Episodi

  • Lula's comeback w/ Benjamin Fogel

    Lula's comeback w/ Benjamin Fogel
    Oct 29 2026
    The first round of the Brazilian presidential election had been expected to result in a relatively comfortable victory for Lula. Instead the results on October 4th had Lula on just forty-five percent of the vote - two percentage points behind Flávio Bolsanaro. Since the restoration of Brazilian democracy no candidate who failed to win the first round had ever prevailed in the second - and far-right candidates had won victories in legislative races across the country. But on Sunday Lula and his campaign beat the odds and achieved a remarkable turnaround - winning nearly 52 percent of the vote, with more than 64 million Brazilians coming out to vote for Lula and the Brazilian Worker's Party. To explain the extraordinary election result PTO was joined by Ben Fogel. Notes: Lessons From Lula’s Historic Victory - Benjamin Fogel: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/lula-brazil-election-2026-flavio-bolsonaro-victory/ Lula’s Leap Into the Future - Andre Pagliarini: https://tribunemag.co.uk/2026/10/lulas-leap-into-the-future Lula’s Final Chapter: https://www.equator.org/articles/brazil-lula-elections-results
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    45 min
  • Excerpt - France's protest movement w/ Sebastian Budgen

    Excerpt - France's protest movement w/ Sebastian Budgen
    Oct 23 2026
    To listen to this episode of PTO Extra! please consider becoming a £5 patron of the show at patreon.com/poltheoryother
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    1 min
  • Global South Redux w/ Ravinder Kaur

    Global South Redux w/ Ravinder Kaur
    Oct 22 2026
    The term Global South has become ubiquitous in commentary on international affairs, but by the early 2000s middle and lower income countries were more frequently described as belonging to the developing world or - in the case of those states deemed favourable destinations for international capital - emerging markets. Those terms have since increasingly fallen out of favour and been replaced by 'Global South' - a term whose roots go back to the 1960s. To talk about why that occurred - and its historical significance in the context of the decline of US hegemony, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the US war on Iran - Ravinder Kaur returns to PTO to talk about the concept of the Global South and her recent essay on the topic. Notes: Global South Redux: The Making of a Geopolitical Concept https://brill.com/view/journals/gg/32/2/article-p207_4.xml PTO interview: Capitalist dreams and nationalist designs w/ Ravinder Kaur https://soundcloud.com/poltheoryother/108-capitalist-dreams-and-nationalist-designs-w-ravinder-kaur
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    37 min
  • Posturing to the World - Britain's 'defence' budget w/ Khem Rogaly

    Posturing to the World - Britain's 'defence' budget w/ Khem Rogaly
    Oct 15 2026
    In the midst of an ever increasing drumbeat of commentary predicting a major European war, and demands that military spending be increased to meet the threat posed by Russia, Khem Rogaly joins PTO to talk about the UK defence budget. We talked about how the military spending of the United States, the UK and their Nato allies compares with the spending of their adversaries, and why Britain and France are outliers in their force projection capabilities in Europe. We also talked about why the UK ministry of defence has such a poor track record with defence procurement, and we discussed Britain's hugely expensive Trident nuclear weapons system. Finally, Khem outlined some first steps for what a reforming government could do to shift UK policy towards creating a military that was genuinely focussed on defence. Notes: Posturing to the World: The Costs of Britain’s Global Military and Expansive Strategy: https://transitionsecurity.org/posturing-to-the-world/
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    57 min
  • The unmaking of the Chinese working class w/ Teemu Ruskola

    The unmaking of the Chinese working class w/ Teemu Ruskola
    Oct 8 2026
    Teemu Ruskola joins PTO to talk about his new book, 'The Unmaking of the Chinese Working Class: How Communism Built a Capitalist Superpower'. We talked about how China's remarkable economic rise was facilitated by the state's socialist inheritance and about the central role played by Chinese migrant workers. We went on to discuss the creation of a conventional capitalist labour market in China, as the so-called iron rice bowl of the State Owned Enterprises and the cradle-to-grave welfare system for urban workers was broken up. We went on to talk about the so-called New Enclosure Movement in the Chinese countryside that is finally expropriating the rural population of their control over land. Finally, we touched on the truly global implications of the unmaking and remaking of the Chinese working class.
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    47 min
  • Excerpt - Richard Seymour on the AI threat, the Sudan genocide, and the UK and Palestine

    Excerpt - Richard Seymour on the AI threat, the Sudan genocide, and the UK and Palestine
    Oct 5 2026
    To listen to this episode of PTO Extra become a PTO sustainer at patreon.com/poltheoryother
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    3 min
  • What the UK owes to Yemen w/ David Wearing

    What the UK owes to Yemen w/ David Wearing
    Oct 1 2026
    Between 2015 and 2022, a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states waged a devastating military campaign in Yemen, which - David Wearing argues in today's episode - was so severe that it resembles Israel's genocidal actions in Gaza. A key role in the Yemen conflict was played by British-built planes that were used to indiscriminately bomb the country, and contributed to what was described by the United Nations at the time as the world's worst humanitarian disaster. In a new report for the Campaign Against the Arms Trade and the Transition Security Project, David and his co-authors argue the case for the British government and UK arms companies to pay reparations to the people of Yemen. In the episode we talked about the report and Britain's role in the Yemen conflict, including in the current phase as hostilities between Ansar Allah and Saudi Arabia escalate once more. And finally, we touched on the UAE and the Manchester City scandal and what it tells us about the phenomenon of the gulf monarchies' involvement in sportswashing. Notes: Britain’s Role in Yemen’s Brutal War Must End – And Reparations Should Follow: https://zeteo.uk/p/britains-role-in-yemens-brutal-war Reparations for Yemen: A proposal for a windfall tax on British arms companies that enabled Saudi war crimes https://caat.org.uk/app/uploads/2026/09/CAATTSP-Yemen-Reperations-WEB.pdf
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    54 min
  • Iran and Yemen - uniting the straits w/ Séamus Malekafzali

    Iran and Yemen - uniting the straits w/ Séamus Malekafzali
    Sep 24 2026
    Séamus Malekafzali returns to PTO to talk about the possibility of further escalation in the US war on Iran and about the prospects for a diplomatic settlement. We chatted about the position of the Gulf states, and recent comments from officials in Qatar and the UAE that called for a reset of relations with Iran. We went on to talk about the price of oil and the global and regional economic impact of the conflict, and about the state of US forces in the region, following US acknowledgement of severe damage to the US naval base in Bahrain. Finally, we talked about the recent offensive by Ansar Allah in Yemen which has given the group control of Yemen's Red Sea coast.
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    47 min