Channel Title: Verso Books Channel Description: Verso Books is the largest independent, radical publishing house in the English-speaking world, publishing writers including Andreas Malm, Nancy Fraser, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, David Harvey, Walter Rodney, Jenny Hval, Tariq Ali, Judith Butler, Perry Anderson, Mike Davis, Vigdis Hjorth, Izumi Suzuki, and more. <video> Jeremy Corbyn on Palestine, the Labour Party, and Global Solidarity for the Verso Podcast Description: This episode of The Verso Podcast was recorded live at our sell-out event at the Union Chapel on July 26th, in partnership with Jacobin magazine’s podcast The Dig. Eleanor Penny and The Dig’s host Daniel Denvir sat down with writer and academic Laleh Khalili and the freshly re-elected, newly independent MP Jeremy Corbyn to discuss the past, the present, and the future of Internationalism. Their fascinating discussion covered everything from Palestine, Congo and Iran, to the Labour Party, the welfare state, the climate crisis, and the economics of global trade. We’ll be sharing the opening act to this talk, hosted by Macrodose podcast, next week so subscribe for more! The Verso Podcast: https://linktr.ee/verso_podcast The Dig Podcast: https://thedigradio.com/ See Verso’s post-election reading here: https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/things-can-only-get-wetter-verso-general-election-reading?_pos=1&_psq=starmer+government&_ss=e&_v=1.0&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=verso_podcast </video> <video> Nick Bano explains why we should abolish landlords Description: Nick Bano is an author and Barrister who specialises in representing homeless people, residential occupiers, and destitute and migrant households. His book, Against Landlords: How to Solve the Housing Crisis, is out now: https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2956-against-landlords?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=verso_video&utm_content=nick_bano 00:00:00 The Problem with Landlords 00:03:28 Rent Controls 00:05:32 How did we get here 00:07:18 What will the Labour Government do? 00:07:54 Don't Become a Landlord 00:11:56 How Landlords find the price 00:13:25 Supply and demand 00:15:29 Why other solutions fail 00:16:36 The Future of the Housing Crisis 00:18:56 Where does the wealth go? </video> <video> Everything to Play For | Marijam Did & Josh Sawyer Description: Marijam Did (author of Everything to Play For) and Josh Sawyer (Director of Pentiment and game developer for Fallout: New Vegas) join each other to play Wolfenstein: Youngblood while discussing the state of the videogame industry and the positive political potential it holds. </video> <video> Robin Blackburn on the History of Slavery and Capitalism in the Americas Description: How was slavery defeated in the Americas? In this interview Robin Blackburn discusses the key ideas and arguments in his new work, The Reckoning: From the Second Slavery to Abolition, 1776-1888. He is interviewed by Kevin Ochieng Okoth—a writer and researcher based in London, part of the Salvage Editorial Collective, and author of Red Africa: Reclaiming Revolutionary Black Politics. The Reckoning traces the “Second Slavery” that surged in the US South, Cuba and Brazil after the Age of Revolution (1776–1848) destroyed the main slave regimes of the Caribbean. By 1860, more than 6 million captives of African descent toiled to produce the cotton, sugar and coffee craved by global consumers.Robin Blackburn highlights the role of abolitionism in driving Confederate slaveholders into the apparent escape-hatch of secession, and how racial oppression was later reconfigured by “Black Codes” and Jim Crow. Robin Blackburn is the author of many works of history on slavery, including The Making of New World Slavery, The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery and The American Crucible. You can find all his work here: https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/authors/blackburn-robin?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=verso_video&utm_content=robin_blackburn The Reckoning: From the Second Slavery to Abolition, 1776-1888 is out now: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3115-the-reckoning?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=verso_video&utm_content=robin_blackburn   See also—Red Africa: Reclaiming Revolutionary Black Politics by Kevin Ochieng Okoth: https://www.versobooks.com/products/2896-red-africa?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=verso_video&utm_content=robin_blackburn 00:00 Intro 00:45 The genesis of the 'Slavery in the Americas' project 06:27 Capitalism and slavery 10:21 Slavery and indebtedness 14:35 The American Civil War and abolition 17:36 Abolition of the slave trade didn't abolish slavery 18:24 The Second Slavery: US, Cuba and Brazil 20:50 Credit in slavery 26:10 The Fugitive Slave and antislavery movements 30:30 The Civil War's impact on Cuba and Brazil 35:11 Brazil, racialisation and fascism 37:04 Racial capitalism as a term 42:18 Specialisation of production </video> <video> Capitalism requires us to be cut off from the basic means of survival Description: #shorts </video> <video> Climate Denial and Disaster Nationalism | Richard Seymour and Tad DeLay Description: Richard Seymour and Tad DeLay discuss the persistence of climate denial across political parties, and the causes of the rise of the new far right. In this interview, filmed in the Verso London office the day after the US election, they delve into bordering practices, incels, Zionism, and the failures of liberalism. Disaster Nationalism: The Downfall of Liberal Civilization by Richard Seymour is out now: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3147-disaster-nationalism?_pos=1&_psq=disaster+national&_ss=e&_v=1.0&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=verso_video Future of Denial: The Ideologies of Climate Change by Tad DeLay is out now: https://www.versobooks.com/products/2857-future-of-denial?_pos=1&_psq=future+of+denial&_ss=e&_v=1.0&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=verso_video </video> <video> Why we need rent controls Description: </video> <video> Enzo Traverso on Fascism, Marxism and Israel Description: Enzo Traverso is an Italian scholar of European intellectual history, and the author of several books on critical theory, Marxism, Fascism, revolution, and contemporary historiography. He teaches at Cornell University, and his most recent book is Revolution: An Intellectual History https://www.versobooks.com/products/2783-revolution?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=verso_video In this interview with his Verso editor, Sebastian Budgen, he discusses the origins of his political thinking, fascism in Europe in the 20th century, the new far-right, totalitarianism, and Israel. You can find all his work, including Revolution: An Intellectual History, here https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/authors/traverso-enzo?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=verso_video 0:00:00 Political beginnings 0:20:12 Marxism and the Jewish question 0:28:48 Siegfried Kracauer, Frankfurt School and Post-structuralism 0:49:35 Totalitarianism 0:59:33 Fascism in Europe in the 20th century 1:10:57 The New Far Right 1:21:17 Left melancholy 1:31:10 Israel and Jewish modernity </video> <video> Jason Read and Jeremy Gilbert on Marx, Spinoza, Work, and Breaking Bad Description: Even as the rewards of work decline and its demands on us increase, many people double-down on their commitment to wage slavery—working harder, doing overtime, and learning to hustle. To paraphrase Spinoza, why do people fight to be exploited as if it were liberation? Jason Read's book - The Double Shift - turns to the intersection of Marx and Spinoza and examines contemporary ideologies and the modern phenomena of work—motivational meetings at Apple Stores, the culture of Silicon Valley, as well as film and television, from Office Space to Better Call Saul—to argue for the transformation of our collective imagination and attachment to work. Here he is interviewed by Jeremy Gilbert, Professor of Cultural & Political Theory at the University of East London, and co-author (with Alex Williams) of Hegemony Now: How Big Tech and Wall Street Won the World (And How We Win it Back) https://www.versobooks.com/products/494-hegemony-now?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=verso_video&utm_content=jason_read Jason Read is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern Maine. The Double Shift: Spinoza and Marx on the Politics of Work is out now https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2920-the-double-shift?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=verso_video&utm_content=jason_read 00:00 Intro 00:56 Why Spinoza and Marx? 03:22 Why Work? 11:35 The Ideology of Work 15:15 The Psychology of Work 20:57 Freedom 28:21 Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul 42:07 ‘Seeing the better and doing the worse’ 44:49 Negative Solidarity - Sorry to Bother You 51:23 The Future of Work </video> <video> Tariq Ali on Protest, Palestine and the Extreme Centre Description: In his new memoir Tariq Ali recounts a life committed to writing and cultural interventions. An eyewitness in Moscow to the fall of the Soviet Union, he was caught up in the intellectual excitement that had gripped the country. In Porto Alegre, Hugo Chávez invited him to visit Caracas, and the two men developed a striking friendship. Post-2001, as a founding member of the Stop the War Coalition, he became a fierce critic of the War on Terror, visiting many US cities with surprising regularity to engage in debate and discussion, inaugurating a new phase of political activism. Evident in his work is the integral part politics plays in his life. He is one of the most sought-after socialist and anti-imperialist public intellectuals on most continents. You Can't Please All by Tariq Ali is out now: https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2937-you-can-t-please-all?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=verso_video 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:53 SpyCops, being spied on by the British state. 00:12:01 Childhood and formative experiences 00:19:12 Internationalism, and reporting from Vietnam 00:29:04 Palestine 00:41:42 Mentors and Friends 00:54:02 Blair Peach 01:00:41 Being barred from Labour 01:06:56 Hugo Chavez 01:16:33 Russia in the 90s 01:23:06 The Extreme Centre </video> <video> THE STATES OF THE EARTH by Mohamed Amer Meziane | Verso Books Description: If modernity is the Anthropocene, and modernity is the product of secularization, then what is the connection between secularization and the climate crisis? Far from a defense of religion, THE STATES OF THE EARTH argues that phenomena such as evangelism and political Islam are best understood as products of empire and secularization. In a world where material technology was considered divine, religious and secular forces both tried to achieve Heaven on Earth by destroying Earth itself. The States of the Earth by Mohamed Amer Meziane is out now! https://www.versobooks.com/products/3050-the-states-of-the-earth?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=statesoftheearth_24 "Meziane, in his recently published book, argues that Europe, and France specifically, give themselves credit for having modernized during the 19th century. But this was the period of France's imperial adventures in the Muslim world, which - not coincidentally, he powerfully argues — racialized the concept of "religiosity," rendering it "uncivilized."" – The New York Times "An extremely important and erudite book. Extraordinary in many parts, it will be discussed for a long time to come and is destined to generate new debates. It will be difficult from now on to think without some of the main concepts it invents, such as imperiality, which disrupts the way we write the history of modern political regimes. It is impressive in its erudition, in its knowledge - it is the result of a considerable amount of work - and also in its impetus, strength and commitment." – Étienne Balibar 0:00:00 Intro and Review from Souleymane Bachir Diagne 0:01:15 On the "Secularocene" 0:07:06 Race and Orientalism in the Anthropocene 0:17:09 The racialization of Religion 0:28:44 On Imperiality 0:39:24 Could a return to religion resolve climate change? 0:46:09 Climate Crisis as One Facet of a Multi-Layered Problem 0:47:45 About the Music 0:48:51 Reviews from Étienne Balibar and Talal Asad </video> <video> Søren Mau on Communism, Capitalism, and Social Democracy Description: What do we want communism to look like? Søren Mau discusses communist modes of production, Left utopian ideas, the transcendental power of capitalism, and his book, Mute Compulsion: A Marxist Theory of the Economic Power of Capital. He is interviewed by Richard Hames, audio producer at Novara Media. Read his essay on the Verso blog, referenced in the interview: Communism is Freedom https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/communism-is-freedom?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=verso_video Mute Compulsion: A Marxist Theory of the Economic Power of Capital is out now: https://www.versobooks.com/products/2759-mute-compulsion?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=verso_video Søren Mau is a communist philosopher and postdoctoral researcher based in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is an editor of the journal Historical Materialism and a member of the board of the Danish Society for Marxist Studies. 00:00 Intro 01:38 Søren’s blog: Communism is Freedom 09:13 Capitalism isn’t natural 12:38 What is Mute Compulsion 18:38 Proletarianisation 21:36 Why Social Democracy/UBI isn’t enough 28:01 The Transcendental Power of Capitalism 32.24 Proletarianisation pt2 34:18 Why can’t I plant my own crops in the local park? 38:23 Capitalist food production 47:36 Does Capitalism undermine itself? 52:07 Søren’s next book - a Marxist theory of human nature </video> <video> What is Mute compulsion? The violence which makes us go to work Description: </video> <video> Neither capitalism nor communism is human nature Description: #shorts </video> <video> The Future of Global Capitalism | Macrodose Description: We bring you the opening act of our sell out event at the Union Chapel on July 26th, with our friends at MACRODOSE Podcast. The discussion was hosted by writer and academic Dalia Gebrial and featured a panel comprising political scientist Thea Riofrancos, climate justice activist Asad Rehman, and economist James Meadway. They brought us a conversation on cutting-edge, climate focussed economics that ranged from the decline of the unipolar world, to the climate crisis and green colonialism. You can listen to the second half of this show featuring Jeremy Corbyn MP and Laleh Khalili here, and co-hosted by The Dig, here: The Verso Podcast: https://linktr.ee/verso_podcast The Dig Podcast: https://thedigradio.com/ Macrodose Podcast: https://linktr.ee/macrodosepodcast See Verso’s post-election reading here: https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/things-can-only-get-wetter-verso-general-election-reading?_pos=1&_psq=starmer+government&_ss=e&_v=1.0&utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=verso_podcast </video>

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Verso Books is the largest independent, radical publishing house in the English-speaking world, publishing writers including Andreas Malm, Nancy Fraser, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, David Harvey, Walter Rodney, Jenny Hval, Tariq Ali, Judith Butler, Perry Anderson, Mike Davis, Vigdis Hjorth, Izumi Suzuki, and more.

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