LEFT/OVER Podcast

On the fourth anniversary of Grenfell, we're joined by Owen Hatherley, author and culture editor of Tribune magazine, to talk about the preventability of the tragedy, the deliberate machinations that obfuscate the fight for justice, and the lack of reckoning of the broader issues in the aftermath. Stay tuned for a condensed history of British social housing, the disaster of Right to Buy, an ongoing mess of local authorities and their various delegated bodies and contractors, and what the future might hold.

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In an assembly of British Left podcasts, we're joined by Phoebe from 10k Posts and Masters of Our Domain, and Wariotifo from Reel Politik to discuss the pernicious presence of Trotskyists (both current, and former) within UK politics. We look at the rise and fall of Living Marxism, the journal of the Revolutionary Communist Party, and the dispersal of its various contributors as professional contrarians or into the agribusiness sector. And holding a neocon mirror to them with the authors of the Euston Manifesto; two self-appointed arbiters of the 'real left' whose entire purpose is (and was) to oppose the left at every turn.

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This week we're joined by film-maker and anthropologist, Siobhán McGuirk, to talk about the proposals to overhaul the UK asylum system, and how these aren't evils unique to Priti Patel. We talk about the construction of who and what a migrant is, even from supposed arbiters of accountability like the United Nations, how this construction hurts asylum seekers and the most vulnerable, and why we must be abolitionists when it comes to borders.

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We chat to writer and former music journalist, Mic Wright, about just why so many of our worst cultural and political commentators found their voices as 'hip young gunslingers' in music publications such as NME and Melody Maker. From the bizarre and unsettling philosemitism of Julie Burchill, to the self-mythologising of Caitlin Moran, the bald and insipid politics of Dorian Lynskey, John Harris' lack of taste, the radicalisation of Eve "air biscuit" Barlow, and these characters' various attempts to remain relevant.

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We're joined by Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, to talk through the ongoing occupation of Palestine, including the recent bombardment by Israel and the attempts of settlement expansions in Sheikh Jarrah which formed its catalyst. We discuss displacement, demographics, and the erasure - both physically and ideologically-of history. Journey through the post-Cold War market liberalisation, strengthening business and diplomatic relations between India and Israel, including Israel's sale of arms to be used against the inhabitants of India's own occupied territory of Kashmir, and where UK manufacturing fits into all of this. We also try to get to grips with how toxic the discourse about Israel and antisemitism has become in the UK and how it continues to be cynically wielded as a silencing tactic when talking about Palestine.

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Our series on India continues with an examination of the current COVID crisis there. This week we're joined by writer and journalist Nicole-Ann Lobo to talk about the market deregulation and lack of investment in infrastructure that has exacerbated the crisis, ongoing government censorship, neoliberal devaluation of human life, the long-standing colonial nature of the Indian state… and a brief aside about cow piss.

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This week we've read the much-criticised Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities so you don't have to. Rifling through the veritable treasure trove of poor logic, bad-faith readings of statistics, and what happens when you start an investigation with a conclusion in mind and try to work backward despite all evidence to the contrary. We ask serious questions; like do we really need the moon? Was this report the result of a TikTok hex? And why are so many cops called Keith? Stay tuned for discussion about the phenomenon of ethnic minority right-wing grifters and the death rattle of representation and liberal identity politics and the disgusting lengths this country will go to in order to uphold racist and discriminatory policing. 

Bill and Melinda Gates, our DMs are open.

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We're joined by activist and co-author of Revolting Prostitutes, Molly Smith, to talk about the sex workers' rights movement, what we're doing and who we're fighting against. We talk about how the 'end demand' model doesn't really work in the context of an industry where poverty creates the demand itself, and the economic and border violence that props the legislation up. In addition, we talk about the employment of strategic ignorance to disregard workers' voices. We have a candid discussion about trafficking, and the various ways it's either applied as a 'gotcha' in the debate with no real care or understanding of its roots and nuances or outright ignored, how the application of laws that are supposed to target pimps and clients overwhelmingly, and disproportionately, hurt sex workers, and how the internet censorship that has been trialled on sex workers affects us all.

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This week we're talking about the ideological and practical dangers of British counter-extremism with author, journalist and Trashfuture co-host Hussein Kesvani. We discuss the end of the Quilliam Foundation/Quilliam and its dodgy funding and founders, predominantly our favourite special boy, Maajid Nawaz, as well as looking at how Tommy Robinson fits into all of this. We also discuss the reorganisation of the state-surveillance-trojan horse PREVENT strategy and the carceralism it props up, in conjunction with the very British culture of curtain-twitching suspicion and its manifestation in the othering of the South Asian & Middle Eastern diaspora.

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We're joined this week by Tom Usher to talk about the most British fanaticism: football. We talk about our own connections with the sport, primarily with Arsenal, and how the atmosphere at the grounds can transcend into a religious experience and the tribalism that comes with the territory. We delve into this current England team and whether it's really coming home (unlikely) & try to reconcile our own socialist politics with the hypercapitalism of top tier football - a world where the clubs and players we love operate as brands and sportswash the inordinate abuse and corruption that allow it to function.

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