Verso Podcast

This week on The Verso Podcast we’ll be taking a close look at the political economy of climate breakdown. Along with our host, Eleanor Penny, Ann Pettifor and Hamza Hamouchene discuss climate justice, private equity, degrowth, and the false promise of techno-fixes. Grab Ann's Verso releases here: tinyurl.com/3n3nc6jn Sign up to the Verso Book Club to get involved with our new Book Club Podcast: tinyurl.com/fda34bzb. All book club members will receive a regular email with links to submit questions to our authors which will be answered on the show.

This week’s episode of The Verso Podcast centres on the gruelling work of making change happen in an often pitiless world - and the mental toll this can take on people. Along with our host, Eleanor Penny, Hannah Proctor and Ajay Singh Chaudhary discuss how revolutionary movements have balanced the grief of political defeat and lost hope, with the imminent needs of organising and continued resistance. Grab a copy of Hannah's book "Burnout: The Emotional Experience of Political Defeat" here tinyurl.com/2bb5fjma

This week on The Verso Podcast we’re putting landlordism under the microscope - how it turns peoples’ homes into poker chips, and the housing market into a casino. Nick Bano and Beth Stratford join our host, Eleanor Penny to discuss the depth and breadth of the housing crisis. Grab a copy of Nick's new book "Against Landlords: How to Solve the Housing Crisis" here tinyurl.com/yc5au7nz

On this episode of The Verso Podcast we’re going on a deep dive into the work of the psychiatrist, political theorist, and philosopher Frantz Fanon. Our wonderful host, Eleanor Penny, sat down with Matthew Beaumont and Annie Olaloku-Teriba to discuss Fanon’s expansive legacy - touching on everything from night walkers and revolutionaries, to radical humanism and afropessimism, to decolonial psychiatry and the spatial politics of urban life. Grab a copy of Matthew's new book "How We Walk: Frantz Fanon and the Politics of the Body" here tinyurl.com/43yptmm5

Welcome back to the third season of The Verso Podcast! To kick off this run of shiny new episodes we’re taking a bit of a detour into the past, to have a closer look at the protestant reformation. This was a turbulent time in history - of tyrants, merchants, popes, peasants and roving priests - when early capitalist forms of power were just beginning to unsettle the old order. Together with our host, Eleanor Penny, Andrew Drummond and Eleanor Janega paint a detailed picture of the social and political terrain from which the seeds of the German peasants’ war sprang. In particular, they’ll be considering the role played by a socially radical preacher named Thomas Müntzer - a rival to the more well known Martin Luther - and why exactly the historical record has cast him in such an unfavourable light. Grab a copy of Andrew's book, The Dreadful History and Judgement of God on Thomas Müntzer: The Life and Times of an Early German Revolutionary, here: tinyurl.com/3373pvkh

In this bonus episode of the Verso Podcast, authors Anton Jäger and Vincent Bevins reflect on the previous decade, the mass political movements that took place, and the ultimate failure of these movements to produce meaningful political change. They consider the lessons that can be taken from the 2010s and discuss what will be required of current and future movements in order to achieve a more just and democratic world. Grab a copy of Anton's book "The Populist Moment: The Left After the Great Recession" co-authored with Arthur Borriello here: tinyurl.com/2uvznjav

On the last episode The Verso Podcast before the new year, Eleanor Penny is joined by Lynne Segal and Loree Erickson to discuss the myth of total independence, disability as a social construct, and the politics of care. In a conversation that ranges from the gendering, racialisation, and devaluation of caring labour, to abolitionism and disability activism, Loree and Lynne unpack the deep connections between autonomy and dependence, whilst suggesting ways to reimagine care outside of institutions that want to make it all about control. You can find Lynne's book, "Lean on Me: A Politics of Radical Care", here tinyurl.com/mwcapmn7

This week on The Verso Podcast Eleanor Penny is joined by McKenzie Wark and Toshio Meronek to talk trans narratives, the politics of desire, and queer family. Together they take a critical look at the medical model of transition, its relationship to transmisogyny, and tactics of resistance. You can find McKenzie's book, "Love and Money, Sex and Death: A Memoir", here tinyurl.com/ycyvkam8 And Toshio's book, "Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary", here tinyurl.com/4whkpdxw

This week on The Verso Podcast we’re bringing you a deep dive on how Britain’s institutions, infrastructure, and social fabric are faring - and the prognosis doesn’t look good. For this episode Chantelle Lewis and Danny Dorling join our host, Eleanor Penny, to talk public wealth, regional division and failed states. You can find Danny's book "Shattered Nation: Inequality and the Geography of A Failing State" here: tinyurl.com/y97c3v2a

On this week’s episode of The Verso Podcast we’ll be taking a close look at the history of tokens across time, and the cultures that have grown up around them in the digital age. Rachel O’Dwyer and Edward Ongweso join our host, Eleanor Penny, to talk Bored Apes, art markets, Ponzi schemes and butter tokens. You can find Rachel's book "Tokens: The Future of Money in the Age of the Platform" here: tinyurl.com/4jk9zk69

This week we were planning to bring you an episode about money in the digital age, but with everything that is currently unfolding in occupied Palestine we felt that this conversation between two leading thinkers on the subject was an important contribution to current discourse. In this episode, recorded on October 6th, Ghada Karmi and Antony Loewenstein sat down with our host, Eleanor Penny, to discuss the Israeli state’s military-industrial complex, its relationship with the global far right, and why a one-state solution is the closest approximation to a just conclusion for seventy-five years of occupation. Having been recorded prior to the events that have followed since October 7th, please listen in the awareness that some of the language in the episode may not be reflective of the detailed situation that has developed over the last two weeks. You can find Antony's book "The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World" here: tinyurl.com/mwu7hbed

After a short end-of-summer break we’re happy to bring you season two of the newly relaunched Verso Podcast. This week Brett St Louis and Arun Kundnani join our host Eleanor Penny to discuss the near foundational figure in the domains of decolonial, marxist, and pan-african thought - C. L. R. James. You can find Sakina Karimjee and Nic Watts' graphic novel adaptation of a C. L. R. James play here: tinyurl.com/32hvfftu And Arun's book "What Is Antiracism?: And Why It Means Anticapitalism" here: tinyurl.com/yp6rw5j2

In this bonus episode of The Verso Podcast, Esther Leslie and Stuart Jeffries discuss the life and legacy of Walter Benjamin. Join them for this fascinating and wide-ranging discussion of one of Western Marxism's most important philosophers. The Storyteller: Tales out of Loneliness by Walter Benjamin is out now: https://tinyurl.com/2p9bta5w

In this bonus episode of The Verso Podcast, Benjamin Kunkel and Lola Seaton delve into debates on how to decarbonise the world economy and build a brighter future. Who Will Build the Ark, edited by Benjamin Kunkel and Lola Seaton is out now: https://tinyurl.com/bdzc56ww

In the latest episode of The Verso Podcast, Nancy Fraser & Gargi Bhattacharyya join our host Eleanor Penny to discuss exploitation, expropriation, and racial capitalism. Together they probe the very edges of capitalism - examining what lies beyond, what's holding it all up, and reflecting on it is a system that constantly undermines the conditions of its own existence. You can find Nancy's book "Cannibal Capitalism: How our System is Devouring Democracy, Care, and the Planet – and What We Can Do About It" here: https://tinyurl.com/45j87f53

On this week's episode of The Verso Podcast, Helen Hester and Sarah Jaffe join Eleanor Penny to discuss the care crisis, and how we might organise care differently for a more equitable and free future. You can find Helen's book "After Work: A History of the Home and the Fight for Free Time", co-authored with Nick Srnicek, on our website at https://tinyurl.com/cb5st6es

This week on The Verso Podcast, Sian Norris and Edna Bonhomme delve into the tactics and goals of fascist ideologies across the globe. They explore how far right movements organise themselves transnationally with the aim of exerting control over individuals' bodies, rooted in a fundamental suspicion of women and their autonomy. You can find Sian's book, Bodies Under Siege: How the Far–Right Attack on Reproductive Rights Went Global, here: https://tinyurl.com/bde3x76 This podcast was produced by Planet B Productions, head over to planetbproductions.co.uk to find out more.

In this fourth episode of the newly relaunched Verso Podcast, Kevin Ochieng Okoth and Robin D.G. Kelley join Eleanor Penny to discuss the radical life and groundbreaking work of Guyanese historian, revolutionary, and guerrilla intellectual, Walter Rodney, who was assassinated 43 years ago this week. You can find a selection of Walter Rodney's books on our website at https://tinyurl.com/4xd5twt6 This podcast was produced by Planet B Productions, head over to planetbproductions.co.uk to find out more.

In this fourth episode of the newly relaunched Verso Podcast, Ben Miller and Amardeep Singh Dhillon join Eleanor Penny for a deep dive on the historical construction and ordering of sexualities into the categories we are familiar with today. You can find Ben's book "Bad Gays: A Homosexual History", co-authored with Huw Lemmey, on our website at tinyurl.com/33655pe7

In this third episode of the newly relaunched Verso Podcast, Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Dalia Gebrial join Eleanor Penny to discuss prison abolitionism, racial capitalism, and critical geography. You can find Ruthie's book "Abolition Geography: Essays Towards Liberation" on our website at bit.ly/3OrC5cu