Varn Vlog

R.C. Roberts is the author of ferocia amini and is a semi-autodidactic scholar of existentialism and psychoanalysis, we are aiming to talk about the uses and abuses of both in this age of secularization as well as the current political malaise. Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here. Crew: Host: C. Derick...

Eric Olander is the co-founder of the China Africa Project , an independent, non-partisan media initiative dedicated to exploring every facet of China’s engagement in Africa. Eric is a fluent Mandarin speaker and a longtime China-watcher with more than 25 years of journalism experience at many of the world’s leading media companies including CNN, the BBC, and FRANCE24 among others. We will discuss...

Ed from a New Conservation comes over and we do a joint show on the developments in imperialism, the importance of the analysis of imperialism, the legacy of Lenin's polemic, the ambiguities of imperialism and anti-imperialism, and what capitalism could mutate into besides socialism.  Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Abandon all hop...

First, let's credit Maxximilian Seijo (@MaxSeijo)for the title.  Sean KB of Antifada comes to talk with me about a bunch of the problems of the "Great Bern-Out."  We talk Arrighi and Braudel, we talk communization, we talk the naivete about Unions, we talk about depoliticization and a bunch of other topics.  We also announce the possibility of Varn Vlog/Antifada joint series in the...

While the introduction music is that of Varn Vlog on this podcaster, this series will be simultaneously released on both the Varn Vlog podcast feed and the Regrettable Century podcast feed .   This is a long-running series we are doing on understanding social technologies, relationships of production, and how we get here:  i.e. what is the social and class history of the past.    In this episode,...

Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. This bonus episode is part of our Patreon podcast. C. Derick Varn, P.H. Higgins, and Shalon Van Tine--the crew of the last few episodes of Former People--come together to talk Sidney Lumet and "Paddy" Chayefsky's 1976 classic Network.    P.H. Higgins is a co-host of the Radical Thoughts Pod...

Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Conan Neutron (@conanneutron)  is a musician and podcaster. His band is Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends . He hosts the podcast Protonic Reversal and is a regular on Movie Night Extravaganza.   This is a mild echo on a few questions, we apologize for that. Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here.   W...

Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. We talk to Karthik Purushothaman and Marcus of Left Flank Vets, co-hosts of Revolutionary Tracks on Left Flank Vets , about the intersection of music and politics. (Note: There were some microphone issues during the stream that were hard to edit out).  Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here.   We are affi...

Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. We talk to Ed Simon, author of many books, including  Printed in Utopia: The Renaissance’s Radicalism (Zero Books, 2020), America and Other Fictions (Zero Books 2018), An Alternative History of Pittsburgh (Belt Publishing, 2021), Pandemonium: A Visual History of Demonology (Cernunnos, forthcoming 2022), a...

Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. We talk the Kaiser Kuo of the Sinica podcast and Sup China about the complications of US-China relations, the actual policies of the "Red New Deal," and the general shift in political tone in China and in the US.  Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here.   We are affiliated with the Emancipation...

Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. We talk the Scott Horton of Anti-War Radio and the Scott Horton show , author of Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terror   and Fool's Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan , on what it means to chronicle the US imperial wars for two decades and what was and wasn't learned from the end...

Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Jim Davis is a student of world religions (focus on Shia Imami Ismailis) with a deep interest in radical politics and praxis. He lives in Springfield, Missouri. He has written books on socialism, Pure Land Buddhism, and Ismaili Islam. Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here.   We are affiliated with the Em...

Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Forrest Miller is a co-host of Movie Night Extravaganza . He has produced for Jacobin Podcast and Give Them an Argument With Ben Burgis and does a monthly joint show with This is Revolution.  We will be discussing the overlap between film, culture, and politics, focusing on filmmakers like Alex Cox, Paul...

While the introduction music is that of Varn Vlog on this podcaster, this series will be simultaneously released on both the Varn Vlog podcast feed and the Regrettable Century podcast feed .   This is a long-running series we are doing on understanding social technologies, relationships of production, and how we get here:  i.e. what is the social and class history of the past.    In this episode,...

Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Jared is the author of Cyber Dandy. He is a long-time student of anarchism and existentialism and speaks about the continued relevance and radicalness of existential thought.  Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here.   We are affiliated with the Emancipation Network. Crew: Host: C. Derick Varn Audio Produc...

Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Dan Melo is the author of Borderlines (Zer0 Books, 2021). He is an attorney and social critic who grew up in diverse cultural and political settings.  he was written for in the Hampton Institute, ArcDigital, Areo Magazine, and Merion West. We discuss immigrant activism, the current state of affairs, and t...

Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Dr. Pouya Alimagham is a historian of the modern Middle East at MIT.   He is the author of Contesting the Iranian Revolution: The Green Uprisings .  We talk about the long history of American politics and the making of modern Iran, the making of American policy in the modern middle east, the Islamicate wo...

Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Doug Enaa Greene is the author of Communist Insurgent: Blanqui's Politics of Revolution and the forthcoming A Failure of Vision: Michael Harrington and the Limits of Democratic Socialism (Forthcoming, Zero Books, 2022).   He also blogs at The Blanquist as well as writes for publications like  Left Vo...

Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Kenzo Shibata is the host of Meet the Left , organizer, and teacher who shares a love of Punk rock.  We discuss the late Gen X tendency to aestheticize politics and the problems of scenes and radical chic. We also go anecdotal about generational differences.  This is a why ranging conversation.  Abandon a...

Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Greg Belvedere is a writer and sometimes youtuber who is very interested in the problems of ecology and net-energy expenditure. We discuss how much more radical our reconception of life may need to be to control our response to climate change and how unlikely that is.  Abandon all hope ye who subscribe he...

Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Erika Whelan discusses the history and functions of left communism with me.  Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here.   We are affiliated with the Emancipation Network. Crew: Host: C. Derick Varn Audio Producer: Paul Channel Strip  ( @aufhebenkultur ) Intro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake. Intro Video Desig...

Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Adam Ray Adkins is the co-host of the Acid Left. We discuss art, culture, and what is the acid left, and why it may be important. Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here.   We are affiliated with the Emancipation Network. Crew: Host: C. Derick Varn Audio Producer: Paul Channel Strip  ( @aufhebenkultur ) In...

Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Mike Watson is the author of Can the Left Learn to Meme? (Zero Books, 2019) and  The Memeing of Mark Fisher (Zero Books, forthcoming 2021) and the co-host of the Acid Left. We discuss memes, the Frankfurt school, and the left's ability to communicate a singular and coherent narrative.  Abandon all ho...

lease support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. Sam Shain and I discuss media literacy, critical thinking, and the curriculum in high school humanities.  Sam is a teacher and former journalist as well as the author of Education Revolution (forthcoming Zero Books).   Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here.   We are affiliated with the Emancipation Networ...

Please support our patreon.   For early and ad-free episodes, members-only content, and more. This week to Joe Payne about the situation in California, the end of working-class background journalists, and the decline of local journalism.  Joe Payne is the host of Political Payne and the co-host of Bad Takes.    Abandon all hope ye who subscribe here.   We are affiliated with the Emancipation Netwo...