The Another Europe Podcast

It managed to unite Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in opposition. So why has the UK signed up to the CPTPP (the 'Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership')? In this podcast, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to trade justice campaigner Nick Dearden about the Brexiter push for more global trade deals. In their rush to sign up to these corporate ag...

Ukrainians have shown extraordinary heroism and resilience in pushing back the imperialism Russian invasion. But are Ukraine's successes on the battlefield at risk of being undermined by the government's economic policy on the 'home front'? In our latest podcast Alena Ivanova and Luke Cooper discuss the country's economic future and the risks ahead with Yuliya Yurchenko, senior lecturer in politic...

Hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Another Europe Is Possible old-hand, Michael Chessum, about his new book, This is only the beginning (Bloomsbury, 2022). They reflect on a decade or two of tumultuous change and what it all means for the future of radical politics. Navigating hope, vision and realism, they ask whether the left's best days are still to come amid the fragmentation that Corb...

In our latest podcast, Luke Cooper talks to Lea Ypi about her extraordinary international bestseller, Free; Coming of Age at the End of History. A year since it first hit the bookshops, Lea reflects on the book's reception and the tremendous controversy it has sparked in Albania. Across their wide-ranging discussion they talk about the relationship between fact and fiction, the relationship betwee...

Another year, another crisis. As inflation skyrockets, we talk to leading economic thinker and former City trader Gary Stevenson about the almighty hit, indeed the catastrophe, facing the incomes of working class people. What are the economics of the current crisis, and how do we build a people's alternative? You can also subscribe to Gary's Youtube channel here .

Asking whether "Brexit is racist" might be seen as the "is the pope a Catholic" question of our era. But calling out the racism of Brexit is often seen as unacceptable in contemporary British politics. In this podcast, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Martin Shaw, emeritus professor in International Relations at the University of Sussex, about his new book, Political Racism; Brexit and i...

As the Russian invasion moves into its second month, in this special edition of the Another Europe podcast we were joined by a panel of experts to analyse this new age of catastrophe in a live podcast event with listener questions. How should we explain the rise of authoritarianism, fascism and ‘Putinism’? Can Ukraine win the war – and if so, how? How can we support Ukraine’s civil society?  How i...

In the last twenty years Britons and Eastern Europeans have become closer and more intertwined than ever before. But it's often been a relationship of frustration, and, through the rise of anti-immigration and Eurosceptic politics, marked by xenophobia and racism. In this podcast hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams talk to Yva Alexandrova and Alena Ivanova about Yva's new book, Here to Stay: Easter...

As his government lurches from scandal to scandal there is a new sense of hope that the Tories can be defeated. So what role can Another Europe play in building mass opposition and resistance? In this podcast, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Seema Syeda, a new staff member in the Another Europe office, about our plans for 2022 and how you can get involved. She warns that despite the gov...

Spain has one of the most successful vaccination programmes in the world. It's also set to launch the most ambitious national investment strategy in its post Franco history. But its trailblazing left wing coalition are, despite these tremendous achievements, not as popular as we might expect. Meanwhile, the far right Vox party has established itself in public opinion in third place. In this podcas...

As COP26 comes to a close, we investigate the global environmental and economic challenge facing humanity. In this podcast, Luke Cooper talks to economist Laurie Macfarlane, a columnist at Open Democracy and a fellow at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, to get a digest on COP26 and discuss the relationship between social justice, global development and the green transition. It's a w...

It wasn't so long ago that Germany's declining social democratic party was seen as a a classic example of 'Pasokification' in Europe, a term referring to the steep decline of centre-left parties derived from the experience of the now deceased Greek party, Pasok. Polls at the start of the year put the party pretty clearly in third place. But the centre-left have now stormed to an - albeit narrow -...

Fascism - the twentieth century's most barbaric ideology - is back and winning support on the streets and at the ballot boxes all over the world. What can we learn from the struggles against fascism in the past? How do we understand the source of the potency of the fascist appeal? In this podcast hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Paul Mason about his new book, How to Stop Fascism (Allen L...

The crisis in Afghanistan has dominated the airwaves this summer - and rightly so. In this episode, Luke Cooper talks to Shukria Rezaei, an Afghan living in London about her family's decade-long battle to flee the Taliban and resettle in Britain. It's a shocking story of oppression and the global border policing regime. Now she fears for those she left behind, as the Taliban seize power - with mem...

Can Englishness be anti-racist? After a remarkable football tournament, where the England football players made such a strong anti-racist statement we draw out some of the political implications for anti-racism and the constitutional future of the United Kingdom after Brexit. To get a handle on these issues Luke Cooper talks to two impeccably qualified guests. Shaista Aziz is an avid and lifelong...

Does June 2016 seem like only yesterday? Or does it seem like an eternity? Fives years on from the referendum hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams meet up with Laura Parker from the Another Europe National Committee to reflect on a period of dramatic change in UK politics. They uncover some small shoots of hope, despite all the problems we face, and lay out a strategy for the movement going forward...

The fight is on to replace Germany's centrist chancellor, Angela Merkel, who is stepping down after dominating the country's political scene for a decade and a half. With new elections scheduled for September will Germany embrace change, or choose the centrist status quo? To get a handle on Germany's next political chapter, hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams are joined by Franziska Heinisch, an ac...

The European Super League was dead almost on arrival. An uprising of fans, the football authorities and governments swiftly killed the project. It seemed to encapsulate everything that had gone wrong in a beautiful game where greed has long been king. In this podcast, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to David Kogan. The Premier League’s media rights advisor from 1998 to 2015, Kogan has been...

In this podcast, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to ecological economist, Tim Jackson, about his new book, Post-Growth; Life After Capitalism. Every society in the world shares a fundamental cultural assumption about how our economies work: that growth is good. But what if this is running up against both its material and ecological limits? As capitalism in Western states struggles with the...

By now it should be clear. Coronavirus is a ‘strategic’, not episodic, crisis for human development in this century. It poses sweeping social and economic change to our societies – as we try to come to terms and deal with mounting ecological crises. To get a handle on what these changes might be, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to economist James Meadway on what ‘building back better’ shou...

Britain's migrant workers are living through a huge moment of change. The country's immigration system has now fundamentally changed after the exit from the European Union and vast numbers of migrants have left Britain during the Coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of the most vulnerable EU nationals risk falling through the cracks and losing their right to remain as the settled status deadline looms....

As the four nations of the United Kingdom struggle to reconcile themselves to life outside the EU are we witnessing the gradual unravelling of the illusions and delusions that have dominated the traditional British political elite? Is this end of the "era of self-deception" the one positive aspect of Brexit? And, if the project itself is overwhelmingly English, what does this mean for the future o...

The Coronavirus pandemic can be seen as a huge ecological warning: a sign that our footprint on planet Earth is becoming terribly unsustainable. And while that crisis continues to - rightly - dominate global headlines it is still rarely seen as the environmental crisis that it is. In the year that the UK will host COP26, the annual global climate conference in Glasgow, and following Joe Biden's vi...

Will he do it? If Boris Johnson leads the UK to a no deal crash out from the transition period he'll surely be remembered as the most irresponsible prime minister in British history. His flag waving jingoism risks an economic and social disaster. Is it all a bluff? Will he climb down at the 11th hour? To find some answers hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to Katy Hayward, professor of politi...

After what seemed like a lifetime, the final results are in: America has said "no more" to Donald Trump. Collectively the world breathed a sigh of relief as the results came in. But many questions still remain unanswered. How much damage can Trump do between now and his exit day, the 20th January next year? Will his racism and unfounded attacks on the democratic process prompt 'white riots' in Ame...