Zero Books: Advancing Conversations

The Symptomatic Redness podcast presents conversations on political economy and history. Hosted by C. Derick Varn and Amogh Sahu, the program was an independent project for several years but is now hosted by Zero Books on the Zero Squared podcast feed.

This episode features a critique of Pankaj Mishra's Age of Anger.

From the book jacket:

How can we explain the origins of the great wave of paranoid hatreds that seem inescapable in our close-knit world―from American shooters and ISIS to Donald Trump, from a rise in vengeful nationalism across the world to racism and misogyny on social media? In Age of Anger, Pankaj Mishra answers our bewilderment by casting his gaze back to the eighteenth century before leading us to the present.

Angela Nagle’s Kill All Normies earned her the title "an old leftist's idea of what a young leftist should be" by her detractors and "one of the brightest lights in a new generation of left writers who have declared independence from intellectual conformity' by her champions. We at Zero Books are proud to have published her book and glad to welcome her back as the guest on this week’s podcast.

If you’re a current member of the Zero Books club I want to let you know that we’ll be moving from the Zero Books blog to Patreon. This will make it easier to get the member’s only podcast. Current members of the Zero Books club will be receiving a complimentary copy of a Zero Books title, chosen at random, as a parting gift and with the hope that they’ll continue on supporting the imprint and the podcast. An email will be going on soon.

Adam Proctor is a scholar in Neo-Marxian state theory and class formation, labor history in the 20th century, and the development of racial formations. He is also a member of the DSA and the host of one the new leftist podcasts that make me feel old and out of touch. His Dead Pundits Society podcast has arrived on the podcasting scene with a roar as Adam has interviewed a slew of smart guests including Christian Parenti, Adolph Reed and Zero Books’ own Angela Nagle.

If you’re looking for a book to help you understand late capitalism pick up Anselm Jappe’s The Writing on the Wall which is a collection that brings an understanding of Marx’s Value Theory to bear on political questions, Chris Nineham’s How the Establishment Lost Control, and, of course, Angela Nagle’s Kill All Normies which is turning out to be a great conversation piece. It’s guaranteed to transform any leftist get together into a struggle session.

Terry Tapp is an artist and writer living in New York City. Originally from Central Appalachia, Terry spent many years working trade jobs, wandering through the American south, all the while creating art and writing. His book A Serf's Journal is a formidable first-hand account of American workers in Jeffersonville, Indiana, as they fought a multinational company and their corrupt union to stage the longest wildcat strike in US history. Tapp is the guest this week as we discuss overcoming capitalism.

If you’re looking for a book to help you understand late capitalism pick up Anselm Jappe’s The Writing on the Wall which is a collection that brings an understanding of Marx’s Value Theory to bear on political questions, Chris Nineham’s How the Establishment Lost Control, and, of course, Angela Nagle’s Kill All Normies which is turning out to be a great conversation piece. It’s guaranteed to transform any leftist get together into a struggle session.

If you enjoy this podcast consider joining the Zero Books Club. Zero Books Club members receive access to a Saturday podcast entitled Inside Zero Books which sometimes features the second half of conversations with Zero Squared guests and sometimes features conversations with Zero Books readers about the state of the left. Zero Books Club members are also invited to participate in youtube workshops with Zero Books authors and others.

This week's Inside Zero Books features an intergenerational debate between a Millennial and a Slacker on the topic of Free Speech. Is concern about protecting free speech merely a liberal/centrist notion or is it there something radical about free speech?

“He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion... Nor is it enough that he should hear the opinions of adversaries from his own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompanied by what they offer as refutations. He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them...he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.” -JSM

Frankie Gaffney is the guest this week, and he’s the author of the novel Dublin Seven and a writer for the Irish Times, the Dublin Inquirer, Broadsheet and many other publications. In May this year, he wrote a piece for the Irish Times entitled Identity Politics is Utterly Ineffective at Anything Other than Dividing People which drew ire online and even inspired a hashtag and an open letter of condemnation.

If you’re looking for a book to help you understand late capitalism pick up Anselm Jappe’s The Writing on the Wall which is a collection that brings an understanding of Marx’s Value Theory to bear on political questions, Chris Nineham’s How the Establishment Lost Control, and, of course, Angela Nagle’s Kill All Normies which is turning out to be a great conversation piece. It’s guaranteed to transform any leftist get together into a struggle session.

If you enjoy this podcast consider joining the Zero Books Club. Zero Books Club members receive access to a Saturday podcast entitled Inside Zero Books which sometimes features the second half of conversations with Zero Squared guests and sometimes features conversations with Zero Books readers about the state of the left. Zero Books Club members are also invited to participate in youtube workshops with Zero Books authors and others.

Vakhtang Gomelauri is a therapist and self-proclaimed psychoanalyst working in NYC who is influenced by the ideas of the Jacques Lacan and this week he’s stopped by to discuss the book Television by Jacques Lacan, and the televised broadcast that the book is based on.

If you’re looking for a book to help you understand psychology and its crisis you should pick up a copy of The Off Modern by Ron Roberts. Other Zero Books titles worth having would be Anselm Jappe’s The Writing on the Wall which is a collection that brings an understanding of Marx’s Value Theory to bear on political questions, and, of course, Angela Nagle’s Kill All Normies which is turning out to be a great conversation piece. It’s guaranteed to transform any leftist get together into a struggle session.

If you enjoy this podcast consider joining the Zero Books Club. Zero Books Club members receive access to a Saturday podcast entitled Inside Zero Books which sometimes features the second half of conversations with Zero Squared guests and sometimes features conversations with Zero Books readers about the state of the left. Zero Books Club members are also invited to participate in youtube workshops with Zero Books authors and others.

C Derick Varn is the guest this week. Varn is a reader at Zero Books, a University lecturer and teacher, a poet, and a frequent guest on this podcast and many others. This week we discuss the contradictions in liberalism and debate whether the goal of Marx was to realize or abandon liberal values.

If you’re looking for some books to help you understand the current political crisis we’re in we at Zero Books have just the reading list for you. Edmund Berger’s Uncertain Futures provides a detailed look into the economic and political conditions of the Trump era from a Marxist perspective, Chris Nineham’s How the Establishment Lost Control offers an upbeat explanation for Corbynism and Brexit both, Anselm Jappe’s The Writing on the Wall is a collection of essays that brings an understanding of Marx’s Value Theory to bear on political questions, and Angela Nagle’s Kill All Normies explains how the online culture war added fuel to the fire of right-wing reaction.

If you enjoy the podcast consider joining the Zero Books Club. Zero Books Club members receive access to a Saturday podcast entitled Inside Zero Books which sometimes features the second half of conversations with Zero Squared guests and sometimes features conversations with Zero Books readers about the state of the left. Zero Books Club members are also invited to participate in youtube workshops with Zero Books authors and others.

An anonymous member of leftypol is the guest on this week’s Zero Books podcast. According to the website Know Your Meme leftypol “consists of users who sympathizes with communist ideology and viewpoint. Although many of the memes are centered around the USSR and Albania, almost all the users are opposed to both the USSR and Hoxhaist Albania. The board is also the home of left-wing discussion of ideology and culture, according to the board’s FAQ. The Board is also associated with the USSC (Union of Soviet Socialist Chans).”

If you’re looking for something to read Some Zero Books titles to check out include Angela Nagle’s book Kill All Normies, Joanna Demer’s Anatomy of a Thought Fiction, That Existential Leap: A crime story by Dolan Cummings, and Stephen Lee Naish’s Deconstructing Dirty Dancing.

If you enjoy the podcast consider joining the Zero Books Club. Zero Books Club members receive access to a Saturday podcast entitled Inside Zero Books which sometimes features the second half of conversations with Zero Squared guests and sometimes features conversations with Zero Books readers about the state of the left. Zero Books Club members are also invited to participate in youtube workshops with Zero Books authors and others.

Chris Nineham is a founder member of the Stop the War Coalition. He was one of the organisers of the February 15th,2003 demonstration in London and central to the international co-ordination that led to the protests going global. His book How the Establishment Lost Control is due out from Zero Books on August 25th and in this episode we discuss the success of Jeremy Corbyn.

Some other Zero Books titles to check out include Angela Nagle’s book Kill All Normies, Joanna Demer’s Anatomy of a Thought Fiction, That Existential Leap: A crime story by Dolan Cummings, and Edmund Berger’s Uncertain Futures.

If you enjoy this podcast consider joining the Zero Books Club. Zero Books Club members receive access to a Saturday podcast entitled Inside Zero Books which sometimes features the second half of conversations with Zero Squared guests and sometimes features conversations with Zero Books readers about the state of the left. Zero Books Club members are also invited to participate in youtube workshops with Zero Books authors and others.