Diet Soap - a podcast
411 episodes - English - Latest episode: 13 days ago - ★★★★★ - 122 ratingsThe Diet Soap podcast began in 2009 in response to the economic crisis of 2008. Since then it has gone through many transformations, including becoming the podcast for a critical theory imprint out of the UK.
Today the Diet Soap podcast is running under its original name for Sublation Media.
Sublation Media includes a book publishing effort for critical theory and left politics, a magazine that covers current events and theoretical issues, youtube videos on theory and politics, and finally the Diet Soap podcast. The podcast is where we continue to interrogate the left and each other while having a good time.
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Episodes
Episode 365: Defending Bernie Sanders
July 02, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 45.9 MBAdam Proctor is the host of the "Dead Pundits Society" podcast. He took exception to the Critical Cuts video "Supporting Bernie Sanders Was a Mistake" and came on to the Zero Books podcast in order to give voice to his objections.
Episode 364: Neoliberal Order Breakdown Syndrome
June 25, 2021 00:00 - 47 minutes - 35.5 MBThis video interview explores how it is that the “End of History” is over. The idea that Western liberal democracy was the “final form of human government” has been exposed as bluster: the old order is crumbling before our eyes. Angry anti-politics have arisen to threaten political establishments across the world. Elites have fallen into hysteria, blaming voters, “populism”, Putin, Facebook… anyone but themselves. They are suffering from Neoliberal Order Breakdown Syndrome.
Episode 363: The Machiavellians, Defenders of Freedom?
June 19, 2021 00:00 - 56 minutes - 37 MBIn this episode of Pop the Left Derick Varn and Douglas Lain discuss Paul Matticks critique of James Burnham's "The Machiavellians, Defenders of Freedom." We ask the question, "Why do right-wing theories of social class so frequently infect the left and Marxism?"
Episode 362: Chris Cutrone on Lenin's Liberalism
June 14, 2021 00:00 - 57 minutes - 38.9 MBResponding to some recent Zero Books podcasts (The Lenin Legend and Did Marx Hate Liberals?) Chris Cutrone returns to discuss an essay he wrote in 2011 entitled "Lenin's Liberalism." Relevant Essay Lenin's Liberalism by Chris Cutrone https://platypus1917.org/2011/06/01/lenins-liberalism/
Episode 361: Identity Politics is Right Wing
June 04, 2021 00:00 - 54 minutes - 33.3 MBChristine Louis-Dit-Sully is a freelance writer, and she is currently researching for a second PhD. Her research is focused on the issues of race, identity, social justice, and the demand for ‘safe spaces’ in US and UK universities. Her book from Zero Books is entitled “Transcending Racial Divisions: Will You Stand By Me” and in it, she examines the origins of racial thinking and the relationship between race and culture.
Episode 360: The Lenin Legend
May 28, 2021 00:00 - 55 minutes - 32.9 MBPaul Mattick's essay "The Lenin Legend" was published in 1935. Mattick's essay begins with these lines: "The yellower and more leathery the skin of the mummified Lenin grows, and the higher the statistically determined number of visitors to the Lenin Mausoleum climbs, the less are people concerned about the real Lenin and his historical significance." In this video Djene Rhys Bajalan and Kuba Wrzesniewski join Doug Lain to discuss the essay and whether Mattick's polemic holds up tod...
Episode 359: Pop the New Deal
May 20, 2021 00:00 - 56 minutes - 37.7 MBDerick Varn and Douglas Lain return to discuss Paul Mattick Sr.'s 1939 essay "Roosevelt's 'New' New Deal." Paul Mattick was a council communist and left critic of Bolshevism. Mattick was heavily influenced by the work of Henryk Grossman, but unlike Grossman, he was a critic of Leninism. His essay on the New Deal argued that support for the New Deal was crippling the workers movement.
Episode 358: What is Imperialist Realism? (ft Daniel Bessner)
May 07, 2021 00:00 - 44 minutes - 33.3 MBSince its emergence in the middle of the twentieth century, the American Empire has been fueled by the search for an enemy. This episode of Zero Squared features a conversation with Daniel Bessner features a conversation about Karl Schmidt, the friend/enemy distinction, the cold war, and American Empire's role in the world today.
Episode 357: What Was The Dictatorship of the Proletariat? (and what is "Political Marxism")
April 30, 2021 00:00 - 55 minutes - 37.7 MBDerick Varn and Douglas Lain discuss the failings of a sect of Trotskyism known as "Political Marxism" after discussing just what Chris Cutrone might have meant when he asked Doug to join his effort to create a "Dictatorship of the Proletariat." Can Marx's ideas become politically relevant today? What are the impediments to socialism today? Relevant Essays: The ‘Dictatorship of the Proletariat’ in Marx and Engels by Hal Draper https://www.marxists.org/subject/marxmyths/hal-draper/...
Episode 356: What Comes After Critical Theory? (ft. Chris Cutrone)
April 22, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 68.4 MBFollowing up on a panel discussion for the Platypus Affiliated Society, Chris Cutrone stops by to ambush Douglas Lain about whether he'd support a "dictatorship of the proletariat." Other topics include whether Christopher Lasch was a conservative or a socialist, the nature of bourgeoise justice, the political character of Donald Trump, and what it means to be an aging Gen Xer today.
Episode 355: Glenn Greenwald Is Not Your Enemy
April 10, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 40.4 MBGlenn Edward Greenwald is an American journalist, author, and former attorney. He is the author of the book "Securing Democracy: My Fight for Press Freedom and Justice in Bolsonaro’s Brazil," and the King of Twitter. In this conversation he discusses the corruption in Bolsonaro's Brazil and why it is that the American left no longer embraces him.
Episode 354: A Marxist Critique of the Contemporary Left
April 02, 2021 00:00 - 43 minutes - 29.2 MBDr. Elena Louisa Lange is a Senior Researcher and Lecturer of Japanese Studies at the University of Zurich. Her current research focuses on the reception of Marx's Critique of Political Economy in 20th century Japan, and especially on the critical analysis of its interpretation in the influential economist Uno Kôzô (1897-1977). She views her work roughly situated in the reconstruction movement of the Critique of Political Economy today known as the "Neue Marx-Lektüre" (especially the...
Episode 353: Did Doug Really Invite Jesse Singal onto Zero Books? OMG!
March 26, 2021 00:00 - 44 minutes - 33.5 MBJesse Singal is a contributing writer at NY Magazine and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Slate, The Boston Globe, The Daily Beast, and other outlets. He is also one of the most hated men on the internet and the target of a perpetual defamation campaign. He is the co-host of the podcast Blocked and Reported, and the author of a new book entitled the Quick Fix.
Episode 352: Has the American Left Been Absorbed by the Dems? (ft. Margaret Kimberley)
March 22, 2021 00:00 - 55 minutes - 49.5 MBHas the American left been captured by the Democratic Party? Was Bernie Sanders just a sheep dog after all? Can we build a movement for socialism in the Biden era? Margaret Kimberley is the author of PREJUDENTIAL: a concise, authoritative exploration of America’s relationship with race and black Americans through the lens of the presidents who have been elected to represent all of its people. Relevant Books Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents.
Episode 351: Bordiga, Communism, and the Need for a Party
March 16, 2021 00:00 - 46 minutes - 55.4 MBPatrick Higgins is replacing C Derick Varn in this week's Pop the Left. In this episode, we discuss the collection The Science and Passion of Communism. What does Amadeo Bordiga have to offer today's left? What are his limits? Is Central Planning enough?
Episode 350: Richard Wolff: Capitalism and the Pandemic
March 07, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 71.6 MBThe coronavirus pandemic, the deepening economic crash, dangerously divisive political responses, and exploding social tensions have thrown an already declining American capitalist system into a tailspin. In this video the economist Richard D. Wolff discusses how capitalism works and doesn't work as he describes his new book from Democracy at Work "The Sickness is the System: When Capitalism Fails to Save Us from Pandemics or Itself" and Douglas Lain tries to set up a conversation on...
Episode 349: The Black Ponderer (Neal Trotter) on Kierkegaard and Philosophy
February 22, 2021 00:00 - 41 minutes - 31.8 MBNeal Trotter is a philosophy hobbyist and enthusiast interested in critically thinking with others. He reads philosophy books (primarily classics) and discusses them on Youtube. In this video Neal discusses Kierkegaard, despair, and the power of philosophy.
Episode 348: Slavoj Zizek Explains Himself (for Michael Albert and Noam Chomsky)
February 08, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 48 MBThis conversation with Slavoj Zizek was inspired by a previous interview with Michael Albert. After discussing Albert's ideas about participatory economics, Douglas Lain mentioned that unlike Chomsky and Albert, he believed that critical theory was important to the struggle for socialism and mentioned that Slavoj Zizek's Hegelian leftism was particularly interesting. Albert disagreed. In an effort to clear the air, Lain invited Zizek and Albert to appear on the channel and discuss t...
Episode 347: Pop the Left: Evaluating the Bellows
January 30, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 49.1 MBAre there reactionaries in our midst, people with a right-wing agenda pretending to be leftist? Is "The Bellows," the podcast "What's Left?," Malcolm Kyeyune, part of some secret red/brown alliance? What about Red Scare, Chapo, or even Zero Books? In this Pop the Left conversation Derick Varn and Douglas Lain evaluate two essays from the publication "The Bellows" before discussing just how to handle the possibility of right-wing infiltration of the left.
Episode 346: Zero Books Special: Understand Christopher Lasch
January 28, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 57.3 MBDerick Varn and Shalon van Tine discuss the writings of Lasch. Derick Varn is the co-host of Pop the Left, a poet, a reader/editor at Zero Books, and an editor at Former People. Shalon van Tine is the co-author of a forth coming book on Christopher Lasch with C. Derick Varn. She is currently studying for my Ph.D. in American cultural and intellectual history from Ohio University where she is a research fellow with the Contemporary History Institute. She is an associate media editor at Former...
Episode 346: Zero Books Special: Understanding Christopher Lasch
January 28, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 57.3 MBDerick Varn and Shalon van Tine discuss the writings of Lasch. Derick Varn is the co-host of Pop the Left, a poet, a reader/editor at Zero Books, and an editor at Former People. Shalon van Tine is the co-author of a forthcoming book on Christopher Lasch with C. Derick Varn. She is currently studying for her Ph.D. in American cultural and intellectual history from Ohio University where she is a research fellow with the Contemporary History Institute. She is an associate media editor ...
Episode 345: Zero Books #260: Talking about Adolph Reed and Walter Benn Michaels ft. Jason Myles and Pascal Robert
January 25, 2021 00:00 - 59 minutes - 42 MBThe hosts of the This Is Revolution Podcast join Douglas Lain to discuss the socialism of Adolph Reed and Walter Benn Michaels. This is Revolution is a new addition to the Zero Books lineup, coming out on the channel every Wednesday with great conversations about socialism and the left.
Episode 344: Pop the Left: Pop The Left: From the Capitol Riots to Jimmy Dore
January 18, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 42 MBDerick Varn and Douglas Lain discuss last week's riot at the Capitol Building and the AOC vs. Jimmy Dore debate. Along the way the topics of standpoint epistemology, class consciousness, and the difference between a coup and a revolution will be explored.
Episode 343: Zero Books Special: From the New Left to the Trumpist Right? ft. Mickey Kaus
January 16, 2021 00:00 - 58 minutes - 51.1 MBThis interview explores how "Marxist" ideas, when disconnected from Marx's own theory especially in Capital, can lead radicals in a multitude of directions, including to the right. The subject of the interview is Mickey Kaus. Mickey Kaus is a journalist and political blogger who started the website Kausfiles in 1999. He has written for the New Republic, Newsweek, Slate and the Daily Caller and he is the author of the book “The End of Equality.” He the co-founder of bloggingheads.tv a...
Episode 342: Zero Squared #259: Does Parecon Escape the Logic of Capitalism?
January 10, 2021 00:00 - 57 minutes - 40.9 MBMichael Albert is an organizer, publisher, teacher, and author of over twenty books and hundreds of articles. He cofounded South End Press, Z Magazine, the Z Media Institute, ZNet, and various other projects, and works full time for Z Communications. He is the author, with Robin Hahnel, of the economic vision named participatory economics. He helped create the International Organization for a Participatory Society in 2012. He is also the podcaster behind Revolution Z and an instructo...
Episode 341: Pop the Left: Will the Politics and Crises of 2020 Continue?
January 05, 2021 00:00 - 59 minutes - 67.8 MBDerick Varn and Douglas Lain are the hosts of Pop the Left, a video podcast presented on this channel every other Thursday. This week we say goodbye to 2020 and consider the year of COVID in the context of both capitalist crises and the rise and fall of socialist movements.
Episode 340: Chris Cutrone on Adorno, Value and Capital
December 28, 2020 00:00 - 59 minutes - 40 MBThe former president of the Platypus Affiliated Society returns to the channel/podcast in order to defend the memory of Theodor Adorno after viewing our video "Class Consciousness vs. the Fiction of 'Class First' Politics."
Episode 339: Is Adorno REALLY to Blame?
December 20, 2020 00:00 - 47 minutes - 33.3 MBDouglas Lain and Derick Varn discuss the early days of the Frankfurt School, the relationship between Critical Theory and Marxism, and discuss just how much credit or blame thinkers like Horkheimer and Adorno really deserve.
Episode 338: Why We Should Unlearn Marx
December 13, 2020 00:00 - 43 minutes - 30.7 MBSteve Paxton both studied with GA Cohen at Oxford before and works blue-collar, white-collar and no-collar jobs. His book, Unlearning Marx considers Marx without Marxism.
Episode 337: The Cultural Nationalism of Harold Cruse
December 08, 2020 00:00 - 1 hour - 46.2 MBThe cultural critic Christopher Lasch praised Harold Cruse and his book The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual. Specifically, Lasch looked to Cruse as Lasch explored the need for the development of a working-class culture after WW2. In this video Derick Varn and Douglas Lain explore the limits of Cruse's conception of national identity even as they consider the reasons why Cruse felt compelled to seek out a black national culture in the United States.
Episode 336: Zero Squared #257: The End of the End of History
November 29, 2020 00:00 - 59 minutes - 41.8 MBAlex Hochuli is a co-host at the Aufhebunga Bunga podcast, a writer for magazines such as Damage and Jacobin, and a co-author of the upcoming Zero Books book "The End of the End of History." From the book jacket: The End of the End of History examines how the political consequences of the 2008 financial crisis have come home to roost. If Trump and Brexit shattered the liberal-democratic consensus in 2016, then the global pandemic of 2020 put a final end to the “End of History”. Poli...
Episode 335: Pop the Left: Are We Living in the Post-Revolutionary Age?
November 23, 2020 00:00 - 1 hour - 48.2 MBThis Pop the Left podcast features Derick Varn, and Douglas Lain as they continue their conversation about the writings of Christopher Lasch and specifically examine his essay "Is Revolution Obsolete?" from his book A World of Nations. The ideas of Harold Cruse will also be examined as we try to wrangle out just what contemporary socialists can gain from understanding the legacy of Lasch.
Zero Books Special: A Report From Peru
November 19, 2020 00:00 - 55 minutes - 41.6 MBCamilo Gómez is the man behind the History and Politics podcast. Living in Peru, he agreed to talk to Douglas Lain in order to give Zero Books readers and listeners information about the recent coup there, and in order to explain the scope and meaning of the mass protests that have swept through the country.
Zero Squared #256: How to Overcome Capitalism
November 16, 2020 00:00 - 59 minutes - 39.4 MBRick Kuhn is a Marxian economist, political analyst and reader at the Australian National University in Canberra. He is a translator and editor of the works of Henryk Grossman and a radical in his own right. In this Zero Books interview, he discusses the pessimism of David Harvey and the possibilities for revolutionary socialism.
What Does the Trump Supporter Think? (An Interview)
November 09, 2020 00:00 - 1 hour - 43.3 MBStephen Janicki is an inventor living in Indiana and a Trump supporter. His most recent invention is called the Driigunproject project. The Facebook page for the Driigunproject describes this invention as a "revolution in art, gaming and education." He holds an Associates's degree in marketing with a minor in philosophy. In this video, Douglas Lain and Stephen Janicki discuss the election results, the possibility of voter fraud, the evidence of corruption around Biden and Trump, and ...
Pop The Left: An Election in Atomized America
November 07, 2020 00:00 - 1 hour - 47.6 MBDerick Varn and Douglas Lain preempt the scheduled interview with Rick Kuhn in order to offer choice hot takes on the US Presidential election as the votes are slowly counted. Questions raised will include, why is Trump so successful in the current climate, how are elite media institutions failing, and what will life under Biden be like for the left. If you enjoy the conversation join us in the Parrot room as we take the gloves off and dish dirt on the contemporary scene. Possible ...
Pop the Left: The Agony of the Left
November 01, 2020 00:00 - 56 minutes - 40.8 MBDerick Varn and Douglas Lain discuss Christopher Lasch's 1969 book "The Agony of the Left." As we prepare for the possibility that the faux "populism" and attendant resistance that defined the Trump years are both on the verge of being relegated to the dustbin of history, we aim to take a step back and consider the left. To listen to the Parrot Room conversation join us on Patreon. https://pateron.com/zerobooks
Zero Squared #255: On Depression and Cancellation
October 31, 2020 00:00 - 1 hour - 45.1 MBNina Power is a cultural critic, social theorist, philosopher and translator. She is the author of One-Dimensional Woman, a book that was published by Zero Books in 2009. Her Twitter bio claims she is uncancellable which is an indication that a few people have made an effort in that direction. In this Livestream for Zero Books, we'll be discussing her philosophical and political observations on the subject of depression, whether paganism can ever be countenanced, and what it means w...
Pop the Left: Did Marx Really Love Blueprints?
October 19, 2020 00:00 - 1 hour - 44.1 MBOctober 18th, 2020 In this episode of Pop the Left Derick Varn and Douglas Lain consider whether a new Marxist party would need to include a clear plan for transforming the means of production along with a plan to obtain state power. Recommended reading on Marx and Utopia: Marx's Critique of the Utopian Socialists by ROGER PADEN https://www.jstor.org/stable/20718467?seq=1 The Development of Utopian Socialism by Frederick Engels https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/188...
Zero Books #254: What is Socialism?
October 13, 2020 00:00 - 55 minutes - 37.7 MBWilliam Briggs, author of "Removing the Stalin Stain" returns to the channel to discuss Marx's vision of socialism, what Trotsky contributed to the socialist struggle, and the condition of socialist movements today. To get access to the Zero Books Parrot room support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/zerobooks
Pop The Left: The Meaning of Trump in 2020
October 05, 2020 00:00 - 1 hour - 50 MBDouglas Lain and Derick Varn discuss the US presidential election, the degraded state of US politics, and what both mean for a left that may be as degraded as the rest of society. In this episode of Pop the Left we'll go beyond the question of whether US socialists should support Biden in this election and try to understand what this moment means and where we're headed.
Zero Squared #253: On Cancelling, Racefail and the Overproduction of Elites
September 24, 2020 00:00 - 39 minutes - 28.2 MBBen Burgis and Douglas Lain start out descussing his upcoming book "Cancelling Comedians While the World Burns" but the conversation turns to memories of their respective writing careers, the cancel culture of the science fiction genre world during the zero years, and the question of the overproduction of elites. If you enjoy this conversation support us on Patreon and get access to the Zero Books "parrot room" wherein Zero Books authors and other regulars debate, discuss and talk...
Pop the Left: Utopia Revisited
September 21, 2020 00:00 - 42 minutes - 30.5 MBDerick Varn and Douglas Lain continue a discussion on the topic of Marx's feelings about utopianism and blueprints in this episode of Pop the Left. Can we develop a working-class project for socialism without having a good idea of what socialism will work and what will replace capitalist production? Did Marx think we could?
Zero Books Special: Dialogue on the Megamachine
September 18, 2020 00:00 - 47 minutes - 33.7 MBThis conversation between Vandana Shiva and Fabian Scheidler is hosted by Nermeen Shaikh a weekly co-host at Democracy Now! As per Wikipedia, Vandana Shiva is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, and anti-globalization author. Fabian Scheidler co-founded the independent newscast Kontext TV and is the author of "The End of the Megamachine" which is coming out in English from Zero Books in September of 2020.
Zero Books Special: Watson on Politics
September 13, 2020 00:00 - 49 minutes - 68.4 MBMike Watson is an art theorist, critic and curator, who holds a PhD in Philosophy from Goldsmiths College. Watson curated at the 55th and 56th Venice Biennale, as well as at Manifesta12 in Palermo. He has written regularly for Art Review, Artforum, Frieze, and Radical Philosophy. In this special edition of the Zero Books podcast he discuss the state left politics with Danny Scott aka Badman Massive.
Zero Squared #252: The Collapse of Civilization
September 10, 2020 00:00 - 1 hour - 47.7 MBThis week's podcast features an interview with Fabian Scheidler on the ideas in his upcoming book "The End of the Megamachine." The entirety of this interview is available as an audio "Zero Squared" podcast. The book provides a uniquely comprehensive picture of the roots of the destructive forces that are threatening the future of humankind today. Spanning 5000 years of history, the book shows how the three tyrannies of militarized states, capital accumulation and ideological powe...
Zero Squared #251: The Conscience of Progressives
September 04, 2020 00:00 - 23 minutes - 16.1 MBProf. Klees draws on 45 years of work around the world as an economist and international educator to paint a detailed picture of conservative, liberal, and progressive views on a wide range of current social issues. He takes an in-depth look at his specializations: education, economics, poverty and inequality, international development, and capitalism. He examines major social problems like health care, the climate crisis, and war. Throughout the book, Prof. Klees tries to give a fa...
Zero Squared #250: CLR James in 2020
August 28, 2020 00:00 - 50 minutes - 34.5 MBRalph Leonard is a British-Nigerian writer on international politics, religion, culture and humanism. He is a returning guest to the podcast and will be turning in a book for Zero Books in October. If you enjoy the Zero Books podcasts including Zero Squared and Pop the Left support us on Patreon. Patreon supporters get access to all of our podcasts and livestreams, and this week our patrons will get access to a video version of this podcast. It is our Patreon support that funds ou...
Zero Squared #249: The Kurdish Question
August 20, 2020 00:00 - 1 hour - 48.5 MBDr. Djene Rhys Bajalan is a historian of the Middle East specializing the rise of nationalism and the evolution of the Kurdish question. He has written for publications such as Turkeyscope, Jacobin, and OpenDemocracy and in this episode of Zero Squared we discuss the Kurdish question and the right to national self determination. If you enjoy the Zero Books podcasts including Zero Squared and Pop the Left support us on Patreon. Patreon supporters get access to all of our podcasts an...
Zero Squared #248: The Hope of Organizing
August 13, 2020 00:00 - 52 minutes - 41.3 MBMonika Maria Kostera is a Polish economist, professor of management and organization theorist. He book "After the Apocalypse: Finding hope in organizing" is due out from Zero Books in September. If you enjoy the Zero Books podcasts including Zero Squared and Pop the Left support us on Patreon. Patreon supporters get access to more podcasts and livestreams than are made available on the public feed or on youtube, and it is our Patreon support that funds our digital content.