A World to Win with Grace Blakeley

This week, Grace speaks with Ashok Kumar, senior lecturer of political economy at Birkbeck and author of Monopsony Capitalism: Power and Production in the Twilight of the Sweatshop Age. They discuss how global value chains have been reshaped under monopsony capitalism, how these changes have affected the power of workers all over the world, and how the COVID-19 pandemic will impact these trends. You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron at patreon.com/aworldtowinpod, where you'll also get access to full versions of the interviews.

Grace speaks to Thea Riofrancos, Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College and author of Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador. They discuss the findings of the IPCC’s new report, whether it’s possible to imagine a green transition within capitalist social relations, and how the left can chart a path to decarbonisation that doesn’t compromise the earth’s other natural systems or communities. You can support our work on the show by becoming a Patron, where you'll also get access to full versions of the interviews.

This week, Grace speaks to Nick Hayes, author of The Book of Trespass: Crossing the Lines that Divide Us, about the radical history of English trespassers, how the enclosure of common land formed the foundations of English capitalism, and how we can fight to enforce our rights to the commons and our right to roam against the Conservatives’ assault on our basic freedoms. Support us on Patreon to hear an extended version of the podcast: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace speaks to Adrienne Buller and Ben Braun. Adrienne is a senior research fellow at Common Wealth and Ben is a political scientist at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies. Together, they recently wrote a paper for the think tank Common Wealth entitled 'Under new management: Share ownership and the rise of UK asset manager capitalism'. They discuss the rise of the big three asset managers, who really makes the big decisions in today’s corporations, and whether workers can ever hope to use their power as shareholders to change capitalism. Read the paper here: https://www.common-wealth.co.uk/reports/under-new-management-share-ownership-and-the-growth-of-uk-asset-manager-capitalism And support us on Patreon to hear the extended version of the podcast: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace speaks to Ed Miliband, former leader of the Labour Party, current Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and author of a new book titled Go Big: How to Fix Our World, which they discuss on the show. For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace speaks to Linsey McGoey, professor of sociology at the University of Essex and author of The Unknowers: How Strategic Ignorance Rules the World and No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy. They discuss how politicians make use of ignorance and uncertainty, the difference between ignorance and deliberate misinformation, and why if "knowledge is power," then ignorance is too. For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

Grace speaks to Peter Mitchell, author of Imperial Nostalgia: How the British Conquered Themselves, which looks at how the memory of empire continues to inflect British culture and politics. We discuss how imperial nostalgia manifests itself in our politics today, the role of the Labour Party in supporting these trends, and how the left should respond to emotive calls for a return to a better age. Peter's book: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526146205/ For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

Grace speaks to Alexander Zevin, assistant professor of history at City University of New York, an editor at New Left Review, and author of Liberalism at Large: The World According to the Economist. We tackle a host of interesting questions this week, including: What is liberalism? Is it in crisis? And where next for the liberal rules-based world order? Find the book Liberalism at Large here: https://www.versobooks.com/books/3090-liberalism-at-large For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

Grace speaks to Amelia Horgan, philosophy PhD candidate researching the politics of work and author of Lost in Work: Escaping Capitalism. We discuss the changing nature of work in the UK and around the world, how these trends have been impacted by the pandemic, and whether it’s possible to imagine "good work" under capitalism. (Note there was an occasional snag in our guest's sound because of some internet trouble.) For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace speaks with Jason W. Moore, environmental historian and professor of sociology at Binghamton University, about capitalism and climate breakdown. They discuss his brilliant books, Capitalism in the Web of Life and Capitalocene or Anthropocene?, and ask what Marx can teach us about the multiple, overlapping ecological crises our planet is currently facing. Find Jason on Twitter: https://twitter.com/oikeios For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace talks to Hadas Thier about her excellent book A People’s Guide to Capitalism, in which she provides a concise and readable introduction to Marxist thought. They discuss key concepts like capital, class, and imperialism, and apply them to the current crisis gripping the capitalist world system. For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

Grace speaks to Kate Aronoff, staff writer at The New Republic and the author of the excellent new book Overheated: How Capitalism Broke the Planet and How We Fight Back. She’s also the co-author of We Own the Future: Democratic Socialism, American Style, and A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal. They discuss Biden’s climate plan, the Green New Deal, and whether fossil fuel executives should be tried for crimes against humanity. For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace talks to Palestinian activist Akram Salhab on his experience living and organising in Palestine, what's going on in Sheikh Jarrah, and the heroic efforts of Palestinians to resist Israeli occupation – as well as what socialists around the world can do to support them. The full episode is available here, and we encourage our listeners to donate to charities supporting Palestinians on the ground. You can donate to Medical Aid for Palestinians at https://www.map.org.uk/

In a week during which Keir Starmer’s Labour tanked in the local elections, I speak to two brilliant local leaders who managed to defy this trend. Matthew Brown is leader of Preston City Council and the driving force behind the Preston Model, as well as the co-author of Paint Your Town Red, which you can buy now from Repeater Books. Paul Dennett is the city-mayor of Salford, and frequent contributor to Tribune, including a recent piece on why socialist Salford bucked the trend in the recent elections. For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

Grace talks to Alex Press, staff writer at Jacobin, about Amazon’s ruthless exploitation of its workforce, its deeply embedded culture of union busting, and its avoidance of basic labour regulation in its mission to become the "everything store" — as well as how workers are coming together to resist the company. Check out some of Alex's recent articles at Jacobin about unions and Amazon: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/04/joe-biden-100-days-labor-movement-unions-pro-act https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/04/amazon-jeff-bezos-union-busting-workers-organize https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/04/amazon-warehouses-fulfillment-centers-unionize-vote-rwdsu For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

Grace talks to Harsha Walia, author, writer and organiser, on her book Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism and the Rise of Racist Nationalism. They discuss the nature and location of the border, its functionality to global capitalism and imperialism, and how the left can organise to resist right-wing populism in the age of nationalism and climate breakdown. For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon at https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace talks to Mat Lawrence, director of the think tank Common Wealth, and Laurie Layborn Langton, author and researcher, about their new book Planet on Fire: A Manifesto for the Age of Environmental Breakdown. They discuss the multiple overlapping ecological, economic, and political crises the world is facing in the era of climate breakdown, the rise of eco-fascism, and how the left should respond. For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon at https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace talks to Doug Henwood, Marxist, journalist, host of the Behind the News Podcast, and author of many books, including the classic Wall Street: How It Works and for Whom. They discuss Biden’s stimulus package, his corporate tax hikes, and what’s been going on in US stock markets — as well as how workers can organise in the post-COVID economy.

This week, Grace talks to Adom Getachaw, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and author of Worldmaking After Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination. Their discussion covers everything from racial capitalism, to imperialism, to global South solidarity since decolonisation, with reference to both Adom's book and many previous episodes of A World to Win. For access to the full hour-long episode support us on Patreon at https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace talks to Laleh Khalili, Professor of International Politics at Queen Mary University of London, and author of Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula. They discuss the fascinating architecture and infrastructure that underpins the backbone of capitalism - global shipping - and what these networks tell us about state power, corporate sovereignty and imperialism - as well as how they are changing with China's increasingly assertive economic expansion. For access to the full episode, support us on Patreon at https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace talks to Shami Chakrabarti, barrister, human rights campaigner and former Shadow Attorney General under Jeremy Corbyn. They discuss the Conservative’s sharp turn towards authoritarianism, with the introduction of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, the Overseas Operations Bill, and the Spy Cops Bill, as well as police and criminal justice reform. For access to the full hour-long episode, support us on Patreon at https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, as the anniversary of the declaration of a pandemic by the WHO approaches, Grace talks to Dr. Eugene Richardson, Assistant Professor of Global Health at Harvard and author of Epidemic Illusions: On the Coloniality of Global Public Health. Eugene previously worked in Sierra Leone and the DRC supporting the response to the Ebola outbreak. We discuss the ways in which an unequal, unsustainable capitalist world system reproduces massive economic, political and health inequalities, and what we can do about it. Find full episodes on our Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, we have a special International Women's Day episode of A World to Win, in which Grace talks to Kristen Ghodsee, Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and author of many books, including Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism and other arguments for economic independence. Kristen skillfully deconstructs liberal, corporate, and NGO feminism, and helps us to think about how the feminist movement is about supporting us all to build stronger, happier, healthier relationships and rediscover our unalienated humanity in the process. The conversation was recorded on March 8th, International Women's Day. Read Ghodsee's article mentioned in the interview: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/04/opinion/women-unpaid-labor.html Support us on Patreon at https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace talks to Sarah Jaffe, journalist and author of Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone. They discussed Joe Biden’s first weeks as President, the impact of COVID-19 and climate breakdown in the US, and how the world of work is changing as a result of the pandemic, and how we might resist it. Support us: patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace talks to Moses Khisa, Assistant Professor at the School of Public and International Affairs at North Carolina State University and a research associate with the Centre for Basic Research in Kampala. They discuss the recent elections in Uganda, in which President Yoweri Museveni won his sixth term against populist challenger and former popstar Bobi Wine, and place them in the context of Uganda’s long slide towards authoritarianism and the failed neoliberal reforms of the 1990s. Support us on Patreon at https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace talks to Ellen Clifford, author of The War on Disabled People: Capitalism, Welfare and the Making of a Human Catastrophe, who is on the steering committee of DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts). They discuss successive UK government's breaches of the human rights of disabled people, how the left can be made a more inclusive space for disabled activists, and how the pandemic has affected the lives of disabled people after a decade of austerity. For access to the full hour-long episode, support us on Patreon at https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace talks to Ben Smoke, one of the members of the Stansted 15: a group of activists who stopped a mass deportation flight from taking off from Stansted airport in 2017, before being tried under law designed to prosecute terrorists. They discuss the details of the protest and the trial, the government's barbaric approach to migration policy, and why successive Tory governments seem so adept at breaking international human rights law. For the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod Follow Ben on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bencsmoke

This week, Grace talks to Ian Lavery MP, former Chair of the Labour Party, and Laura Smith, former MP for Crewe and Nantwitch, about their new project No Holding Back, which you can find online at https://noholdingback.org.uk and on Twitter @NBack20. We discuss whether the Labour Party is still the party of the working classes, the likely impact of Brexit on the UK, and how the left can rebuild trust with communities across the country in the wake of the pandemic. For the full hour-long episode, support us on Patreon at https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, in a special episode of A World to Win, we remember the brilliant Marxist thinker, activist and public intellectual Leo Panitch. Grace talks to Max Shanly, socialist strategist and organiser and long time friend of Leo's, and Sam Gindin, former director of research for the Canadian Auto Workers Union and Leo's long time collaborator, including on his magnum opus The Making of Global Capitalism. Several of Leo's books - including the Making of Global Capitalism and Searching for Socialism - are available on the Verso website, and many of his essays are available for free through the Socialist Register website: https://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv

This week, Grace talks to Vijay Prashad, head of the Tricontinenatal Institute for Social Research and author of Washington Bullets: A history of the CIA, Coups and Assassinations. They discuss the recent wave of strikes taking place across India, the rise of the far right in India and across the world, and the mechanisms through which imperial power is exercised in the global economy today - including the use of investor state dispute settlements by international investors to sue governments over their responses to the pandemic.

This week, Grace talks to Bhaskar Sunkara, founding editor of Jacobin magazine and author of The Socialist Manifesto: The case for radical politics in an era of extreme inequality. They discuss the events currently taking place in the US, as white supremacists and far right extremists storm the Capitol after the Democrats took control of the Senate in the wake of the victory of Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Georgia on Wednesday 6th January - as well as how the US left can work to build a class coalition that can resist the mounting threat of right-wing violence.

This week, Grace talks to Ana Kasparian, host and executive producer for The Young Turks and now host of Jacobin’s Weekends series. We discuss the media landscape in the US and the importance of alternative media to the socialist movement, the progress towards a stimululs package in the US and how progressives should relate to a Biden presidency. For the full hour-long episode, support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace talks to Owen Hatherley, Tribune’s culture editor and author of many books, including his most recent Red Metropolis: Socialism and the government of London. We discuss municipal socialism, regional and class inequality in the UK, and the future of the Labour Party under Keir Starmer. Remember to support us on Patreon for the full hour-long episode at https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week Grace is joined by Sa’eed Husaini, socialist activist and contributor to Africa is a Country and Jacobin Magazine, who recently completed a PhD at the University of Oxford and is now living and working in Lagos, Nigeria. We discuss the recent #EndSARS protests, the economic and health impact of COVID 19 in Nigeria, and the history and future of the Nigerian left. For the full hour-long episode, support us on Patreon at https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace is joined by Pablo Bustinduy, former Podemos representative for Madrid in the Spanish Chamber of Deputies, to discuss the impact of the pandemic on Spain’s fragile economy, the challenges posed by the evolution of Podemos from movement-party into coalition government, and the economic, political and social shifts taking place as a result of the pandemic. Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week I am joined by Andy Burnham, former Labour MP and current Labour mayor of Greater Manchester. We talk about the impact that COVID-19 has had on the North of England, what cities like Manchester are doing to tackle climate breakdown and the housing crisis, and why the left needs to embrace a socialist devolution agenda. For the full episode, support us on Patreon at https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace speaks to Rutger Bregman, historian, author of Utopia for Realists and Humankind, and scourge of the tax avoiding corporate elite at Davos, about human nature, capitalism and the 24 hour news cycle. For the full hour long-episode, support us on Patreon: https://Patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace talks to Briahna Joy Gray, Bernie Sanders' former Press Secretary and host of the Bad Faith podcast, and Matt Karp, Jacobin contributing editor and associate professor of history at Princeton University. As the results continued to roll in throughout the day on Wednesday, Grace discussed with her guests the roots of the Biden landslide that never was, and where the left should go next. The full episode is free for all listeners this week, but if you want access to the full hour-long interviews with amazing guests like Naomi Klein and Dr Cornel West, sign up to become a Patron: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace talks to newly elected Labour MP for Coventry South, and member of the Socialist Campaign Group, Zarah Sultana about the the Tories’ attempts to impose the costs of the pandemic on those least able to bear it, the lessons the left can learn from Corbynism, and why we need to fight for a transformative global Green New Deal in the wake of this crisis. Support us on Patreon so we can continue to bring you the podcast: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace is joined by Raquel Rolnik, former Minister under Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, author of the brilliant book Urban Warfare, and currently Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Sao Paolo. They discuss the rise of Bolsanaro, the looming evictions crisis in Brazil, the UK and around the world, and the struggle to build a global tenants' movement. Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace is joined by Mary Lou McDonald, leader of Sinn Fein, to discuss the issues that drove the party's dramatic rise in this year’s general election, the impact of the pandemic on the Irish economy, and Sinn Fein’s proposals for a unification poll in the event of a no deal Brexit. Like this week's episode? Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace talks to Rob Davies, senior figure in the South African Communist Party and former South African Minister for Trade and Industry. They discuss the impact of COVID-19 on South Africa and the rest of the Continent, the hegemony of the ANC over South African politics, and the challenges of developing an industrial strategy in a highly financialised, highly unequal, semi-perhipheral economy. Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/aworldtowinpod

Grace speaks to the legendary philosopher, activist, author and artist Dr Cornel West about Black Lives Matter and the US elections, socialist spirituality and culture, American imperial power and the seeds of liberation to be found in the idea of radical democracy. For the full episode, support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace is joined by academic, activist and left legend Naomi Klein to discuss the US elections, the case for the Green New Deal, and whether the world is about to face another lesson in the politics of the shock doctrine. Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Aworldtowinpod

This week, Grace talks to Meagan Day – staff writer at Jacobin Magazine and co-author of 'Bigger than Bernie: How we go from the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism' – about the US presidential elections, the economic and environmental crises currently sweeping through America and the future of the Left after Bernie.

Today Grace speaks to Astra Taylor, Jerome Roos and James Schneider about their memories of the brilliant anthropologist and activist David Graeber, who tragically died last week.

This week, Grace Blakeley is joined by Walden Bello, academic, author, human rights campaigner to discuss the history of the Philippines, his opposition to the brutal Marcos dictatorship, his longstanding campaigning against US imperialism and neoliberal globalisation, and how Covid-19 is affecting the Philippines.

In the second episode of A World to Win, Grace talks to former foreign minister of Ecuador Guillaume Long about the impact of Covid-19 in the country, the rise and fall of the Correa government and the growth of ‘neoliberal authoritarianism’ in Latin America.

Welcome to the first episode of A World to Win with Grace Blakeley! Today, Grace is joined by Jeremy Corbyn to discuss to the UK government’s disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the rise and fall of Corbynism, and the future of socialism within the Labour Party. For the first time ever, hear Jeremy on the "absurd" discussions he had with the government about its herd immunity strategy and why the furlough scheme was unlikely to have been implemented without significant pressure from key figures in the Opposition.

Introduction to A World to Win, a new podcast from Grace Blakeley and Tribune. Grace lays out what you can expect from the show and reveals the special guest who will appear in the first full episode.