Everyday Anarchism

Pastor Micah joins me to share a radical reading of the Book of Genesis in which wealth isn't a blessing on God's people, but a curse! I recently appeared on Micah's podcast, The Word in Black and Red , to discuss the 10 Commandments with Micah. That link is here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s-2-20-exodus-19-20-arrival-at-mt-sanai-the-ten-commandments/id1682991552?i=1000730399185 I also...

Alfie Kohn returns to the show to discuss his new podcast, the role of teachers in social progress, and why someone's view on chatbots in the classroom tells you eveything you need to know about their view of education. You can listen to Kohn's Zone wherever you get your podcasts, or get it straight from his website: https://www.alfiekohn.org/podcasts/

It's not your imagination: everything is getting worse. And there's a reason why.

More than any other individual, Henry Fonda was a symbol for better, more leftist, more social democratic America, from The Grapes of Wrath to 12 Angry Men. He even played an English professor who faced cancellation for teaching anarchist literature! Then in the 1960s, he was the literal father figure that New Left Hollywood figures Jane and Peter Fonda were rebelling against. And Henry let himsel...

According to conventional history, the last 12,000 years has seen the steady march of progress from primitive savagery to enlightened civilization. In the age of Trump, Elon, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Putin, Xi, Orbán, Netanyahu, Erdoğan, and Khamenei, this story can't be true. Luke Kemp joins me to offer another story, one in which mutual aid is what makes humans special - and what historians call "civi...

Happy 4th Anniversary to Everyday Anarchism! For this year's anniversary episode, Ruth Kinna comes on to talk about a couple of Hollywood Westerns: Fort Apache (John Ford, 1948) and Rancho Notorious (Fritz Lang, 1952). Hollywood Westerns are about law and order, violence and vigilantism, community and individualism, savagery and civilization, and imperialism and resistance. They're perfect for ill...

In normal cinema, the goal of the director is to control the audience, to direct their gaze, to dictate their emotions. What does it mean when directors make movies where the audience is allowed to decide what the film means to them? Legendary filmmaker Paul Schrader (screenwriter of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull ; director of Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters and First Reformed) , joins me to discus...

Alyssa Battistoni joins me to discuss her new book Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature . Capitalist theory generally describes nature as a "free gift." If gifts are already free, why does capitalism have to claim that nature is a "free gift"? And why does capitalism keep declaring that nature is "worth" some billions or trillions of dollars? Alyssa and I discuss the tragic, yet comic...

Alex comes back on the podcast and we try to separate liberalism and anarchism, with some success! (I think the problem is that what Alex and I agree on is democratic socialism - so liberal socialism and anarchist socialism end up pretty close). The business of basketball is our central example, so sorry if that part bores you to tears. Being bored by the business of basketball is more than reason...

Lyndal Roper joins me to discuss her book The Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants' War . 500 years ago, German peasants learned that Martin Luther had declared that they should be free. They agreed - and Europe was plunged into war.

Alexandre Lefebvre, author of Liberalism as a Way of Life , joins me to discuss the many ways that anarchism and liberalism are compatible. Later this month, you'll here Alexander back on the show, as we try to divorce the two traditions.

In celebration of his new album Winged Victory , Folksinger Willi Carlisle joins me to discuss the connections between folk music and leftism, especially anarchism. I love all of Willi's albums. Here's his website: https://www.willicarlisle.com/

Everyday Anarchism goes back to where it all began: the romantic anarchism of J.R.R. Tolkien. Meredith Veldman, author of Fantasy, The Bomb, and the Greening of Britain , joins me to talk about the romantic protest underlying The Lord of the Rings. We discuss the romantic quest for reintegration at the heart of the novels, the appeal that romanticism has for both anarchists and fascists, and why P...

My colleague David Hill rejoins the show to discuss Twilight of the Idols, one of Nietzsche's last works, and one in which Nietzsche directly discusses anarchism. In addition to Nietzsche's putdowns of anarchists, David and I also discuss the ancient Greeks in Nietzsche's thoughts, the unsavory aspects of Nietzsche's philosphy, and Nietsche's attacks on liberalism. For background to this conversat...

Robin Schuldenfrei joins me to discuss her new book Objects in Exile , which is about the many afterlives of the Bauhaus school and its practitioners. Robin and I particularly focus on the relationship between Bauhaus and city planning, especially focusing on Chicago and the work of Ludwig Hilberseimer. Key questions include: How can societies ensure that everyone has at least enough space to live...

"What is joy when everything has been monetized and optimized?" For Carson Lund, the answer is rec league baseball, and his new film Eephus is about how a meaningless, anachronistic activity like a local baseball league can actually be the most meaningful and important thing you can do. The film is an ode to baseball, a comedy, and "an argument for democracy at a more human level, people just figu...

John McGowan joins the podcast again to discuss a recent republication of Hannah Arendt's essay "Civil Disobedience, which responds to Plato's Crito, Thoreau's "Resistance to Civil Government," and the leftwing mass movements of the 1960s. John and I discuss Arendt's importance as a theorist of revolution and totalitarianism, as well as the complex life of the idea of civil disobedience and its re...

Jaz Brisack joins me to discuss their new book, Get on the Job and Organize . Jaz and I discuss why billionaires take union organizing personally, how organizing is different in the 21st century, and how you can organize your workplace. Jaz might be coming to a town near you soon - here's the link to their book tour sites: https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Jaz-Brisack/225399070 And a link t...

Brian Merchant, author of the newsletter Blood in the Machine , returns to the show to talk about the newsletter, ai, tech oligarchs, the neoliberal "abundance" agenda, jobs, and pretty much everything else you want to know about the terrible, horrible, no good collusion between Trump, Tech billionaires, and ai. Fight the tech billionaires. Support Blood in the Machine! https://www.bloodinthemachi...

In which I end my series on David Graeber's Debt, apologize for mistakes, and offer some hope for a new world in which we have more money and less monetarism. Thank you to all of the listeners to this series, and my wonderful lineup of guests: Dirk Ehnts, Eleanor Janega, Cory Doctorow, Bill Maurer, Henry Farrell, James K. Galbraith, Fuad Musallam, Clif Mark, Luke Kemp, John Weisweiler, Chris Isett...

When capitalists developed their neighborhood with a giant mall, eight artists developed an abandoned space in the mall into an apartment. It was art without permission, and now there's a documentary about what it was like to make a secret mall apartment as a form of art. Jeremy Workman, the director of Secret Mall Apartment , and Michael Townsend, the originator of the idea, join me to discuss th...

Max Cafard (which is a pen name) and Vulpes (which is also a pen name) join me to discuss their fantastic new graphic novel Anarchy in the Big Easy , which is just what it sounds like. Max and Vulpes and I discuss the cosmic anarchy, political anarchism, and everyday anarchy that's flowed through what is now called New Orleans for centuries and millennia. Plus we get frequently confused by the pen...

Yanis Varoufakis joins me to discuss his new book, Technofeudalism , how the world economy has changed since Graeber wrote Debt, and where things might be going next. Live long and prosper.

Constance Bantman joins me to discuss the history of anarchist political violence through the prism of Luigi Mangione - and vice versa. Some of the questions we cover include: Can the history of nineteenth-century anarchist terrorism help us understand the recent assassination of healthcare CEO Brian Thompson by Mangione, and its rapturous reception in some quarters of public opinion? What is the...

Luke Kemp returns to the show to discuss Two Cheers for Anarchism , James C. Scott's six essays or "fragments" applying an anarchist squint to the world. Luke and I discuss the joy of Scott's book, it's controversial place in anarchist theory, and why it's a good place for the anarcho-curious to start their journey into anarchism. Along the way I also highly recommend Agnes Varda's amazing film, D...