Radicals in Conversation

After Grenfell

In the early hours of the morning on 14th June, 2017, a faulty refrigerator on the 4th floor of Grenfell Tower, situated in the North Kensington area of West London, sparked a fire that quickly grew into an inferno, engulfing the whole building. At least 72 people died - though the number may be higher - and 70 more were injured, as fire fighters attempted to extinguish what was soon to become the deadliest fire in Britain for over a century.

But as it transpired in the days and weeks that followed, the fire was no mere tragic, unforeseeable accident: the building had only one stairwell, no sprinklers, and its exterior was encased in a highly flammable cladding material, installed as part of a recent ‘refurbishment’, for no other purpose than to make the tower block more aesthetically pleasing to the borough’s affluent onlookers.

In short, the fire, and the terrible extent of its devastation, were the result of a long history of negligence, structural violence and inequality; an embodiment of the contempt with which the British elite holds racialised and working class people.

But the story of Grenfell is just as much about the strength of those who survived, and the resistance and solidarity of the local community, in their search for accountability, and meaningful justice.

In May 2019, Pluto published a new book, After Grenfell: Violence, Resistance and Response, edited by Dan Bulley, Jenny Edkins and Nadine El-Enany, and featuring over 20 contributors. This month we are joined in the studio by four of them:

Gracie Mae Bradley, a writer and campaigner interested in critical human rights, state racism and data/surveillance; Monique Charles, an independent researcher, writing about Black music, music analysis, class, gender and race; Nadine El-Enany, senior lecturer at Birkbeck School of Law, and Co-Director of the Centre for Research on Race and Law; and Daniel Renwick, a videographer and writer who made Failed by the State – the struggle in the shadow of Grenfell with Ishmael Francis-Murray and Redfish, who has also worked as an advocate and youth worker in the North Kensington community.

---

After Grenfell is out now. Go to plutobooks.com to find out more.

All royalties and 10% of Pluto's profits from sales of the book go to the Grenfell Foundation.

Boycott Eurovision!

On 18th May, millions of people around the world will tune in to the 64th annual Eurovision Song Contest. Last year, Israel’s Netta Barzilai won the competition with the song ‘Toy’, scoring a comfortable 93 point margin over runner-up Cyprus. As a result, Eurovision 2019 broadcasts from Tel Aviv, and in doing so, wades deep into political controversy.

Netta’s victory in 2018 was seen by the Israeli government as something of a diplomatic triumph; reinforcing the narrative of Israel’s LGBT and Queer-friendly credentials. But the Palestinian reality of continued occupation and apartheid has not been elided, and accusations of ‘pinkwashing’ and ‘artwashing’ - along with calls to boycott Eurovision - have gained considerable traction in the last few months.

Discussing this unlikely flashpoint in the history of the Palestinian struggle and the BDS campaign, we are joined in the studio by Hilary Aked, a London-based writer, researcher and activist, who is currently writing a book about the Israel lobby in the UK; Salma Karmi-Ayyoub, a criminal barrister, and consultant for Palestinian human rights organisation Al Haq; and Alia Malak, a British-Palestinian from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).

To find out more about the BDS campaign, and the numerous alternative events being planned to coincide with Eurovision, go to:

https://bdsmovement.net/pacbi

https://boycotteurovision.uk

---

Go to www.plutobooks.com/podcastreading for 50% off selected books relating to this month's episode. Simply apply the coupon code 'PODCAST' at the checkout.

Deportation Charter Flights and the 'Stansted 15'

In March 2017 a group of activists surrounded a plane at Stansted Airport in a peaceful protest, to stop what they believed was the unlawful deportation of 60 people on a charter flight to Ghana and Nigeria.

Charged with ‘endangering safety at aerodromes’ - an obscure piece of anti-terror legislation brought in after the 1988 Lockerbie Bombing - the 'Stansted 15' faced maximum possible sentences of life imprisonment. After a protracted and high profile court case they were all found guilty. Sentences were handed down in February 2019 - in the end, all non-custodial.

The heavy-handed prosecution of the Stansted 15 feels emblematic of our dark political times. But equally, the group's story shows the importance, and efficacy, of solidarity through direct action.

This month we are joined by Lyndsay Burtonshaw and Laura Clayson, two of the Stansted 15. We talk about the government's deportation charter flights, the colonial mentality underpinning the 'hostile environment', and what led them both to take the action they did. We also hear some of the stories of the people who were on the plane bound for deportation and discuss the many ways in which people can offer solidarity and take action.

---

Go to www.plutobooks.com/podcastreading for 50% off selected books relating to this month's episode. Simply apply the coupon code 'PODCAST' at the checkout.

Healthcare and the Hostile Environment

As the UK hurtles towards the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, the chaos engulfing Parliament has all but eclipsed any other political issue. And yet there are cruelties being enacted through policy that predate the current political crisis, which demand our attention and our resistance.

This month we discuss healthcare and the 'hostile environment' - the 'sprawling web,’ as described by Liberty, ‘of immigration controls embedded in the heart of our public services and communities.’ Covering the Windrush scandal, privatisation, and the impact of Brexit, we unpick the policies and hear the stories of the people most affected by them.

We are joined in the studio by three guests who are all working at the intersection of healthcare, human rights and the ‘hostile environment’:

Guppi Kaur Bola, Director at Medact; Minnie Rahman, Public Affairs and Campaigns Manager at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants; and Bethan Lant, Casework Manager at Praxis Community Projects.

---

Go to www.plutobooks.com/podcastreading for 50% off selected books relating to this month's episode. Simply apply the coupon code 'PODCAST' at the checkout.

Find out more about the organisations:

jcwi.org.uk

medact.org

praxis.org.uk

 

Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO)

On 1st December, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (or AMLO) was inaugurated as the 58th President of Mexico.

A progressive politician often compared to Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders, AMLO's campaign for office galvanised people across Mexico. His decisive victory in July speaks volumes about the corrupt state of the Mexican political elite and the temperament of the people, and has potentially huge implications for the country, for the United States, and for the international progressive Left.

It remains to be seen, in the coming weeks and months, how much his presidency will mark a rupture, rather than a continuity, with the decline of the ‘pink tide’ in Latin America.

Discussing this moment of excitement and hope in Mexico, as well as the realities of the difficult road that lies ahead, we welcome onto the show John Holloway, author of Change the World Without Taking Power and Crack Capitalism among many other books; and Raquel Gutierrez, Professor of Sociology at the Autonomous University of Puebla.

López Obrador's new book, A New Hope for Mexico, was published by Pluto in October 2018.

Tribune

This September, Pluto relaunched the Left Book Club, a project originally founded by Victor Gollancz in 1936. The aim of the Left Book Club was simple, to popularise ideas of the left and combat the rise of fascism. By the eve of the Second World War, the LBC had reached a membership of nearly 60,000 - with 1,200 reading groups scattered around the country. 

What made the LBC so necessary in the 1930's are the same things that make its relaunch so important today. In a context of rising ethno-nationalism and an economic system that fuels inequality, we need a space outside the mainstream media that doesn’t simply reinforce the values of the ruling elite and the status quo.

Mirroring the story of the LBC, and returning to the fray this Autumn is another revitalised, octogenarian institution of left media: Tribune - Britain’s oldest, democratic socialist publication.

This month, we are joined by three members of Tribune's new editorial team: Kheya Bag (Associate Publisher), Owen Hatherley (Culture Editor) and Ronan Burtenshaw (Editor), in a discussion about left media; the value of tradition; Corbynism; Jacobin and graphic design; and the foregrounding of culture in our political movements.

Tribune: tribunemag.co.uk

Left Book Club: leftbookclub.com

'Staying Power' with David Olusoga

'There were Africans in Britain before the English came here.'

In a special Black History Month episode, we are joined by David Olusoga - a broadcaster, historian and author of many award winning books, including Black and British: A Forgotten History (2017), and Civilisations: First Contact / The Cult of Progress (2018).

Celebrating the recent re-publication of Peter Fryer's Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain, we discuss questions of racism and identity; the link between the slave trade and the British Empire; and explore the book's enduring legacy in the context of Brexit and the Windrush scandal.

Staying Power was first published in 1984. The new edition, featuring a foreword by Gary Younge and a preface by Paul Gilroy, is available now from plutobooks.com as well as all good bookshops.

 

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).