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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.

  • 301 episodes
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Episodes301

  • May 19, 2025 · 1 hr 15 min

    Downstream: Big Tech Is Making Our Children Depressed and Anxious. Here’s How w/ Jonathan Haidt

    As smart phone use has soared, Generation Z’s mental health has plummeted. But just how bad is this crisis, and who should we hold responsible? In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt sets out his comprehensive diagnosis of the problems caused by the mass integration of smartphones into every aspect of most children’s lives. In conversation with Aaron Bastani, Haidt takes square aim at Meta, Snapchat, and TikTok, the three companies he believes are wrecking childhood. They discuss whether targeting young girls with beauty adverts counts as abuse, and what it’s like going for dinner at the Zuckerbergs’. Haidt tells the story of how we are sleepwalking into this crisis, and shares his ideas for how to break out of it, before the damage is too great.

  • May 18, 2025 · 1 hr 49 min

    ACFM Trip 51: Heroes

    The ACFM crew offer a weird-left perspective on the role of the hero (and heroine) in politics and culture. Nadia, Jem and Keir assess theories of Great Men, the myth of the hero’s journey and the lure of the anti-hero with ideas from Weber and Hegel and music from Tina Turner and Sonic Youth. 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

  • May 15, 2025 · 1 hr 31 min

    Novara FM: Are India and Pakistan Gambling with Nuclear War? w/ Mohamad Junaid

    Last week, a terrorist attack in Indian-occupied Kashmir sparked a rapid military escalation: planes were shot down, thousands were arbitrarily detained, the houses of suspect’s families were blown up. How did we get to a situation in which the safety of the whole world is threatened by the occupation of Kashmir? Richard Hames spoke to Kashmiri scholar Mohamad Junaid about the brinkmanship of India and Pakistan, what daily life is like under endless occupation, and, of course, The British Empire.

  • May 12, 2025 · 1 hr 40 min

    Downstream: Why the Left Fails to Connect With People w/ Jimmy The Giant

    Not long ago, Kieren Owen AKA Jimmy The Giant was in the ‘alt right pipeline’. He believed in the tyranny of the welfare system, thought ‘woke culture’ was dangerous for society and that Tommy Robinson’s imprisonment was a result of draconian government censorship. So how did he become one the most incisive commentators of the online left? In conversation with Ash Sarkar, Jimmy The Giant discusses how he escaped the alt-right pipeline, why the establishment are so afraid of Gary Stevenson and why the left is consistently failing to connect with people.

  • May 10, 2025 · 1 hr 5 min

    Novara Debates: Are Labour Doomed?

    Ash Sarkar, Michael Walker and Aaron Bastani debate: could the Labour Party be heading for a trouncing? Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support

  • May 9, 2025 · 1 hr 8 min

    Novara Debates: Can Reform Win A General Election?

    Ash Sarkar, Michael Walker and Aaron Bastani debate one of the most pressing questions of the day: can Reform UK win a general election? Might it even win the next one? Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support

  • May 8, 2025 · 1 hr 28 min

    Novara FM: A New Era For The World’s Billion Catholics w/ Matthew Sitman

    A new Pope has been chosen by the conclave. But how much can one man, even one appointed by the Holy Spirit, do to transform one of the most powerful institutions in the world? Richard Hames spoke to Matthew Sitman of the Know Your Enemy podcast about what role the church can play in our crisis-ridden age, and the contradictions of being a gay – and socialist – convert to Catholicism.

  • May 5, 2025 · 1 hr 11 min

    Downstream: Is Christianity Back? Gen Z’s Search For Meaning w/ Lamorna Ash

    What do Christianity and communism have in common? Are Nuns missing out on their lives, or living their best one? And can attending church once a week provide a more healing alternative to modern wellness culture, not least because you’re forced to turn off your phone for an hour? Seeking answers to all these questions, Ash Sarkar sits down for a conversation with Lamorna Ash, journalist and author of ‘Don’t Forget We’re Here Forever’. They explore whether it’s true that the younger generation is searching for meaning in the teachings of Jesus, and what’s behind this unexpected turn towards religion. They talk about Lamorna’s journey into faith, being queer at Bible Study, and why Christians – like communists – are so good at imagining a better world.

  • May 2, 2025 · 48 min

    Committed: 4. Was Prison Worth It?

    Just Stop Oil has ended its campaign of direct action, yet many activists still face years in prison. In the final episode, Rivkah and Clare find out whether their commitment to their cause has wavered. They also speak to veteran climate campaigner Roger Hallam, currently serving a four-year sentence, about his role in sending young activists to prison. CN: This episode contains mention of suicide. For support with your mental health, contact samaritans.org. Read Clare’s story about right-wing journalists infiltrating activist groups on Novara Media. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support

  • Apr 29, 2025 · 43 min

    Committed: 3. How Does It Feel When They Choose Activism Over You?

    In episode three, Clare and Rivkah find out what it’s like to see your loved ones locked up. How do the Just Stop Oil prisoners’ families make sense of their crimes? When your partner is in prison, how can your relationship survive? And what’s it like to know your fiancée would choose activism over you? Final episode coming on 2 May. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support

  • Apr 28, 2025 · 1 hr 8 min

    Downstream: Does International Law Even Work? w/ Kenneth Roth

    Today the leaders of Israel, Russia, and Hamas all stand accused of war crimes. Yet it seems doubtful that these men will ever face justice – so what’s the point of international law? For 30 years, Kenneth Roth was the director of Human Rights Watch. In that time, his organisation exposed hundreds of human rights abuses and pressured governments to cease committing them. On Downstream, Kenneth Roth told Ash Sarkar how human rights law actually works on the ground, and how exposure, shame, and the shaping of public opinion are essential tools for this work. He also discusses his young life as a child of a refugee from Nazi Germany, how democracies are responding to mass migration, and the age-old question of whether political violence can be legally or morally justified.

  • Apr 27, 2025 · 1 hr 42 min

    ACFM Microdose: Make Way For Winged Eros!

    The ACFM gang gather for a springtime reading of a prototype acid-communist text by Russian revolutionary Alexandra Kollontai. Download the text and follow along as Nadia, Keir and Jem get their teeth into Make Way for Winged Eros! A Letter to Working Youth, published in 1923.Check out the AK-47 podcast mentioned in this show: https://kristenghodsee.com/podcast 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

  • Apr 24, 2025 · 50 min

    Committed: 2. How Do Climate Activists Cope in Prison?

    Locked in their cells for up to 22 hours a day, how are Britain’s jailed climate activists coping with a life of inaction? In episode two of Committed, Rivkah and Clare follow the Just Stop Oil inmates to find out how they’re adjusting. How does JSO prepare activists for incarceration? What’s it really like inside Britain’s prisons? And what do the guards and other inmates think of Just Stop Oil activists’ crimes? Episode 3 coming on 29 April. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support

  • Apr 22, 2025 · 42 min

    Committed: 1. What Kind of Person Goes to Prison for Their Politics?

    In episode one of Committed, Clare Hymer and Rivkah Brown meet the imprisoned Just Stop Oil activists who took direct action against the climate crisis and faced dire consequences. By blocking roads, climbing bridges and throwing soup at paintings, they made headlines – and became national hate figures in the process. We find out how four ordinary young people ended up as convicted criminals, at the sharp end of the government’s crackdown on protest. Episode 2 coming on 24 April. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support

  • Apr 21, 2025 · 1 hr 14 min

    Downstream: Has Israel Become A Fascist State? w/ Ilan Pappé

    Aaron Bastani was joined by Israeli historian Ilan Pappé for a live recording of Downstream on 7 April at EartH in East London. They discussed the origins of Britain’s Israel lobby, the indoctrination of Israelis, and whether the recent atrocities committed in Gaza and the West Bank are signs of Israel’s imminent collapse. Help us build people-powered media: http://novara.media/support

  • Apr 18, 2025 · 1 min

    Committed: A New Series Out Now

    How does a teenage goodie-two-shoes grow up to be a convicted criminal? On Committed, a new four-part series from Novara Media, we go behind bars to find out why dozens of young climate activists are risking prison for what they believe in – and why Britain’s courts are sending more of them to jail for longer. Committed begins on 22 April in this podcast feed. Help us build people-powered media: novara.media/support

  • Apr 16, 2025 · 2 hr 5 min

    Downstream: What’s The Real Point of Trump’s Tariffs? w/ Slavoj Žižek

    Donald Trump has been ripping up the rule book on global trade, implementing huge tariffs and sending markets into a frenzy. But is there any method in his apparent madness? Legendary Marxist philosopher Slavoj Žižek regales Aaron with his thoughts on US trade policy – not to mention Franz Kafka, fully automated luxury communism and whether he’s a “GILF”. Žižek’s new book, Zero Point, is out now on Bloomsbury. Help us build people-powered media: http://novara.media/support

  • Apr 10, 2025 · 1 hr 3 min

    Novara FM: How the West Tried to Co-opt Iranian Feminism w/ Bahar Noorizadeh

    When you think about neoliberal states, maybe you think of the UK, or Russia in the 90s, or Chile. You probably don’t think about Iran. And yet, argues Bahar Noorizadeh, the Islamic Republic has been, since before the 1979 revolution, a neoliberal state – and an imperial one as well. It has suppressed the Kurdish and Baloch nations inside its own borders. How can we show solidarity with feminist and national struggles inside Iran and resist the warmongering of the Trump regime at the same time? Bahar spoke to Eleanor Penny about how to resist the appropriation of the feminist movement by the West, the question political Islam, and how feminist struggles are linking up from Palestine to Balochistan and Kurdistan.

  • Apr 7, 2025 · 1 hr 38 min

    Downstream: On Palestine, Prisons and British Vs. American Racism w/ Ta-Nehisi Coates

    There are few, true, public intellectuals anymore. But Ta-Nehisi Coates – author of ‘Between The World And Me’ and recipient of the MacArthur Genius Grant – is unquestionably foremost amongst them. His new book, The Message, is a sweeping exploration of how stories shape our politics – from the parameters of black struggle to Israel’s imposition of apartheid and ethnic cleansing. He and Ash Sarkar talk about Shakespeare, class politics, and the shared experiences of Black Americans and Palestinians.

  • Apr 3, 2025 · 55 min

    Novara FM: How Forensic Architecture Mapped the Gaza Genocide w/ Samaneh Moafi

    Forensic Architecture is a research agency that investigates state violence and environmental destruction. It reconstructs events that states worldwide wants obscured, from Israel to the UK and from the Mediterranean to Ukraine. In doing so, they have invented a whole new discipline of investigation. On Novara FM, FA’s Assistant Director of Research, Samaneh Moafi, tells Eleanor Penny about their new report A Cartography of Genocide on the ongoing Gaza Genocide.