PTO Extra! Anti-politics & Covid denialism w/ Richard Seymour
Added 2020-10-02 19:30:02 +0000 UTCRichard Seymour joins PTO to discuss the recent anti-lockdown protests in London, the broader phenomenon of covid denialism, and whether the emergence of anti-political currents - combined with the left's decline with the defeat of the Corbyn project - is laying the basis for the emergence of fascism. Finally, we talked about how the left can balance the need to defend civil liberties with taking the public health crisis seriously.
Comments
As Alex notes, conspiracy thinking is not just prevalent on the right. One horrendous aspect of the Covid crisis is that Corbyn’s erstwhile political success has given prominence and credibility to his brother, who appears to be some sort of fascist. Wrt the pseudo-leftists on the anti-lockdown protests, Jeremy’s own fairly loose anti-establishment populism is not blameless. It has led to this point of political confusion where a 5 Star-type movement, easily manipulated by the far right, seems very likely. As for its potential leader, I’m sure Russell Brand is still sniffing around, as are any number of washed-up pop stars. The likes of Noel Edmonds have been auditioning for years. Ballard, of course, saw this coming.
Richard Willmsen
2020-10-03 05:43:18 +0000 UTCThank you, Alex. Something very reassuring about that. 'And it wouldn't be Richard Seymour if I didn't mention the death-drive' ...
Jane Pickering
2020-10-02 23:21:40 +0000 UTC
