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
Symptomatic Redness: Discussing IdPol and more with Amogh
May 07, 2019 00:00 - 1 hour - 59.3 MBAmogh Sahu returns for a conversation about escaping from identity politics, Marxism's "liberal" roots, and whether pessimism is justified? Is Marxism an optimistic approach to politics. Is Douglas Lain too focussed on Marx's theory of value. Is Marx's theory of credit money to be taken as separate from his idea of money as a commodity? What is political determinism and what is economism? And so on and so on...
Zero Squared Special: After Zizek vs. Peterson
April 30, 2019 00:00 - 1 hour - 52 MBNikos Sotirakopoulos and Ashley Frawley join Doug in this special, mostly unedited, episode of the Zero Squared podcast. This was recorded on the fly as a way to have a quick conversation about the Zizek vs. Peterson debate and, as a way to continue the debate. Nikos is a committed Randian while Ashley Frawley and Doug are both Marxists. Hope you enjoy this conversation/debate. It is being released for everyone.
Alternatives: Alternatives: The Horror Vanguard
April 29, 2019 00:00 - 1 hour - 125 MBC Derick Varn and JG Michaels discuss the vanguard of horror in this new episode of Alternatives. Alternatives examines the countercultural, or searches for a counterculture in a era when culture is so fragmented that there may no longer be a singular culture to resist. This episode features a conversation with the hosts of the Horror Vanguard about the politics of horror movies, the academic acceptance of the horror genre, and the role of fear in the current era. This episode is available...
Zero Squared #197: Heidi Matthews, Joe Biden, and #MeToo
April 24, 2019 00:00 - 1 hour - 43 MBProfessor Heidi Matthews researches and teaches in the areas of international criminal law, the law of war, international legal history and political theory. She is also the host of the HMOD (or Heidi Matthews on Demand) podcast. This week we discuss the HMOD podcast, the Elevatorgate scandal, the class politics embedded in the #metoo movement, and Joe Biden hugs. This week’s podcast is available in full for everyone. Our Patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic...
Symptomatic Redness: Ben Burgis on Logic
April 22, 2019 00:00 - 48 minutes - 45.8 MBDerick Varn discusses formal and dialectical logic with Ben Burgis. How successful can logic be against right-wing logic bros? How successful can a left that's abandoned logic be? Is logic rhetorically effective? Derick Varn recalls the 90s left's argument that "logic is a product of Western Imperlalism" and he conversation goes on from there. Give them an Argument is now available for pre-order on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Give-Them-Argument-Logic-Left/dp/1789042100 Our Patreon suppor...
Zero Squared #196: More On Exchange Value with Ben [teaser]
April 18, 2019 00:00 - 15 minutes - 9.13 MBBenjamin Lain is a math and computer science student at the University of Oregon, a member of the YDS, and my son. In this episode of the Zero Books podcast we continue our conversation about Karl Marx, Capital, and an essay by professor Mark Worrell entitled “A Faint Rattling: A Research Note on Marx’s Theory of Value.” In this episode you’ll hear clips from an old Zero Books discussion of Capital from 2015, as well as multiple clips of a librivox audiobook of Capital, Volume One. This w...
Symptomatic Redness: Left Anchor (pt. 2) [teaser]
April 15, 2019 00:00 - 5 minutes - 5.46 MBDerick Varn continues his interview with the hosts of the Left Anchor podcast. Ryan Cooper & Alexi the Greek discuss teacher strikes, the popularity of unions, political action, and the tendency to push the economic history of America to the side. This week's Symptomatic Redness is available in full for our Patrons. If you enjoy it consider supporting us on Patreon.
Zero Squared #195: The Death of the Trump/Russia Conspiracy Theory
April 12, 2019 00:00 - 55 minutes - 31.8 MBMichael Tracey is a freelance journalist who has written for publications including VICE, The Daily Beast, The American Conservative, and The Guardian and he was formerly a reporter for TYT. Tracey is also a member of a small set of leftish Russia collusion skeptics. He’s on the list that includes Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, and Aaron Mate along with a few others. In this podcast we discuss the Mueller Report, the Barr letter, the Russia collusion investigation, and the failure of most jou...
Symptomatic Redness: Left Anchor and Left Podcasting
April 09, 2019 00:00 - 37 minutes - 38.6 MBDerick Varn interviews the hosts (Ryan Cooper & Alexi the Greek) of the Left Anchor podcast about the state of the Left and left media, social democracy, and ideology. What is the difference between democrat socialism and social democracy? How significant is democracy for the left? This week's Symptomatic Redness is available in full for all of our listeners. If you enjoy it consider supporting us on Patreon.
Zero Squared #194: David Harvey, Marx's Value, and Exchange pt. 1 [teaser]
April 04, 2019 00:00 - 25 minutes - 14.4 MBBenjamin Lain (@chickenfrend) is an undergraduate math and computer science student at the University of Oregon, a member of the U of O’s YDS chapter, and my oldest son. This week he joins me to discuss Marx’s theory of Value, David Harvey, and an essay by professor Mark Worrell entitled “A Faint Rattling: A Research Note on Marx’s Theory of Value.” This is the first half of the conversation. The second half will be released in two weeks time. Both podcasts will be available in full for our ...
Symptomatic Redness: Tad Tietze on Anti-Politics (part 2) [teaser]
April 01, 2019 00:00 - 6 minutes - 5.97 MBDerick Varn continues his conversation withTad Tietze about anti-politics. Tietze blogs at Left Flank, tweets as @Dr_Tad, and has a book coming out from Verso books. From an essay by Tietze and Elizabeth Humphrys: Anti-politics and the Illusions of Neoliberalism We live in anti-political times. After a twentieth century in which Western societies experienced the rise and entrenchment of mass representative institutions, where hundreds of millions of people accepted that politics was the m...
Zero Squared #193: Social Democracy and Dead Pundits
March 28, 2019 00:00 - 1 hour - 84.6 MBAdam Proctor is the host of the Dead Pundits society and the guest on this week's episode of the Zero Squared podcast. Adam and I discuss just what a social democrat looks like, the base vs. superstructure split, crass economism, and today's socialism. This week’s podcast is available in full. Our Patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic Redness and Zero Squared, but if you’re listening on our free feed you’ll always be able to access one or the other podcasts e...
Symptomatic Redness: Tad Tietze on Anti-Politics
March 25, 2019 00:00 - 47 minutes - 43.5 MBDerick Varn talks to Tad Tietze about anti-politics. Tietze blogs at Left Flank, tweets as @Dr_Tad, and has a book coming out from Verso books. From an essay by Tietze and Elizabeth Humphrys: Anti-politics and the Illusions of Neoliberalism We live in anti-political times. After a twentieth century in which Western societies experienced the rise and entrenchment of mass representative institutions, where hundreds of millions of people accepted that politics was the main way to have their ...
Zero Squared #192: Stepp'd n Blood [teaser]
March 21, 2019 00:00 - 12 minutes - 7.29 MBAndrew Wallis is a freelance journalist, academic, and author, and a leading expert in the African Great Lakes Region, especially Rwanda. His previous book, "Silent Accomplice: The role of France in the Rwandan genocide' was praised as a 'damning new book' by the New York Review of Books, and his new book Stepp’d in Blood is due out next month from Zero Books. This week’s podcast is available in full for our patrons. Our Patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic ...
Symptomatic Redness: Jamie Curcio on Philosophy and Fiction [teaser]
March 17, 2019 00:00 - 10 minutes - 9.87 MBThis week's Symptomatic Redness is available in full for our Patreon supporters. The co-founder of the “Evolving Media Network” media collective, author of the novel Join My Cult! (published by New Falcon Press) and the founder of the band Babalon. His nonfiction work includes works of philosophy, mysticism, myth, and psychology and his first full length nonfiction book is entitled Narrative Machines. Derick Varn and Jamie Curcio discuss far right or fascist aesthetics, chaos magic, Hei...
Zero Squared #191: Brooks on 2020
March 13, 2019 00:00 - 1 hour - 36.5 MBMichael Brooks is the host of the Michael Brooks Show, the co-host of the Majority Report with Sam Seder, and a soon to be author here at Zero Books. In this episode Michael Brooks discusses Bolsonaro’s Brazil and what promises to be a torturous 2020 US presidential campaign. This week’s podcast is available in full. Our Patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic Redness and Zero Squared, but if you’re listening on our free feed you’ll always be able to access ...
Symptomatic Redness: Conversation with Ed Simon (pt. 2)
March 10, 2019 00:00 - 46 minutes - 44.2 MBC Derick Varn continues his conversation with Ed Simon. Ed Simon is an editor at Berfrois, a British magazine of “Literature, Ideas, Tea,” and a staff writer at The Millions, which the New York Times has called the “indispensable literary site.” Simon is also the author of "America and Other Fictions" from Zero Books. The conversation begins with Derick explaining the American Southern Left and their alienation, but quickly moves on to the significance of the 2016 American presidential elec...
Zero Squared #190: Race and Capitalism [teaser]
March 06, 2019 00:00 - 9 minutes - 5.17 MBPeter Hudis is a professor of the humanities and philosophy at Oakton Community College and a member of the IMHO or International Marxist Humanist Organization and in this episode of the Zero Books podcast we attempt to discuss the idea that African Americans are the vanguard of revolutionary socialism but pretty quickly get stuck discussing just how or whether the racial categories that are have arisen historically and are familiar to us today are intrinsic to capitalism as a mode of produc...
Symptomatic Redness: Ed Simon on America and Other Fictions [teaser]
March 03, 2019 00:00 - 4 minutes - 4.23 MBDerick Varn interviews Zero Books author Ed Simon about his book America and Other Fictions, secularization theory, and religious life in a modern world. Here's the back of the Jacket copy for Ed Simon's book: At a moment of cultural and political crisis, with forces of reaction seemingly ascendant throughout the West, it's fair to ask what use does anyone have for America, God, or any other similar fictions? What use does theological language have for the radical facing the apocalypse? Am...
Zero Squared Special: Henryk Grossman, Crisis, and Rick Kuhn
February 27, 2019 00:00 - 1 hour - 59.7 MBWelcome to a special edition of the Zero Books podcast. Ashley Frawley is a member of the Zero Books team and this week she is the host of the Zero Books podcast. Frawley, being interested in Marxist crisis theory, interviewed professor Rick Kuhn who has spent over twenty years studying the Marxist economist Henryk Grossman and in this episode, Frawley and Kuhn discuss the declining rate of profit, countervailing tendencies, the Frankfurt school, and the cultural turn. This week’s podcast ...
Symptomatic Redness: Mark Rainey on Capital 2 & 3
February 24, 2019 00:00 - 1 hour - 72.9 MBFriend of the podcast Mark Rainey joins Derick Varn to discuss Capital Volumes 2 and 3, and the obscure academic battles that are often ignored on the left. Why are socialists so allergic to Marx's critique of political economy? Why is it so uncommon to read Marx's actual writings? Is there a way to bring theory and activism together in praxis?
Zero Squared #189: Free Speech Debate (pt. 2) [teaser]
February 20, 2019 00:00 - 9 minutes - 5.22 MBDerick Varn is a reader at Zero Books, the host of Symptomatic Redness, and my nemesis. In this episode you’ll hear the second half of our debate the question of Free Speech as it relates to our mutual ill-defined Marxist socialism. This is part two of a two-part conversation and is available in full for our Patreon supporters. Our Patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic Redness and Zero Squared, but if you’re listening for free you’ll always be able to access...
Zero Squared #188: A Free Speech Debate
February 14, 2019 00:00 - 47 minutes - 27.4 MBDerick Varn is a reader at Zero Books, the host of Symptomatic Redness, and my nemesis. In this episode of Zero Squared Derick and I debate the question of Free Speech as it relates to our mutual, ill-defined, Marxist socialism. This is part one of a two-part conversation and is available for free. The second half will be available to our Patreon supporters next week. Our Patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic Redness and Zero Squared, but if you’re listening...
Symptomatic Redness: Swampside and Parkinson
February 11, 2019 00:00 - 47 minutes - 45.8 MBThis week's Symptomatic Redness features a conversation with Donald Parkinson. Parkinson was formerly of the Communist League of Tampa and the Swampside podcast, and he discusses the state of the radical socialist left today. Swampside Chats is the podcast where, every week, communists shoot the shit about current events, history, political economy, and theory. "You are free not only to invite us, but to go yourselves wherever you will, even into the Swamp. In fact, we think that is your...
Zero Squared #187: Critical Humanism [teaser]
February 07, 2019 00:00 - 19 minutes - 11.4 MBAshley Frawley is a frequent guest on Sky News and the BBC, she is the author of the Semiotics of Happiness, and she’s on the editorial team at Zero Books. This week she also the guest on the podcast as we discuss the need for a recommitment to a critical humanism, the question of human subjectivity, and the UK smacking ban. This week’s podcast is available in its entirety to our Patreon supporters which means if you’re listening to one of our three free feeds you’ll be hearing an excerpt f...
Alternatives: Conspiracy Theories Left and Right [teaser]
February 02, 2019 00:00 - 11 minutes - 13.5 MBC Derick Varn and JG Michaels investigate the difference between left and right-wing conspiracy theories. Covering everything from anti-vaccination conspiracies, communist fluoride, 9/11 Truth, Peak Oil, and the social sorting that occurred in the aughts. This episode is available in full on our Patreon feed.
Zero Squared #186: Made in Brooklyn
January 31, 2019 00:00 - 50 minutes - 29.1 MBAmanda Wasielewski is an artist and Lecturer in Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam. She is also the author of Made In Brooklyn, a book that was published by Zero Books in June of last year, and she’s the guest on this week’s podcast This week’s podcast is free to everyone and this weekend’s Symptomatic Redness will be available to our Patreon supporters. Patreon subscribers get access to two podcasts every week: Symptomatic Redness and Zero Squared. If you’re listening for free yo...
Symptomatic Redness: A Regrettable Century (pt. 2)
January 26, 2019 00:00 - 49 minutes - 48.1 MBFind a creator Jan 26 at 10:40am Symptomatic Redness: A Regrettable Century (pt. 2) regrettable_century_part_2.mp3 C Derick Varn continutes his interview with the hosts of the "Regrettable Century" Podcast. The Regrettable Century podcast subscribes to what's called "revolutionary pessimism." The hosts describe themselves as both humanist and pessimist and the invite similarly hard headed people to listen. "A clean, honest, and unsentimental melancholy is required; we've cultivated one a...
Zero Squared #185: Nihilists believe in NOTHING! [teaser]
January 23, 2019 00:00 - 19 minutes - 11 MBMartin Frederiksen is the author of the book “An Anthropology of Nothing in Particular” which came out from Zero Books in August last year and he’s the guest this week as we discuss the group of nihilists he studied and their commitment to...well...nothing. If you’re listening to this podcast through our Patreon feed you’ll hear about an hour conversation between Martin and me. You’ll hear me try to pin him down about just what these nihilists and their commitment to nothing means, and his ...
Symptomatic Redness: A Regrettable Century Part One [teaser]
January 19, 2019 00:00 - 9 minutes - 9.87 MBOn our Patreon feed, you can hear the entirety of this interview with the hosts of the A Regrettable Century Podcast. The Regrettable Century podcast subscribes to what's called "revolutionary pessimism." The hosts describe themselves as both humanist and pessimist and the invite similarly hard headed people to listen. "A clean, honest, and unsentimental melancholy is required; we've cultivated one and would like to share it with you."
Zero Squared #184: Heidegger, Video Games, and Control
January 17, 2019 00:00 - 45 minutes - 25.9 MBLiam Mitchell is the author of the book “Ludopolitics: Video Games against Control” which came out from Zero Books in December and he’s the guest this week as we discuss Heidegger, universal reason, and video games such as Skyrim, Zelda, and the Duck Game. It’s Thursday, January 16th, 2019 and I’m Douglas Lain the publisher of Zero Books and the host of this podcast. This week’s Zero Books podcast is free for everyone. Next week’s podcast, on Nihilism, will be available in its entirety th...
Symptomatic Redness: Haider's "Mistaken Identity" pt. 2
January 12, 2019 00:00 - 56 minutes - 59.5 MBSymptomatic Redness is a podcast about political economy and historical analysis hosted by C. Derick Varn and Amogh Sahu and this week's podcast features the second half of a discussion of Asad Haider's book "Mistaken Identity." Here's a blurb from Judith Butler for Haider's book: “Asad Haider renews the critique of identity politics for the contemporary Left. Drawing on the work of British cultural studies, black feminism, and theories of the subject (and subjection), Haider writes i...
Zero Squared #183: Hegel, Gradualism, and Revolution [Teaser]
January 10, 2019 00:00 - 22 minutes - 12.8 MBBen Burgis Returns this week as we discuss Hegel’s logic and his critique of gradualism, the question of revolutionary transition, and whether or not Charlie Brown is bald. If you’re a patron of the Zero Books podcast and you’re listening to the Patreon feed, you’re about to hear a two-hour conversation. If you’re listening to this podcast through the podomatic or blubrry feeds then what you’re about to hear is a twenty-minute teaser. If you want to hear the rest then subscribe to the podca...
Symptomatic Redness: Teaser for Discussion of Haider's "Mistaken Identity"
January 06, 2019 00:00 - 9 minutes - 9.97 MBSymptomatic Redness is a podcast about political economy and historical analysis hosted by C. Derick Varn and Amogh Sahu and this week's teaser features a discussion of Assad Haider's book "Mistaken Identity." The entire conversation is available through our Patreon feed. Patreon supporters get access to an episode of the Zero Books podcast and Symptomatic Redness every week. If you enjoy our podcasts consider subscribing.
Zero Squared #182: Holding Onto Enlightenment Values?
January 03, 2019 00:00 - 1 hour - 37.2 MBC Derick Varn is the guest this week as we finally got around to discussing our differences on the topic of liberal values and the future of the enlightenment project. Specifically, we discussed Immanuel Kant’s essay “What is Enlightenment?” along with Theodor Adorno’s Negative Dialectics. It’s an interesting time. Some of you may know that I started podcasting back in 2009. I believe the first episode was an interview with my lovely wife Miriam about the sinking of the Titanic. At that mo...
Zero Squared Christmas Special
December 25, 2018 00:00 - 1 hour - 42.4 MBThis episode of the Zero Books podcast features a conversation with Harvey Kaye about the British Marxist Historians. It is also a holiday special and you can hear the Lain family reacting to the annual endurance of the Star Wars Holiday Special in this week's introductory remarks. From the book jacket of Harvey Kaye's book The British Marxist Historians: The British Marxist Historians remains the first and most complete study of the founders of one of the most influential contemporary aca...
Zero Squared #181: Yellow Vests and the Left
December 20, 2018 00:00 - 45 minutes - 26.2 MBMargaret Kimberley is a columnist and editor for the Black Agenda report and a longtime friend of the podcast. This week she returns to discuss Yellow Vests, open borders, inequality and the need to develop an alternative to capitalism. The second half of this conversation will be available to our Patreon supporters. It’s Thursday, December 20th, 2018 and I’m Douglas Lain the publisher of Zero Books and the host of this podcast. Starting in the new year Patron supporters will get access to...
Zero Squared #180: Give Them An Argument
December 17, 2018 00:00 - 1 hour - 49.6 MBBen Burgis is a philosophy professor at Rutgers, a science fiction writer whose work has appeared in publications such as Tor.com and in Prime Books, and he is most importantly the author of Give Them An Argument: Logic for the Left which is due out next year from Zero Books. In this episode Burgis shows off his nerd bona fides by poking holes in some right-wing arguments about Universal Healthcare, Venezuela, and the ideas of Ayn Rand. We also touch on the difference between Aristotelian an...
Symptomatic Redness: Russia, Russia, Russia
December 06, 2018 00:00 - 1 hour - 71 MBC Derick Varn interviews Sean Guillory from the podcast "Sean's Russia Blog" about US Russiaphobia, the lingering trauma of Donald Trump, and the new xenophobia. Sean's Russia provides a space for the academics and other thinkers to express their views and contribute to the larger public discussion on the region and gives the public access to a growing body of research that is becoming more and more important as tensions in the region flare. The aim is to "paint a picture of Eurasia in all...
Zero Squared #179: Fully Automated Revolution?
November 29, 2018 00:00 - 48 minutes - 27.8 MBThis week’s podcasts features a conversation with Benjamin Reynolds, whose book The Coming Revolution was published last June by Zero Books. We discuss Fully Automated Luxury Gay Communism, value theory, labor vouchers, and socialism as a political project. If you’re a fan of this podcast you should consider becoming a patron of the cast through our Patreon page as you’ll gain access to a second podcast every week and, starting in the new year, you’ll get access to a monthly member’s only ...
Zero Squared #178: The American Left Tradition
November 22, 2018 00:00 - 53 minutes - 30.5 MBHarvey J Kaye is currently the Director of the Center for History and Social Change at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. He is the author of The Fight for the Four Freedoms, Thomas Paine and the Promise of America, "Why do Ruling Classes Fear History" and Other Questions and many other books, including one that we are currently negotiating to publish through Zero Books. That book is tentatively entitled Take Hold of Our History: Make America Radical Again. Harvey Kaye, thanks for coming...
Zero Squared #177: The Beauty of Class
November 15, 2018 00:00 - 1 hour - 36.4 MBWalter Benn Michaels is a well known literary theorist and the author of political books such as The Trouble with Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity and essays like The Beauty of a Social Problem. He is a controversial guest and one I was glad to talk to especially in the context of the reaction to my video critiquing intersectionality. If you like this week’s podcast you should support us on Patreon. Patreon supporters receive access to a second podcast every week. Our patrons are...
Inside Zero Books #82: The Facebook Economy
November 11, 2018 00:00 - 52 minutes - 30 MBZero Books author Rob Larson returns to discuss his most recent writing project on the digital landscape and capitalism. We discuss Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, MySpace, and Usenet and the utopian promise of this series of tubes known as the internet. How much of the US GDP comes from digital content? Does Mark Zuckerberg own our identities? Are we all unpaid laborers producing content for Google?
Zero Squared #176: Bolsonaro and the Limits of Anti-Corruption
November 08, 2018 00:00 - 52 minutes - 30.2 MBMichael Brooks is the host of the Michael Brooks Show, the co-host of the Majority Report, and now an author for Zero Books. In this episode, we discuss the election of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and the rising right-wing populism around the world. If you like this week’s podcast you should support us on Patreon. Patreon supporters receive access to a second podcast every week. If you’re curious about it then watch this space this coming weekend as we’ll be releasing a special edition of Ins...
Zero Squared #175: A Report from Brazil
November 01, 2018 00:00 - 50 minutes - 34.9 MBMateus Grazina is a 27 year old brazilian artist living in São Paulo working on a television show for the Cartoon Network about a school aged penguin named Oswaldo. He is part of what might be called the algorithmic left and in this episode of the podcast we discuss the 2018 presidential election in Brazil, the campaign and victory of the far right candidate Jair Bolsonaro, the recent struggles and the judicial coup that struck the Brazilian Worker’s Party, and the consequences of both the B...
Zero Squared #174: The Left Through the Looking Glass
October 25, 2018 00:00 - 52 minutes - 41.7 MBTerry Newman is currently an MA student in the Media Studies Department at Concordia University in Montreal. She is a Teaching Assistant in Concordia’s Engineering Department and the author of Through the Looking Glass at Concordia University. It’s Wednesday, October 25th, 2018 and I’m Douglas Lain the publisher of Zero Books and the host of this podcast. We’ve started a Zero Books reading group for our patrons. It runs $15 a month on Patreon and this month’s book is Stuart Walton’s Neglec...
Zero Squared #173: The Kavanaugh Show Trial
October 18, 2018 00:00 - 1 hour - 53 MBProfessor Heidi Matthews is Assistant Professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School, where she Co-Directs the Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security. In this week’s podcast she stops by to discuss her essay in the conversation “Why the Kavanaugh hearings were a show trial gone bad” We’ve started a Zero Books reading group for our patrons. It runs $15 a month on Patreon and this month’s book is Stuart Walton’s Neglected or Misunderstood: Introducing Theodor Adorno. ...
Zero Squared #172: A Swedish Utopia
October 11, 2018 00:00 - 1 hour - 24.4 MBMir Bal is the host of the A Lost Cause podcast out of Sweden, he is also a former social worker turned barista, an immigrant, and a socialist. He joins the Zero Books podcast in order to discuss immigration to the Swedish Utopia and why the Scandinavian Model really is a worker’s paradise...or maybe that’s not the conclusion we reached. If you haven’t already supported us on Patreon you’re missing out on a second podcast every week and if you haven’t joined the Zero Books reading group t...
Symptomatic Redness: Scientific Socialism and Cold Stars
October 04, 2018 00:00 - 1 hour - 64.7 MBAmir of Cold Dark Stars joins C Derick Varn to discuss the over-complexity of capitalism, planning, and understanding dynamic systems. Amir is a Ph.D. student in theoretical astrophysics trying to resist the tyranny of over-specialization. Cold Dark Stars is his notebook for exploring issues concerning society, philosophy of science, and capitalism, from a Left perspective using his scientific training as a lens. The name of the blog is a reference to a neutron star – the cold, dead shell ...
Zero Squared #171: Pssst...Socialists Oppose Reaction
September 27, 2018 00:00 - 55 minutes - 21.1 MBThe following podcast was recorded at the request of a former Zero Books author named Nicolas Hausdorf after I mentioned on my blog that, in light of the positions he'd taken in essays written for a reactionary online journal, that we would no longer be publishing his work. In 2015 we published Nicolas Hausdorf’s book Superstructural Berlin, a “frivolous” work that plays around with critical theory in order to provide the reader with an impressionistic picture of Berlin’s nightlife, drug c...