Casement's Leftovers

You might have seen there was an election in America there the other day. Bit o Drama. We all heard a lot about it, cause we're all happy colonial subjects in the Grand American Empire, tuning in every day for the Great Choosing Ceremony of our new Leaders and Masters.  This week we're joined by Matt from @therockisdead for the nihilistic and irritated election coverage that you didn&apo...

We've all heard the stats: unless we act radically in the next ten years, the world as we know it is fucked. But across the political spectrum, this doesn't seem to have sunk in . A lot of environmentalist activists, famously XR and Greta Thunberg, call themselves politically agnostic, which can be confusing for those of us committed to the Left. Environmentalism can often be seen as a m...

Our Halloween episode is about the scariest thing of all: Neoliberalism and the futures it robbed from us.  We're joined by political and cultural blogger Matt Wrafter - @therockisdead - in a tribute to The OG blogger, Marxist theorist Mark Fisher, with a focus on his work about Hauntology.  Are we haunted by potential futures that feel promised but never came? Is this the end of history or d...

It's the one you've all been waiting for: The People vs. RuPaul Andre Charles. The people being Dublin's brightest and best drag entities, Avoca Reaction and Goblins Goblins Goblins.  Should Mama Ru be taken to task for her completely unqualified therapising, her commodification of queer experience and her profiting off vulnerable contestants? Or is she offering unprecedented cultur...

Get our your torches and gather tightly around the campfire girls cause we've got a spooky one tonight: this is the tale of the spectre haunting Ireland. A loyal Fianna Fáil front bencher throughout their most heinous and ghoulish period in Irish history who refuses to give up on the vampiric neoliberalism that caused the Recession, how does our current Taoiseach still paint himself as sort o...

In this overview of the Irish working landscape Helen and Glen graciously hand the reins over to you; the listeners. We asked you to send in your worst work stories, and you did, and here they are. Enjoy.  Support the show

The liberal fantasy of civil debate is dead and gone: we live in an age of post truth and conspiracy theories, and we need new arguments and methods to tackle the growing far right, who will use every trick in the book. In the second half of this emergency miniseries Helen and Glen debunk the ideologies, methods and myth-making of the Irish far right. Why do they use revolutionary figures from the...

You've read the long reads: the growing anti-mask movement has provided space for several far right movements, heavily inspired by the American alt-right, to flourish in Ireland. They've moved from social media to the streets, and they employ emancipatory republican imagery to appeal to people's heightened emotions in this time of panic. It's essential that we can identify and...

Ever wondered why we've had the same two gangs of lizards running the country since its very inception? Ever wondered if it could be something to do with our ... state broadcaster? This episode's guest Adam joins Helen and Glen on an adventure into how RTÉ employed capitalist realism to ruin all our individual lives and the collective life of the state. Plus, they find a possible answer...

Episode 10 is an exploration of racism in Ireland. Anxious to avoid using only American paradigms and to interrogate Irish racism as a specific and nuanced entity, Helen and Glen give an overview of historical racism in Ireland, debunk the Irish slaves myth and talk about the complicated identity of Irish-Americans. They are joined in the second half by Capricia, a pro-black, pro-worker mom and so...

Did you know that Leo Varadkar started his career as a blogger? This week we're taking a break from our Republicanism series to bring you a deep dive into the man, the myth, the legend: the political career of Leo the Lion. Join us to hear about his dodgy campaign dealings, his explosive first week in the Dáil, his reputation as a far-right liability and a special re-enactment of his youthful...

Episode Two of our Republicanism mini-series is all about the history of the Irish Republican tradition. We start with Wolfe Tone and work through the definitive Nineteenth century up to the start of the Twentieth, highlighting the influence that French Republicanism had on Ireland and detailing where the different ideological threads that make up Irish Republicanism started to develop. Glen and H...

It's quarantine and we've got exactly what you need to lift your spirits: a mini series on Republicanism! It's time to flesh out that word we've heard for so long but never really understood! In Episode One (the Debrief), Helen and Glen go through a brief history of flawed republics from Plato to France circa 1789, take a brief break for an angelus by the inimitable PureGrand,...

Centrism. The dominant Ideology of Ireland has saturated every facet of society, but what exactly does it say about Ireland and  what is and isn't politically acceptable? In the first half of this meaty two-parter Helen and Glen talk about how the extremely "measured" media tacitly endorse right-wing ideas, the difference between Irish Republicans and American Republicans and what M...

Helen and Glen are joined by Ógra Shinn Féin PR officer Kevin Burns and Green Party Cllr. Peter Kavanagh to talk about the GE2020 result. What potential coalitions could be formed? How did the media get it so wrong? What does this mean for the future of Irish politics? How hard did Varadkar weep? All this and more on Casement's Leftovers. Produced and Edited by Wuraola Majekodunmi.  Support t...

In this episode Helen and Glen are joined by long term friend, first time contributor Ciara to discuss class in Ireland, the US and the UK. Is Ireland's class structure similar to either? Or has it's unusual cocktail of neoliberalism and nostalgia allowed it's ruling class to disguise themselves as the working class "made good"? Angelus by entertainer and artist Niall Kean...

The UK general election has everyone reeling. As centrists clamor to interpret Labour's historic loss as a rejection of all policy left of tax credits, Casement's Leftovers explores what the election means for Northern Ireland. Joined by Ógra Shinn Féin public relations officer Kevin Burns, we get a snap shot of the political landscape in Northern Ireland as well as what the result might...

The Nostalgia Industry is in full swing. Faced with ecological armageddon and zero chance of riding it out in your own home, we've been forced to hole up in the past. In this episode Helen and Glen are joined by artist and musician Luke Faulkner (aka Pure Grand) to discuss how the Nostalgia Industry affects art and politics and if you can use aesthetic as a tool against capitalism.  Support t...

In their inaugural episode, Helen and Glen discuss the shifting meaning of 'Queer' in Ireland. Academic, colloquial and cultural, join Casement's Leftover's as they try to make sense of a term that somehow includes both Leo Varadkar and Leigh Bowery. Support the show