The Verso Podcast

On this week’s episode of The Verso Podcast we’re back to our typical format - our host, Eleanor Penny, is joined by Wim Carton and Andreas Malm to discuss their new book Overshoot: How the World Surrendered to Climate Breakdown (BUY HERE: https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/3131-overshoot). We’re still working on bringing you more of these roundtable discussions with our wonderful Verso authors in our upcoming fourth series of The Verso Podcast, but in the meantime we hope you enjoy this fascinating conversation with two of key thinkers on the politics of climate breakdown. And don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for more inter-season programming in the run up to season 4! We’re well into the third decade of the twenty-first century and we have still failed to save the world. Twenty-eight COP conferences on climate change have been and gone - and whilst there’s been plenty of mud wrestling over tipping points and temperatures rises, nothing ever really happens. In fact, the further we creep towards unliveable global temperature rises, the more fossil fuels get burned. In response, an attitude has taken hold in some parts of climate politics that the fight to keep temperature rises below 1.5 degrees is a lost cause. Some people claim that instead of mitigating emissions now, we should instead be looking at strategies to tactically ‘overshoot’ warming targets, before using carbon capture and removal to turn the heat back down again. If you’ve just invested in a new oil pipeline, that attitude might look very appealing. Less so if you are living in parts of the world already burning, starving or drowning in a new age of heatwaves. In this in-depth discussion, Wim Carton and Andreas Malm chart the embrace of this ‘overshoot’ thinking in environmental circles, in business, and in politics - asking what it means for the delicate life systems on this planet, and what we might be able to do about it. Wim Carton is Associate Professor of Sustainability Science at Lund University, Sweden. He's the author of over twenty academic articles and book chapters on climate politics. His work has appeared in top journals such as Nature Climate Change, WIRES Climate Change and Antipode. Andreas Malm teaches human ecology at Lund University, Sweden. He is the author of, among other books, Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming, and How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a World on Fire. And don’t forget - be sure to subscribe to the show so you can be the first to know when season four drops - and so that you don’t miss any of the bonus content coming your way between now and then. If you enjoy The Verso Podcast please consider leaving a rating or review wherever you get your podcasts - it really helps us out!

This week we have a special episode for you as part of our inter-season programming - an interview with Enzo Traverso. Of course, we’re still working hard to bring you more roundtable discussions with our wonderful Verso authors in our upcoming fourth series of The Verso Podcast, but until then we have some exciting interim episodes coming up for you. Enzo Traverso is a writer, political scientist, and professor of humanities at Cornell University. His previous books include Fire and Blood: The European Civil War, 1914 to 1945, The New Faces of Fascism: Populism and the Far Right, The Origins of Nazi Violence, and The End of Jewish Modernity. He sat down with verso editor Sebastian Budgen to explore his life, his work and his latest book, Revolution: An Intellectual History - released in a new paperback edition earlier this year. The book charts a new history of the revolutionary movements of the 19th and 20th centuries - from Alexandra Kollontai’s cries for sexual liberation in Russia, to Louis Auguste Blanqui’s barricades in France, to Ho Chi Minh’s independence proclamation in Vietnam. In drawing these examples together, the book seeks answers to the fundamental question of how to unmake and then remake the world - of what revolution means and what it demands from us. In this interview, Enzo talks about his intellectual beginnings, about the new global far right, the Frankfurt School, left wing melancholia, and Israel's war against Gaza. If you'd like to read more about how people down the ages have tried to change the world - and sometimes even succeeded - then Enzo’s book, Revolution: An Intellectual History is available now from Verso Books: https://www.versobooks.com/products/2783-revolution And don’t forget - be sure to subscribe to the show so you can be the first to know when season four drops - and so that you don’t miss any of the bonus content coming your way between now and then. If you enjoy The Verso Podcast please consider leaving a rating or review wherever you get your podcasts - it really helps us out!

This week we’ve got something a little different for you. Whilst we’re still technically between seasons - and working hard to bring you more roundtable discussions with our wonderful Verso authors in our upcoming fourth series of The Verso Podcast - we wanted to share a great episode we’ve been collaborating on with our friends over at Macrodose. Macrodose is a podcast from Planet B Productions that brings you a weekly briefing on the economy, and takes a look behind the media headlines to work out what’s really going on. You can listen to the podcast and support the show at patreon.com/macrodose In this episode you’ll be hearing from Craig Gent, author of Cyberboss: The Rise of Algorithmic Management and the New Struggle for Control at Work - published recently by Verso Books. As well as being a writer Craig is also a researcher and the North of England Editor at Novara Media. In this bonus show, Craig will be exploring the role of algorithms in the workplace. He’ll be covering the big questions - such as, what’s at stake as algorithms are slowly, quietly integrated into our everyday lives? Is it just an inevitable fact of the long march toward progress? Or does it open a new frontier of class struggle that we need to take seriously and think about strategically? In other words what happens when your boss is a robot, and what do we do about it? You can find Craig's book "Cyberboss: The Rise of Algorithmic Management and the New Struggle for Control at Work" here: www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2958-cyberboss Be sure to subscribe to the show so you can be the first to know when season four drops - and so that you don’t miss any of the bonus content coming your way between now and then. If you enjoy The Verso Podcast please consider leaving a rating or review wherever you get your podcasts - it really helps us out!

Today we're publishing part two of our sell-out live event recorded at London's Union Chapel on July 26th. For this discussion we teamed up with our friends over at The Dig for a podcast extravaganza. Eleanor Penny of the Verso Podcast and Dig host Daniel Denvir sat down with writer and academic Laleh Khalili and the freshly re-elected, newly independent, MP Jeremy Corbyn, to talk about the past present and most importantly the future of Internationalism. We talked about Palestine, Congo and Iran, about the Labour Party, the welfare state, the climate crisis and the economics of global trade. The event opened up with a live recording of Macrodose podcast which is already up on your feed if you want to take a dive into that. Thank you so much to everyone who came down sold out the event and brought such an incredible energy to the evening. If you don't already do subscribe to The Dig wherever you get your podcasts, and support them over at patreon.com/thedig

Today we're publishing part one of our sell-out live event recorded at London's Union Chapel on July 26th. For our first show of the evening we were joined by our friends at MACRODOSE podcast for a recording of their highly-recommended show on the future of global capitalism. This discussion was hosted by writer and academic Dalia Gabriel, and featured political scientist Thea Riofrancos, climate justice activist Asad Rehman and economist James Meadway. Subscribe to MACRODOSE at linktr.ee/macrodosepodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or wherever you get podcasts. And please do support the project over at patreon.com/Macrodose

In this second episode of the newly launched Verso Book Club Podcast, Jules Gill-Peterson sits down with our host, Eleanor Penny, to discuss her new book A Short History of Trans Misogyny. In this incisive account of the invention of trans panic, A Short History of Trans Misogyny challenges the notion of transmisogyny as simply an attempt to mock or undermine a trans woman’s femininity - instead situating its origin in the violence of the colonial state, and it’s attempts to consolidate its control over the populations it subjugated. Sign up to the Verso Book Club here tinyurl.com/5n67t9tr

This week on The Verso Podcast we’re going to be thinking about the relationship between feminism and the carceral system. For a growing number of people the prospect of an abolitionist future - in which police and prisons are obsolete, and are not seen as the answer to all social ills - is an obviously desirable one. But to others, the notion of an abolitionist society is not only unworkable, but deeply irresponsible. Leah Cowan and Lola Olufemi sat down with our host, Eleanor Penny, to address our preconceptions about where violence comes from, what we think it looks like, and how we might tell the difference between protection and liberation - covering topics ranging from the history of feminist movements, to transphobia, police violence, the NGO sector, borders, and biological destiny. You can find Leah's new book "Why Would Feminists Trust the Police?: A tangled history of resistance and complicity" here: tinyurl.com/yc6spv52

This week on The Verso Podcast Eleanor Penny is joined by Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Owen Hatherley to look at the unflinching work of writer, urban theorist and historian Mike Davis. Verso x The Dig LIVE Podcast in London with Jeremy Corbyn, Laleh Khalili: tinyurl.com/bj2zx265 You can find Mike Davis' works here: tinyurl.com/3pse83y3

In this debut episode of the Verso Book Club Podcast, Brett Christophers sits down with our host, Eleanor Penny, to discuss his new book, The Price is Wrong, which challenges conventional wisdom by proposing a fresh perspective on the intersection of markets and the environment. Christophers argues that the slow progress toward sustainability isn't due to the cost of renewable energy, but rather the lack of profitability in environmental preservation. As renewable technologies become more affordable, private investment hesitates to embrace green initiatives. Imagine being able to ask an author about their book: what motivated them, what hurdles they faced, and what's next on their agenda. With the Verso Book Club Podcast, this becomes a reality. Each month, Eleanor will facilitate conversations with a Verso Book Club author, who will be joining the show to answer listener questions about their work. Your questions will be read out on the show, bringing us one step closer to the books we love. Sign up to the Verso Book Club here tinyurl.com/5n67t9tr

On Friday July 26th Jeremy Corbyn MP joins Verso Books and The Dig podcast for a live conversation at London’s Union Chapel. TICKETS: https://unionchapel.org.uk/venue/whats-on/versothe-dig-live-podcast-with-jeremy-corbyn-laleh-khalili As we enter the era of polycrisis, from climate breakdown to deepening global inequality and the daily horrors unfolding in Palestine, Eleanor Penny (host of the Verso Podcast) and Daniel Denvir (host of The Dig) will sit down with former leader of the U.K Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn, and academic and author Laleh Khalili, for an urgent discussion on the future of international politics. How do we counteract the global rise of the far right? What can we learn from the global movement against the war on Palestine? And are there grounds for hope in these burgeoning forms of international solidarity? We’re also thrilled to welcome the Macrodose podcast for an opening act to this event. Guest host Dalia Gebrial will be joined by political scientist Thea Riofrancos, climate justice activist Asad Rehman and anthropologist Jason Hickel to discuss the decline of the unipolar world, the climate crisis and green colonialism, and the future of global capitalism. https://linktr.ee/macrodosepodcast

This week on The Verso Podcast we’re taking a deep dive on the labour theory of value. From David Ricardo, to Adam Smith, to Karl Marx, it's a topic that economists have been fighting over for hundreds of years - and it's high time The Verso Podcast joined the fray. Our host, Eleanor Penny, sat down with Beverley Best and Aaron Benanav to discuss AI, surplus population, and the relationship between the concept of value and commodity fetishism. Grab Aaron's book "Automation and the Future of Work" here: tinyurl.com/mr8tv48u Pre-order Beverley's book "The Automatic Fetish: The Law of Value in Marx's Capital" here: tinyurl.com/4h47mh6v (release: 21/05/24)

This week on The Verso Podcast we’re taking a deep dive into the relationship between blackness and modern visual culture in the digital age. Our host, Eleanor Penny, will be joined by Legacy Russell and Fred Moten to delve into complicated relationship between philosophy, music, virality, and critical fabulation - in order to elucidate the fundamental way in which the history of modernity is inextricably bound up with images of blackness. You can find Legacy's new book "Black Meme: A History of the Images that Make Us" here tinyurl.com/yckcuhd2

This week on The Verso Podcast we’ll be taking a close look at the political economy of climate breakdown. Along with our host, Eleanor Penny, Ann Pettifor and Hamza Hamouchene discuss climate justice, private equity, degrowth, and the false promise of techno-fixes. Grab Ann's Verso releases here: tinyurl.com/3n3nc6jn Sign up to the Verso Book Club to get involved with our new Book Club Podcast: tinyurl.com/fda34bzb. All book club members will receive a regular email with links to submit questions to our authors which will be answered on the show.

This week’s episode of The Verso Podcast centres on the gruelling work of making change happen in an often pitiless world - and the mental toll this can take on people. Along with our host, Eleanor Penny, Hannah Proctor and Ajay Singh Chaudhary discuss how revolutionary movements have balanced the grief of political defeat and lost hope, with the imminent needs of organising and continued resistance. Grab a copy of Hannah's book "Burnout: The Emotional Experience of Political Defeat" here tinyurl.com/2bb5fjma

This week on The Verso Podcast we’re putting landlordism under the microscope - how it turns peoples’ homes into poker chips, and the housing market into a casino. Nick Bano and Beth Stratford join our host, Eleanor Penny to discuss the depth and breadth of the housing crisis. Grab a copy of Nick's new book "Against Landlords: How to Solve the Housing Crisis" here tinyurl.com/yc5au7nz

On this episode of The Verso Podcast we’re going on a deep dive into the work of the psychiatrist, political theorist, and philosopher Frantz Fanon. Our wonderful host, Eleanor Penny, sat down with Matthew Beaumont and Annie Olaloku-Teriba to discuss Fanon’s expansive legacy - touching on everything from night walkers and revolutionaries, to radical humanism and afropessimism, to decolonial psychiatry and the spatial politics of urban life. Grab a copy of Matthew's new book "How We Walk: Frantz Fanon and the Politics of the Body" here tinyurl.com/43yptmm5

Welcome back to the third season of The Verso Podcast! To kick off this run of shiny new episodes we’re taking a bit of a detour into the past, to have a closer look at the protestant reformation. This was a turbulent time in history - of tyrants, merchants, popes, peasants and roving priests - when early capitalist forms of power were just beginning to unsettle the old order. Together with our host, Eleanor Penny, Andrew Drummond and Eleanor Janega paint a detailed picture of the social and political terrain from which the seeds of the German peasants’ war sprang. In particular, they’ll be considering the role played by a socially radical preacher named Thomas Müntzer - a rival to the more well known Martin Luther - and why exactly the historical record has cast him in such an unfavourable light. Grab a copy of Andrew's book, The Dreadful History and Judgement of God on Thomas Müntzer: The Life and Times of an Early German Revolutionary, here: tinyurl.com/3373pvkh

In this bonus episode of the Verso Podcast, authors Anton Jäger and Vincent Bevins reflect on the previous decade, the mass political movements that took place, and the ultimate failure of these movements to produce meaningful political change. They consider the lessons that can be taken from the 2010s and discuss what will be required of current and future movements in order to achieve a more just and democratic world. Grab a copy of Anton's book "The Populist Moment: The Left After the Great Recession" co-authored with Arthur Borriello here: tinyurl.com/2uvznjav

On the last episode The Verso Podcast before the new year, Eleanor Penny is joined by Lynne Segal and Loree Erickson to discuss the myth of total independence, disability as a social construct, and the politics of care. In a conversation that ranges from the gendering, racialisation, and devaluation of caring labour, to abolitionism and disability activism, Loree and Lynne unpack the deep connections between autonomy and dependence, whilst suggesting ways to reimagine care outside of institutions that want to make it all about control. You can find Lynne's book, "Lean on Me: A Politics of Radical Care", here tinyurl.com/mwcapmn7

This week on The Verso Podcast Eleanor Penny is joined by McKenzie Wark and Toshio Meronek to talk trans narratives, the politics of desire, and queer family. Together they take a critical look at the medical model of transition, its relationship to transmisogyny, and tactics of resistance. You can find McKenzie's book, "Love and Money, Sex and Death: A Memoir", here tinyurl.com/ycyvkam8 And Toshio's book, "Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary", here tinyurl.com/4whkpdxw