The Skeptical Leftist Podcast

In this episode Justin talks to us about the book This Life by Martin Hagglund. We discuss heaven versus the finitude of life, secularism, and how it all ties in with socialism and the socialist project. You can get a copy of This Life from Penguin/Random House https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/248368/this-life-by-martin-hagglund/9781101873731 Check out Justin's links and follow him https://www.justinclark.org/ https://www.instagram.com/justinclarkph/ https://www.tiktok.com/@justinclarkph https://www.in.gov/history/ https://blog.history.in.gov/ https://newspapers.library.in.gov/ And check out my linktree and website https://www.skepticalleftist.com/ https://linktr.ee/Skepticalcory --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

In this interview I talked to Ali Horriyat, founder of Compassiviste. Ali left the lucrative, profit-driven world of finance in 2016 to devote himself to his vision of a society where compassion, empathy, and social impact are at the heart of our actions. In 2020, he launched Compassiviste to spread this vision. Born in Dubai, he attended schools in the UAE, France and Switzerland before pursuing his higher education in Canada. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in economics, political science, philosophy, business, international relations and conflict resolution, and religion. Ali is the author of 12 books, including collections of essays and poetry, with themes ranging from racism and capitalism to spirituality, love and compassion. He believes that humans must “love always, and always love.” We talk a lot about the organization he founded, Compassiviste, and all the things surrounding it from sustainability to hypocrisy to compassion and how his view of things doesn’t differ so much from the views of anarchists, or at least this anarchist.  Here are some links where you can find Compassiviste and maybe Ali while you’re there https://compassiviste.com/ https://twitter.com/compassiviste https://www.tiktok.com/@compassiviste https://www.instagram.com/compassiviste/ https://www.facebook.com/CompassivisteOfficial And check out my linktree and website https://www.skepticalleftist.com/ https://linktr.ee/Skepticalcory --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

In this episode Justin talks to us about the book Marxism in the United States by Paul Buhle and some of the history of socialism and some of the socialists that were active in the United States. Here’s a hint though for those conservatives that might come across this, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden aren’t on the list. We on the left don’t like them either.  You can get the book from Penguin Random House https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/232492/marxism-in-the-united-states-by-paul-buhle/9781781680155 Check out Justin's links and follow him https://www.justinclark.org/ https://www.instagram.com/justinclarkph/ https://www.tiktok.com/@justinclarkph https://www.in.gov/history/ https://blog.history.in.gov/ https://newspapers.library.in.gov/ And check out my linktree and website https://www.skepticalleftist.com/ https://linktr.ee/Skepticalcory --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

In this episode Justin and I talk about the book Road to Nowhere by Paris Marx. We go through some of the failures of big tech to solve the big problems of society including climate change and how the car culture that was developed in the name of profits ultimately isolated people and made us all less connected to our communities. Make sure to check out Paris’ website https://parismarx.com/ Get your copy of Road to Nowhere https://roadtonowherebook.com/ https://www.versobooks.com/products/2795-road-to-nowhere And check out Paris Marx’s podcast Tech Won’t Save Us https://www.techwontsave.us/ Check out Justin's links and follow him https://www.justinclark.org/ https://www.instagram.com/justinclarkph/ https://www.tiktok.com/@justinclarkph https://www.in.gov/history/ https://blog.history.in.gov/ https://newspapers.library.in.gov/ And check out my linktree and website https://www.skepticalleftist.com/ https://linktr.ee/Skepticalcory --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

In this episode of Red Reviews Justin takes me through the book American Crusade by Andrew Seidel. We talk about the right wing take over of the Supreme Court of the United States and how corrupt they are and some of their bad decisions. You can get a copy through Andrew’s websitehttps://andrewlseidel.com/american-crusade/# Check out Andrew’s full website and check out the FFRF https://andrewlseidel.com/ https://ffrf.org/ For fun check out the Five to Four podcast about how the supreme court sucks https://www.fivefourpod.com/ Check out Justin's links and follow him https://www.justinclark.org/ https://www.instagram.com/justinclarkph/ https://www.tiktok.com/@justinclarkph https://www.in.gov/history/ https://blog.history.in.gov/ https://newspapers.library.in.gov/ And check out my linktree and website https://www.skepticalleftist.com/ https://linktr.ee/Skepticalcory --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

In this interview I talked to Nikki EatKS who is a podcaster in the music scene and who has worked in radio and has many contacts within the music scene. We talked about some of the toxicity that comes when men act as gatekeepers and become apologists for sexual harassment and assault because they like a particular artist. We also talked about some general social justice issues and the Me Too movement. Check out the links below for information on some of our topics. (sorry I couldn’t find any articles about GG Allin that weren’t written by rape apologists so I decided not to include them) Marilyn Manson has faced multiple accusations of which this article covers just onehttps://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-57685153  We didn’t talk about this one but Anti Flag frontman has been accused of rape by a lot of women https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/anti-flag-justin-sane-1234817170/ Check out Julie Lalonde https://www.yellowmanteau.com/ https://pipsc.ca/news-issues/human-rights-and-diversity/watch-our-bystander-intervention-training-julie-lalonde Make sure to follow Nikki in all the places https://www.eatks.com/  https://linktr.ee/eatks  https://twitter.com/EatKS https://substack.com/@nikkieatks https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6D58hv9NdPYvgIPdYoB2Wg https://bandcamp.com/EatKS https://kolektiva.social/@Eatks@mastodon.social https://bsky.app/profile/eatks.bsky.social  https://www.instagram.com/nikki_eatks/ https://www.mixcloud.com/NikkiEatKS/ And check out my linktree and website https://www.skepticalleftist.com/ https://linktr.ee/Skepticalcory --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

In this episode Justin talks to us about the book Reform or Revolution and other writings by Rosa Luxemburg. Between the history, the theory, and the debates between Luxemburg and other socialists this was a great look at one of the greatest socialist minds of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  If you can’t afford to buy the book we covered which is available here - https://www.amazon.ca/Reform-Revolution-Other-Writings-Luxemburg/dp/0486447766 (I really tried to find a non-Amazon link but had no luck) - then you can get the individual books within it free on Marxists.org and libcom.orghttps://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1900/reform-revolution/index.htm https://files.libcom.org/files/Leninism%20or%20Marxism.pdf https://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/download/mass-str.pdf https://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1918/russian-revolution/index.htm Make sure to check out the wiki on Rosa and learn more about this great thinkerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Luxemburg Check out Justin's links and follow him https://www.justinclark.org/ https://www.instagram.com/justinclarkph/ https://www.tiktok.com/@justinclarkph https://www.in.gov/history/ https://blog.history.in.gov/ https://newspapers.library.in.gov/ And check out my linktree and website https://www.skepticalleftist.com/ https://linktr.ee/Skepticalcory --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

In this episode Justin takes us through the book, The People’s Republic of Walmart, and the concept of a planned economy as well as planning in other areas of society as well. The People’s Republic of Walmart was written by Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski and uses Walmart as an example of how despite the rhetoric of pure unplanned free markets capitalism is actually very planned and society could plan for socialist reasons as well.  You can get the book herehttps://www.versobooks.com/en-ca/products/636-the-people-s-republic-of-walmart Check out the authors Leigh Phillips https://www.leighphillips.work/ And Michal Rozworski http://rozworski.org/ Check out Justin's links and follow him https://www.justinclark.org/ https://www.instagram.com/justinclarkph/ https://www.tiktok.com/@justinclarkph https://www.in.gov/history/ https://blog.history.in.gov/ https://newspapers.library.in.gov/ And check out my linktree and website https://www.skepticalleftist.com/ https://linktr.ee/Skepticalcory --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

In this extra long episode Justin and I talk about the book Revolutionary Affinities by Michael Löwy and Olivier Besancenot and translated by David Campbell. This book takes us through the history of Marxism and Anarchism when they agreed and when they didn't and helps us come to the conclusion that we have deep affinities with each other despite our differences and it can help us to make the world better when we remember that.  You can get a copy of your own from PM Press https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1293  There were quite a few historical references in this episode and in the book so here are some links if you wish to read more on these subjects and people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_affair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Spies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Parsons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Jones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Luxemburg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Goldman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenaventura_Durruti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subcomandante_Marcos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Benjamin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Gu%C3%A9rin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Holloway_(sociologist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Pannekoek https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Mandel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Albert Check out Justin's links and follow him https://www.justinclark.org/ https://www.instagram.com/justinclarkph/ https://www.tiktok.com/@justinclarkph https://www.in.gov/history/ https://blog.history.in.gov/ https://newspapers.library.in.gov/ And check out my linktree and website https://www.skepticalleftist.com/ https://linktr.ee/Skepticalcory --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

*CW - discussion of sexual harassment and assault* In this episode I talked to Eiynah Nicemangos, host of the podcast Polite Conversations. Eiynah has been podcasting for a long time and does high quality work around the far right and the so-called intellectual dark web. Her series debunking and calling out Sam Harris for his bigotry is some of my favorite content covering Sam and the people like him. In this chat we talk about some stuff that happened adjacent to my old online community, the atheist community. There are some reactions to being called out that were truly shitty and there were some allegations of supposed progressive guys that came out a little while ago that exposed some hypocrisy among the men who claimed to be progressive. In some ways this may appear to be a drama episode but that isn’t the intent. People with privilege have to be more aware of and more thoughtful about the ways they behave even when the consequences could be potentially harmful to them.  Here are some links for things we talked aboutNew Atheism and the far right https://www.salon.com/2021/06/05/how-the-new-atheists-merged-with-the-far-right-a-story-of-intellectual-grift-and-abject-surrender/ https://soundcloud.com/politeconversations/newatheism https://twitter.com/nicemangos/status/1406646731933167619?s=21 https://soundcloud.com/politeconversations/panel-24-defending-new-atheism-maybe-just-dont-pt-1 https://soundcloud.com/politeconversations/panel-24-defending-new-atheism-maybe-just-dont-pt-2 Andrew Torrez allegations https://religionnews.com/2023/02/01/american-atheists-board-members-exit-dogged-by-misconduct-allegations/ https://www.reddit.com/r/OpenArgs/comments/10u2u8i/summary_of_all_the_accusationsallegations_against/ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RVYJE0ljCsHLJFiIAP5aMGVhaA1_XmLi2R5wVmB_EwQ/edit Here are some links where you can find, follow, and support Eiynah https://twitter.com/NiceMangos https://bsky.app/profile/nicemangos.bsky.social https://www.instagram.com/nicemangosart/  https://soundcloud.com/politeconversations https://www.patreon.com/nicemangos/ Check out my websitehttps://www.skepticalleftist.com/  My Linktreehttps://linktr.ee/Skepticalcory --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

In this interview episode I talked to Nora Loreto, Nora is  a well known podcaster, writer, and journalist who has done amazing work covering politics from a left perspective. She did work on Covid that was truly instrumental to understanding the impact of the pandemic on Canadian long term care homes. She often doesn't get the credit she deserves but her books and her writing have been a huge help for people like me to get a good analysis of what's happening in Canadian politics. I'm a big fan and I really enjoyed this chat.  There is no intro rant because I was trying to get things done despite being sick and busy when I needed to be resting.  Thanks for understanding. If you got left out of the patron credits I apologize, this was done a couple weeks ago and I didn't get a chance to change them. Here are some links where you can find Nora https://noraloreto.ca/ https://sandyandnora.com/ https://twitter.com/NoLore https://bsky.app/profile/nolore.bsky.social Here are some links for topics we discussed https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/yaroslav-hunka-canada-nazi-germany-faq-1.6981437 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/sarah-jama-gaza-statement-1.6992654 https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/maid-canada-report-2022-1.7009704https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-support-workers-students-bill-137-1.7003848 And of course you can check out my website and linktree https://linktr.ee/Skepticalcory https://www.skepticalleftist.com/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

In this episode Justin and I talk about the book, Health Communism. We talk about how American culture in particular is designed to leave people desperate and on the verge of bankruptcy so that there’s always a surplus of workers. We also talk about how this works with the dignity in dying movement. It’s a big topic and we barely touch on the surface so if you want more then check out the book or listen to the Death Panel podcast ⁠https://www.versobooks.com/en-ca/products/2801-health-communism⁠ ⁠https://www.deathpanel.net/⁠ ⁠https://www.beatriceadlerbolton.com/⁠ ⁠http://artievierkant.com/⁠ Justin's links ⁠https://www.justinclark.org/⁠ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/justinclarkph/⁠ ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@justinclarkph⁠ ⁠https://www.in.gov/history/⁠ ⁠https://blog.history.in.gov/⁠ You can check out the full shownotes with pictures on my website - ⁠www.skepticalleftist.com⁠ and you can find all my social links on my linktree ⁠https://linktr.ee/skepticalcory⁠ You can rate and review the show here - ⁠https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftis-1779751⁠ You can support the show here - -⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/skepticalleftist⁠ - ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/skepticallefty --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

In this episode Justin and I talk about the book Chokepoint Capitalism by Rebecca Giblin and Cory Doctorow and as an extension we discuss some of the ways that capitalism and the drive for profit limits artists and can actually harm the creative process. We also spend some time thinking about Michael Brooks and the impact he had and how his absence has impacted the left over the last 3 years.Some links to go with the videohttps://www.justinclark.org/blog/michael-brooks-against-the-web https://www.youtube.com/@TheMichaelBrooksShow https://oceanofpdf.com/authors/cory-doctorow/pdf-epub-information-doesnt-want-to-be-free-laws-for-the-internet-age-download/?id=000039228275 https://www.stereogum.com/2230667/anti-flag-announce-break-up-following-possible-rape-accusations-against-frontman/news/ https://exclaim.ca/music/article/the_casualties_frontman_jorge_herrera_quits_band Justin's linkshttps://www.justinclark.org/ https://www.instagram.com/justinclarkph/ https://www.tiktok.com/@justinclarkph  You can check out the full shownotes with pictures on my website - www.skepticalleftist.com and you can find all my social links on my linktree https://linktr.ee/skepticalcory You can rate and review the show here - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftis-1779751 You can support the show here - - https://www.patreon.com/skepticalleftist - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/skepticallefty --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

In this episode I talked to the amazing Margaret Killjoy, anarchist author and podcaster. We talked about how she got into podcasting, how long she's been doing it, and why as well as what anarchism means to her and whether Kropotkin was wrong about World War One or not. It was a wonderful discussion and I hope you enjoy it. Check out all of Margaret's stuff at her linktree https://linktr.ee/margaretkilljoy You can check out the full shownotes with pictures on my website - www.skepticalleftist.com and you can find all my social links on my linktree https://linktr.ee/skepticalcory You can rate and review the show here - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftis-1779751 You can support the show here - - https://www.patreon.com/skepticalleftist - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/skepticallefty --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

This episode Justin and I talked about the book The S Word by John Nichols. It’s supposed to be a book about the history of American socialism but rather it seems to be a book about democratic socialism of the more reformist type. In this video Justin is very comfortable discussing American history and some of the figures discussed in the book. I think most of the names and information was new to me. I certainly didn’t know that there were radical socialists on the side of the union and that Lincoln had some affinity with Marx.This was a great chat about the history of socialism in the United States Check out Justin's stuff https://www.justinclark.org/ https://www.instagram.com/justinclarkph/ You can check out the full shownotes with pictures on my website - www.skepticalleftist.com and you can find all my social links on my linktree https://linktr.ee/skepticalcory You can rate and review the show here - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftis-1779751 You can support the show here - - https://www.patreon.com/skepticalleftist - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/skepticallefty --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

This time around I talked to Zoe Baker aka Anarchopac about her recent book Means and Ends: The Revolutionary Practice of Anarchism in Europe and the United States. I tried to be very professional so that I could be deserving of such a brilliant guest but I'll let you be the judge of whether I succeeded or not. All of Zoe’s links are here⁠https://linktr.ee/zoebaker⁠ All of my links are here⁠https://linktr.ee/skepticalcory⁠ You can check out the full shownotes with pictures on my website - ⁠www.skepticalleftist.com⁠ You can rate and review the show here - ⁠https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftis-1779751⁠ You can support the show here - -⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/skepticalleftist⁠ - ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/skepticallefty⁠ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

In this episode of Red Reviews Justin talks to me about Bertrand Russell’s non-Marxist view of socialism and the value of a socialist society. You can read it here from libcom https://files.libcom.org/files/Bertrand%20Russell%20-%20In%20Praise%20of%20Idleness.pdf Check out the website for the quotes used in the episode https://www.skepticalleftist.com/(give me a little bit of time to finish the notes before heading over there for the quotes)Check out Justin’s writing and stuff https://www.justinclark.org/ https://www.instagram.com/justinclarkph/ https://www.tiktok.com/@justinclarkph  You can check out the full shownotes with pictures on my website - www.skepticalleftist.com You can rate and review the show here - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftis-1779751 You can support the show here - - https://www.patreon.com/skepticalleftist - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/skepticallefty Check my linktree for all the places to find me https://linktr.ee/Skepticalcory --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

So I got a message a few weeks ago from Stafford telling me about a book he's writing about the Transendence Movement and anarchism and it sounded great so I got him to go through my process and book an interview. The day that it came to talk to him I was a bit sick but I toughed it out and we made it through, had a great conversation, and happily promoted his book (which isn't quite finished but will be soon). I hope you enjoy this chat. In the intro I talk about the recent policy by the Saskatchewan government on pronouns and names in public schools. For more from me on that subject check out my substack article. ⁠https://open.substack.com/pub/theskepticalleftist/p/saskatchewans-new-policy-on-pronouns?r=iu0tj&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web⁠ Make sure to follow Stafford on Twitter(X) ⁠https://twitter.com/TheChurchofTra1⁠ You can check out the full shownotes with pictures on my website - ⁠www.skepticalleftist.com⁠ You can rate and review the show here - ⁠https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftis-1779751⁠ You can support the show here - -⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/skepticalleftist⁠ - ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/skepticallefty⁠ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

In this episode of Red Reviews Justin and I talk Star Trek! More specifically we talk about the economics of Star Trek and the book Trekonomics by Manu Saadia.  Before we got started we talked about Mike Rinder's cancer diagnosis and how people can go to his blog mikerindersblog.com to donate. You can get a copy of Trekonomics here https://www.amazon.com/Trekonomics-Economics-Star-Manu-Saadia/dp/1941758754 You can check out Justin's blog about Star Trek here https://www.justinclark.org/blog/the-humanism-of-star-trek-what-we-can-learn-from-the-final-frontier You can check out the full shownotes with pictures on my website - www.skepticalleftist.com You can rate and review the show here - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftis-1779751 You can support the show here - - https://www.patreon.com/skepticalleftist - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/skepticallefty --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message

Hi and welcome to the next installment of Red Reviews. In this one Justin and I talked about Erich Fromm’s book, Marx’s Concept of Man which is a book that discusses the humanism of Marx and how the philosophy of socialism has been co-opted by anti-humanist tendencies as well as exploring the humanism of Marx.  Erich Fromm was a psychologist, a psychoanalyst in the Freudian tradition, while also reinterpreting Freud and psychoanalysis to be more humanistic and less orthodox. He had an interest in the cross section of psychoanalysis and Freud and Marxism. He was exposed to Marxism at a young age (possibly teens) and like many thinkers in the Marxist Humanist tradition he was particularly attracted to the early writing of Marx. Marx’s Concept of Man  was written in 1961 and is split in two sections. In the first half of the book is Fromm’s essay on Marx’s concept of man and the second half is Marx’s own writings, namely, Marx’s Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844. Check out Justin's content at https://www.justinclark.org/ You can check out the full shownotes with pictures on my website - www.skepticalleftist.com You can rate and review the show here - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftis-1779751 You can support the show here - - https://www.patreon.com/skepticalleftist - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/skepticallefty --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/skepticalleftist/message