Listener's questions for Richard Seymour
Added 2023-07-11 09:14:39 +0000 UTCRichard Seymour will be returning to answer your questions soon. You might like to ask him something on the recent episode on Prighozin, Putin, the Wagner group and the abortive rebellion. Richard's also happy to answer questions on the situation in France following the police murder of Nahel M - and how the left has responded. Richard has also recently written on "AIdeology" and "Fascism in the age of hyperreality". But feel free to ask a question on another topic of your choosing.
As always, please comment below the line or email politicstheoryother@gmail.com with 'Richard S listener's questions' in the subject line. Thanks!
Comments
I’d like to know how the Labour Party recruits, inducts and trains its right wingers. I’ve seen for myself that they are bullies whose primary motivation is their career followed by a desire to attack the left, but I’m curious how all that is seemingly deliberately managed from a central command
Laura S
2023-07-18 13:07:29 +0000 UTCI’m interested in Richard’s response to the way Rishi Sunak introduced the ‘final’ offer to public sector workers in response to their demands for a pay increases in line with inflation. RS used the classic and hackneyed, divide and rule approach of ‘we can’t rise taxes in order to pay some sections of society more money’. Such an approach is anti-social and utterly devoid of the hope and inspiration needed for solving the problems we face as a society. In moments like these RS reveals himself as the billionaire standard bearer of global capital masquerading as a political leader and using his position to sew division and reinforce inequalities for his own benefit. Yet many of the unions involved bought the narrative of benevolence in challenging times. Why, collectively, can’t we ‘get it?’
Dan M
2023-07-16 19:47:17 +0000 UTCI would be curious to hear Richard discuss the question of the failure of post-Soviet Eastern European lefts and the state of the organized working class in these countries. why do the region seem so devoid of an independent progressive opposition?
David
2023-07-11 19:11:33 +0000 UTCHi Alex/Richard I’d be quite interested in a discussion regarding left wing conspiracy theories, which I must say I’m getting more and more drawn to. I’m thinking here mostly of the role of the deep state, the nexus of secret services, the military industrial complex, the foreign policy establishment, etc. I’ve been listening to the Ghost Stories for the End of the World, and American Exception podcasts, which I find quite persuasive. This also touches on the Ukraine War, where my perception is that this is very much provoked be the USA, who will try the same with China over Taiwan (this does mean that Richard’s description of Putin as ruthless & cynical, or Prighozin as a Fascist, is incorrect). As an aside, and maybe reflecting where I get my information, it looks to me that Ukraine & the West are losing heavily, and Russia will be able to impose their terms on the conflict eventually, maybe involving the partition of Ukraine. This may reflect an over-reaction to the unending propaganda of the BBC, the Guardian, & others, but again there are quite a few websites that seem quite informed and measured. It is interesting that there seems to be a convergence between at least some on the Left, in opposition to the consensus of centrist neo-Liberal/neo-Conservative foreign policies, and the isolationist Right in the US. This can lead to a preference for Trump over Biden/Clinton (and sometimes an apologia for Putin), which is problematic.
Konrad
2023-07-11 14:22:59 +0000 UTCCould you discuss the emergence and role of Anti Communism without Communism in political discourse today. Reactionary pseudo intellectuals and hucksters like Jordan Peterson love to through around terms such as Neo-Marxism, and anti communist language is used by the right against everyone and everything from the existence of trans people, to Black Lives Matter, Joe Biden and anyone who acknowledges the existence of inequality within society. Where did the emergence of this language come from and why is it so prominent and what does it say about politics.
Leo Martin
2023-07-11 13:59:31 +0000 UTC
