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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Jul 21, 2025 · 52 min
Downstream: India Was the Epicentre of the Ancient World w/ William Dalrymple
The Silk Road has dominated the way we imagine the trading relationship between Europe and Asia to have worked in antiquity. In his new book, The Golden Road, William Dalrymple busts that myth. He sat down with Ash to talk about the origins of algebra, Indian gems in Anglo-Saxon Britain and why Genghis Khan was scared of India. You can see Ash and William live in conversation at EartH Hackney on the 29th July: https://dice.fm/event/92dq5d-downstream-irl-ash-sarkar-in-conversation-with-william-dalrymple-29th-jul-earth-london-tickets?lng=en
Jul 14, 2025 · 1 hr 3 min
Downstream: Trump & Musk Could Start a Global Meltdown w/ Michael Lewis
Michael Lewis is an American author, journalist, and former bond trader. His best-known book, The Big Short, explains the 2000s US housing bubble and helped many people understand the 2008 financial crisis. In this interview, Lewis speaks with Aaron Bastani about his latest book, a collection of essays on federal government employees. Lewis finds that many of these workers are actually doing a good job, far from the stereotype of inefficient bureaucrats and the ire the likes of Trump and Musk direct at them. Why is Trump so effective at capturing public anger? Could Trumpism continue without Trump? What is Obama’s true political legacy? And what is the next major crisis?
Jul 13, 2025 · 1 hr 8 min
ACFM Microdose: Social Reproduction
Following their Trip episode about Cleaning, the ACFM crew take a closer look at the hidden labour that keeps the economy running. Would public canteens solve 80% of our problems? Find the books and music 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
Jul 7, 2025 · 1 hr 40 min
Downstream: Masculinity, Modern Love, and Mental Health w/ Blindboy
Blindboy is an artist, podcaster, and author. His storytelling style weaves anti-colonial histories with perspectives on modern masculinity, politics, and mental health, all cut with an absurdist sense of humour. In public Blindboy wears a mask made from a plastic bag, maintaining anonymity while developing a cult following as a podcaster. In this interview, Blindboy delves into the historical connections between Ireland and Palestine, going as far back as the 1920s when the two countries were occupied by the same units of the British army. How has this history shaped the politics of Irish rap group Kneecap? And how are anti-colonial folk songs being misappropriated by the far-right in Ireland today?
Jul 4, 2025 · 1 hr 26 min
Novara FM: ICE Is Ramping Up. LA Fought Back w/ Harsha Walia
The Trump Administration’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the tune of $45bn – a staggering increasing. But the fight back has already started. The 2025 protests in LA sought to slow down enforcement of increasingly draconian migration rules. Harsha Walia is the co-founder of ‘No One is Illegal’ and author of Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism. She spoke to Eleanor Penny about the global fight against borders – and what we need to do now.
Jul 1, 2025 · 1 hr 29 min
Downstream: Exposing The True Costs of AI w/ Karen Hao
As AI begins to fundamentally alter our lives, we’re in urgent need of expert voices who both understand how the technology works and are capable of scrutinising its effects. In her new book, Empire of AI, tech reporter and former Silicon Valley engineer Karen Hao debunks the myths that surround AI and exposes the true costs of this global industry. She speaks to Aaron about Sam Altman’s origin story, the traumatising nature of content moderation work, and the striking similarities between Open AI and the British East India Company. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support
Jun 29, 2025 · 1 hr 59 min
ACFM Trip 52: Cleaning
In the socialist utopia of our dreams, who exactly is doing the cleaning? Nadia, Jem and Keir confront a tricky topic in this ACFM Trip. With music from X-Ray Spex, The B-52s and more, they offer their weird-left perspective on everything from dirty dishes and bodily secretions to circumcision, pollution and the caste system. 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
Jun 25, 2025 · 1 hr 37 min
Novara FM: Israel-Iran War, Escalation Pauses w/ Eskandar Sadeghi
Escalation towards war with Iran has hit a pause. But for how long? Eskandar Sadeghi is the author of Revolution and its Discontents: Political Thought and Reform in Iran. He joined Richard Hames to explain the strategy and history of this conflict – and what it means for the future of geopolitics. And, of course, remember that the purpose of this war was to distract us from the Gaza Genocide.
Jun 23, 2025 · 1 hr 19 min
Downstream: Trump’s Plan is to Make His Friends Even Richer w/ Quinn Slobodian
Quinn Slobodian is a Canadian historian. His new book, Hayek’s Bastards: The Neoliberal Roots of the Populist Right is a deep dive into the set of far-right ideologues currently dominating US politics. Slobodian tracks how neoliberal thought has changed since Friedrich Hayek’s vision of unfettered capitalism went mainstream 50 years ago. In this conversation with Ash Sarkar, Slobodian talks about the reasons behind the new far-right’s obsessions with collapse, race, gold, and IQ. Who are the current crop of neoliberals influencing politics? What is their vision of the future and how do they plan to get there? Why does Elon Musk have so many male children? And if Fukuyama’s ‘end of history’ has now ended, will this new era offer us anything other than a frisson of excitement, before a time of deeper inequality ensues?
Jun 19, 2025 · 1 hr 17 min
Novara FM: How BlackRock and Global Finance Stole Your Future w/ Michael A. McCarthy
Got a pension? Or a savings account? Arguably, its purpose is to align your interests with the interests of capitalism: when the market goes up, you benefit too. All this means that the working class actually already owns lots of the assets around us, from companies to houses. But how much control do we actually have? Michael A. McCarthy is the author of The Master’s Tools: How Finance Wrecked Democracy (And a Radical Plan to Rebuild It). He spoke to Eleanor Penny about how we take back control of what is already ours.
Jun 16, 2025 · 56 min
Downstream: American Democracy Is Collapsing, and This Man Predicted It w/ Joseph Stiglitz
During the 2008 economic crisis, the Obama administration had an opportunity to enact widespread market reforms. Instead, they bailed out the banks and laid the groundwork for mass inequality and a political culture that has given us a second Trump administration. This week’s guest was in the room where those crucial decisions were made, and argued that financial institutions should not be able to escape the consequences of their recklessness. Joseph Stiglitz is a Nobel Prize-winning economist and author of ‘The Road To Freedom: Economics and The Good Society’. He sat down with Aaron to discuss the collapse of American democracy, his relationship with Milton Friedman and whether China is actually a socialist country.
Jun 13, 2025 · 1 hr 18 min
Novara FM: How to Redistribute the Globe w/ Jo Guldi
Assuming you’re not reading this on your yacht, then the most contentious thing in the world is right beneath you. Since the dawn of agriculture, peasants, farmers, landlords, and states have vied for control of the land. Jo Guldi is the author of the The Long Land War: The Global Struggle for Occupancy Rights. She spoke to Eleanor Penny about the history of that struggle, and how the struggle over the most basic condition of life is evolving now.
Jun 10, 2025 · 1 hr 25 min
Downstream: The IDF Killed My Entire Family, and the British Government Helped Them w/ Ahmed Alnaouq
Ahmed Alnaouq is a Palestinian journalist and author. In October 2023, while he was in the UK, an Israeli airstrike hit his home in central Gaza, killing 21 of his immediate family, including his father, two brothers, three sisters and their children. He joins Ash Sarkar to talk about Israel’s dehumanisation of Palestinians, Britain’s continuing support of Israel, and what lessons can be drawn from the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Alnaouq’s book, We Are Not Numbers: The Voices of Gaza’s Youth, is published by Penguin. We need 1,000 new regular supporters to join our mission. Support Novara Media today: https://novara.media/support
Jun 5, 2025 · 1 hr 16 min
Novara FM: Palantir Technologies and the Age of Automated Genocide w/ Matt Mahmoudi
The genocide in Gaza has been the most automated in history. Systems like ‘Lavender’ and ‘Where’s Daddy?’ reportedly speed up the process of tracking and targeting Palestinians. The genocide’s brutality has been concealed behind the facade of technical neutrality. So why are the companies working with the IDF also working with the NHS? Eleanor Penny spoke to Matt Mahmoudi about the broken promises of big tech and war in the age of AI.
Jun 2, 2025 · 1 hr 41 min
Downstream: Britain’s Most Powerful Multi-Millionaire Hippy w/ Dale Vince
Dale Vince is a former new age traveller and the inventor of a string of transformative technologies: the world’s first green energy company, the electric supercar, and the Electric Highway charging network. The last of these got him into in a David-versus-Goliath legal battle with Elon Musk – a battle that he won. Since then, Vince has funded Just Stop Oil, become a major donor to the Labour Party, and bought Forest Green Rovers, the world’s first vegan football club. His next project? Creating an edible form of high protein-grass. He spoke to Aaron Bastani about his journey from new age traveller to multi-millionaire political player. The next few years are critical. Help fund a new media for a different politics: https://novara.media/support
Jun 2, 2025 · 2 hr 1 min
ACFM Microdose: Superheroes
Following the recent Trip episode on Heroes, Keir and Jem return with a Microdose focusing on the masked, the winged and the mutated. Why are superheroes such a cultural mainstay? What psychological and political desires do they fulfil? Are they inherently reactionary? From Superman to Batman, Wonder Woman to 2000AD, it’s a weird left reading of superheroes and comic book culture. Sign up to the ACFM newsletter: https://novaramedia.com/newsletters Help us build people-powered media – pledge your support from as little as £1 a month: https://novara.media/support
May 29, 2025 · 1 hr 13 min
Novara FM: How Enoch Powell Explains British Politics’ Rivers of Shit w/ Kojo Koram
Keir Starmer stands accused of echoing Enoch Powell in his ‘Island of Strangers’ speech. But who was this titanic figure in the history of British racism? And how did he shape the far right’s existential struggle to understand Britain once it ceased to be a formal empire? Eleanor Penny spoke to Kojo Koram about how to understand his influence in a renewed moment of national decline, and how his ideas poisoned the very political waters we swim in.
May 27, 2025 · 1 hr 19 min
Novara FM: The New Party, Beyond London w/ Pamela Fitzpatrick, Jamie Driscoll and Shockat Adam
There will be a new party. And also, there already is one. We put the strategies of Pamela Fitzpatrick, Jamie Driscoll and Shockat Adam head to head: do we need a new party? Should it be led by Jeremy Corbyn, or someone new? Or do we just need more independent MPs? They debate Reform UK, attacks from the mainstream media, and what class politics means now. You can listen to the previous episodes in this series in this podcast feed.
May 26, 2025 · 1 hr 23 min
Downstream: How to Be a Morally Effective Person w/ Rutger Bregman
This week’s guest is best known for hijacking a panel at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting at Davos, where he told a room full of billionaires to stop avoiding taxes. He now claims that this form of protest has been proven ineffective in the struggle for progress. The last 25 years have seen some of the biggest protests in history, yet we’ve seen wars erupt and inequality widen. With his new book, ‘Moral Ambition’, Rutger Bregman lays out a history of how societal change actually happens, and how we can learn from the agentic groups of thoughtful individuals who improved our civilisation. In conversation with Aaron Bastani he discusses the true origins of abolitionism, what the left gets wrong about Elon Musk and why we might actually see the end of history. The next few years are critical. Help fund a new media for a different politics: https://novara.media/support
May 22, 2025 · 1 hr 23 min
Novara FM: What Communism Actually Is w/ Jasper Bernes
Communism is a classless, moneyless and stateless society. So far, so simple. And so far out of reach. Or, we could define it differently, as “the real movement that abolishes the present state of things”. That’s how Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels described it in the German Ideology. Jasper Bernes is the author of The Future of Revolution, a book that aims both to clarify our ideas and to reignite our determination to make a fundamentally new kind of society. He spoke to Richard Hames about the red thread of history, from the Paris Commune to Black Lives Matter, and on into the communist future.