The Beautiful Idea

In this episode of The Beautiful Idea, we present an interview with author Jamie Merchant, author of Engame: Economic Nationalism and Global Decline and numerous articles at The Brooklyn Rail. Merchant argues that we have entered a post-neoliberal age, with both Trump and Biden abandoning many of the touch-stones of corporate globalization that defined the past several decades.

But what comes next? During our discussion we talk about how and why Bidenism failed following the upheavals of 2020 and the rise of the Tech-Right as a bloc within the Trump administration. We map out what this formation wants and how it connects to the State's push to expand the American tech industry and in particular, Artificial Intelligence (AI).

We also unpack what it would mean to create new forms of autonomous class based street politics, as demonstrations against ICE and Tesla continue to grow.

In this episode of The Beautiful Idea, we speak with Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis, two tenant organizers in Los Angeles, CA, involved in the Los Angeles Tenant Union (LATU), and co-authors of the new book, Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis.

From the publisher:

During our discussion, we cover the growing crisis around rent and housing and how landlords and politicians have attempted to shift the discussion onto attacks on migrants and the houseless. We cover how the Los Angeles Tenant Union and the wider Autonomous Tenant Union Network have grown to build a grassroots, tenant led autonomous movement, aimed at building power on a neighborhood level.

Welcome back to The Beautiful Idea, a new project from a collective of several anarchist and autonomous media producers scattered around the world. We’re bringing you interviews and stories from the front-lines of autonomous social movements and struggles, as well as original commentary and analysis.

In this episode we sit down with Adam Greenfield, author of the book Lifehouse, out on Verso. In this discussion we talk about technology and the internet, the occurrence of disaster, the long emergency, the concept of lifehouses, prepperism, and the complexities of organizing in communities.

You can find Lifehouse: Taking Care of Ourselves In a World on Fire here.

Photo by Caleb Cook on Unsplash

Welcome back to The Beautiful Idea, a new project from a collective of several anarchist and autonomous media producers scattered around the world. We’re bringing you interviews and stories from the front-lines of autonomous social movements and struggles, as well as original commentary and analysis.

In this episode we sit down with Adam Greenfield, author of the book Lifehouse, out on Verso. In this discussion we talk about technology and the internet, the occurrence of disaster, the long emergency, the concept of lifehouses, prepperism, and the complexities of organizing in communities.

You can find Lifehouse: Taking Care of Ourselves In A World On Fire here:

https://www.versobooks.com/products/2536-lifehouse

In our following episode, we speak with folks around the country about this unfolding reality. First, we catch up with Mia Wong, a journalist at It Could Happen Here, a daily podcast on Cool Zone Media about everyday resistance and the current crisis, then we speak with a participant in the publishing collective CrimethInc, about the emerging cracks in the current crisis and what this means about how we can respond, and finally we speak to folks in Olympia, WA and North Carolina about recent “Festival of Resistance” events that were organized in the lead up to Trump’s inauguration.

We are currently in the midst of a constitutional crisis. As we speak, the Trump administration is less than a month into its second term, and already the courts are running into roadblocks in their meager attempts to contain Trump’s blatant calls to disregard basic constitutional guard rails. As this is being recorded, multiple rulings by judges to stop the Trump administration freezing federal funds to basic government programs continue to be ignored. We are in the middle of the Rubicon being crossed: the executive branch is defying the orders of its own courts. What happens now is both determined by what people do and how the state responds to its own internal contradictions. Will the supreme court step in and side with Trump, or will the administration simply ignore any and all rulings, turning the state into a mechanism to carry out any and all of Trump’s dictatorial demands: as the US slips into an all out dictatorship with billionaires at the helm.

"Hundreds of Bakersfield area students walked out of classes Wednesday in protest of the Trump administration's policies on education and immigration, taking their flags, signs and shouts outside Kern County Superior Court on Truxtun Avenue." www.bakersfield.com/news/bakersf…

— It's Going Down (@igd.bsky.social) 2025-02-13T07:37:48.397Z

But resistance is building, and developing at various points of contestation. Across the country, as ICE ramps up deportations and is pushing to begin again deporting entire families and has begun setting up camps at Guantanamo bay, organizers are stepping up their organizing, forming Rapid Response Networks, organizing protests, and educating people about their rights. “Border Czar” Tom Homan even went on CNN recently to complain about people in Chicago being “too educated” about their rights, throwing a wrench into the gears of the deportation machine, as Trump demands increased numbers of removals. Communities in Colorado mobilized when ICE went door to door in an apartment complex at the center of far-Right conspiracies about “Venezuela gangs taking over” Aurora, CO, working to support working-class people targeted and documenting ICE abuses.

Eight Things You Can Do to Stop ICEcrimethinc.com/StopICEWe've produced a guide detailing many different ways you can act to prevent ICE from tearing families apart and terrorizing your community.This is also available as a PDF for printing. Please circulate these widely!

— CrimethInc. Ex-Workers' Collective (@crimethinc.com) 2025-02-11T23:18:51.336Z

Meanwhile, thousands of people are taking to the streets against ICE, demanding an end to the raids, a strengthening of sanctuary city laws, and calling for solidarity with those targeted by the deportation machine. Most impressively, we’ve also seen weeks of student walkouts, most notably in Los Angeles, where hundreds of students across multiple schools have continued to carry out walkouts and rallies, writing anti-ICE slogans throughout the city. Mass protests have also led to clashes with police in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, and beyond.

In multiple cities, thousands have also taken to the streets against Trump’s attacks on trans people, in an effort to call on hospitals to protect access to gender affirming care and resist the administrations draconian executive orders. Mass mobilizations have already taken place in Chicago, Los Angeles, Charlottesville, New York, and beyond.

Students Walk Out in Los Angeles: A Report from the Streetscrimethinc.com/2025LosAngelesAs Trump’s second term begins, some of the fiercest resistance is coming from the communities that Trump is threatening. In Los Angeles, students have engaged in weeks of walkouts against mass deportations.

— CrimethInc. Ex-Workers' Collective (@crimethinc.com) 2025-02-13T09:01:26.705Z

Communities have also been pushing back against attempts by the far-Right to test these new waters. This past week, we saw folks in the historically Black neighborhood in Lincoln Heights, OH, arm themselves and push through a line of police to attack neo-Nazis who were being protected by law enforcement on a freeway overpass, holding automatic weapons and swastika flags. Community members burned one of their flags, wrecked one of their cars, and even left behind bullets spelling out the letters “LH” for Lincoln Heights.

Protests have also been taking place non-stop in Washington DC against Elon Musk and his team of far-Right minions, leading to some early attempts to blockade them from entering buildings and near constant rallies and protests by workers and their supporters.

Finally, demonstrations and acts of vandalism have also broken out against Tesla, with people calling for boycotts following Musk’s Nazi salute and move to dismantle and privatize social safety net programs. Several Tesla dealerships have been hit with graffiti and other forms of sabotage and there is currently a call for continued protests against Tesla on Saturday, February 15th.

With Trump back in power, neo-Nazi groups have been testing the waters, hoping to push communities they want to target into submission – instead people have been fighting back. Check out our roundup here: itsgoingdown.org/this-week-in…

— It's Going Down (@igd.bsky.social) 2025-02-13T10:11:36.105Z

We’re in scary territory, but also fertile grounds to organize in. People everywhere can see how the Democrats helped get us here and how their refusal to respond to demands from social movements and instead doubling down on expanding and militarizing the repressive functions of the state – who is now coming for everyone.

Music: 

Intros: Breakaway and Seaside Tryst

In our following episode, we speak with folks around the country about this unfolding reality. First, we catch up with Mia Wong, a journalist at It Could Happen Here, a daily podcast on Cool Zone Media about everyday resistance and the current crisis, then we speak with a participant in the publishing collective CrimethInc, about the emerging cracks in the current crisis and what this means about how we can respond, and finally we speak to folks in Olympia, WA and North Carolina about recent "Festival of Resistance" events that were organized in the lead up to Trump's inauguration.

Thanks for listening, let's get into it.

Music:

Intros: Breakaway and Seaside Tryst
Transition: Filastine, Soundswarm Compostion and E.T., Sword That’s Bending

On this episode of The Beautiful Idea, we speak with former political prisoner Eric King and Josh Davidson from the Certain Days political prisoner calendar project. Eric and Josh discuss their recent round of discussions with Firestorm Books around their recent collection, Rattling the Cages, featuring former political prisoners and abolitionist organizers. These discussions have also been recently formatted into a new zine series, found here.

During our discussion we cover the shifting terrain of anti-repression and prison support organizing, how things swill change under Trump, and the need for building a broad abolitionist movement that can win campaigns and shift public perception.

Photo by Taylor Brandon on Unsplash

On this episode of The Beautiful Idea, we speak with former political prisoner Eric King and Josh Davidson from the Certain Days political prisoner calendar project. Eric and Josh discuss their recent round of discussions with Firestorm Books around their recent collection, Rattling the Cages, featuring former political prisoners and abolitionist organizers. These discussions have also been recently formatted into a new zine series, found here.

During our discussion we cover the shifting terrain of anti-repression and prison support organizing, how things swill change under Trump, and the need for building a broad abolitionist movement that can win campaigns and shift public perception.

Welcome back to The Beautiful Idea, a new project from a collective of several anarchist and autonomous media producers scattered around the world. We’re bringing you interviews and stories from the front-lines of autonomous social movements and struggles, as well as original commentary and analysis.

On today's show we have a conversation with Xander Dunlap, author of the recent book The System Is Killing Us, out with Pluto Press. In this conversation we discuss the current state of ecological resistance movements, the problems introduced by eco-Leninism, the concept of permanent ecological conflict, and the notion of home and connection to place in land struggles.

You can find Xander on the Twitter at https://x.com/DrX_ADunlap and on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/drxdunlap.bsky.social. Xander is also involved in a new and exciting publishing project called Rupture Press, check it out at https://www.rupturepress.org/

Welcome back to The Beautiful Idea, a new project from a collective of several anarchist and autonomous media producers scattered around the world. We’re bringing you interviews and stories from the front-lines of autonomous social movements and struggles, as well as original commentary and analysis.

On today’s show we feature our Behind the Barricades roundup of movement news, events, and updates. We then speak with Autumn from Nor Cal Resist, about the looming threat of mass deportations and then look at the attempt by the incoming Trump administration to consolidate executive power. We then sit down with a member of the Black Rose Anarchist Federation in Los Angeles, to talk about the unfolding ecological disaster in Southern California and how mutual aid groups are mobilizing.

Music: Seaside Tryst, Breakaway, Evolve "Reality Guerilla" and "Nightmares/Dreams," and David Sandström "1968."