Listeners questions for Richard Seymour
Added 2024-07-13 10:51:13 +0000 UTCRichard will be returning to the show next week to answer your questions. You may like to ask him something regarding the recent elections in the UK and France, the continuing Israeli war on Gaza, or about Joe Biden's faltering run for a second term in office. Though feel free of course to choose your own topic. As usual, please send your questions to politicstheoryother@gmail.com or comment below the line here.
Thanks as ever for your support.
Comments
Thank you for your thoughtful response. I would like to ask a different question: I recently saw Richard on an episode of BBC Question Time from 1998 asking about institutional racism in the MET. Question Time is a radically different programme now that goes for clicks. Does Richard agree that there has been a severe debasement of intellectual and public discourse over the past 25 years, and if so, what is his explanation?
Michael Doyle
2024-08-08 16:26:11 +0000 UTCHi James, I'm really sorry about this but I managed to miss your question for Richard. We will do another listener's questions episode soon I'm sure. Let me know if you'd like him to address it next time. My apologies.
Politics Theory Other
2024-08-08 16:16:51 +0000 UTCHi James, I'm really sorry about this but I managed to miss your question for Richard. We will do another listener's questions episode soon I'm sure. Let me know if you'd like him to address it next time. My apologies.
Politics Theory Other
2024-08-08 16:16:43 +0000 UTCHi Michael, I'm really sorry about this but I managed to miss your question for Richard. We will do another listener's questions episode soon I'm sure. Let me know if you'd like him to address it next time. My apologies.
Politics Theory Other
2024-08-08 16:16:35 +0000 UTCWas Richard surprised to see Clive Lewis MP vote against the SNP amendment to remove the 2 child cap?
James Noel-Beswick
2024-07-25 00:43:56 +0000 UTCDoes Richard think the Green Party’s leader’s comment about the Biden resignation prove that they will never be a truly left wing party? And has the general election success of the greens killed any chance of a truly left wing party emerging?
James Noel-Beswick
2024-07-24 19:25:13 +0000 UTCDoes Richard think the current state of capitalism can be explained by the classic Marxist theory of the falling rate of profit? If not, what is the explanation?
Michael Doyle
2024-07-20 08:26:09 +0000 UTCI feel like Richard may have addressed this before but I would interested his thoughts on how we can analyse the rise of the far-right partly in psychoanalytic terms? How much of its appeal can be ascribed to the thrill of breaking and transcending social norms? And if Richard sees it as a significant feature of the far right's appeal, how can it be countered and/or would it be productive for the left to attempt to have a similar appeal? Thanks!
James Morrison
2024-07-19 09:42:26 +0000 UTCI’d like to hear Richard’s thoughts on what the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump will do for the psychic life of Trump’s base, and for the conspiratorial right wing more generally. On twitter, there have been some cheeky reversals: those claiming the assassination was staged now wear the badge of conspiracy theorists (“I guess we weren’t the conspiracy theorists after all,” one jovial tweeter said in response to such a claim). I re-read Richard’s post on “Fascism in the Age of Hyperreality” and also wonder: what does he make of J.D. Vance (Trump’s VP pick)? Politically he’s as unsavoury and uninteresting as any Republican, but does his particular skill for crafting national fantasy make him a more appealing choice for Trump?
Cristina D'Amico
2024-07-16 18:32:44 +0000 UTCHow do the UK election results impact the austerity plans of the new Labour government? Do the threats to Starmer from left and right make the government's position sufficiently precarious that the pencilled-in austerity programme is politically unfeasible?
Alex Ramage
2024-07-16 10:32:40 +0000 UTCAlso is there - as I assume - a history of capital opting for the far right over the far left as the two tend to rise in reaction together
Jon
2024-07-15 12:54:29 +0000 UTCIn both the recent UK and French elections, we’ve seen a significant vote share for the far right (again), it also now seems that certain sections of capital are now more than happy to support movements like National Rally and Reform. What is Richard’s take on this? Is this a significant break with the technocratic/liberal centre? How do we make sense of this in terms of the changing character of disaster nationalism and the mobilisation of the left to oppose these forces?
Joe Turner
2024-07-15 08:56:25 +0000 UTCAs mainstream media coverage of Gaza falls, public interest in and outcry over Gaza seems to be waning. But Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza and the West Bank are as intense as ever. Netanyahu continues to block a hostage deal with Hamas. What are the prospects of the war ending before the US elections in November, and is there any hope of arrest & prosecution of Israel’s chief war criminals (Netanyahu, Gallant, Halevi and others)?
Anat Pick
2024-07-15 04:37:40 +0000 UTCWhat are the prospects for something similar to the left wing movement behind Corbyn to occur through activists joining the Green Party en masse? The General Election saw the Greens come second in many seats, especially in London, and it looks as though an influx of experienced leftwing activists into the Party could really cause Labour problems and offer the potential of a genuinely progressive bloc being elected to the next parliament. So far leading figures in the Green Party seem to be welcoming new members, but at what point might an old guard start to raise concerns about "entryism" in a similar manner to Labour CLPs in 2015?
Matt Ew
2024-07-13 10:59:23 +0000 UTC
