Max Haiven (and company)

In this episode, we speak with Omar Zahzah about his new book Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital Settler Colonialism in the Palestinian Liberation Struggle, published by the Censored Press and Seven Stories Press. Our conversation touches on: the gamified collaboration between big-tech and the apparatus of mass murder and apartheid; the digital targeting, harassment and silencing of Palestinian solidarity organizers; the colonial violence invested in the algorithms that shape our lives (and deaths); and the way a profoundly transformative "Virtual Palestine" is created through the protagonism of those resisting genocide and their supporters around the world. Omar Zahzah is a writer, poet, artist, musician, freelance journalist, and Assistant Professor of Arab, and Muslim, Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) Studies in the Department of Race and Resistance Studies at San Francisco State University. Omar is the former Education and Advocacy Coordinator for Eyewitness Palestine, a role that saw him training delegates to Palestine on Palestinian political history and culture and racial justice. Omar’s writing on Palestine has appeared in outlets such as The Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye, andThe Nation. Omar holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from UCLA. Against the Fascist Game is the second season of The Exploits of Play, a podcast about games and capitalism. Join Max Haiven and Faye Harvey as they interview game designers, critical theorists and grassroots activists struggling with games to understand, confront and abolish the rising threat of fascism in our times. We ask questions including: how is the far-right using games as platforms for ideology, recruiting and violence, both close to home and around the world? How have vicious reactionary politics emerged from a form of capitalism where most people feel trapped in an unwinnable game? What do fascism and antifascism mean today? And what role, if any do play and games have in confronting the fascist threat and creating a new world? The Exploits of Play is a production of Weird Economies, a platform for exploring the intricacies and excesses of our economic imaginaries, in cooperation with RiVAL: The ReImagining Value Action Lab.

Sarah indulges Max's controversial take that... - Students are workers - Use of ChatGPT and generative AI is the refusal of work - Workers can and should reclaim the means of study as part of a class war THOUGHTSNACK is an occasional podcast from Sense & Solidarity where Sarah Stein Lubrano and Max Haiven explore the big ideas that make and break our world. Sense & Solidarity is a platform where people who want to radically change the world can learn together and build individual and collective capacity. http://senseandsolidarity.org/ Sarah Stein Lubrano is a writer and researcher who specializes in the social psychology of politics. She is the author of Don't Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st-Century Minds (2025). http://www.sarahsteinlubrano.com Max Haiven is an researcher and educator who uses writing, teaching, games, podcasts and other techniques for the radical imagination. His latest book is Palm Oil: The Grease of Empire (2022). http://maxhaiven.com/ Music by Dan Gouly.

In this episode we discuss the contradiction within games between gender play and fantasies to control and order; video games as reproductive technology; the playfulness of the far right which could be characterised as play without pleasure; how rulebreaking and gamebreaking play out in liberal democracy and fascism; and the possibilities of play and protest in antifascist practices and riotous revolution. Vicky Osterweil is a writer, worker and agitator based in Philadelphia. She is a founding member of the anarchist writing collective CAW, which can be found at cawshinythings.com She is the author of In Defense of Looting and the forthcoming book The Extended Universe: How Disney Destroyed the Movies and Took Over the World. Against the Fascist Game is the second season of The Exploits of Play, a podcast about games and capitalism. Join Max Haiven and Faye Harvey as they interview game designers, critical theorists and grassroots activists struggling with games to understand, confront and abolish the rising threat of fascism in our times. We ask questions including: how is the far-right using games as platforms for ideology, recruiting and violence, both close to home and around the world? How have vicious reactionary politics emerged from a form of capitalism where most people feel trapped in an unwinnable game? What do fascism and antifascism mean today? And what role, if any do play and games have in confronting the fascist threat and creating a new world? The Exploits of Play is a production of Weird Economies, a platform for exploring the intricacies and excesses of our economic imaginaries, in cooperation with RiVAL: The ReImagining Value Action Lab.

Sarah and Max try and figure out why everyone is so obsessed with (mis)counting babies. Of course, we talk about capitalism, imperialism, patriarchy and much more. Here's what set us off: "The Birth-Rate Crisis Isn’t as Bad as You’ve Heard—It’s Worse" in The Atlantic. "How does Low Fertility Affect Economic Growth, Worldwide?" in Rocking our Priors podcast **** THOUGHTSNACK is an occasional podcast from Sense & Solidarity where Sarah Stein Lubrano and Max Haiven explore the big ideas that make and break our world. Sense & Solidarity is a platform where people who want to radically change the world can learn together and build individual and collective capacity. http://senseandsolidarity.org/ Sarah Stein Lubrano is a writer and researcher who specializes in the social psychology of politics. She is the author of Don't Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st-Century Minds (2025). http://www.sarahsteinlubrano.com Max Haiven is an researcher and educator who uses writing, teaching, games, podcasts and other techniques for the radical imagination. His latest book is Palm Oil: The Grease of Empire (2022). http://maxhaiven.com/ Music by Dan Gouly

Max and Sarah sketch a framework for understanding three core fascist motivations, based on Max's forthcoming book The Player and the Played: From Gamified Capitalism to 21st Century Fascism. - An OPPORTUNIST motivation to personally benefit from authoritarianism - A PARANOID fear that the "natural" order is collapsing - A PSYCHEDELIC infatuation with the power to bend and break reality THOUGHT SNACK is an occasional podcast from Sense & Solidarity where Sarah Stein Lubrano and Max Haiven explore the big ideas that make and break our world. Sense & Solidarity is a platform where people who want to radically change the world can learn together and build individual and collective capacity. https://senseandsolidarity.org/ Sarah Stein Lubrano is a writer and researcher who specializes in the social psychology of politics. She is the author of Don't Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st-Century Minds (2025). https://www.sarahsteinlubrano.com Max Haiven is an researcher and educator who uses writing, teaching, games, podcasts and other techniques for the radical imagination. His latest book is Palm Oil: The Grease of Empire (2022). https://maxhaiven.com/ Music by Dan Gouly.

In this episode, we discussed the concept of microfascism, which refers to everyday life practices, and intersubjective relations that establish power dynamics and form the organisation of desire. The yearning for and supplication to power is at work in everyone and must constantly be guarded against, for these are easily amenable to fascist organisations and movements. As the saying goes: “Kill the cop in your head!” We also discussed martial masculinity as it manifests in combat sports such as Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), as well as figures of such franchises such as Dana White, who is a close associate of Trump and many other fascist personalities. Jack Z. Bratich writes about the intersection of popular culture and political culture. He applies social and political theory to such topics as social movements, craft culture, patriarchal subjectivities, and the cultures of secrecy. He is professor of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University and author of On Microfascism: Gender, War, Death (Common Notions, 2022) and Conspiracy Panics: Political Rationality and Popular Culture (2008). His latest publication is “What Can a Body Do(om)?: Fratriarchy’s Affects and the Capacities to Break Together” (2025) in Capacities to: Affect Up Against Fascism. Against the Fascist Game is the second season of The Exploits of Play, a podcast about games and capitalism. Join Max Haiven and Faye Harvey as they interview game designers, critical theorists and grassroots activists struggling with games to understand, confront and abolish the rising threat of fascism in our times. We ask questions including: how is the far-right using games as platforms for ideology, recruiting and violence, both close to home and around the world? How have vicious reactionary politics emerged from a form of capitalism where most people feel trapped in an unwinnable game? What do fascism and antifascism mean today? And what role, if any do play and games have in confronting the fascist threat and creating a new world? The Exploits of Play is a production of Weird Economies, a platform for exploring the intricacies and excesses of our economic imaginaries, in cooperation with RiVAL: The ReImagining Value Action Lab.

In this episode we talked about how we got from Gamergate to the far right fascist politics we’re seeing unleashed today. Gamergate refers to a strange phenomenon that occurred in 2014, where a group of video game fans used online platforms - from Reddit to 4Chan to Craigslist - to create a harassment campaign against feminist gamemakers and critics, making tactics like doxxing and shitposting widespread. Gamergate is a signature moment in the ascendency of the new far right. We spoke with Adrienne about how Silicon Valley and its economic framework gave rise to the platforms implicated in fascist movements like Gamergate; whether we are embroiled in the normalisation of dark play; and what the Left should be doing in the face of our servitude to privatised digital infrastructure. Adrienne Massanari is an Associate Professor at the School of Communication at American University and affiliate faculty with the AU Games Center. Her research interests include digital culture, platform politics, game studies, pop culture, and gender and race online. Her most recent book, "Gaming Democracy: How Silicon Valley Leveled Up the Far Right" (MIT Press, 2024), discusses the connections between the far right, Silicon Valley, and gaming culture. She is also the author of "Participatory Culture, Community, and Play: Learning from Reddit" (Peter Lang, 2015). Against the Fascist Game is the second season of The Exploits of Play, a podcast about games and capitalism. Join host Max Haiven and producer Faye Harvey as they interview game designers, critical theorists and grassroots activists struggling with games to understand, confront and abolish the rising threat of fascism in our times. We ask questions including: how is the far-right around the world using games as platforms for ideology, recruiting and violence, both close to home and around the world? How have vicious reactionary politics emerged from a form of capitalism where most people feel trapped in an unwinnable game? What do fascism and antifascism mean today? And what role, if any do play and games have in confronting the fascist threat and creating a new world? The Exploits of Play is a production of Weird Economies, a platform for exploring the intricacies and excesses of our economic imaginaries, in cooperation with RiVAL: The ReImagining Value Action Lab.

A short selection from Max Haiven's forthcoming book The Player and the Played: How Gamified Capitalism led to 21st Century Fascism in which he goes over why it's fruitful for antifascists to keep three meanings of fascism in mind. For more information, visit http://maxhaiven.com

This episode was recorded as part of a live panel event at Pelican House on the 13 April 2025 celebrating the London launch of Max’s board game Billionaires and Guillotines, published by Pluto Press. In this episode we talked about the role of games and play in the coming revolution; the game mechanics of Billionaires & Guillotines and what its format might offer players; why Max chose the guillotine as the instrument of abolition; and we even played a game role-playing a war profiteer, an aristocrat and a tech overlord. Danny Dorling is Oxford geography professor and bestselling author of books including Seven Children: Inequality and Britain's Next Generation and Peak Injustice: Solving Britain’s Inequality Crisis. Meg Jayanth is an award-winning narrative and game designer whose credits include 80 Days, Sunless Sea and Horizon Zero Dawn. Max Haiven is Canada Research Chair in the Radical Imagination, writer of books including Palm Oil: The Grease of Empire and Revenge Capitalism: The Ghosts of Empire, the Demons of Capital, and the Settling of Unpayable Debts. Against the Fascist Game is the second season of The Exploits of Play, a podcast about games and capitalism. Join host Max Haiven and producer Faye Harvey as they interview game designers, critical theorists and grassroots activists struggling with games to understand, confront and abolish the rising threat of fascism in our times. We ask questions including: how is the far-right around the world using games as platforms for ideology, recruiting and violence, both close to home and around the world? How have vicious reactionary politics emerged from a form of capitalism where most people feel trapped in an unwinnable game? What do fascism and antifascism mean today? And what role, if any do play and games have in confronting the fascist threat and creating a new world? The Exploits of Play is a production of Weird Economies, a platform for exploring the intricacies and excesses of our economic imaginaries, in cooperation with RiVAL: The ReImagining Value Action Lab.

On 21 May 2025, Sarah Stein Lubrano, author of Don't Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st-Century Minds sat down with Max Haiven at Berlin's Shakespeare and Sons bookshop. "Democracy is dying because we are clinging to a dangerous and outdated myth: talking about politics can change people's minds. It doesn't. This provocative debut from a bold new voice combines a fascinating range of research to show us the psychological and sociological factors that really shape our politics. Drawing from ancient philosophy to modern neuroscience and social science, Dr Sarah Stein Lubrano reveals the surprising truth about how people think and behave politically. From friendship to community organizing and social infrastructure, she explores the actions that actually do change minds. In a world where politics keeps getting more irrational, dishonest, violent and chaotic, it's getting much harder to reach people with words alone. So people who really care about democracy must ask: how can we stop arguing and do the deep work to build stronger foundations for political life, and a better world for us all?"

In this episode, we talked about how fascism transforms itself in and across different historical conjunctures; how the far right uses race and gender as key points of articulation and why we should be engaging with psychoanalytic theories of fascism alongside radical anti-fascist thinkers; our current moment of transition as one of systemic instability, uncertainty and reorientation; and how in the contemporary moment of resurgent fascism, migration must be thought together with carcerality, especially when deportation has become the emblem of the Trump administration. Alberto Toscano is the author of Fanaticism: On the Uses of an Idea (Verso, 2010; 2017, 2nd ed.), Cartographies of the Absolute (with Jeff Kinkle, Zero Books, 2015), La abstracción real. Filosofia, estética y capital (Palinodia, 2021), Terms of Disorder: Keywords for an Interregnum (Seagull, 2023), Late Fascism: Race, Capitalism and the Politics of Crisis (Verso, 2023), and Communism in Philosophy: Essays on Alain Badiou and Toni Negri (Brill, 2025). He is the co-editor of the 3-volume The SAGE Handbook of Marxism (with Sara Farris, Bev Skeggs and Svenja Bromberg, SAGE, 2022), Ruth Wilson Gilmore's Abolition Geography: Essays in Liberation (with Brenna Bhandar, Verso, 2022), and Georges Bataille's Critical Essays, vols. I and II (with Benjamin Noys, Seagull, 2023 and 2025). He is series editor of Seagull Essays and The Italian List for Seagull Books, and a columnist for the magazine In These Times. He has also translated the work of Antonio Negri, Alain Badiou, Franco Fortini, and Furio Jesi. Against the Fascist Game is the second season of The Exploits of Play, a podcast about games and capitalism. Join host Max Haiven and producer Faye Harvey as they interview game designers, critical theorists and grassroots activists struggling with games to understand, confront and abolish the rising threat of fascism in our times. We ask questions including: how is the far-right around the world using games as platforms for ideology, recruiting and violence, both close to home and around the world? How have vicious reactionary politics emerged from a form of capitalism where most people feel trapped in an unwinnable game? What do fascism and antifascism mean today? And what role, if any do play and games have in confronting the fascist threat and creating a new world? The Exploits of Play is a production of Weird Economies, a platform for exploring the intricacies and excesses of our economic imaginaries, in cooperation with RiVAL: The ReImagining Value Action Lab.

On 28 April 2025, Max Haiven presented an outline of his forthcoming book "The Player and the Played: Gamification, Financialization and (anti-)Fascism" at Brussels' Au JUS space. If fascism names a form of tyranny that incubates within capitalism and bears its' traces, what kind of 21st century fascism emerges from financialized capitalism? 1. Why do we feel trapped in an unwinnable game? 2. How can we think about fasicsm? 3. What is financialization? 4. What is gamification? 5. What is "derivative" and what is new about today's fascism? 6. How can we make sense of gamified fascist violence? 7. Why do fascist cheats succeed (and why is cheating so central to their rhetoric?) 8. What is fascist worldbuilding (and worldrazing)? 9. What is the antifascist game?

In this episode we talked with Luce about her latest work on digitalised tyranny. About how private property structures the terms of the contract and gives rise to ever more terms; how the far right are both breaking the rules and playing by the rules to break the game; and about the overall structure of desire across society and what it’d mean to exit the transsexual contract of libidinal intelligibility, towards a horizon of hospitality and indeterminacy, driven by joy. Luce deLire is a ship with eight sails and she lies down by the quay. As a philosopher, she publishes on the metaphysics of infinity and early modern philosophy but also on art, queer theory, anti-racism, postcolonialism, and political theory. In her performances, she embodies figures of the collective imaginary. She is currently an assistant professor at the department of philosophy at Humboldt University, Berlin. For more (including booking), see getaphilosopher.com and IG :@Luce_deLire Against the Fascist Game is the second season of The Exploits of Play, a podcast about games and capitalism. Join host Max Haiven and producer Faye Harvey as they interview game designers, critical theorists and grassroots activists struggling with games to understand, confront and abolish the rising threat of fascism in our times. We ask questions including: how is the far-right around the world using games as platforms for ideology, recruiting and violence, both close to home and around the world? How have vicious reactionary politics emerged from a form of capitalism where most people feel trapped in an unwinnable game? What do fascism and antifascism mean today? And what role, if any do play and games have in confronting the fascist threat and creating a new world? The Exploits of Play is a production of Weird Economies, a platform for exploring the intricacies and excesses of our economic imaginaries, in cooperation with RiVAL: The ReImagining Value Action Lab.

In this short bonus episode... 👹 We at Sense & Solidarity invite you to apply for our study workshop “Fascist Dreams, Antifascist Awakenings” in Palermo, May 25-29 (applications due April 7!). 📘 Sarah tells you about her forthcoming book Don’t Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st Century Minds and events this Spring and Summer.   🎲 And Max tells you about the crowdfunding campaign on now for his board game Billionaires & Guillotines.  🖼️ Plus, we critique public art and muse about the end of the world.

The world is giving fascism in 2025, so we’ve been away writing, reading and getting ready to serve up more on that topic.  Meanwhile, here’s a chattier, less-structured version of our usual schtick - recorded over the holidays, live in front of a studio (well, living room) audience.  Tune in to hear: * Sarah talk about why we shouldn’t argue with our relatives and why fascists are much like guys who send dick pics. * Max explain how games influenced fascists like Steve Bannon and why he’s obsessed with a rat. We also get asked questions from the living-room-and-online-studio audience.  For more information, visit: https://senseandsolidarity.org/

Live, in front of a seductive studio audience, Sarah and Max bring to a climax the first intoxicating season of What Do We Want? (a podcast about what brings social movements together and drives them apart) with an episode on PLEASURE. They are joined by dazzling special guests Sita Balani and Zrinka Balo, to explore salacious questions including: Should we prioritize activism being pleasurable? In a world of work and worry, is taking pleasure itself an important form of activism? And in our quest for collective liberation, what kinds of sacrifices can and should we expect of ourselves and others? It’s podcasting that goes beyond the pleasure principle and puts its finger right on the most sensitive questions. For more information, visit https://senseandsolidarity.org/

Why do so many people insist on believing in systems that hurt them? Why do so many of us dwell in fantasy, rather than facing reality? (Wait, is dwelling in fantasy an option? Why weren’t we told?) In this episode of WHAT DO WE WANT? (a podcast about what brings social movements together and drives them apart) Max and Sarah dive deep into the murky waters of FANTASY, desire and illusion to ask questions like: How do we break through destructive ideologies? How can we win arguments (and when should we)? And should we just abandon activism? Then we’re joined by veteran Toronto-based activist, movement trainer and editor Sharmeen Khan, who tells us about the state repression that broke her fantasies and what she dreams of now. It's podcasting that accompanies you right to the precipice of Mount Doom and helps you throw away your Precious. ACTION ALERT! Our guest, Sharmeen, is facing outrageous, repressive charges for standing up for Palestinian human rights. Read Naomi Klein’s summary of the case (https://breachmedia.ca/naomi-klein-calls-on-heather-reisman-drop-charges-indigo-11/), and please consider donating to the legal defence fund (https://www.tcjf.ca) or signing the letter demanding the charges be dropped (https://www.cjpme.org/drop_the_charges). To learn more about the many things we do and support us financially or otherwise, visit us at Sense and Solidarity .org

Do you sometimes feel like a little cartoon dog, surrounded by flames? Is the dog also our movements for justice? Are the flames systems of domination? Is nothing, in fact, at all “fine”? Then break out the marshmallows and join us for an episode of What Do We Want? (a podcast about what brings social movements together and drives them apart) about despair! This time Sarah and Max go deep and dark with questions like...  Should we just give up hope?  Should we embrace nostalgia? And should we stop being sad and… just do something? But wait! Who is that on the bleak horizon? It’s climate-corruption journalist Rachel Donald of the Planet Critical podcast, joining us to deliver the tough love and a shot of common courage! It’s podcasting that will make you feel cruelly optimistic or your money back (it’s also free).   Fore more information, visit https://senseandsolidarity.org/podcast/#despair

We, an unnamed collective, must sanctimoniously inform would-be listeners that the SHAME episode of WHAT DO WE WANT? (a podcast about what brings social movements together and drives them apart) has been summarily cancelled. The hosts, Sarah and Max, have been found preemptively guilty of causing grievous harms to the left by asking questions including: Is pride enough? Should we wield shame? And should we cancel ourselves? (Also, did you hear that they invited a response from the scandalous radical writer Sophie Lewis, author of Abolish the Family and Enemy Feminisms? OMG!). ...And by the way, “comrade,”… what made you want to listen to this f*cked up podcast anyway? Don’t you think that kind of behaviour is a little… problematic? To learn more about the many things we do and support us financially or otherwise, visit us at senseandsolidarity.org

Unless you are a lizard person hiding under a tin-foil rock, you, dear activist, have met your fair share of conspiracists.What the f*ck is wrong with these people? And why are they so damn successful in attracting others when their stories are so implausible? In this episode of What Do We Want? (a podcast about what brings social movements together and drives them apart), Max and Sarah sail to the farthest reaches of our beautiful flat earth to answer questions about CONSPIRACY like… What actually separates us radical malcontents from conspiracy theorists? Should movements have better enemies? And should we bother trying to drag people out of the rabbit-hole? Then ex-conspiracist and anti-conspiracy podcaster Brent Lee of Some Dare Call it Conspiracy patiently explains all the things we got wrong.It’s podcasting that wakes up the sheeple. For more information, visit: https://senseandsolidarity.org/podcast/