Sps

In this episode of SPS, Sophia and Pamela discuss the moral panic surrounding Netflix's new film, Cuties (2020), and take up the responses by Spiked Online and Jacobin magazine. Platypus members Marco Torres and David Faes join us to reflect on Polanski's critically-acclaimed J'Accuse (2019)and how it speaks to the present. In the final segment, Sophia interviews Jack Conrad from the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). They consider how the 'Left' uses and abuses Karl Kautsky's legacy in order to avoid Kautsky's Marxism and discuss what the CPGB is up to. If you want to learn more about Platypus, and get involved, read the Platypus review, visit us on Facebook under the Platypus Affiliated Society or visit www.platypus1917.org. You can follow us on Instagram: ShitPlatypusSays, and on Twitter: @PlatypusSays. If you like the podcast, share it, rate it, and write us a review. Mentioned:
 (0) Theodor W. Adorno, "Sexual Taboos and the Law Today" (1963) https://platypus1917.org/wp-content/uploads/readings/ad

Pamela Nogales, Sophia Freeman and Laurie Rojas discuss the call to cancel artist, Jon Rafman, and the revenge campaign led by the @surviving_the_artworld instagram account and break down the anti-sex and anti-art impulses of the culture industry. Pamela & Sophia sit down with Platypus members, Ethan Kaimana (U. Penn) and Will Lushbaugh (San Francisco State), two organizers behind the recent panel, "Police Brutality and the Left," with speakers Andrea Pritchett (Berkeley Copwatch), Conrad Cartmell (Democratic Socialists of America), Larry Holmes (Workers World Party) and Gerald Smith (a former member of the Black Panther Party and the Spartacist League and current member of the Oscar Grant committee). We listen to clips from the panel recording and give our impression of the conversation. In the last segment Pamela & Sophia talk with Joshua Citarella, an artist and cultural thinker whose books, Politigram & the Post-left (2018) and his most recent book, 20 Interviews (2020) offer an in-depth survey of youn

On this episode, Pamela and Sophia discuss the destruction of statues depicting American Revolutionary figures. Our members James Vaughn and Spencer Leonard join us to discuss the legacy of the American Revolution and the repercussions of the 1619 project. And Sophia catches up with Rory Hannigan and Clint Montgomery in light of our Summer Reading group on Kautsky’s Marxism. We reflect on Karl Kautsky as a leading figure in Second International Marxism and how it might be important to consider Kautsky today. If you want to learn more about Platypus, and get involved, read the Platypus review or join the American Revolution lectures online, visit us on Facebook under the Platypus Affiliated Society or visit www.platypus1917.org. If you like the podcast, share it, rate it, and write us a review! (1) Trump’s address to the Young Conservatives of America: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf8R3LTAarI (2) American Revolution Lecture Series: https://platypus1917.org/2020/06/06/the-legacy-of-the-american-revolutio

This episode of SPS is a new members edition, featuring new members of the Platypus Affiliated Society in the United States, Germany and Denmark. In the first segment, Sophia and Pamela ring up Carson Wright, a new member at the Oregon State University chapter. We chat about Planet of the Humans, a new documentary produced by Michael Moore, which takes a harsh look at green technology and the pitfalls of the environmental left. We reflect on the technocratic impulses of the climate left today and discuss Carson’s recent interview with the environmental activist Derrick Jensen, published in the April issue of the Platypus Review. In the second segment, Sophia and Pamela chat with new members in Platypus chapters around the globe to ask them about their encounters with the Left before Platypus, their experience as new members and their thoughts on hosting the conversation on the left. This segment features Lisa Müller at Leipzig University in Germany; Rana Ürek at Columbia University in New York; Osiris Crutch

On this episode, Pamela and Sophia discuss the anti-quarantine protestors as the newly christened "deplorables" in the lead up to the presidential election, Brad Troemel's fake ad and the Biden campaign. Pamela interviews August Nimtz, Professor of political science at the University of Minnesota. Prof. Nimtz wrote a two volume book on Lenin’s electoral strategy from Marx and Engels through the Revolution of 1905 (vol. 1); & from 1907 to the October Revolution of 1917 (vol. 2). On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Lenin’s birth, we discuss the electoral area in his political strategy. We talk about the end of the Bernie Sanders campaign and then the legacy of the 1930s Popular Front today. On the second half of the episode, Sophia Freeman sits with to the current president of Platypus, Efraim Carlebach, who takes stock of the decline of the sectarian left, of the small Trotskyist and Maoists groups, and the waning influence of the party turn of the 1970s. They reflect on whether or not the mission of P

Sh!t Platypus Says, special quarantine edition, comes in three parts: (1) Pamela talks to Platypus members about the left’s response to the Corona Virus. She talks to Laurie Rojas, Chris Cutrone & Stefan Hain to figure out just what, David Harvey, Naomi Klein, the Socialist Workers Party, U.S., Spiked online, and Žižek are saying in these times of Corona. (2) A record 3.3 million people filed claims for unemployment in the US last week. We hear from Wentai, our resident financial guru, to learn about how this pandemic is impacting the world economy. (3) In the last segment, Sophia sits down with Philip Cunliffe in London for a post-panel reflection on our "After the Election" panel at the London School of Economics: https://platypus1917.org/2020/01/29/after-the-election-whats-left-lse-29-1-20/ Philip is a political scientist and Senior Lecturer the University of Kent, he is also the founder of the Full Brexit: https://www.thefullbrexit.com/. They discuss the failure of “fully automated luxury communism” and t

Pamela and Sophia discuss the recent episode of The Dig, a podcast from Jacobin magazine, featuring a roundtable discussion on the Bernie 2020 campaign and what a Sanders presidency would mean for the American left, including Jacobin founder Bhaskar Sunkara and assistant editor Alex Press. We play some clips, discuss, and ask some critical questions about the Democratic Socialists of America’s political strategy. On the second segment, we reflect on the first Platypus German Conference in Leipzig (January, 2020). Our members, Jim Kallenberg (Vienna) and two of the Leipzig organizers, Clint Montgomery and Henry Mitko, join us to discuss the crisis of Neoliberalism and the paralysis on the German left. Platypus German Conference Recordings: 01/24 Teach-In: Sexual Liberation by Stefan Hain https://archive.org/details/00downloadssr079ms1 Panel: Democracy and the left https://archive.org/details/demokratieunddielinke Panelists: Stefan Hain: Platypus Member | Prof. Dr. Klaus Dörre: Professor Work-, Industy- and

Pamela and Sophia discuss the recent Warren-Sanders pseudo-controversy, Momentum's response to Labour's (UK) defeat, and the call for a Sanders' presidency by today's left. Members Mike Atkinson and David Mountain talk about building Platypus at the University of Manchester, their impressions of the city's left and their upcoming teach-in, "What the Bloody Hell is 'The Dialectic'?" Finally, we have a quick check-in with Erin Hagood, the editor-in-chief of the Platypus Review, who tells us about the articles in the latest issue, #122, and the upcoming line-up for the February issue. To learn more about Platypus in Manchester, drop by a reading group meeting on Wednesdays, from 6-8pm, at Samuel Alexander A213, University of Manchester M13 9PP, or coffee breaks at Biko's Cafe in the Student Union, on Thursdays from 3pm to 4pm. To attend the upcoming teach-in, on Thursday (01/30) at 5pm, see: https://www.facebook.com/events/484620452239409/ Send article submissions and inquiries about the Platypus Review to edi

On this episode of SPS, we discuss HBO's Euphoria, what it says about the emerging "Zoomer" culture, and whether Gen Z's cynicism should be taken for granted. Sophia Freeman interviews Peter Tatchell, a human rights advocate and veteran activist of the LGBTQ movement. They discuss his experience on the left and his thoughts on Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party. On the second half of the episode, Pamela Nogales is joined by London Platypus members, Efraim C., Rory H., Dominic J. and fellow traveler, Rebekah P., at the London School of Economics. They discuss the latest on Brexit & the upcoming election, as well as what it means to vote Labour today. The Platypus International Convention is on April 3-5 in Chicago. The theme is "Socialism in the 21st Century". We welcome ideas for panels! Send us your pitch to shitplatypussays@gmail.com. You can find audio/video record of past conventions on the Platypus website, www.platypus1917.org. As always send us your questions & criticism, and if you are into the podcast, s

On this episode, we talk about Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and the undigested legacy of the late sixties among millennials. We take up the recent corruption scandal plaguing the United Auto Workers (UAW) with Platypus member, Nick Kreitman, a personal injury, employment and labor attorney practicing in Chicago, Illinois. Nick gives us an update on the state of American unions and what leftists think is possible under Bernie Sanders. In the second segment, Sophia interviews Hillel Ticktin, a South African expat living in London who spoke on the fall of the Soviet Union at the CPGB’s summer Communist University. They discuss the counterrevolution left by Stalinists in Power, the atomization of the working class in the USSR and the legacy of 1989. As always feel free to send your questions, comments and criticism to shitplatypussays@gmail.com. And if you like the podcast, share it and leave us a review. Links; Rory Hannigan, Platypus Review 119, September 2019 https://platypus1917.org

On this episode, Sophia Freeman and Pamela C. are joined by Allison Hewitt-Ward, a New York Platypus member and art critic. They discuss the recent crack-up at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the relationship between art and political protest. In the second segment, Sophia and Pam interview Goldsmiths University’s graduating Masters art students, Alexander Pierce, Lydia Blakeley, Fred Bungay, Paula Pinho Martins Nacif and Sara Rodrigues, about the relationship between art and freedom and if the censorship of art is ever justified. Feedback, criticism, and questions are always welcome. Drop us an e-mail at shitplatypussays@gmail.com. Links: “Art and the Commodity Form”, a Platypus panel at Goldsmiths, University of London (October 11, 2016). The panel brought together Rex Dunn, independent Marxist and writer; Zhoe Granger, a director of the gallery, project space, and art publisher, Arcadia Missa; and Peter Osborne, editor of the journal Radical Philosophy and professor of Modern European Philosop

On this episode, we chat about the HBO miniseries Chernobyl and Cold War nostalgia. Pamela Nogales discusses the ascendance of the Brexit Party in the UK with James Heartfield, a veteran Marxist and Brexit Party candidate. And Sophia Freeman and Pam Nogales sit down with members at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia to talk about Platypus chapter building & the left in the region. To learn more about the Platypus Summer Reading Group "30 years of 1989: What was Stalinism in power?" Visit: https://platypus1917.org/2019/05/07/summer-2019-readings-30-years-of-1989-what-was-stalinism-in-power/ James Heartfield spoke at in our Democracy and the Left panel held at Goldsmiths, University of London, in March 2019, the recording is here: https://platypus1917.org/2019/03/28/democracy-and-the-left-london/ Co-hosted by Pamela C. and Sophia Freeman

On this episode, we tackle cancel culture and the legacy of the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela. Sophia Freeman, London member of Platypus, joins us to discuss the feud between beauty influencers, James Charles and Tati Westbrook, and what it might tells us about the exhaustion of cancel culture. In the second segment, Marco Torres, Chicago Platypus member, and Pamela Nogales interview Alejandro Velasco, the author of Barrio Rising: Urban Popular Politics and the Making of Modern Venezuela, and contributor to the New York Times, In These Times and Jacobin Radio, on the passing of Chavismo and the future of Venezuela. Finally, Pam Nogales sits down with the journalist and sociologist Marc Saint-Upéry, to make sense of the left's response to Venezuela and the Maduro regime. - Sophia Freeman, "The Black Panther Party, Malcolm X, and the question of revolutionary politics today: An interview with Kathleen Cleaver" (PR 113, February 2019) https://platypus1917.org/2019/02/03/the-black-panther-party-malcom-x-an

We run down some of the Democratic presidential candidates for 2020 and sit down with our London member Efraim Carlebach to discuss the recent crack up in British politics and the split from the Labour Party this month. We talk about the emerging new center in British politics and the response by the left to the split. From the Platypus Review archives: The unchanging core of Marxism: An interview with Ian Birchall by Efraim Carlebach https://platypus1917.org/2017/12/02/unchanging-core-marxism-interview-ian-birchall/ Feel free to send us questions, comments & suggestions at shitplatypussauys@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shitPlatypussays

On this episode of Sh*t Platypus Says, we have a report on the yellow vest protests with our members Ciat and Teo, both currently in Paris. They share their reflections on the mass demonstrations, the on-going crisis of neoliberalism and the confused responses by the left. After, your hosts, Laurie, Suzy and Pam talk about the memory of the 2008 financial crisis in popular culture and discuss some of the changes they foresee for labor & capital relations in the coming years. Finally, if you still don't know what happened in 2008, let our resident financial genius, Wentai, break it down for you at the end of our episode. Questions, suggestions and smart-ass commentary always welcome! E-mail us at shitplatypussays@gmail.com We recommend, from the Platypus Review archives: "A cry of protest before accommodation? The dialectic of emancipation and domination" by Chris Cutrone, from Platypus Review 42 (December 2011 – January 2012) https://platypus1917.org/2011/12/01/cry-of-protest-before-accommodation/ Hosted

We say goodbye to 2018 by discussing The Young Karl Marx (Le Jeune Marx), Raoul Peck’s film commemorating 200 years of Karl Marx’s birth. We unpack the lame (so-called) film critiques by those on the left. In the main segment, we take up the question “What is Socialism?”, featuring responses by members of Platypus, listeners of the podcast, fellow travelers and some dude... including, Chris Cutrone, Erin Hagood, Ben Waite, Raul Cajias, & Sammy Medina. Throughout, Rosa Luxemburg, Leon Trotsky, Vladimir Lenin & Karl Marx, help us with the heavy lifting. Send us your questions, comments and requests for SPS in the new year! E-mail us at: shitplatypussays@gmail.com Platypus Review article referenced: - The birth of a revolution? An interview with Mary Gabriel on Love and Capital, by Spencer Leonard https://platypus1917.org/2012/06/07/the-birth-of-a-revolution/ On February 28, 2012, the radio program Radical Minds on WHPK-FM Chicago broadcast an interview with Mary Gabriel, the author of Love and Capital: Karl

Suzy Vogenthaler, David Faes help us dispel the liberal confusion over the Obama administration's reforms for trans-people. Laurie and Pamela sit with Dorna Darabi for a report of the recent anti-AFD protest in Berlin with over 150,000 participants. And Stefan Hain and Betül Yildrim talk to Pamela at the Freie University coffee break about the divisions within Die Linke, the decline of the Social Democratic Party and German politics after Merkel. For more on trans politics see David Faes's articles for the new Platypus Review, issue 111. (1) "Transgender liberation? A movement whose time has passed" https://platypus1917.org/2018/11/02/transgender-liberation-a-movement-whose-time-has-passed/ (2) "#MeToo and the millennial sex panic" https://platypus1917.org/2018/11/02/metoo-and-the-millennial-sex-panic/ For more on the German left listen to the recording of our panel in Frankfurt, from 07.12.2017, entitled "What is Socialism?" Speakers were invited to reflect on the history of social democracy from a leftist

On this episode, Pamela Nogales, Laurie Rojas and Suzy Vogenthaler talk about the Kavanaugh hearing, his virginity and the failing Democratic Party strategy in the midterm electoral campaign. Laurie and Pamela interview Jack Devine from the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and discuss the organization's strategy and long term goals. We end by interviewing Tana Forrester, from the Socialist Party USA (SPUSA), on the need to build a mass socialist party today. Articles for further reading: (1) Jack Devine, "The death agony of meritocracy" in the Platypus Review 109 (September 2018) https://platypus1917.org/2018/09/04/the-death-agony-of-meritocracy/ (2) Erin Hagood & Stephanie Gomez, "What was the Socialist Party? An interview with David McReynolds" in the Platypus Review 110 (October 2018) https://platypus1917.org/2018/10/01/what-was-the-socialist-party-an-interview-with-david-mcreynolds/ Hosted by Laurie Rojas, Pamela C. and Suzy V.

On this episode of SPS, we sit down with Jacobin contributor Alex Hotchuli and discuss Brazil's upcoming, presidential elections. With Audrey Crescenti, we take up Afro-futurist aesthetics, with clips from artist Frances Bodomo, the Nation of Islam’s Elijah Muhammad, Sun Ra, and Terence Nance’s new HBO show, Random Acts of Flyness. Alex Hotchuli on the Brazilian elections for Jacobin https://jacobinmag.com/2018/09/brazil-election-bolsonaro-lula-haddad-boulos-corruption Mark Dery, "Black to the Future: Interviews with Samuel R. Delany, Greg Tate, and Tricia Rose" (1994) https://tinyurl.com/y9wulgbk Hosted by Pamela C. & Laurie Rojas.

On this episode of SPS, we discuss the confusion around "trans politics" & sexual emancipation and examine the limits of anti-Trump activism. Audrey , Pam & Berkeley member, Will Lushbough, sits down with comedian Will Franken, who lived as a trans woman for a brief time, to talk about sexuality & the state of stand-up today. Laurie Rojas talks to UK members, Rory Hannigan & Pádraig Maguire about the recent anti-Trump protests in London. And Suzy V. drops by to discuss the Chicago queer scene and the difficulty of thinking about sexual emancipation today. Articles mentioned: (1) "The Word 'Cisgender': An Unlikely Semantic Revolutionary" https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-word-cisgender-an-unl_b_10913904.html (2) "Why Scarlett Johansson — Or Any Cis Actor — Should Never Play Trans Roles" https://www.them.us/story/why-scarlett-johansson-or-any-cis-actor-should-never-play-trans-roles From the Platypus archives on sexual liberation: (1) https://platypus1917.org/2016/10/17/9-16-16-trans-liberation-teach-fr