For the third episode in our series of podcasts on Adam Curtis's Can't Get You Out of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World, Amogh and Matt joined The Antifada's Andy, Jamie, and Sean.

We continued discussing historical storytelling and the contemporary development of a worldview. How can Curtis's diagnostic fragments transform into political overcoming? How do we situate ourselves while caught between liberalism and fascism, the human and AI, objective conditions and subjective formation, postmodernism and anti-communism, charisma and belief?

The Antifada: https://www.patreon.com/theantifada

--"'You could be a cult leader': Diane Morgan and Adam Curtis on Brexit, Trump and his new series" - Simon Usborne: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/feb/06/you-could-be-a-cult-leader-diane-morgan-and-adam-curtis-on-brexit-trump-and-his-new-series

--"Adam Curtis on Our Troubled Times, TikTok and Taking Back the Internet" - Thomas Gorton: https://www.anothermag.com/design-living/13105/adam-curtis-cant-get-you-out-of-my-head-new-documentary-series-2021

--"What Does The Future Hold? An Interview With Adam Curtis" - Michael J. Brooks: https://thequietus.com/articles/29558-film-adam-curtis-cant-get-you-out-of-my-head-interview

--"A Conversation with Filmmaker Adam Curtis on Power, Technology and How Ideas Get Into People's Heads" - Billy Perrigo: https://time.com/5941744/adam-curtis-cant-get-you-out-of-my-head/

Last week Adam Curtis released a new 6-part film series, Can't Get You Out Of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World. In this discussion, Amogh, Malek, and Matt begin to unpack and respond to the series, asking what Curtis means in aiming to provide an “emotional” history? What are the subterranean forces that animate ideological/social/political movements and their figure-heads? What does it mean to rid ourselves of the past, and is that even possible? How does Curtis’s novelistic approach serve or confuse our understanding of the ambitious historical and political claims of his work, and what if any are the lessons to be taken away? Does Curtis think that all revolutionary movements are doomed to fail? Are these failures written into the movements from the start, or are they the result of the machinations of external powers? What is the idea of ‘power’ that he constantly invokes and where does it lie?

--“Can't Get You Out Of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thd5bBUNEw8 (trailer) / https://thoughtmaybe.com/cant-get-you-out-of-my-head/ (series)
--“Charlie Brooker in Conversation with Adam Curtis”  (2021): https://www.vice.com/en/article/4ad8db/adam-curtis-charlie-brooker-cant-get-you-out-of-my-head

--“Adam Curtis: Social media is a scam” - Tom Hodgkinson (2018): https://www.idler.co.uk/article/adam-curtis-social-media-is-a-scam/

It's the final day of our fundraiser! Thanks again for everyone's contributions, we appreciate any and all donations to keep our volunteer-run space and project going, now in year 8. https://www.gofundme.com/f/woodbine-moving-fundraiser

This Thursday, February 11th, English filmmaker Adam Curtis will release a new 6-part film series, Can't Get You Out Of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World. In anticipation, Amogh, Malek, and Matt discuss the work and project of Adam Curtis, particularly his most recent film, HyperNormalisation (2016).

In our conversation we touch on Adam Curtis’ stated topic area, his methodology, and its benefits and costs. We discuss Curtis’s vision of politics as ideology vs. politics as system management, and try to sketch a potential history of this division. We look at the reification of the constructed and/or consumerist individual as a political class in the age of social media, as well as both the useful and unuseful ways of framing Curtis’s theories of history and power. What does Curtis mean when he accuses contemporary radicals of ‘not having a coherent vision of the future’? Is his deep pessimism about contemporary political movements warranted? Four years later, how do we reflect on Curtis’s portrayals of Donald Trump, politics in the Middle East, and social life on cyberspace?

--Can't Get You Out Of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World (2021, trailer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thd5bBUNEw8

--HyperNormalisation (2016): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh2cDKyFdyU

--”And then the Strangest Thing Happened” - Owen Hatherley, 2017: https://nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/and-then-the-strangest-thing-happened/

Malek Rasamny is a documentary filmmaker and writer. He is the co-founder of the LERFE space and co-producer of “The Native and the Refugee '' project. He is currently a Master’s student in the Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales in Paris where he is specializing in religion and society.

Amogh Sahu is a PhD student in Philosophy at Columbia University. He works on social and political philosophy, with a special emphasis on the significance of capitalism in the work of the early Frankfurt School.

This is the last week of Woodbine's fundraiser! With our community's support and generosity we have raised more than $24,000, but we still hope to reach our goal of $30k! We want to continue renovations on our new space, including rewiring our electrical system and redoing the bathrooms, as we keep up with rent and utilities during this extended pandemic. We can't wait to be able to resume our regular calendar of free events, workshops, and community dinners soon! Please contribute what you can, and help spread the word! https://www.gofundme.com/f/woodbine-moving-fundraiser

In this interview, Haris discusses the state’s attack on the Idomeni border camp, the forced relocation of migrants to state run detention c

In this interview, Haris discusses the state’s attack on the Idomeni border camp, the forced relocation of migrants to state run detention centers in the periphery of the city exposing individuals to the most toxic conditions, and efforts by Thessaloniki anti-authoritarian struggles to work with migrants to recuperate housing within the city center itself. Haris also distinguishes squatting in Thessaloniki versus Athens’ Exarchia district. He concludes by discussing the churches and Syriza’s demolition of migrant housing located on church property. We continue the conversation exploring how Greek anti-authoritarian encounters with migrant networks transformed understandings around the commons. In particular, not only creating safe spaces offering all the basic amenities, but spaces of trust and deepening social relations. We then discuss the future of migrant housing squats and self-run camps, the corruption of the refugee aid industry, and the emergence so called “internal” borders within the Greek state restricting movement for migrants refusing to claim asylum within island detention centers.

Intro/Outro Song: Killah P — Zoria

This episode was edited by Joe Kujawa.

Overworked? Underpaid? And still get heat from the bosses that you should be doing more with less cause you’re serving the most vulnerable?

Overworked? Underpaid? And still get heat from the bosses that you should be doing more with less cause you’re serving the most vulnerable? Even clinics and nonprofits claiming the most progressive intentions inherit some of the most exploitative practices against their workers. In this episode, we speak with a healthcare worker who linked up with her fellow docs, nurses, and administrators to resist union busting tactics by their bosses and promote fairer conditions in an LGBT clinic. We also talk with our guest about how she got involved with social justice work before entering medical school and where she is now following the dramatic unionizing effort.

This episode was edited by Joe Kujawa.

The physical and psychological impact of incarceration in Germany is shocking, resulting in suicides and other sequelae. In this interview w

The physical and psychological impact of incarceration in Germany is shocking, resulting in suicides and other sequelae. In this interview with an editor of the Gefangenen Magazine, we learn about the prison abolition struggle in Germany and how German activists are joining with migrant collectives to create mutual aid networks, political actions, and other strategies in response.

This episode was edited by Joe Kujawa.

Links: https://themastproject.wordpress.com/ http://www.contraceptionjournal.org/article/S0010-7824(17)30475-4/fulltext https://www.aclu.org

Links:

• https://themastproject.wordpress.com/

• http://www.contraceptionjournal.org/article/S0010-7824(17)30475-4/fulltext

• https://www.aclu.org/other/whats-wrong-fetal-rights

• https://www.listennotes.com/e/7a66b23064f84979aafc93784e3f7152/iii-b-kvelertak-ii-fetal-protection-laws-and-the-consequences-of-health-injustice/]

This episode was edited by Joe Kujawa.

Mental health affects millions of people – 1 in 5 Americans according to some estimates, with half of them not receiving any treatment. Part

Mental health affects millions of people – 1 in 5 Americans according to some estimates, with half of them not receiving any treatment. Part of the problem might be that we see the mind as orderly and contained, when really the mind seems to be characterized by disorder. Some indigenous cultures view 'insane' as synonymous with shamanic capabilities. Kids are medicated because they can't sit in class, even though stillness is antithetical to the imaginative, dynamic, reactive world children inhabit.

In this episode, Frank and Babak talk to their friend and comrade Leijia about personal experiences of mental health, and how considerations of mental health can increase our collective capacity.

Closing Poem: We All Conspire by Mario Benedetti

Reference links:
We are all very anxious

This episode was edited by Joe Kujawa.

This episode was produced by Joe Kujawa & Yvette Hall in Brooklyn, NY. Reference links: When Wellness is a Dirty Word The Wellness Syndr

This episode was produced by Joe Kujawa & Yvette Hall in Brooklyn, NY.

Reference links:
When Wellness is a Dirty Word
The Wellness Syndrom
Life Hacks of the Poor and Aimless
How Wellness Became an Epidemic
Class Combat
Self as Other: Reflections on Selfcare

Closing Poem "Karma" by award winning poet, Dominique Christina

This episode was produced by Joe Kujawa & Yvette Hall in Brooklyn, NY.