The Chatterbox

We've discussed Germany's relationship with Israel and Palestine from several different angles on the show. How can we sum it all up? To offer his perspective, Prof. Dirk Moses outlines the five elements of what he calls the "German Catechism." He and Ted examine its five elements, how it developed, and the ways in which it has evolved after two years Hamas' October 7th attacks and Israel's subsequent assault on Gaza.

-Visit Dirk's webpage here: https://www.dirkmoses.com/

-Read his "Catechism" essay here: https://geschichtedergegenwart.ch/the-german-catechism/

-Read the "Education after Gaza" piece here: https://blnreview.de/en/ausgaben/2025-09/a-dirk-moses-education-after-gaza-after-education-after-auschwitz

(this was a light edit becuase I wanted to get it out quickly so might be rougher than usual. Will be back soon with the start of the "Why does Germany exist?" series.)

********

Follow Spaßbremse on Twitter (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@spassbremse_pod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠). Hosted and edited by Ted. Music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lee Rosevere⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Art by Franziska Schneider.

Support us on Patreon here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/spassbremse

What makes food queer? Is it possible to name and list it out as simple, clearcut elements? In their new co-edited volume, Queers at the Table, Drs. Alex Ketchum and Megan Elias explore this question with a community of writers, illustrators, and recipe creators. As an anthology of essays, comics, and recipes, the book reveals the dynamic and transformative ways that queerness informs food production and restaurant culture, and how food empowers, transforms, and unites queer and trans folk.

Alex is an Associate Professor at McGill University's Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies, and the co-organizer of the Queer Food Conference. Since she was last on the show to discuss her DIY zine, How to Start a Feminist Restaurant, she's also written Ingredients for a Revolution: A History of American Feminist Restaurants, Cafes, and Coffeehouses, and Engage in Public Scholarship! A Guide to Feminist and Accessible Community.

Megan is the director of Food Studies Programs at Boston University, and a historian of American foodways. They are the author of five books about food history, with the most recent being Food on the Page: Cookbooks and American Culture. She teaches courses in food history, food and gender, and food memories, and the Introduction to Gastronomy.

Together, they share behind-the-scenes about how Queers at the Table came to be after the Queer Food Conference, the intersections of queer identity and food culture, including the important of community in queer food work, challenging traditional culinary and gastronomic norms and binaries through cooking and sharing food, safety in cooking and kitchen spaces, and expansive considerations for queering food spaces in the future.

Resources:

• Queer Food Conference

• Alex Ketchum Website

• Megan Elias Website

• Instagram @queerfoodconference

Leslie Regan Shade on the internet, artificial intelligence, political economy, youth, gender, the Olsen twins, and editing

You can read about her work here:

https://ischool.utoronto.ca/faculty-profile/leslie-regan-shade/

A call for big, bad, bold courage.

What does true climate action look like when it’s rooted in sovereignty, resistance, and liberation? 

In this powerful episode of A People’s Climate, Shilpi Chhotray sits down with Nick Tilsen—Oglala Lakota land defender and CEO of NDN Collective—to unpack the meaning of LandBack, the historic fight for the Black Hills, the release of political prisoner Leonard Peltier, and the deep ties between Indigenous struggles and Palestinian resistance. 

From direct action at Mount Rushmore to building legal strategies against unjust laws, this conversation is a call for big, bad bold courage.

Key Topics

• The LandBack movement as a critical climate solution
• Nick Tilsen’s arrest at the 2020 Mount Rushmore action in defense of sacred lands and climate justice
• The release of Leonard Peltier after nearly 50 years in prison and its importance for today’s activists
• Parallels between Indigenous resistance and the struggle for Palestinian liberation
• Legal strategies to defend environmental movements against criminalization
• Practicing liberation in daily life and building a future rooted in justice

Resources to Explore

• NDN Collective
• Nick Tilsen’s Podcast: LandBack for The People
• LandBack
• The Fallout From The Greenpeace Verdict (The Nation)

Credits

Presented by Counterstream Media and The Nation
Powered by Wildseeds Fund
Host: Shilpi Chhotray
Executive Producer: Mindy Ramaker
Engineer: Francisco Núñez-Capriles
Project Manager: Marianella Núñez
Additional Research: Marianella Núñez

Learn more at apeoplesclimate.org

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] and let us know your thoughts.

Love what you hear? Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review—it helps others discover the show.

Find us instagram: @counterstream_media

Beginning in the late nineteenth century, British companies used the resources of empire to create an imperial oil industry that controlled 20% of global oil reserves by 1939 and allowed for the movement of capital and labor between regions and companies. The imperial oil complex encompassed colonies—Burma and Trinidad—and dependent states-Iraq and Iraq. In both, the imperial state used its political and military power to support British oil interests. The oil complex drew on the resources of empire but also bolstered it with profits and tax revenues while a global set of oil sites supplied the British military and civilian consumers. British companies built an infrastructure of oil production that gave them quasi-state power in oil regions while connecting these areas to global and imperial networks of communication and transportation.
Fuelling Empire: The British Imperial Oil Complex, 1886-1945 (Oxford UP, 2025) highlights the significance of Britain to the development of the global oil industry. It demonstrates the ways in which the global histories of oil and empire are inextricably interlinked. The imperial oil complex relied on a racially stratified hierarchy of labor where white supervisors managed indigenous and migrant workers. The harsh conditions of work and low pay fueled labor conflicts that resonated with emerging colonial nationalist movements that sought to limit the power of oil companies. Despite robust private and state security operations, the imperial oil complex faced greater insecurity before World War II. While the imperial oil complex survived the war, in the postwar era decolonization and Britain's financial weakness led to its decline.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In this episode, we interview Emeritus Professor Raymond Geuss on the relationship between Genealogy and Critique. We discuss the relationship between Adorno, Heidegger and Nietzsche, the dangers of normative moral and political discourse, and the role of theory today.

Raymond Geuss (FBA) is Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge.

Economic anthropologist Brett Scott, the author of Cloud Money, talks with Steve about libertarianism’s big lie. Or lies – plural.

From a class perspective, libertarianism is largely an ideological tool that protects elite power by promoting a false narrative of individualism and "free" markets. It serves as a smokescreen, concealing the mechanisms of power in a class society. What worse, it’s presented as neutral. As if all citizens are on an equal playing field. Market transactions replace the natural interdependence at the core of societies. 

Brett and Steve look at leftwing alternatives, including the potential of mutual credit systems and alternative economies as counter-narratives to mainstream economic structures.  

They also discuss libertarians' obsession with commodity money (like gold), which stems directly from their flawed view of society. They see money as a neutral tool for trade between independent agents. In reality, modern money is a credit system—a network of social promises and debts that reflects power dynamics. 

Brett Scott is an author, journalist, and activist, who explores the intersections between money systems, finance, and digital technology. He’s the author of The Heretics Guide to Global Finance: Hacking the Future of Money. His latest book is Cloudmoney: Cash, Cards, Crypto, and the War for Our Wallets. Find more of his work at https://alteredstatesof.money/ or on Substack.

@Suitpossum on X

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get much more content.

Don’t forget to vote for AP in the 2025 Signal Awards!

In a break from the (overtly) political, Derek and Danny are joined by The Ringer’s Alan Siegel to talk about his new book Stupid TV: Be More Funny, a cultural history of The Simpsons and how it changed American comedy. They discuss how a bunch of Harvard Lampoon alumni turned the show into art, the role of Fox and Rupert Murdoch in promoting a show that mocked them both, how Bart Simpson once terrified America’s parents (and George H.W. Bush), the show’s postmodern worldview, and the moment The Simpsons went from anti-establishment to establishment.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices