/arditi-del-popolo-first-anti-fascists 

The crisis in Afghanistan has dominated the airwaves this summer - and rightly so. In this episode, Luke Cooper talks to Shukria Rezaei, an Afghan living in London about her family's decade-long battle to flee the Taliban and resettle in Britain. It's a shocking story of oppression and the global border policing regime. Now she fears for those she left behind, as the Taliban seize power - with members of the Hazara community particularly fearful of a new round of sectarian bloodletting. In part two, Luke speaks to LSE professor and regular on the show, Mary Kaldor. They discuss whether, despite all the talk from the US administration about 'ending the forever wars', any lessons have actually been learnt, as development aid runs dry and the US military continue to drop bombs on Afghan targets, without regard to international law and perpetuating the cycle of violence. 
Readings referred to in this episode of the podcast: 
Personal story: I am Hazara – and I fear for my persecuted people

https://www.newstatesman.com/world/2021/08/personal-story-i-am-hazara-and-i-fear-my-persecuted-people 
Only action against corruption can solve the world’s biggest problemshttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/19/action-against-corruption-russian-sanctions-oligarchs-alexei-navalny
The main lesson from Afghanistan is that the ‘war on terror’ does not work

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/24/lesson-afghanistan-war-on-terror-not-work 
Producer: Luke Cooper Editor: Jake Pace Lawrie 

Can Englishness be anti-racist? After a remarkable football tournament, where the England football players made such a strong anti-racist statement we draw out some of the political implications for anti-racism and the constitutional future of the United Kingdom after Brexit. To get a handle on these issues Luke Cooper talks to two impeccably qualified guests. Shaista Aziz is an avid and lifelong England fan, anti-racist activist, and member of the FA's Asylum Seeker and Refugees Network, and John Denham, the former Labour MP who is now a professor at Southampton University and Director of the Centre for English Identity and Politics. 

For more on the ideas discussed in today's podcasts, see: 

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/dear-england-gareth-southgate-euros-soccer 

https://labourlist.org/2021/07/when-uk-labour-talks-only-of-britain-we-cannot-speak-for-england/ 

And Shaista's 1m strong petition: 
https://www.change.org/p/football-association-and-oliver-dowden-sec-of-state-dcms-pm-boris-johnson-ban-racists-for-life-from-all-football-matches-in-england?use_react=false&v2=false 

Editor: Camilo Tirado
Producer: Luke Cooper