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55:11Now PlayingLive-streamed on January 13, 2025
Richard Seymour, writer & commentator based in London, joins to discuss his recent book Disaster Nationalism: The Downfall of Liberal Civilization.
Richard Seymore then joins, diving right into his idea of “Disaster Nationalism” as a type of proto-fascism that seeks to take the ever-increasing frequency of real-world disasters with often abstract causes (climate change, inequality, etc) and tie them to singular, concrete perpetrators, frequently represented by ethnic and political minorities, tackling examples out of Oregon in the wake of the 2020 wildfires and Gujarat following the 2002 train burning – with the latter providing a particularly gruesome lens into Disaster Nationalism’s emphasis on extreme ethnic violence as a key selling point, as it provides an outlet for pent-up anxiety rather than a solution to its real causes. After expanding on Disaster Nationalism’s complex relationship to democracy (as a tool) and dedication to capitalism, Seymore walks Sam and Emma through the centrally motivating role of economic anxiety in this equation, tackling its distinction to general economic deprivation in its emphasis on loss and social status, looking at how the hyper-individualism of neoliberalism exacerbates socio-economic inequality while blaming those on the losing end for their situation, cultivating a sadistic culture of pseudo-meritocracy that craves social distinction, something threatened by any attempt to deconstruct the dominant hierarchies. After touching on the particular display of Disaster Nationalism developing in Israel’s ongoing genocide of Gaza, Richard, Sam, and Emma then look at the role of the left in combatting these pressures, tackling the history of trade unions in leading the fight against fascism, and the importance of organizing when it comes to finding agency, empowerment, and community in the face of systems that want you to have anything but.
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