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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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  • 301 episodes
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Episodes301

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  • Oct 20, 2025 · 1 hr 1 min

    Downstream: What Really Changed on 7th October w/ Ahmed Alnaouq, Yara Eid and Tareq Baconi

    Just over two years after the beginning of the genocide in Gaza, and just days after the announcement of a ceasefire, Aaron Bastani spoke to three Palestinian writers in front of a live audience at EartH in Hackney. Ahmed Alnaouq is the host of Palestine Deep Dive and the co-founder of ‘We Are Not Numbers’, an organisation that provides international mentors for Palestinian writers. Yara Eid is a war journalist, born and raised in Gaza, who has worked for Amnesty International and been published in The New Arab. Tareq Baconi is the former senior analyst for Israel/Palestine and Economics of Conflict at the International Crisis Group, based in Ramallah, and the author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance. Aaron spoke to Ahmed, Yara and Tareq about whether the ceasefire gives them hope, what really shifted on 7th October 2023, and how the genocide has changed them. All of the guests’ work features in the new book, Gaza: The Story of A Genocide, which is available from Verso.

  • Oct 19, 2025 · 1 hr 51 min

    ACFM Trip 55: Parties

    Amid the bumpy launch of a new left-wing party and the rise of the Greens and Reform, the ACFM crew turn their attention to parties. Do we still need them? Do parties work by drawing people together, or by excluding the uninvited? And should a political party have anything in common with a dance party? Nadia, Keir and Jem discuss, with reference to the Paris Commune, Unite the Right, Abigail’s Party and Jem’s own party, Beauty and the Beat, and music from Fred Wesley and The Beastie Boys. Find the books and music mentioned in the show: https://novara.media/acfm Sign up to the ACFM newsletter: https://novaramedia.com/newsletters Follow our ever-expanding playlist on Spotify by searching ‘ACFM’. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support

  • Oct 13, 2025 · 1 hr 36 min

    Downstream: Democracy Is Under Massive Threat From AI w/ William MacAskill

    Artificial intelligence is set to be one of the most disruptive technologies this century. For some, a machine capable of augmenting its own intelligence is a matter of time — and could even arrive within a decade. This week’s guest is philosopher and author William MacAskill. One of the leading thinkers in the Effective Altruism movement, MacAskill is the author of several highly influential books, including Doing Good Better and What We Owe The Future. His work explores not only on how to live a life of purpose, but how we also shouldn’t discount the interests of generations yet to be born. What new technologies, medicines, and workflows might AI invent? How could AI affect the distribution of power and resources across the planet? Will democracy, as a political system, be able to manage it? And what might it mean to live a good life in a world of intelligent machines?

  • Oct 6, 2025 · 1 hr 52 min

    Downstream: Was the 20th Century a Catastrophe, or a Miracle? w/ Yanis Varoufakis

    Economist, and former finance minister of Greece, Yanis Varoufakis joins Aaron to discuss his most recent book Raise Your Soul: A Personal History of Resistance, a memoir about the women in Yanis’ family who raised him, and gave him his political conscience. They discuss the Hegelian Master-Slave dialectic, is patriarchy harmful to the perpetrators, as well as women? Did Tony Blair do more to privatise Britain than Margaret Thatcher? Does Keir Starmer have a plan? And how does fascism end up destroying not just those it deems to be its enemies, but the motherland as well? Sign up for the upcoming Downstream Newsletter here: https://novaramedia.com/newsletters/the-downstream-newsletter/ Get tickets for the next Downstream IRL, ‘Gaza: The Story of a Genocide’ (with Aaron Bastani) at EartH Hackney on Mon 13 Oct at 6:30 pm: https://link.dice.fm/N3e5f1cbd3ee 00:00 Intro 02:27 Five women who inspired Yanis’ political life 09:34 The Greeks In Egypt 22:02 The Asia Minor Catastrophe 29:30 Fascism always wrecks the motherland 36:43 The root cause of fascism is capitalism 39:44 Was America ever great? 45:19 Why Yanis doesn’t take Steve Bannon’s call 50:16 Communism can save the climate 1:00:18 The problems with Starmer 1:05:25 “Tony Blair is as evil as they come” 1:09:09 The road from Thatcher to Reform 1:13:36 Feminism, the manosphere, and the master slave paradox 1:23:44 On pornography 1:32:52 Humans Need Rules to live by 1:34:34 Physics or economics? 1:42:48 Collective will 1:48:14 Coming back from a bad year

  • Sep 29, 2025 · 1 hr 41 min

    Downstream: The Right Is Stirring up Anti-Muslim Hate – and It’s Getting Worse w/ Myriam François

    In the summer of 2024, hotels sheltering Muslim asylum seekers across Britain were attacked by violent mobs. A year later, as the summer of 2025 drew to a close, a far-right demonstration of 100,000 people marched through London, bearing St George’s flags and led by Tommy Robinson. On Downstream this week is Myriam François, a broadcaster and journalist, whose conversion to Islam 20 years ago has profoundly shaped her life in Britain. In conversation with Ash Sarkar, she tells the story of how she was politicised by a trip to Palestine in the early 2000s. Does she think Britain’s move to recognise the state of Palestine will make any difference to the lives of people on the ground in Gaza? What is ‘whiteness’ and how do those who are included in it wield power in society? Is Islamophobia getting worse? And is an end to racism possible, without an end to capitalism?

  • Sep 28, 2025 · 1 hr 59 min

    ACFM Microdose: Sci-Fi

    After last week’s ACFM Trip to the Future, Jem and Keir reconvene to talk about science fiction. Is sci-fi a reaction to the “time-space compression” of the present? Is it inherently progressive? How did dystopian and paranoids visions of the future come to dominate sci-fi? Was Arthur C. Clarke an early acid communist? Find all the books and films mentioned in the show: https://novara.media/acfm Sign up to the ACFM newsletter: https://novaramedia.com/newsletters Help us build people-powered media: https://novaramedia.com/support

  • Sep 22, 2025 · 1 hr 49 min

    Downstream: How Brexit Paved The Way For Farage’s Bid for Downing Street w/ Tom McTague

    It’s almost 10 years since Britain voted to leave the EU, and we’re still dealing with the consequences. In his new book, Between The Waves, Politico’s chief UK political correspondent Tom McTague argues that the journey to Brexit really began with Enoch Powell, before be taken up by his political heir, Nigel Farage. He talks to Aaron Bastani about how the dissolution of empire shape Britain’s relationship to Europe, how the Labour party switched from Eurosceptic to Europhile, and what Farage learned from Powell. Between The Waves: The Hidden History of a Very British Revolution 1945-2016 is available from Pan Macmillan. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support

  • Sep 21, 2025 · 1 hr 57 min

    ACFM Trip 54: The Future

    What if we stopped treating the future like a speculative asset and started trying to actually build and prepare? The ACFM gang look to the horizon in this Trip episode. Did young people always worry so much about their futures? Has the currency of emergency been devalued? Does conservatism have an idea of the future? Nadia, Jem and Keir wonder what’s next with ideas from Max Weber and Kate Raworth, and music from LTJ Bukem and FKA twigs. Find the books and music mentioned in the show: https://novara.media/acfm Sign up to the ACFM newsletter: https://novaramedia.com/newsletters Follow our ever-expanding playlist on Spotify by searching ‘ACFM’. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support

  • Sep 15, 2025 · 28 min

    Downstream: The Political Possibilities of the Ancient World w/ Josephine Quinn

    What were the ancient alternatives to democracy? Did people in the Bronze Age forget how to write – or deliberately stop? And what’s the use in studying ancient languages? In a Downstream IRL recorded at EartH Hackney, Aaron Bastani speaks to Josephine Quinn, Professor of Ancient History at Cambridge University, about some lesser-known aspects of the ancient world, as explored in her book How the World Made the West. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support

  • Sep 8, 2025 · 2 hr 2 min

    Downstream: Are We Living Through the End of an Empire? w/ Lea Ypi

    What can the collapse of the Ottoman Empire teach us about the danger of the current discourse around migration? ‘Re-migration’ is not a new concept conjured up by the far-right, but rather something that would be familiar to many Europeans of a century ago. What would those involved in these tragedies think of the direction in which the world is heading? To answer these questions and more, Aaron Bastani is joined by Lea Ypi, Professor of Political Theory at the London School of Economics and author of a new book, ‘Indignity’. She spoke about the myths surrounding migration, the surprising relationship between the British state and Balkan Communists and her grandfather’s time with Enver Hoxha.

  • Sep 1, 2025 · 1 hr 45 min

    Downstream: Infinite Growth Will Lead to Collapse w/ Jason Hickel

    Our politicians don’t agree on much, but one thing most of them agree on is that growth is universally good. Grow the pie, they assure us, and there will be more to go around. Our guest on Downstream this week could not disagree more. Professor Jason Hickel argues that the mindless pursuit of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth isn’t just a bad thing, but is leading humanity to catastrophe. He is an expert on what climate collapse actually means, as well as the solutions available to us that could mitigate the crisis. He and Aaron Bastani discuss where the current growth forecasts will lead humanity, and the planet we live on. How does Palestine fit into the broader geo-political picture? Is green growth a plausible economic strategy, or just a greenwashed version of capitalism? And does degrowth need a re-brand?

  • Aug 31, 2025 · 1 hr 41 min

    ACFM Microdose: Gardening

    Are gardens a sanctuary or an enclosure? The ACFM gang sketch out a weird-left history of gardening, from the walled gardens of paradise to the tarmacked lawns of suburban Britain. Find the books, music and Dunmore Pineapple mentioned in the show: https://novara.media/acfm Sign up to the ACFM newsletter: https://novaramedia.com/newsletters Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support

  • Aug 25, 2025 · 2 hr 1 min

    Downstream: China Is Building While the West Crumbles w/ Dan Wang

    Dan Wang is a technology analyst and author whose life experience, spent partly in North America, partly in China, sets him up as an authoritative observer of the differences and similarities between the American and Chinese empires. In conversation with Aaron Bastani, Wang shares his thesis that elite overproduction of engineers in China, and lawyers in America, can explain the traits of each empire as they face down the 21st century, from high speed rail and housing, to lockdown policy and manufacturing strategy. Why has China been able to roll out high speed rail while America hasn’t? Why does so much of the anglophone world appear to be living in the ruins of industrial society? How did the one child policy come into being and has there been any reparation for the atrocities committed in its name? And is China today fundamentally left or right wing?

  • Aug 18, 2025 · 1 hr 18 min

    Downstream: A Reckoning Is Coming For The Establishment Over Gaza w/ Owen Jones

    Owen Jones is a journalist and the author of ‘Chavs’, ‘The Establishment’, and ‘This Land’. He has spent the last 21 months relentlessly reporting and commenting on Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. He joins Ash Sarkar to talk about how media bias actually works, the history of the West’s support for Zionism, and how to deal with the weaponisation of antisemitism when it’s done to support a genocide.

  • Aug 11, 2025 · 1 hr 5 min

    Downstream: The Ancient Indian History Our Schools Don’t Teach w/ William Dalrymple

    Ash Sarkar sat down at EartH Hackney with acclaimed historian and author William Dalrymple. Picking up where they left off last time they spoke on Downstream, Sarkar and Dalrymple had a wide-ranging conversation at the crossroads of empire, resistance, and the long shadows of colonialism. From the rich histories traced in The Golden Road to the urgent realities of Gaza and the deeper fault lines of South Asia’s past, this was a discussion that cut across centuries—and continents. Dalrymple brought his signature insight into how East shaped West, asking us to reimagine our sense of where power lay in the ancient world.

  • Aug 7, 2025 · 1 hr 40 min

    Novara FM: Where Did Novara Media Come From? w/ Aaron Bastani, James Butler and Ash Sarkar

    Novara FM was Novara Media’s first show – it’s now coming to an end. On the final episode, Richard Hames sat down with Aaron Bastani, James Butler and Ash Sarkar to talk about 15 years of Novara Media. What have we learned from a decade and a half fighting a media landscape that insists nothing can ever change? A new product will launch next month. Animated by the same complexity and depth as Novara FM, it will be available both on this podcast feed and YouTube.

  • Aug 4, 2025 · 1 hr 14 min

    Downstream: The Real Reason Millennials Are Screwed w/ Eliza Filby

    Dr Eliza Filby is a historian and author of the bestselling book Inheritocracy: It’s Time to Talk About the Bank of Mum and Dad. In conversation with Ash Sarkar, Dr Filby draws on her own life story, growing up in South London with parents who went from communists to Thatcherites in the 1980s. She debunks the common myths we tell ourselves about class and meritocracy, and in doing so, shines a light on the root cause of so much inequality: inherited wealth. Is it really true that the Baby Boomers stole the next generation’s future? Why do housing deposits fall out of the sky for some people when they turn 30? Is it a good thing that the middle classes are now being screwed over, too? And is class ultimately about identity, or access to money?

  • Aug 3, 2025 · 1 hr 22 min

    ACFM Trip 53: Growth

    Keir Starmer claims that growth is the only cure for a country in decline. But why is it the central obsession of modern capitalist economies? And can we think our way out of it before our planet runs out of resources? Nadia, Keir and Jem offer their weird-left take on growth, degrowth, radical abundance, ecomodernism and personal productivity, with ideas from Kate Soper and Kohei Saito and music from Minnie Riperton, 7 Samurai and Joanna Newsom. Find the books and music mentioned in the show: https://novara.media/acfm Sign up to the ACFM newsletter: https://novaramedia.com/newsletters Follow our ever-expanding playlist on Spotify by searching ‘ACFM’. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support

  • Jul 28, 2025 · 1 hr 16 min

    Downstream: Ash Sarkar meets Gerry Adams

    This interview would once have been illegal to broadcast in the UK. For many, Gerry Adams is a peacemaker, but for others he remains inseparable from the violence and trauma of the Troubles. Ash Sarkar travels to the James Connolly Centre in West Belfast to talk to Adams about the slow rise of his party, Sinn Féin, the emotional demands of leading a political movement, and his responsibility to the victims of IRA violence. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support