Radicals in Conversation

The Housing Crisis

There are over 11 million private renters in the UK, accounting for 20% of all households. For many, life as a tenant is precarious, unsafe and increasingly expensive. Londoners face some of the highest rents in Europe, beholden to a housing market stacked in favour of landlords and investors.

But communities and campaigners are fighting back against the many injustices within the housing sector: from social cleansing and gentrification, to deregulation and ‘no fault’ evictions.

We are joined in the studio by Katya Nasim, a founding member of the London Renters’ Union, and Becka Hudson, Co-ordinator of the Radical Housing Network, in a conversation about the current housing crisis, dissecting its origins and offering an alternative vision for tenants across the UK.

 

Decolonising the University

In 2015, students at the University of Cape Town demanded the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes, the imperialist, racist business magnate, from their campus. The battle cry ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ heralded an international movement calling for the decolonisation of the world’s universities.

Over the last three years this movement has grown, voicing a radical call for a new era of education, and an end to coloniality both inside and outside the classroom.

Unpacking the 'decolonise' framework, and exploring questions of curriculum, neoliberalism and the legacy of empire, we are joined by Gurminder Bhambra, Professor of Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies at the University of Sussex, and Dalia Gebrial, a PhD student at the London School of Economics, and an editor at Novara Media, who was formerly involved with the Rhodes Must Fall campaign at Oxford University.

Decolonising the University is published on 20th August 2018.

Choke Points

Today’s global economy relies on the steady flow of goods, products and raw materials around the world. Companies like Amazon have become so massive that they now ship as many as 400 packages per second. But this all depends on the labour of millions of workers in docks, warehouses and logistics centres. If the global supply chain is broken, capitalism grinds to a halt…

Discussing the power - both potential and realised - of these logistics workers around the world, we are joined by: Jake Alimahomed-Wilson, Professor of Sociology at California State University, Long Beach, and co-editor of Choke Points: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain (Pluto, 2018); Katy Fox-Hodess, a lecturer in work, employment, people and organisations at the University of Sheffield; and Kim Moody, a founder of Labor Notes and the author of a number of books on US labour, most recently On New Terrain (Haymarket, 2017).

Cracks in the Wall - Pluto Live

On 22nd May, we held the first ever 'Pluto Live' event with Ben White and Karma Nabulsi. Hosted by Amnesty International in London, the evening comprised of a wide ranging discussion around the themes of the new book Cracks in the Wall: Beyond Apartheid in Palestine/Israel.

From the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, to the growing polarisation of US politics over the question of Israel/Palestine, this special episode of Radicals in Conversation explores the emerging 'cracks in the wall' of traditional support for Israel in the Trump era.

Recorded shortly after the massacre of protesting Palestinians in Gaza on May 14th, the discussion acknowledges the grim reality on the ground in 2018, as well as reasons for hope.

Repeal the 8th

The Republic of Ireland is one of the last places in the EU in which having an abortion remains a criminal offense. Every day, an average of 12 people in Ireland have an abortion - either by travelling to the UK, or through using illegal abortion pills bought online. On 25th May, voters in the Republic will go to the polls in a referendum to decide whether or not to repeal the eighth amendment to the constitution, which has kept abortion illegal under almost all circumstances since it was first introduced in 1983.

The campaign to 'repeal the eighth' has gained a huge amount of traction across the country in recent months. Just a few weeks ahead of the crucial vote, we invited Maev McDaid, an activist with Alliance for Choice, and Lewis Kenny, a Dublin-based artist and activist, to join us in a discussion about the history of abortion in Ireland, and why a 'yes' vote is so crucial.

For more information about the campaign to repeal the eighth, go to:

https://www.togetherforyes.ie

http://www.alliance4choice.com

https://www.repealeight.ie

End Immigration Detention

At a time when EU nationals are being deported for sleeping rough; when banks, landlords, schools and even the NHS are deputised in the hunt for 'illegal' immigrants; and when detainees are forced to go on hunger strike to protest the failures and abuses of the Home Office, the issue of immigration has clearly never been more urgent.

Chris Browne is joined by Gracie Bradley from Liberty, and Luke Butterly from Right to Remain, in a timely discussion about the UK government's 'hostile environment' policy, the horrors and injustice of the immigration detention system, and the community groups and campaigners who are trying to put an end to it.

For more information, and to get involved in the fight to end immigration detention, go to:

liberty-human-rights.org.uk/campaigning

detention.org.uk

International Women's Strike

Chris Browne and Emily Orford are joined by special guests Camille Barbagallo and Tithi Bhattacharya, national organisers for the Women's Strike in the UK and US respectively. 

Focusing on the upcoming International Women's Strike - which takes place on International Women's Day (8th March) - the episode's discussion covers everything from the limitations of 'Lean In' feminism and the January 21st Women's March, to social reproduction theory and #MeToo.

 

Sexual Harassment from Harvey Weinstein to Higher Education

Neda Tehrani is joined by Hareem Ghani, National Union of Students (NUS) Women's Officer, in a discussion about sexual violence and misconduct in higher education. We look at the specific case of universities, and the ongoing Staff-Student Sexual Misconduct Survey being conducted by the NUS, as well as the wider international context of the #MeToo campaign.

For more information about the NUS's Sexual Misconduct Survey, go to www.snapsurveys.com.

Strike!

We discuss new forms of union organisation undertaken by workers today – and how new types of employment, from zero-hours contracts to the gig economy can actually pave the way for creative, successful forms of organisation. We also discuss the Picturehouse and Deliveroo strikes, (anti-)trade union law, Corbynism and renters’ unions.

With special guests Callum Cant, a former Deliveroo rider and organiser from the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB); Kelly Rogers, one of the key organisers in the ongoing Picturehouse strike; and Jamie Woodcock, author of Working the Phones: Control and Resistance in Call Centres.

For more information about the Picturehouse strike, go to: picturehouselivingwage.com

Student Revolt

We talk to special guests Matt Myers, author, and Malia Bouattia, former president on the NUS, about Student Revolt: Voices of the Austerity Generation - a lively oral history of the '2010 Generation', bringing together activists, students, politicians and workers. We discuss the significance of the 2010 student protests and how, seven years later, they continue to reverberate through UK politics - both in Parliament and on the streets.