Verso Podcast

This week on The Verso Podcast we’re bringing you a deep dive on how Britain’s institutions, infrastructure, and social fabric are faring - and the prognosis doesn’t look good. For this episode Chantelle Lewis and Danny Dorling join our host, Eleanor Penny, to talk public wealth, regional division and failed states. You can find Danny's book "Shattered Nation: Inequality and the Geography of A Failing State" here: tinyurl.com/y97c3v2a

On this week’s episode of The Verso Podcast we’ll be taking a close look at the history of tokens across time, and the cultures that have grown up around them in the digital age. Rachel O’Dwyer and Edward Ongweso join our host, Eleanor Penny, to talk Bored Apes, art markets, Ponzi schemes and butter tokens. You can find Rachel's book "Tokens: The Future of Money in the Age of the Platform" here: tinyurl.com/4jk9zk69

This week we were planning to bring you an episode about money in the digital age, but with everything that is currently unfolding in occupied Palestine we felt that this conversation between two leading thinkers on the subject was an important contribution to current discourse. In this episode, recorded on October 6th, Ghada Karmi and Antony Loewenstein sat down with our host, Eleanor Penny, to discuss the Israeli state’s military-industrial complex, its relationship with the global far right, and why a one-state solution is the closest approximation to a just conclusion for seventy-five years of occupation. Having been recorded prior to the events that have followed since October 7th, please listen in the awareness that some of the language in the episode may not be reflective of the detailed situation that has developed over the last two weeks. You can find Antony's book "The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World" here: tinyurl.com/mwu7hbed

After a short end-of-summer break we’re happy to bring you season two of the newly relaunched Verso Podcast. This week Brett St Louis and Arun Kundnani join our host Eleanor Penny to discuss the near foundational figure in the domains of decolonial, marxist, and pan-african thought - C. L. R. James. You can find Sakina Karimjee and Nic Watts' graphic novel adaptation of a C. L. R. James play here: tinyurl.com/32hvfftu And Arun's book "What Is Antiracism?: And Why It Means Anticapitalism" here: tinyurl.com/yp6rw5j2

In this bonus episode of The Verso Podcast, Esther Leslie and Stuart Jeffries discuss the life and legacy of Walter Benjamin. Join them for this fascinating and wide-ranging discussion of one of Western Marxism's most important philosophers. The Storyteller: Tales out of Loneliness by Walter Benjamin is out now: https://tinyurl.com/2p9bta5w

In this bonus episode of The Verso Podcast, Benjamin Kunkel and Lola Seaton delve into debates on how to decarbonise the world economy and build a brighter future. Who Will Build the Ark, edited by Benjamin Kunkel and Lola Seaton is out now: https://tinyurl.com/bdzc56ww

In the latest episode of The Verso Podcast, Nancy Fraser & Gargi Bhattacharyya join our host Eleanor Penny to discuss exploitation, expropriation, and racial capitalism. Together they probe the very edges of capitalism - examining what lies beyond, what's holding it all up, and reflecting on it is a system that constantly undermines the conditions of its own existence. You can find Nancy's book "Cannibal Capitalism: How our System is Devouring Democracy, Care, and the Planet – and What We Can Do About It" here: https://tinyurl.com/45j87f53

On this week's episode of The Verso Podcast, Helen Hester and Sarah Jaffe join Eleanor Penny to discuss the care crisis, and how we might organise care differently for a more equitable and free future. You can find Helen's book "After Work: A History of the Home and the Fight for Free Time", co-authored with Nick Srnicek, on our website at https://tinyurl.com/cb5st6es

This week on The Verso Podcast, Sian Norris and Edna Bonhomme delve into the tactics and goals of fascist ideologies across the globe. They explore how far right movements organise themselves transnationally with the aim of exerting control over individuals' bodies, rooted in a fundamental suspicion of women and their autonomy. You can find Sian's book, Bodies Under Siege: How the Far–Right Attack on Reproductive Rights Went Global, here: https://tinyurl.com/bde3x76 This podcast was produced by Planet B Productions, head over to planetbproductions.co.uk to find out more.

In this fourth episode of the newly relaunched Verso Podcast, Kevin Ochieng Okoth and Robin D.G. Kelley join Eleanor Penny to discuss the radical life and groundbreaking work of Guyanese historian, revolutionary, and guerrilla intellectual, Walter Rodney, who was assassinated 43 years ago this week. You can find a selection of Walter Rodney's books on our website at https://tinyurl.com/4xd5twt6 This podcast was produced by Planet B Productions, head over to planetbproductions.co.uk to find out more.

In this fourth episode of the newly relaunched Verso Podcast, Ben Miller and Amardeep Singh Dhillon join Eleanor Penny for a deep dive on the historical construction and ordering of sexualities into the categories we are familiar with today. You can find Ben's book "Bad Gays: A Homosexual History", co-authored with Huw Lemmey, on our website at tinyurl.com/33655pe7

In this third episode of the newly relaunched Verso Podcast, Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Dalia Gebrial join Eleanor Penny to discuss prison abolitionism, racial capitalism, and critical geography. You can find Ruthie's book "Abolition Geography: Essays Towards Liberation" on our website at bit.ly/3OrC5cu

On the second episode of our new season of the Verso Podcast, host Eleanor Penny is joined by writer and film maker Tariq Ali, and academic and author Priyamvada Gopal to discuss the cult of Winston Churchill and the insidious rewriting of the history of the British Empire. You can find Tariq's book "Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes" on our website at https://bit.ly/414MzBk

On the first episode of our new season of the Verso Podcast, host Eleanor Penny is joined by author Raj Patel and human rights advocate Tina Ngata to discuss the historical roots that tie together the exploitation of nature and people, and how those roots continue to impact our world today. You can find Raj's book, A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things, co-authored with Jason W. Moore on our website at https://bit.ly/3mF0SyB

The response to the inflation surge by the UK government has been disastrous for working people. Pushing up interest rates, attempting to keep pay rises down, and trying to cut pensions and other benefits, has exacerbated the devastating cost-of-living crisis. The true causes of the crisis have nothing to do with workers asking for pay rises. Rapid inflation was sparked by a combination of global economic instability, profound weakness of production, and corporate profiteering. The result is a massive transfer of wealth upwards – from working people to the super rich. It is time for a radical economic alternative. Listen to the audio from the book-launch event for The Cost of Living Crisis (and how to get out of it)by Costas Lapavitsas, James Meadway, and Doug Nicholls https://www.versobooks.com/books/4259-the-cost-of-living-crisis Featuring Costas Lapavitsas, James Meadway, and Laura Smith: Labour Party (personal capacity).

In this bumper edition of the Verso podcast we talk to authors Gracie Mae Bradley and Luke De Noronha about their new book Against Borders: The Case for Abolition. In it we explore what a world without borders might look like and the intricacies of imagining or advocating for that world. We then talk to Zehrah Hasan of JCWI about practical ways we can get involved in building a borderless world for today and tomorrow. Against Borders: The Case for Abolition is out now: https://www.versobooks.com/books/3983-against-borders?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=author-videos

Do family abolitionists want to get rid of your Gran? Do they hate love? Are they all killjoys looking to rip the roots of working class resistance apart? Find out all this and more in this episode of the Verso podcast with author Sophie Lewis in conversation with Ben Smoke. Sophie Lewis is the author of Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation https://www.versobooks.com/books/4075-abolish-the-family?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=abolish-the-family-videos Ben Smoke is the commissioning editor of Huck Magazine

How did we come to live in a world dominated by big tech and finance? In this video, Jeremy Gilbert and Alex Williams explore how these forces have shaped the direction of politics and government as well as the neoliberal economy to benefit their own interests. They discuss the concept of hegemony—the importance of passive consent; the complexity of political interests; and the structural force of technology—and why we need an updated theory of power for the twenty-first century. Jeremy Gilbert and Alex Williams are the authors of Hegemony Now: How Big Tech and Wall Street Won the World (And How We Win it Back) https://www.versobooks.com/books/4015-hegemony-now?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=hegemony-now-videos

Since the 1980s police have been allowed to suppress protests by using aggressive tactics—from batons to horse charges to kettling. New military-style tactics were sanctioned by the Thatcher government, in secret. Over the next forty years those protesting against racism, unfair job losses, draconian laws, or for environmental protection were subject to brutal tactics. As the UK government tries to suppress all forms of dissent, how do the police manage crowds, provoke violence and even break the law? Ben Smoke talks to Matt Foot and Morag Livingstone about their new book Charged: How the Police Try to Suppress Protest. Out 24th May: https://bit.ly/3LxPHy1

What is ecofeminism, and why is it necessary in the fight for climate justice? by Verso Books