Mar 4, 2024 · 1 hr 57 min
NM
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Novara Media
Novara Media
Novara Media is an independent media organisation addressing the issues—from a crisis of capitalism to racism and climate change—that are set to define the 21st century.
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Episodes301
- NM
Mar 1, 2024 · 1 hr 11 minNovara FM: Russia After Navalny w/ Tony Wood
As the war in Ukraine enters its third year, the question of what Russia is really thinking remains as crucial, and mysterious, as ever. To paint a picture of the current political climate, Richard Hames talks to Tony Wood, author of Russia Without Putin and an assistant professor of history at the University of Colorado Boulder, to follow up on his New Left Review article from 2022, ‘Matrix of War’. They discuss the death of Alexei Navalny and the prospects for Putin’s opposition, the impact of Nato expansion on Russian nationalism, and the demise of Wagner PMC chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose ill-fated rebellion strikes Wood as “one of the craziest things ever to happen.” Apologies for the uneven sound quality in this episode. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support
- NMFeb 26, 2024 · 1 hr 10 min
Downstream IRL: We Are in a New Cold War w/ Yanis Varoufakis
Yanis Varoufakis is an economist and author who served as Greek Finance Minister in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crash. Since then, he has become one of the most sought after public speakers on the left. He joined Aaron Bastani for an IRL edition of Downstream at EartH in Hackney, North-East London to talk about China, Gaza and the new cold war being waged in ‘the cloud’. Set decoration was provided by After Noah.
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Feb 25, 2024 · 1 hr 42 minACFM Microdose: Aliens On Screen
Last time on ACFM, the gang explored the impact of UFOs on politics, from deep-state conspiracies to the Posadists. But to really understand how aliens influence our thought – and what our belief in E.T. says about ourselves – we have to go to the movies. In this Microdose, Keir, Jem and Nadia sweep through a century of aliens on screen, from Martian invaders to Mulder & Scully to talking heptapods. Sign up to the ACFM newsletter: https://novaramedia.com/newsletters Films, TV & Books: H. G. Wells – The War of the Worlds / The Day the Earth Stood Still / Invasion of the Body Snatchers / Quatermass / The Midwich Cuckoos / The Blob / Solaris / Close Encounters of the Third Kind / Alien / The Thing / E.T. / They Live / The X-Files / Men in Black / The Host / Godzilla / Cloverfield / District 9 / Sector Zero / The Expanse / Arrival / Nope Produced by Matt Huxley.
- NMFeb 22, 2024 · 59 min
Novara FM: The Nasty Noughties w/ Owen Hatherley & Ash Sarkar
The 2000s in Britain was a decade of education, regeneration, falling inequality and Dizzee Rascal. But beneath the fleeting prosperity lurked a culture of cruelty. It was palpable in politicians’ disdain for single mothers, in the media’s vilification of chavs, and in TV producers’ obsession with pointing and laughing at just about everyone – but don’t worry, it’s only a joke. Juliet Jacques is joined by cultural critic Owen Hatherley and Novara Media’s Ash Sarkar to talk about why the Noughties were so nasty, from TV and music to architecture and politics. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support
- NMFeb 20, 2024 · 17 min
The US Must Stop Funding Israel | Bernie Sanders meets Ash Sarkar
Bernie Sanders needs no introduction. Ash caught up with the senator to talk about his new book ‘It’s OK To Be Angry About Capitalism’, the speed of political change and whether what is happening in Gaza constitutes a genocide.
- NMFeb 19, 2024 · 1 hr 31 min
Downstream: Israel Will Never Be Safe While Occupying Palestine w/ Yousef Alhelou
Yousef Alhelou has spent the four or so months since October 7th covering the Israeli assault on Gaza through his Instagram account. In that time, his audience has grown by hundreds of thousands. Aaron sat down with Yousef to talk about international law, the genocide in Gaza and Britain’s complicity in it.
- NMFeb 15, 2024 · 1 hr 29 min
Novara FM: Can International Law Protect Gaza? w/ Rob Knox
As Israel extends its bombardment of Gaza into Rafah – a supposed safe zone where 1.7 million Palestinians are seeking refuge – the limits of the “laws” of war seem horribly apparent. Following South Africa’s case against Israel at the ICJ last month, legal scholar Rob Knox joins Eleanor Penny to offer an urgent account of the logic and limitations of international law. What makes war legal – or illegal? Why do powerful states bother with international law? How does the language of humanitarianism end up producing violence? And can international courts do anything to protect the people of Gaza? Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support
- NMFeb 8, 2024 · 57 min
Novara FM: How To Be Honest About Empire w/ Sathnam Sanghera
Certain historians and politicians like to claim that the British Empire was “on balance” a good thing. Slavery was evil, they admit, but abolition was good. Racism was wrong, but free markets are desirable. In his new book Empireworld, journalist and historian Sathnam Sanghera rejects this “balance sheet” reading of history in order to wrestle with the contradictory legacies of imperialism. But does the obvious complexity of this history really make it impossible to make any moral claims about the empire overall? Eleanor Penny finds out, asking Sathnam about our different interpretations of historical legacies, how Britain exported racism around the world, and the ecological impacts of empire, from national parks to quinine production. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support
- NMFeb 5, 2024 · 57 min
Downstream: Why No One Should Have More Than £10 Million w/ Ingrid Robeyns
Should there be a cap on how much wealth one person can have? If we’re serious about tackling poverty, the answer can only be yes, says Ingrid Robeyns, author of Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth. Robeyns tells Ash Sarkar what a wealth cap could do for the world, how the global north is living off stolen money, and why she’s reluctant to call herself a communist. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support
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Feb 4, 2024 · 1 hr 25 minACFM Trip 40: UFOs
Should the left care about the existence of aliens? The ACFM gang explore the impact of UFOs on political thought in this Trip. Keir, Jem and Nadia discuss the connections between UFO conspiracies and right-wing thought, why some communists think aliens will bring about world revolution, and whether Fermi’s paradox means we’re not alone, with music from Sun Ra, The Carpenters and true believers Blink 182. Find our ever-expanding playlist on Spotify by searching “ACFM”. Sign up to the ACFM newsletter: https://novaramedia.com/newsletters Books: Mark Pilkington – Mirage Men / Susan Lepselter – The Resonance of Unseen Things / Carl Jung – Flying Saucers / Erich von Däniken – Chariot of the Gods / H. G. Wells – The War of the Worlds / A. M. Gittlitz – I Want to Believe / Kim Stanley Robinson – Aurora Music: Blink 182 – Aliens Exist / Sheb Wooley – The Purple People Eater / Sun Ra – Interplanetary Music / The Carpenters – Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Space / Pink Floyd – Interstellar Overdrive / Flying Saucer Attack – The Season is Ours / Radiohead – Subterranean Homesick Alien / The Byrds – Hey Mr. Space Man / Radiohead – Subterranean Homesick Alien Produced and edited by Matt Huxley and Chal Ravens. PRS licence number: LE-0016481
- NMJan 29, 2024 · 1 hr 40 min
Downstream: Would the World Be Better Without Religion? w/ Aaron Bastani and Ash Sarkar
Twenty years ago, it was taken for granted that on average, people globally were shrugging off the shackles of organised religion. The world was destined for secularism. But with demographics trends in many countries pointing towards a growing religious population and with secular liberal politics failing to offer solace from falling living standards, we should no longer take this for granted. Ash Sarkar is joined by Aaron Bastani, Novara’s co-founder to discuss his faith, the socialist interpretation of the gospel and the big guy with the beard – that’s right – Karl Marx.
- NMJan 25, 2024 · 1 hr 24 min
Novara FM: Who Dares To Rewrite 40,000 Years of History? w/ David Wengrow
This episode was first released in November 2021. In the bestselling book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, archaeologist David Wengrow and the late anthropologist David Graeber offer a radically different story of our social evolution. Drawing on groundbreaking research gathered over a decade of collaboration, the book challenges just about everything we thought we knew about the origins of farming, property, slavery, democracy and civilisation. Wengrow tells Eleanor Penny about the book’s 10-year gestation and what their heretical conclusions mean for our understanding of humankind. Help us build people-powered media: http://novara.media/support
- NMJan 22, 2024 · 1 hr 28 min
Downstream: Everything You Know About The Global Economy is Wrong w/ Philip Pilkington
We are in a drastically different world from the one most of us grew up in. This has been proven by the rapid escalation in the events in the Middle East over the last six weeks. No longer are we in a world where, essentially, the US run the show. And this has huge global implications, especially for Europe. Philip Pilkington is a macroeconomist and podcaster who co-hosts the ‘Multipolarity’ podcast. He sat down with Aaron Bastani to talk about what we get wrong about China, cheap high quality weapons technology and what we can learn from the Treaty of Versailles.
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Jan 21, 2024 · 1 hr 12 minACFM Microdose: Plugged-in Protest w/ Jeremy Gilbert
Music has the uncanny power to stir up big feelings, which makes it an obvious vehicle for political statements of hope, anger, despair, or how to cast your vote. In this Microdose episode to accompany ACFM’s recent Trip on Protest, Jem takes us through 60 years of plugged-in protest music – no strumming folkies or broadside ballads this time. From hip-hop campaign boosters to new wave takes on British imperialism, from anti-landlord lyrics to a requiem for the post-war dream, it’s a narrated playlist revealing the manifold methods of musical persuasion. Sign up to the ACFM newsletter: https://novaramedia.com/newsletters Find our ever-expanding playlist on Spotify by searching “ACFM”. Music: Marlena Shaw – Woman of the Ghetto (1969) / Iggy and the Stooges – Ballad of Hollis Brown (1973) / Max Romeo – Rent Crisis (1974) / Stiff Little Fingers – Alternative Ulster (1978) / Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Oliver’s Army (1979) / Pink Floyd – The Gunner’s Dream (1983) / Bronski Beat – Smalltown Boy (1984) / Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel – Jesse (1984) / Midnight Oil – Beds Are Burning (1987) / Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy – Television, The Drug of the Nation (1991) / Asian Dub Foundation – Jericho (1995) / Le Tigre – My My Metrocard (1999) / Ms. Dynamite – It Takes More (2002) / Gina Birch – Feminist Song (2021) / The Coup – The Guillotine (2015) Produced and edited by Matt Huxley and Chal Ravens. PRS licence number: LE-0016481
- NMJan 19, 2024 · 1 hr 1 min
Novara FM: The Novels That Inspired Class War w/ Mark Steven
What role does literature play in revolution? If the question seems bizarre to you and the answer obvious, you’re not alone. Yet some of the most important revolutionaries in history have turned to literature in times of crisis. Mao Zedong started writing poetry during the Chinese Red Army’s retreat, adopting traditional Chinese forms to do so. Leon Trotsky, founder of the Russian Red Army, having just won the Russian Civil War, turned his mind to the question of literature in a communist society. And Friedrich Engels wrote that he had learned more from the novelist Honoré de Balzac than from any historian, economist or statistician. For another episode in our series on class, Juliet Jacques and Nihal El-Aasar talk to Mark Steven about revolutionary literature and the struggle for a better world. His book Class War: A Literary History is available from Verso Books. Help us build people-powered media: novara.media/support
- NMJan 15, 2024 · 1 hr 24 min
Downstream: We Are in the Post-Climate Change World w/ Gaia Vince
Discussion of climate change mainly focuses on mitigating rising temperatures, de-carbonising and getting to ‘net zero’. Author and broadcaster Gaia Vince argues that we also need to focus on how we’ll deal with with’s already happening and about to get much much worse: huge swathes of the planet becoming uninhabitable and 2 billion people needing to find somewhere new to live. She argues the solution to this problem is a radical reframing of how we think about migration. She sat down with Aaron to talk wet bulb temperatures, demographic aging and the Japanese nappy market. Gaia’s book Nomad Century is available from Penguin.
- NMJan 11, 2024 · 53 min
Novara FM: Escaping the Tourism Trap w/ Dean MacCannell
January is historically the busiest month of the year for holiday bookings. But if you’ve ever felt uncomfortable with the idea of being a tourist, you’re not the first. Back in 1976, anthropologist Dean MacCannell theorised both our drive to see the world and its manipulation by capitalism in his book The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class. Travel has changed almost beyond recognition since then: staged authenticity is the norm, and the places you’re most likely to visit are sourced from Trip Advisor and Instagram. Plus, tourism is now shrouded in environmental guilt – what the Swedish call ‘flygskam’. Fifty years after The Tourist, Novara Media contributing editor Moya Lothian-McLean speaks to MacCannell about disaster tourism, how sightseeing became sacred, and our destructive search for authenticity. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support
- NMJan 1, 2024 · 1 hr 28 min
Downstream: White Holes and Radical Politics w/ Carlo Rovelli
From his radical youth in 1970s Italy to his research as one of the world’s leading theoretical physicists, Carlo Rovelli is as comfortable talking politics as he is explaining quantum theory. He sat down with Aaron to talk about the future of Europe, his theory of white holes, and why we’re not actually living in a simulation. His book White Holes: Inside The Horizon is available from Penguin. * A huge thank you to everyone who has chosen to back our journalism this year. You’ve made everything we do possible. https://novara.media/support
- NMDec 28, 2023 · 57 min
Novara FM: The People Vs Football w/ Juliet Jacques & Tom Williams
Is football the place for political struggle? Is there a limit to the success of fan-owned clubs? How disappointed can we be when pundits and players turn out not to be comrades? Cultural critic Juliet Jacques and Pro Revolution Soccer host Tom Williams unite for a conversation inspired by Mickaël Correia’s book, The People’s History of Football. They talk about the commodification of football, how a politics of resistance has inspired teams from Cairo to Clapton, and why a supporter-owned club would ever want to sell up to Disney. * A huge thank you to everyone who has chosen to back our journalism this year. You’ve made everything we do possible. https://novara.media/support