Conspiracies, Fascism, and Borders in Capitalism: Frann Michel hosts this episode, which includes these segments:
Left & the Law: Conspiracy Thinking & the Epstein Case: Trumpism has always been animated by dark conspiracies about Democrats and "elites" and a belief in the divinely ordained power of Trump to expose and punish his enemies. The failure to deliver on the much hyped promise to release documents associated with the Epstein case--documents now under the control of Trump's own administration--was met with outrage and confusion on the part of Maga voters. In their Left & the Law segment, Jan Haaken and Mike Snedeker discuss the dynamics of this case, differences between the Epstein cover-up and previous conspiracies promoted by the far-right, and how the Left should be framing Trump's frantic efforts to free himself of the ghost of Epstein.
Well-Read Red: Hereness Against End Times Fascism: Frann Michel recommends, summarizes, and reads excerpts from the essay "The Rise of End Times Fascism" by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor, published in April in The Guardian.
Capitalism's Enduring Use for Borders: Ivan Drury Zarin explains how borders serve to undermine worker solidarity under capitalism. This talk was part of an event held last month by Solidarity on the Origins & Problems of the Anti-Migrant Panic. That panel discussion was the culmination of a reading and discussion group on the same topic. This talk mentions some materials from that group and beyond, including David Scott Fitzgerald, “The Euro-Moat,” in Refuge Beyond Reach: How Rich Democracies Repel Asylum Seekers (Oxford UP, 2019), as well as the work of Negri and Hardt and texts by Marx including Wage Labor and Capital, The Grundrisse, and Capital.
Yasmin Nair: Beyond Illegal vs Undocumented Immigration (Archive): In 2012, Denise Morris talked with Yasmin Nair about what was at stake (and not at stake) in the move to refer to immigrants as "undocumented" rather than "illegal." Nair wrote about the issue in articles including Undocumented vs. Illegal: A Distinction without a Difference and “Undocumented”: How an Identity Ended a Movement, which argues that "Capital and capitalism flow unimpeded through the body of the “Undocumented and Unafraid” immigrant figure, whose only purpose is to solidify the presence of a benevolent neoliberal state through a litany of affective narratives." Nair recently reminded us of this interview and her archive of work on immigration, in connection with a recent comment on the failures of current liberal writers to acknowledge the long history of how previous administrations prepared the way for the current nightmare.