Radicals in Conversation
Radicals in Conversation is a monthly podcast from Pluto Press, one of the world's leading independent radical publishers. Each episode features in-depth discussions with authors and thinkers about radical politics, social movements, and transformative ideas. The podcast aims to bring critical perspectives to a wider audience, covering topics from anarchism to anti-capitalism.
Episodes
Decolonizing Money: The Promise of Abolishing the US Dollar
With Julio Linares.
To change the world, we need a money revolution. Yet the debate over money has been dominated by two perspectives: those free-market capitalists who want money to rule everything, and those who want to use the state to harness money's power.
In his new book, Decolonizing Money: The Promise of Abolishing the US Dollar, Julio Linares presents a bold, democratic theory of money
Money in the Mountains: The Cultural Trauma of Appalachia
With Rayelle Davis. If the United States is in a state of decline, then at the thin end of the wedge sits Appalachia, one of the country’s most deprived regions, mythologized by outsiders and misunderstood the world over.
Embedded as a therapist within this community, Rayelle Davis frames the addiction, suicide, and “diseases of despair” that plague the region as a consequence of cultural trauma,
How to Sell a Genocide: The Media's Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza
With Adam Johnson.
As bombs rained down on Gaza in October 2023, images of mass death and destruction gripped the world, and openly genocidal statements from Israeli leaders foretold the magnitude of horrors to come. But mainstream media was quick to downplay, obscure, and repackage an emerging campaign of extermination into a slick “war on terror” framework.
We're joined on show this month by A
Dismantling the Master's House: Radical Justice and the Law
Economic inequality is rampant, the climate crisis is at its tipping point. Fascists are poised to take power, or already hold it. It feels like the amount of work needed to overcome these injustices is too much to handle. But what if there is a way to lower the threshold to action?
We are joined on the show by Nani Jansen Reventlow, author of Radical Justice: Building the World We Need, who argue
How White Feminism Harms Muslim Women
Growing up, journalist Shahed Ezaydi was often asked how she could call herself a feminist and still practise her faith. It’s a question that reveals a deeper issue that Muslim women often face: being ignored in feminist spaces entirely, or cast as passive victims in need of being saved.
Shahed joins us on the show for a conversation about her new book The Othered Woman: How White Feminism Harms M
Lessons from the Margins: How Migrants are Redefining Mental Health
With Dr Sohail Jannesari. In this episode we look at the intersecting worlds of sanctuary-seeking and mental health. We consider how refugees, asylum seekers and other people on the move don’t just survive displacement, but rather build strength, community, and new ways of coping that challenge everything we know about mental health.
We talk about the global apartheid of borders, how histories of
Can a River Take Us to Court? Exploring the Rights of Nature
With Jessica den Outer.
For centuries, our legal systems have treated nature as something to be owned and exploited, for human gain. In recent decades, the tenor of conversation may have shifted towards conservation and protection, but nature remains an object. The environmental laws, treaties and international agreements we enact have little impact; ecosystems continue to collapse, global temper
Did Ancient Pirates Invent Democracy?: Exploring Radical Antiquity
With Christopher Zeichmann.
In his new book, Radical Antiquity: Free Love Zoroastrians, Farming Pirates, and Ancient Uprisings, Christopher Zeichmann takes us on a unique journey in search of anarchy, statelessness, and social experimentation in the Graeco-Roman world. We meet communities of escaped slaves, pirates, and religious sects—all of whom sought a more egalitarian way of life that avoid
Why Liberal Abundance is Bullsh*t
With Kai Heron, Keir Milburn and Bertie Russell.
Capitalism has created a world of bullsh*t abundance and artificial scarcity, where we have too much of what we don’t need and too little of what we do. The system’s pursuit of profits has put us on a collision course with social and ecological limits that can no longer be ignored.
It’s clear we need an alternative, and liberal visions of green cap
Radical Friendship: Reimagining the World and Fighting the Far Right
With Laura C. Forster and Joel White.
What draws people into political movements? And what sustains us, in the face of defeat, infiltration and state repression?
For the authors of Friends in Common: Radical Friendship and Everyday Solidarities, friendship is an undertheorised, but vital piece of the puzzle, and full of revolutionary potential.
In this episode we are joined by Laura C. Forster a
Empire, Slavery, and Reparations
With Paul Lashmar and Luke Daniels.
In this episode we talk about the new book Drax of Drax Hall: How One British Family Got Rich (and Stayed Rich) from Sugar and Slavery, and the growing international movement for reparations.
Paul Lashmar and Luke Daniels discuss the journalistic investigation into the Drax family’s extensive landholdings and wealth, in Britain and Barbados; the economic, politi
Fascist Yoga!
With Stewart Home.
Legend of counterculture, Stewart Home, joins us on the podcast to talk about his new book, Fascist Yoga: Grifters, Occultists, White Supremacists, and the New Order In Wellness. Stewart is in conversation with Pluto's Patrick Hughes. Patrick is a veteran of the book trade who helped establish AK Press in the United States in the early 1990s. He has published and engaged with S
The New Racial Regime: Recalibrations of White Supremacy
With Alana Lentin.
In this episode we discuss the ways in which racial capitalism reproduces itself. Beyond the distracting framings of culture wars and moral panics, Alana Lentin shows how, from Australia to the USA, the attacks on Black, Indigenous and anticolonial thought and praxis reveal the processes through which racial colonial rule is ideologically resecured.
We discuss the 'whitelash' a
Immigration Detention Inc.: The Big Business of Locking up Migrants
With Nancy Hiemstra and Deirdre Conlon.
The USA locks up more migrants in its immigration detention facilities than any other country in the world. Already operating over capacity, the Trump administration has ramped up its campaign of immigration raids, allegedly instructing ICE to hit quotas of 3,000 arrests a day. The ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ will, if approved by the Senate, appropriate tens of
Democratic Living in Times of Fascism
With H. L. T. Quan and Dylan Rodríguez.
This is the final installment of our three-part mini series, 'Beyond the Ballot Box', which explores some of the major political currents in US politics today.
Chris Browne and James Kelly are joined by H. L. T. Quan and Dylan Rodríguez for a conversation about life in times of fascism. We explore concepts such as state addiction, anti-democracy, ungovernabi
Tenant Unions Fighting the Housing Crisis
With Jacob Stringer.
We are joined on the show by Jacob Stringer, a housing and social movements researcher and organiser, and the author of Renters Unite: How Tenant Unions Are Fighting the Housing Crisis.
We discuss the many local and international dimensions to housing crisis in countries across the Global North. We talk about why simply building more houses isn’t enough, and explore some of th
Billionaires and Guillotines: The Board Game
With Max Haiven.
In this special episode of Radicals in Conversation, we take a first look at the new board game, Billionaires & Guillotines, in which players take on the role of 2-5 rival plutocrats vying to grab the wealth of the world before their actions trigger a revolution where they all lose … a lot more than their assets.
Chris Browne is joined on the show by Max Haiven, the game's des
Palestine and Visual Activism Since October 7
With Nicholas Mirzoeff.
Content Warning: Sexual abuse
In this episode we discuss the new book, To See in the Dark: Palestine and Visual Activism Since October 7.
Nicholas Mirzoeff shares how experiences of domestic, political and sexual violence - in both his family history and his own childhood - have shaped his understanding of events since October 7th. He talks about what it means to identify
Eros and Alienation: Capitalism and the Making of Gendered Sexualities
With Alan Sears.
In this episode we discuss the new book, Eros and Alienation: Capitalism and the Making of Gendered Sexualities.
Alan Sears lays out his expansive understanding of key ideas like labour, alienation, social reproduction, and eroticism. We discuss 'erotic enclosure' in 19th century industrial capitalism, bodily discipline and identity formation at work and in school; how state socia
Trans Femme Futures: Abolitionist Ethics for Transfeminist Worlds
With Nat Raha and Mijke van der Drift.
In our first episode of 2025, we discuss the themes of the new book, Trans Femme Futures: Abolitionist Ethics for Transfeminist Worlds.
We talk about what is entailed by trans and femme practices, the value of critical theory, and how trans liberation moves beyond the liberal call for rights. We discuss solidarity, abolitionism, and why it’s vital to sit wit
Radicals in Conversation: 2024 Curated Highlights
Our 2024 roundup features curated highlights from episodes released throughout the year:
We speak to John Pring, about the British government’s Department for Work and Pensions, and its horrific work capability assessment. We speak to Robert Chapman, about why the neurodiversity movement emerged when it did, its successes, and the limitations of a liberal orientation under neoliberal capitalism. W
Beyond the Ballot Box: Pacification and Intergenerational Memory in Social Movements
With Peter Gelderloos and Vicky Osterweil.
Whether it is in the fight against police violence, ecological destruction, or any other manifestation of patriarchal white supremacy, time and again, the hard-earned lessons of past struggles seem to get forgotten. Our social movements are capable of generating significant momentum, moments of far-reaching revolt, but we suffer from a kind of amnesia - a
Western Complicity and the Human Cost of the Arms Trade in Gaza
With Ahmed Alnaouq, Andrew Feinstein and Anna Stavrianakis.
It has now been over a year since Israel embarked on its genocidal campaign in Gaza. In that time, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been killed or injured. Furnishing Israel with more than just diplomatic cover, Western governments have kept up a steady supply of military aid and equipment, actively enabling the wholesale slaug
Resisting Cop Cities and the Militarization of Policing
What happens when the police become an army? Since 1997, the US Department of Defense has transferred more than $7.2bn in military equipment to law enforcement agencies. This militarization has, unsurprisingly, been shown to unjustly impact on Black communities and is associated with increased killings by police.
The Police Public Safety Training Center in Atlanta - more commonly known as 'Cop Cit
Beyond the Ballot Box: On the Far Right with Mike Wendling
This is episode 1 of ‘Beyond the Ballot Box' - our new mini-series exploring some of the major political currents in US politics.
With the presidential election just around the corner, American politics is increasingly a focus of international attention as well. Electoralism, reproductive justice, the climate crisis, Palestine, a resurgent far right, the criminalization of protest, and the milita
The Department: How a Violent Government Bureaucracy Killed Hundreds and Hid the Evidence
In the early 2010s, reports began to emerge of deaths linked to a government department. Suicide notes, coroners' reports, and research by disabled activists pointed to failings within the Department for Work and Pensions – the DWP – the government body responsible for the disability benefits system.
As years passed, and austerity tightened its grip, the death toll mounted, and an even more distur
Labour Movement Solidarity with Palestine
At the time of recording, Israel’s relentless bombardment of Rafah continues. Around 1 million people have been forced to flee the city. Condemning the assault on Rafah, Spain, Ireland and Norway have joined 140 other countries in officially recognising a Palestinian state. It is a symbolic action that has undoubtedly damaged diplomatic relations between the three countries and Israel. Nevertheles
Constellations of Care: Anarcha-Feminism in Practice
'Whether one is an anarchist or not, the contemporary turn of geopolitical events—from the global phenomena of pandemics, fascistic regimes, and collapsing infrastructure for any sort of social well-being, to capitalist-fueled climate catastrophes and displacement, to occupations spiraling into genocides—has compelled a shift toward prioritizing do-it-ourselves forms of taking good care of each ot
Enough: Why It's Time to Abolish the Super-Rich
Forbes' annual rich list reveals that 2,781 people in the world have fortunes in excess of $1 billion. 141 people joined the list in 2023, with a combined wealth of around $14 trillion - a $2 trillion collective increase on the previous year. There are now more billionaires than ever before. It is a grotesque state of affairs, when we reflect on the misery and hardship that have been wrought by t
On Abolition Feminism with H.L.T. Quan
We’re excited to have H.L.T. Quan on the pod this month, as we publish her new book Become Ungovernable: An Abolition Feminist Ethic for Democratic Living.
Joined by Professors Barbara Ransby and Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, the conversation circles the themes of the book, exploring topics such as radical love, transformative justice, and ungovernability in the South African context, including duri
Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism
In our first episode of 2024 we speak to Robert Chapman, author of Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism.
Awareness around and diagnoses of neurodiversity have exploded in recent years, but as Robert argues, we are still missing a wider understanding of how we got here and why. In today's episode we discuss the rich histories of the neurodiversity and disability movements, as well as
On Palestine with Ghada Karmi
Almost two months have passed since Hamas’s October 7th attack, in which it killed around 1,200 Israeli civilians. The retaliatory campaign that has been waged since then by the Israeli state against the Palestinian population—predominantly in Gaza, but also in the West Bank—has been nightmarish to behold. The latest estimates suggest as many as 15,000 people have been killed. For those of us who
A People’s History of Football
From England, France and Germany to Palestine, South Africa and Brazil, the 'beautiful game' has been a powerful instrument of emancipation for workers, feminists, young people and protesters around the world. Football has often found itself at the heart of anti-colonial struggles; a tool of repression and cooptation, as well as liberation and resistance.
In October 2023, Pluto published the Engli
Let Them Eat Crypto: The Blockchain Scam That’s Ruining the World
The subject of immense hope, hype and confusion, crypto has amassed countless headlines in recent years. Right now, one of crypto’s biggest names, Sam Bankman-Fried, is set to go on trial in New York, accused of having defrauded millions of investors at his FTX cryptocurrency exchange, stealing billions of dollars in the process. But with cryptocurrencies, NFTs and metaverse markets crashing, the
Family Abolition with M. E. O’Brien
For many of us on the left, it would probably be uncontroversial to say that seek a political horizon in which class society, and all of its manifold expressions, has been overcome - wage labour, private property, the capitalist state, white supremacy, settler colonialism and anti-Blackness. But what about the family? In a world that is often bereft of love, compassion and stability, it seems far
RIC in-haus: Space Crone: Ursula K. Le Guin on Feminism and Gender
Radicals in Conversation in-haus is a podcast series collaboration between Pluto Press and Bookhaus, an independent bookshop in Bristol. RIC in-haus is recorded on location at Bookhaus. The bookshop’s ‘in-haus’ events programme features authors of some of the most exciting radical nonfiction being published today.
Episode 10 was recorded in May 2023. Sarah Shin talks about her new co-edited collec
Mad World: The Politics of Mental Health
Mental health is a political issue, even though we often discuss it as a personal one. So how is the current mental health crisis connected to capitalism, racism and other social issues? And in a different world, how might we transform the ways that we think about mental health, diagnosis and treatment?
These are some of the big questions Micha Frazer-Carroll asks in her new book, Mad World, as sh
RIC in-haus: Mussolini’s Grandchildren: Italian Fascism in 2023
Radicals in Conversation in-haus is a podcast series collaboration between Pluto Press and Bookhaus, an independent bookshop in Bristol. RIC in-haus is recorded on location at Bookhaus. The bookshop’s ‘in-haus’ events programme features authors of some of the most exciting radical nonfiction being published today.
Episode 9 was recorded in May 2023. David Broder came to Bookhaus to talk about his
Locating Legacies: ’Abolition in the UK’ with Ruth Wilson Gilmore
In the sixth and final episode of Locating Legacies, series host Gracie Mae Bradley speaks to Ruth Wilson Gilmore. Often dismissed or set aside as a US-based movement, Gracie and Ruth sit down together to explore how we can think about the histories, legacies and politics of abolition in the British context and beyond. They map how local instances of political organising express themselves globall
RIC in-haus: Friends of Israel: The Backlash Against Palestine Solidarity
Radicals in Conversation in-haus is a podcast series collaboration between Pluto Press and Bookhaus, an independent bookshop in Bristol. RIC in-haus is recorded on location at Bookhaus. The bookshop’s ‘in-haus’ events programme features authors of some of the most exciting radical nonfiction being published today.
Episode 8 was recorded on 17th May, the same week as Palestinians commemorated the 7
Locating Legacies: ’Queer Class Politics’ with Sita Balani
In episode 5 of Locating Legacies, series host Gracie Mae Bradley speaks to Sita Balani. They explore the legacies of queer liberation struggles on contemporary class politics, and the ways in which queer radicalism has expanded notions of liberatory politics in the everyday. They also discuss the radical potential of the trade union movement, and unpack the material roots of an ongoing transphobi
Queer Footprints: LGBTQIA+ Solidarity, Protest and Pride
In May 2023, Pluto published Queer Footprints: A Guide to Uncovering London’s Fierce History, by Dan Glass. The book is a groundbreaking guide that takes you through the city streets to uncover the scandalous, hilarious and empowering events of London's 'queerstory'. Accompanied by a chorus of voices of both iconic and unsung legends of the movement, readers can dip into beautifully illustrated ma
Locating Legacies: ’The Cold War’ with Vijay Prashad
In episode 4 of Locating Legacies, series host Gracie Mae Bradley speaks to Vijay Prashad. They discuss the legacies of the Cold War from the vantage point of the Global South, to contextualise the global economic, ecological and political crises that we're struggling through today. They also consider the liberatory potential of nationalism, what meaningful solidarity might look like for climate a
Locating Legacies: ’Identity Politics’ with Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
In episode 3 of Locating Legacies, series host Gracie Mae Bradley speaks to Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò. They discuss how politics moves between the world of ideas and the material world, the process by which radical ideas are co-opted by elite interests, and the importance of organising across difference.
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. His public philosophy
Private Worlds: Growing up Gay in Post-War Britain
In 1950s suburban England, a friendship bloomed between Jeremy Seabrook and Michael O'Neill - both gay men coming of age during a time when homosexuality was still a crime. Their relationship was inflected by secrecy and fear, and when the prohibition on same-sex relationships was partially lifted in 1967, they were already well into adult life; the shadows that had distorted their adolescent year
Locating Legacies: ’The Politics of Decolonisation’ with Françoise Vergès
In episode 2 of Locating Legacies, series host Gracie Mae Bradley speaks to Françoise Vergès. They explore the connections and disparities between the anticolonial politics of the 1950s and 1960s in relation to today's movements to decolonise educational, arts and heritage institutions.
Françoise Vergès is an activist and public educator. She grew up on the island of La Réunion, and worked for man
Locating Legacies: ’On Stuart Hall’ with Kojo Koram
In episode 1 of Locating Legacies, series host Gracie Mae Bradley speaks to Kojo Koram about Stuart Hall's contributions to radical thought and their relevance to present-day politics. Gracie and Kojo discuss some of the themes in Stuart Hall’s work pertaining to empire, neoliberalism and right-wing politics, and consider how Hall’s work might be utilised in the face of economic, ecological and po
Announcing the ’Locating Legacies’ Podcast: In Partnership with the Stuart Hall Foundation
We are excited to announce the Locating Legacies series - a fortnightly podcast created by the Stuart Hall Foundation and co-produced by Pluto Press. The series is dedicated to tracing the reverberations of history to contextualise present-day politics, deepen our understanding of some of the crucial issues of our time, and to draw connections between past struggles and our daily lives.
Hosted by
RIC in-haus: The Cost of Living Crisis (and how to get out of it)
Radicals in Conversation in-haus is a podcast series collaboration between Pluto Press and Bookhaus, an independent bookshop in Bristol. RIC in-haus is recorded on location at Bookhaus. The bookshop’s ‘in-haus’ events programme features authors of some of the most exciting radical nonfiction being published today.
Episode 7 was recorded on the 8th March. James Meadway, the Director of the Progress
Hostile Homelands: The New Alliance Between India and Israel
Since the election of Narendra Modi in 2014, India has changed dramatically. As the world attempts to grapple with its trajectory towards authoritarianism and ethnonationalism, little attention has been paid to the linkages between Modi's India and the governments from which it has drawn inspiration, as well as military and technical support.
India may once have publicly condemned Zionism as a for
Practical Anarchism: A Guide for Daily Life
In a context in which abolitionist discourse is reaching an ever-wider audience, and people’s trust in the state, as a vehicle through which we can hope to achieve meaningful political change, continues to ebb away, we are seeing a renewed engagement with prefigurative politics across the left.
Pluto has always published books from a variety of political tendencies, and that includes anarchism. T
RIC in-haus: Expressionism and the Myth of the Western with Robin McLean
Radicals in Conversation in-haus is a new podcast series collaboration between Pluto Press and Bookhaus, an independent bookshop in Bristol. RIC in-haus is recorded on location at Bookhaus. The bookshop’s ‘in-haus’ events programme features authors of some of the most exciting radical fiction and nonfiction being published today.
Episode 6 was recorded on 30th November. Darran McLaughlin from Book
Workers Can Win: On Strike in 2022
In 2022, workers have taken strike action on a massive scale, and many more are in the process of balloting to take strike action. In Britain, NHS workers, postal workers, criminal barristers, rail workers, university lecturers and many more have all walked out in the face of attacks on pay, pensions and working conditions. Amidst the cost of living and energy crises, spiralling inflation and the
RIC in-haus: Is Socialism Possible in Britain?
Radicals in Conversation in-haus is a new podcast series collaboration between Pluto Press and Bookhaus, an independent bookshop in Bristol. RIC in-haus is recorded on location at Bookhaus. The bookshop’s ‘in-haus’ events programme features authors of some of the most exciting radical nonfiction being published today.
In episode 5, Andrew Murray speaks about his new book, Is Socialism Possible in
Hope in Hopeless Times: Fighting the Hydra of Money
Amidst the global pandemic, war, environmental catastrophe, the cost of living crisis, and where victories for anti-capitalist forces are few and far between, it can feel like we are living in well and truly hopeless times. But as Marxist philosopher John Holloway argues in his new book, the times may indeed be hopeless, but we must still have hope.
Hope in Hopeless Times is the the final instalme
RIC in-haus: Against Borders
Radicals in Conversation in-haus is a new podcast series collaboration between Pluto Press and Bookhaus, an independent bookshop in Bristol. RIC in-haus is recorded on location at Bookhaus. The bookshop’s ‘in-haus’ events programme features authors of some of the most exciting radical nonfiction being published today.
In episode 4, Gracie Mae Bradley and Luke de Noronha are in conversation with Na
Mussolini’s Grandchildren: Fascism in Contemporary Italy
Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia, or Brothers of Italy, emerged from the Italian general election earlier this week with around 26% of the vote. Although it has been a junior partner in previous coalition governments, this is the first time that the party, which traces its lineage back to Mussolini and the post-war fascism of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), has become the largest political fo
RIC in-haus: Neither Vertical nor Horizontal
Radicals in Conversation in-haus is a new podcast series collaboration between Pluto Press and Bookhaus, an independent bookshop in Bristol. RIC in-haus is recorded on location at Bookhaus. The bookshop’s ‘in-haus’ events programme features authors of some of the most exciting radical nonfiction being published today.
Episode 3 features Rodrigo Nunes, author of Neither Vertical nor Horizontal: A T
The U.S. Constitution v. Democracy
Recently, U.S. politics has appeared to be very much in a state of crisis. The last president was impeached by Congress, and stands accused of inciting an attempted coup in the January 2021 assault on the Capitol. What's more, in devastating acts of judicial review, The Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, throwing out the right to an abortion; and its June 30th ruling on West Virginia v. Env
RIC in-haus: Reclaiming Antiracism
Radicals in Conversation in-haus is a new podcast series collaboration between Pluto Press and Bookhaus, an independent bookshop in Bristol. RIC in-haus is recorded on location at Bookhaus. The bookshop’s ‘in-haus’ events programme features authors of some of the most exciting radical nonfiction being published today.
Episode two features Azfar Shafi and Ilyas Nagdee, co-authors of Race to the Bot
From Carcerality to Abolitionism
This month we are joined on the panel by Françoise Vergès, author of A Feminist Theory of Violence and A Decolonial Feminism, and Aviah Sarah Day and Shanice Octavia McBean, co-authors of the forthcoming book, Abolition Revolution.
Our discussion focuses on the connections between carceral feminism, racial capitalism and the structural violence perpetrated by the state. We also talk about the pol
RIC in-haus: The Ethical Stripper
Radicals in Conversation in-haus is a new podcast series collaboration between Pluto Press and Bookhaus, an independent bookshop in Bristol. RIC in-haus is recorded on location at Bookhaus. The bookshop's 'in-haus' events programme features authors of some of the most exciting political nonfiction currently being published.
In episode 1, Stacey Clare, author of The Ethical Stripper, is in conversa
Tangled in Terror: Uprooting Islamophobia
Islamophobia is everywhere. It is a narrative and history woven so deeply into our everyday lives that we don't even notice it – in our education, how we travel, our healthcare, legal system and at work. Behind the scenes it affects the most vulnerable, at the border and in prisons. Despite this, the conversation about Islamophobia is relegated to microaggressions and slurs. At best, we see it as
Trespass, the Commons and the Right to Roam
In England today there exist nearly 120,000 miles of public footpath - half what it was 100 years ago and amounting to just 8% of the land in the country. Of England’s 42,000 miles of rivers, we have access to just 3%.
The enclosure of common land, and the exclusion of the people who lived upon it, was a violent process that began almost a thousand years ago, and reached its zenith in the 18th and
Black History Month: Curated Highlights
To celebrate Black History Month in the US, we've gone through the Radicals in Conversation archive and curated a series of extracts in which our panellists discuss different aspects of Black history in America.
Extract 1: Episode 26 (December 2019) - Bill Mullen and Megan Williams discuss the evolution of the radical politics of James Baldwin, as it was expressed in his writing and in his activi
Public Health After Covid: A New Radical Blueprint
Almost two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, and the limits of a neoliberal public health orthodoxy have been well and truly exposed. But instead of pushing for radical change, the left in Britain finds itself stuck in a rearguard action focused on defending the National Health Service (NHS) from the wrecking ball of privatisation.
In January 2022, Pluto published The Five Health Frontiers: A New
Black Anarchism Across the Generations
In October 2021, Pluto published the definitive edition of Anarchism and the Black Revolution by Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin. The book first connected Black radical thought to anarchist theory in 1979, and now amidst a rising tide of Black political organising, this foundational classic has been republished with a wealth of original material, including forewords by William C. Anderson and Joy James.
Thi
Repealed: Ireland‘s Unfinished Fight for Reproductive Rights
Content warning: rape, suicide
On 25 May 2018, the Irish people voted to remove the Eighth Amendment from the constitution. This amendment, which had been introduced in 1983, not only made abortion illegal in Ireland, but equated the life of a pregnant woman to the life of a fertilised embryo. Despite this criminalisation, the ban on abortion was always resisted and circumvented. In the years lead
Join the Union!
The trade union movement in Britain has existed for nearly two centuries: from the Tolpuddle Martyrs, to the 1888 Matchgirls’ strike, to the militant action of Women machinists at the Ford plant in Dagenham in 1968 - organised labour has a rich, if complicated, history. But in the ebb and flow and workers’ power over the decades, we find ourselves at a historic low point. Union membership is decli
Fighting for Climate Justice and a People‘s Green New Deal
Throughout 2021 we have witnessed a number of devastating and deeply disturbing extreme weather events across the globe. From flooding and forest fires, to soaring temperatures, it is abundantly clear that global warming is accelerating faster than anticipated, and our window of opportunity to combat its worst effects is shrinking commensurately.
The 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parti
Transgender Marxism
In May 2021, Pluto published a new edited collection from Jules Joanne Gleeson and Elle O’Rourke, titled Transgender Marxism. The book offers a groundbreaking synthesis of transgender studies and Marxist theory. Exploring trans lives and movements, the collection’s contributors delve into the experiences of surviving as transgender under capitalism. They explore the pressures, oppression and state
Gypsies, Roma and Travellers: The Policing Bill and Institutional Racism
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill is a far-reaching piece of legislation that would, if passed into law, result in an enormous and unprecedented extension of policing powers, severely curtailing the right to peaceful protest. Over the summer, many people have taken to the streets in #KilltheBill protests to voice their opposition and alarm.
One aspect of the Policing bill that is perha
Lost in Work: Escaping Capitalism
'Work hard, get paid.' It's simple. Self-evident. But it's also a lie - at least for most of us. For people today, the old assumptions are crumbling; hard work in school no longer guarantees a secure, well-paying job in the future. Far from a gateway to riches and fulfillment, 'work' means precarity, anxiety and alienation.
Discussing everything from the history of work under capitalism, to social
Dark Academia: How Universities Die
Content warning: suicide
Academia was once thought of as the best job in the world - a career that fosters autonomy, craft, intrinsic job satisfaction and vocational zeal. And yet you would be hard-pressed to find a lecturer who believes that now. Indeed, there’s a strong correlation between the marketisation and commercialisation of higher education over the last 30 years and the psychological he
'Border Nation' and the Case for Abolition
Borders are more than geographical lines - they impact all our lives, whether it's the inhumanity of deportations, or a rise in racist attacks in the wake of the EU referendum. Border Nation, the new book by Leah Cowan, shows how oppressive borders must be resisted.
Laying bare the web of media myths that vilify migrants, Leah dives into the murky waters of corporate profiteering from borders by c
Empire's Endgame: Racism and the British State
We are in a moment of profound overlapping crises. The landscape of politics and entitlement is being rapidly remade. As movements against colonial legacies and state violence coincide with the rise of authoritarian regimes, it is the lens of racism, and the politics of race, that offers the sharpest focus.
The 'hostile environment' and the fallout from Brexit have, over the last few years, thrown
Where Grieving Begins: Building Bridges after the Brighton Bomb
In the early hours of the morning of the 12th October 1984, a bomb exploded in the Grand Hotel in Brighton. Five people were killed and many more were injured. The bombing was an attempt by the Provisional IRA to kill the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and her cabinet.
Patrick Magee, the man responsible for planting the bomb, was eventually apprehended, put on trial and imprisoned. He was rele
The Truth About Modern Slavery
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