SPS

On this episode of SPS, Pamela and the Platypus Review Editor-in-Chief, Lou S. chat about the recent NBA crack-up over vaccine skepticism and discuss the articles in the new issue of the Platypus Review. Andreas, our EU correspondent, reports from the frontlines of a protest camp in the North East of Vienna. And, in the last segment, Andreas sits with our German members, Tobias, Tom and Anna, to reflect on the recent Bundestag election. They discuss the past and future of Die Linke, the upset by the Greens & the collapse of the left/right distinction within the Green Party, and the future of a post-Merkel, post-Neo-liberalism Germany.

Latest Issue of the Platypus Review:

- platypus1917.org/platypus-review/

SPS on the DSA:

- soundcloud.com/platypus-affiliated-society/ep22

- soundcloud.com/platypus-affiliated-society/ep8

- and on the DSA & Seth Ackerman: soundcloud.com/platypus-affiliated-society/ep3

Platypus Panels:

- Panel Series “What does Climate Change?": platypus1917.org/international-series/what-does-climate-change/

- Die Linke Panel (in German): platypus1917.org/2021/06/02/podium-linkspartei/

- Greens Panel (in German): platypus1917.org/panel-gruene/

Platypus on the Death of the Millennial Left:

- Chris Cutrone article from 2017, platypus1917.org/2017/10/01/millennial-left-dead/

- Public Panel on “What was the Millennial Left?" during the Platypus 2021 International Convention: tinyurl.com/5a5uktsf

- Chris Cutrone teach-in on the death of the millennial left from 2018: tinyurl.com/3sftxpfn

Hosted by Sophia, Pamela and Andreas W., with original tracks by Tamas Vilaghy, and editing assistance by Michael Woodson and Tamas Vilaghy. To learn more about Platypus, go to Platypus1917.org.

On this episode of SPS, Pamela and Sophia discuss the Biden bungle of the Afghanistan withdrawal and the responses by the “Left,” including Tariq Ali for the New Left Review and Branko Marcetic for Jacobin. SPS European Correspondent Andreas interviews Eduardo Maura, from the Spanish party Podemos, and asks him to reflect on his political trajectory, from his work in the Indignados -- the Spanish anti-austerity movement -- to Podemos in government, to the party’s recent electoral defeats. In the last segment, Platypus president Efraim interviews Mike Watson, a UK born art & media theorist, and author of The Memeing of Mark Fisher: How the Frankfurt School Foresaw Capitalist Realism and What To Do About It, released by Zero Books in 2021. They discuss the different responses to the New Left by Adorno and Marcuse and the conditions of possibility for political consciousness in an administered society.

Links:

Chris Cutrone, “Afghanistan: After 20 and 40 years” in Platypus Review 139 (September 2021)

https://platypus1917.org/2021/09/02/afghanistan-after-20-and-40-years/

Tariq Ali, “Debacle in Afghanistan” New Left Review: Sidecar (16 August 2021)

https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/debacle-in-afghanistan

Branko Marcetic, “Joe Biden Was Right to Pull Out of Afghanistan” Jacobin (24 August 2021)

https://jacobin-v2.positiondevapp.com/2021/08/joe-biden-afghanistan-taliban-us-military-foreign-policy-pullout

Tariq Ali Interviewed by Chris Cutrone, on Iraq, the anti-war movement, and the state of the Left conducted on October 15, 2007 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

https://platypus1917.org/2007/10/15/tariq-ali-interviewed-by-chris-cutrone/

“Imperialism: What is it—Why should we be Against it?” On January 30th, 2007, Platypus hosted its first public forum. It features Adam Turl of the International Socialist Organization (ISO), Kevin Anderson of the Marxist-Humanist group News and Letters, Nick Kreitman of the new Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Danny Postel of Open Democracy, and Chris Cutrone of Platypus.

https://platypus1917.org/2010/07/09/imperialism-what-is-it-why-should-we-be-against-it/

“¿Más allá de la izquierda y la derecha? (Beyond left and right?): An Interview with Eduardo Maura of Podemos” by Lucy Parker and David Mountain with Nikos Manousakis in Platypus Review 72 (December 2014 – January 2015)

https://platypus1917.org/2014/12/01/mas-alla-de-la-izquierda-y-la-derecha/

Mike Watson, The Memeing Of Mark Fisher: How The Frankfurt School Foresaw Capitalist Realism And What To Do About It (2021)

https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/zer0-books/our-books/memeing-mark-fisher

Efraim Carlebach, “Forgetting Mark Fisher” in Platypus Review 115 (April 2019)

https://platypus1917.org/2019/04/01/forgetting-mark-fisher/

Hosted by Sophia, Pamela and Andreas W., with original tracks by Tamas Vilaghy, and editing assistance by Michael Woodson. To learn more about Platypus, go to Platypus1917.org.

On this three-part episode of SPS, Sophia and the Editor of the Platypus Review, Lou Sterrett, give a teaser of what’s inside the latest issue.

In the second segment, our European Correspondent Andreas Wintersperger catches up with Ian Cassidy. Originally from Ireland, Cassidy is a Berlin-based activist, working for the campaign 'Deutsche Wohnen & co enteignen' which aims to pressure Berlin’s largest private housing companies to better serve their tenants.

In the final segment, SPS co-host Pamela sits down with Victor and Sidsel, our members in Aarhus, to discuss the recent debates over academic freedom in Danish universities in response to the parliament in Denmark accusing researchers of “excessive activism”.

LINKS:

Platypus Review Issue 138, July 2021

https://platypus1917.org/platypus-review/

Platypus in Aarhus, Denmark

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2026045940750202

Chris Cutrone, The end of the Gilded Age: Discontents of the Second Industrial Revolution today, December 2017, https://platypus1917.org/2017/12/02/end-gilded-age-discontents-second-industrial-revolution-today/

Chris Cutrone, On philosophy and Marxism: response to Suther and Velissaris, 2020, https://platypus1917.org/2020/11/01/on-philosophy-and-marxism-response-to-suther-and-velissaris/

Jensen Suther and Thodoris Velissaris, Response to Cutrone, November 2020, https://platypus1917.org/2020/11/01/response-to-cutrone/

Panel Discussion in German, “Die Wohnungsfrage und die Linke”, July 2021: https://tinyurl.com/6c48vje

Deutsche Wohnen & co enteignen Campaign

https://www.dwenteignen.de/

Petition In Solidarity with Danish Researches, June 2021, https://atgender.eu/academic-freedom-in-denmark-open-letter-2-june-2021/

Ludvig Goldschmidt Pedersen, The Academic Culture War Comes to Denmark, June 2021, https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/06/denmark-parliament-motion-research-fields-academic-freedom-feminism-postcolonial-migration-race-studies

On this three-part episode of SPS, Sophia and Pamela catch up to discuss Shaka King’s Judas and the Black Messiah (2021). They reflect upon the director’s interpretation of the Black Panther Party and how questions of black nationalism, the police and the authoritarian state bear on our present moment.

In the second segment Sophia sits down with Novara Media’s Commissioning Editor, Rivka Brown to consider the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (PCSC Bill) and the anti-austerity Left. Rivkah touches on what the potential abolition of the police might mean for the ‘Left’. Finally, Platypus’ Chief Pedagogue, Chris Cutrone, introduces our Summer Reading Groups and gives a taster of what’s in-store.

You can find our more about our Summer Reading Groups here:

Summer Reading Group 2021: Adorno’s Negative Dialectics

https://platypus1917.org/2021/05/08/summer-2021-adornos-negative-dialectics/

Summer Reading Group 2021: Hegel and Marxism

https://platypus1917.org/2021/05/11/summer-2021-hegel-and-marxism/

Summer Reading Group 2021: The Black Question and the Left from 1776 to BLM

https://platypus1917.org/2021/05/21/summer-2021-the-black-question-from-1776-to-blm/

Resources and Reference Links:

Online: Novara Media, https://novaramedia.com/

Rivkah’s Links:

Book: Adam Elliott-Cooper, Black Resistance to British Policing, 2021

Book: Mark Neocleous, A Critical Theory of Police Power: The Fabrication of the Social Order, 2000

Platypus Links:

Article: Chris Cutrone, Republicans and riots: The Left in death, 1992 and 2020, https://platypus1917.org/2020/07/01/republicans-and-riots/

Interview: with Bobby Seale (Black Panther Party), 2019

https://platypus1917.org/2019/02/03/the-black-panther-party-and-community-organizing-an-interview-with-bobby-seale%EF%BB%BF/

Interview: with Kathleen Cleaver (Black Panther Party), 2019

https://platypus1917.org/2019/02/03/the-black-panther-party-malcom-x-and-the-question-of-revolutionary-politics-today-an-interview-with-kathleen-cleaver/

Panel: Police Brutality and the Left (July 11, 2020) Panelists: Gerald Smith (Oscar Grant Committee), Larry Holmes (Workers World Party), Andrea Pritchett (Berkeley Copwatch), and Conrad Cartmell (DSA, Class Unity Caucus). https://platypus1917.org/2020/09/01/police-brutality-and-the-left/

Panel: Platypus at Left Forum NYC 2010: The American Left and the "black question:" from politics to protest to the post-political (2010) [Audio] Panelists: Tim Barker, Columbia U.; Benjamin Blumberg, Platypus; Pamela Nogales, Platypus; Chris Cutrone, Platypus. https://archive.org/details/PlatypusAtLeftForumNyc2010TheAmericanLeftAndTheblackQuestion

Panel: Platypus Public Panel Series: “Black Politics and State Violence” (2015) University of Chicago (03/20/15) [Audio]Panelists: Michael Dawson and Mel Rothenberg, https://platypus1917.org/2015/05/22/5-21-2015-black-politics-and-state-violence-a-panel-discussion-university-of-chicago/

Panel: Platypus Public Panel: “The American left and the ‘Black Question’: From politics to protest to the post-political” (Chicago, 2015) Panelists: Toby Chow, Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL) and The People’s Lobby; Brandon Johnson, Chicago Teachers Union (CTU); August Nimtz, author of Lenin's Electoral Strategy from 1907 to the October Revolution of 1917 (2014) https://platypus1917.org/2015/05/02/american-left-black-question-politics-protest-post-political/

Hosted by Sophia, Pamela and Andreas W., with original tracks by Tamas Vilaghy, and editing assistance by Michael Woodson.

On this episode of SPS, Sophia, Pamela and Platypus member Erin report on the Kill the Bill & May 1st protests in London, Berlin and New York. In the second half members Ryan and Sam reflect upon seeding a Platypus chapter in Melbourne Australia. We discuss encounters with local Leftist groups, what Adam Smith has to teach us about bourgeois society, and their upcoming panel discussion: "What is Capitalism and why should we be against it?"

To learn more about Platypus in Melbourne, drop by one of their reading group meetings either on Wednesdays online via zoom, or in-person starting next semester at the University of Melbourne. Their coffee breaks are at the Clyde Hotel every second Thursday. The upcoming panel event: "What is Capitalism, and why should we be against it?" is on Saturday the 22nd of May. FB invite: https://www.facebook.com/events/1138149399985555

Reference Links:

Platypus Panel: "Corona und die Linke" (in German)

https://youtu.be/cynozxmZQsg

Chris Cutrone, The Millennial Left is dead, October 2017

https://platypus1917.org/2017/10/01/millennial-left-dead/

Spencer Leonard, Zero Squared 207: Adam Smith-Revolutionary, July 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cApVoE_A-JM

Hosted by Sophia, Pamela and Andreas W, with original tracks by Tamas Vilaghy, and editing assistance by Michael Woodson. Cover photograph by Piotr Pietrus (@piotr.pietrus on Instagram).

On this episode of SPS, Sophia, Pamela and Andreas are joined by Aarhus Platypus member, Victor Cova, to discuss the Adam Curtis documentary series, "Can't Get You Out of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World" (2021). We cover the response to the series by the Socialist Workers Party (UK), Doug Lain (Zero Books) and Red Scare podcast. We debate Curtis' conservative approach to history, and what the series has to say about the defeat of the left in the twentieth century.

At the beginning of the episode, Grant Tyler introduces the upcoming Platypus International Convention XIII: The Platypus Synthesis, featuring panels: From Protests to Politics? What was the Millennial Left?; The Legacy of Trotskyism; The Politics of Critical Theory; and the Death of the Millennial Left. All events will be held online: FB invite, https://www.facebook.com/events/301295494749910

https://platypus1917.org/platypus-international-convention/platypus-international-convention-2021/

Reference Links:

Tribune: An interview with Leo Panitch, A Decade on the Left

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2020/03/a-decade-on-the-left

Jacobin: Mike Watson, In Defense of Herbert Marcuse

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/02/herbert-marcuse-matt-taibbi-frankfurt-school

Socialist Worker: Adam Curtis mixes stunning images with dodgy politics

https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/51349/Adam+Curtis+mixes+stunning+images+with+dodgy+politics

Doug Lain (Zero Books): The secret (and not so secret) conservatism of Adam Curtis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76StMC0l7kU&ab_channel=ZeroBooks

Jacobin, Interview with Adam Curtis

https://jacobinmag.com/2021/03/adam-curtis-bbc-cant-get-you-out-of-my-head-interview

Building A Better Society: Have we run out of new ideas? | Adam Curtis & Russell Brand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN7UCUDzXGA&t=1s

Art Review: The Reverse Marxism of Adam Curtis’s ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’

https://artreview.com/the-reverse-marxism-of-adam-curtis-cant-get-you-out-of-my-head-bbc-iplayer-review/

Platypus Links:

2019 Interview with Bobby Seale (Black Panther Party)

https://platypus1917.org/2019/02/03/the-black-panther-party-and-community-organizing-an-interview-with-bobby-seale%EF%BB%BF/

2019 Interview with Kathleen Cleaver (BPP)

https://platypus1917.org/2019/02/03/the-black-panther-party-malcom-x-and-the-question-of-revolutionary-politics-today-an-interview-with-kathleen-cleaver/

2012 Interview with David Graeber

https://platypus1917.org/2012/01/31/interview-with-david-graeber/

David Graeber on "Radical Interpretations of the Present Crisis," Platypus public fora in London, 12.01.2012

https://platypus1917.org/2013/04/01/radical-interpretations-of-the-present-crisis-london-platypus-review/

Hosted by Sophia, Pamela and Andreas W., with original tracks by Tamas Vilaghy, and editing assistance by Michael Woodson.

Sophia and Pamela talk about the allegations that Governor Cuomo covered up mishandlings of the COVID-19 crisis and the firing of actress Gina Carano from Disney’s the Mandalorian. In the last segment our German correspondent Andreas Wintersperger catches up with Platypus members from our Leipzig and Berlin chapters to discuss the panels on COVID-19 and the Left, and the legacy of the Communist Party of Germany which were held at our 2nd German Conference.

SPS is a production of the Platypus Affiliated Society, more at: platypus1917.org/

Links for this episode:

Platypus German Conference recordings

Corona und die Linke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cynozxmZQsg

Psychoanalyse und Marxismus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNsU1xVWEsQ&t=5s

Was ist das Erbe der KPD?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhCDIwJtaaY&t=13s

US-Wahlen und die Linke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykLrCoKWzJc

Zero Covid Campaign article

https://zero-covid.org/language/en/

Gina Carano, The Ben Shapiro Show, 21st Feb 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxObG659Sc0

Former President Trump speaks at CPAC, Fox News, 28th Feb 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGDmMu9McBE

Andrew Cuomo faces move by fellow Democrats to revoke his COVID-19 pandemic powers, The Wall Street Journal, Jimmy Vielkind, 2nd March 2021

https://www.wsj.com/articles/gov-andrew-cuomo-faces-growing-calls-from-new-york-democrats-to-resign-11614703042

Andrew Cuomo accused of making unwanted advances at wedding, New York Post, Elizabeth Rosner and Tamar Lapin, 1st March 2021

https://nypost.com/2021/03/01/gov-cuomo-accused-of-making-unwanted-advances-at-wedding/amp/?fbclid=IwAR3lm_8_WJYSNScBOpPWwVd2X-qXlcnQiNT83qK2qRb_MdV0aVz0uJesjZk

Original tracks by Tamas Vilaghy

Hosted by Sophia and Pamela

In this special episode of SPS, we discuss Joe Biden's inauguration and the relationship between Art and the capitalist state. Professional creative artists are facing unemployment at rates well above the national average. We take up the proposals for WPA-style intervention, a Ministry of Culture, and a White House Office for Culture. In the second half, we consider the artist Brad Troemel and his attempt to reinterpret “Liberal Cringe” into meme art.

Images and videos for this episode can be found at: https://caesuramag.org/montezsps01292021

SPS is a production of the Platypus Affiliated Society, more at: https://platypus1917.org/

Links for this episode:

Alison Hewitt Ward, 2010, RIP Art Trump

https://caesuramag.org/posts/rip-trump-art

Letter of resignation from the President's Committee on the Arts & the Humanities (2017)

https://twitter.com/kalpenn/status/898547257062174724/photo/1

Chris Cutrone, 2010, What was postmodernism? -- Habermas’s critique

An incomplete project? Art and politics after postmodernism

http://chriscutrone.platypus1917.org/?p=955

Platypus Art & Politics syllabus

https://platypus1917.org/2020/06/17/art-and-politics/

Brad Troemel, Patreon

https://www.patreon.com/bst

Barbra Kruger’s Selfridges campaign in London with Behance,

https://www.behance.net/gallery/58329969/Selfridges-Co-Sale-campaign

Ryan Long, 2020, When Wokes and Racists Actually Agree on Everything

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev373c7wSRg

Jason Farago, "The Arts Are in Crisis. Here’s How Biden Can Help," New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/arts/design/arts-stimulus-biden.html

Susan Buck-Morss, response to Visual culture questionnaire (1996)

https://platypus1917.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/buckmorss_visualcultquest.pdf

Efraim Carlebach, “Forgetting Mark Fisher” Platypus Review 115 (April 2019)

https://platypus1917.org/2019/04/01/forgetting-mark-fisher/

Original tracks by Tamas Vilaghy

Hosted by Sophia and Pamela

In the latest episode of the cancel culture saga, social media companies have taken into their own hands to censor content. Trump’s tweets, Zero Book’s videos, & Brad Troemel’s memes, have all been subject to the policing eye of so-called “fact checkers.” In the first part of this episode, Laurie joins Pamela to discuss the new wave of censorship under our Silicon Valley dystopia and the realignment of liberals in the Age of Trump.

In the second part of the episode, we focus on how the German-speaking Left has responded to the recent terror attacks in France and Austria. Our European Correspondent, Andreas, joins Sophia and Pamela to discuss the responses by the anti-imperialist left, featuring Der Funke, the Austrian faction of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) and Marx 21 in Germany. Second, Andreas interviews Michael Fischer, an Austrian anti-fascist and recent contributor to the anti-German publication Bahamas. Fischer presents his critique of political islam and his thoughts on the anti-imperialist left today. Finally, Frankfurt Platypus member, Jan Schroeder joins us to reflect on the trajectory of the anti-German Left, from its origins through its opposition to the Balkan Wars and support for American intervention in the Gulf, and their present iteration as defenders of “class politics”.

Links:

Brad Troemel’s Biden-Clinton meme

https://www.instagram.com/p/CI3pSqUBevY/

Glenn Greewald, “Instagram is Using False “Fact-Checking” to Protect Joe Biden’s Crime Record From Criticisms” (December 2020)

https://greenwald.substack.com/p/instagram-is-using-false-fact-checking

Pamela C. Nogales C., “The Cancel Wars: The Legacy of the Cultural Turn in the Age of Trump” (Platypus Review, November 2020)

https://platypus1917.org/2020/11/01/the-cancel-wars-the-legacy-of-the-cultural-turn-in-the-age-of-trump/

Laurie Rojas, “The Culture Wars in the Age of Trump” (Platypus Review, November 2020)

https://platypus1917.org/2020/11/01/the-culture-wars-in-the-age-of-trump/

Der Funke, “Wien: Gegen Terror und nationale Einheit” (November 2020)

https://derfunke.at/aktuelles/oesterreich/11526-wien-gegen-terror-und-nationale-einheit

Marx 21, “Frankreich: Muslime unter Generalverdacht” (November 2020)

https://www.marx21.de/frankreich-muslime-unter-generalverdacht/

Efraim Carlbach, “The Unchanging Core of Marxism: Interview with Ian Birchall” (Platypus Review, December 2017 – January 2018)

https://platypus1917.org/2017/12/02/unchanging-core-marxism-interview-ian-birchall/

Spartacist League, "Down with the Islamic Reaction! For Workers Revolution in Iran! A Special Issue on Iran" (Women and Revolution, Fall 1979)

https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/w&r/WR_019_1979.pdf

Michael Fischer, “Die neue Rassenlehre: Moderne Rassenideologie im antirassistischen Gewand” (Bahamas 85 / 2020)

http://redaktion-bahamas.org/artikel/2020/85-die-neue-rassenlehre/

Jan Schroeder, “Althusser’s Marxism” (July–August 2019)

https://platypus1917.org/2019/07/02/althussers-marxism/

Jan Gerber, panelist on the “Crisis Of Neoliberalism” panel at the Platypus German Conference (January 2020) (in German)

https://archive.org/details/25.01crisisofneoliberalism/25.01+Crisis+of+Neoliberalism.mp3

SPS Reflections on the 2020 German Conference can be found here:

https://soundcloud.com/platypus-affiliated-society/ep22

Hosted by Pamela & Sophia

with European Correspondent, Andreas W.

music by Tamas Vilaghy

***U.S. election special***

On this episode Pamela and Sophia catch up with Conrad Cartmell (Class Unity caucus, DSA), Mara Henao & Kaitlin Buck (Philly Socialists) and Benjamin Studebaker (British Academic Union) to reflect upon the Left under Trump - and what lies ahead under a Biden administration.

This episode contributes to a larger body of work by the Platypus Affiliated Society, attempting to make sense of the Left’s reaction to the changing political reality. A panel event, with a similar topic was recently held at George Mason University(1).

Be sure to follow us on social media. On Instagram were ‘shitplatypussays’, and on Twitter: ‘platypussays’. Visit us on Facebook under the Platypus Affiliated Society or visit www.platypus1917.org.

If you like the podcast, share it, rate it, and write us a review!

(1) Platypus Panel, held at George Mason University: "The Future after the Election: What's Left?": https://youtu.be/7SPBRSfqB5Q

(2) Beyond the Vote: Base-Building for Class Independence in Philadelphia: https://regenerationmag.org/beyond-the-vote-base-building-for-class-independence-in-philadelphia/

(3) This Time Isn’t Different: DSA leadership should shut up about supporting Joe Biden, Class Unity: https://classunity.org/this-time-isnt-different-dsa-leadership-should-shut-up-about-supporting-joe-biden/

Hosted by Pamela, Sophia, with editing assistance by Michael W. Music by Tamas Vilaghy.