Sps

On this episode of SPS, we first focus on our Annual International Convention (March 29–April 1), which will take place in Chicago, at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, & the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Planning committee members, Ryan & Ethan introduce the convention theme, panels, and historical concerns across the upcoming events. Our second segment is a deep dive into the Platypus archives on the question of imperialism & anti-imperialism, prompted by the one-year anniversary of the Ukrainian War, and the twentieth anniversary of the Iraq War. Members, Sunit & Farsad, join Lisa and Rebekah to reflect on the Platypus panels on the Ukraine crisis a year ago, and on the recent developments of the anti-imperialist and anti-fascist Left. They go back to the founding moment of Platypus and the very first panel "Imperialism: what is it, why should we be against it?" (2007). Platypus International Convention 2023 program: https://platypus1917.org/platypus-international-convention/15

This episode includes an interview with Platypus founding member Chris Cutrone, who was interviewed by Johannes K. and Lisa on his article “The end of the Gilded Age: Discontents of the Second Industrial Revolution today”. They talked about the history of progressivism, the deferred problems of the Gilded Age that still impact us today, the unfulfilled task of the Left, as well as the things that led Chris to write this article back in 2017. Links: > 2017: Chris Cutrone, The end of the Gilded Age: Discontents of the Second Industrial Revolution today https://platypus1917.org/2017/12/02/end-gilded-age-discontents-second-industrial-revolution-today/ > 2017: Chris Cutrone, The Millennial Left is dead https://platypus1917.org/2017/10/01/millennial-left-dead/ > 2020: "The Legacy of the American Revolution", a Platypus Lecture Series https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNc4xGUuaRwkwEdVEwLV6X8NxT49XEtx8 SPS episodes contain original tracks by Tamas Vilaghy, and editing assistance by Michael Woodson and Tamas Vil

In the first part of this episode, Lisa & Rebekah are joined by members, Laurie R. & Jasper to talk about how Platypus has captured the relationship between the Left & the elections. They have gone into the archives of the Platypus Affiliated Society, and have asked how our work can help us to think about these inflection points on the Left across the elections, namely, 2008 (Obama); 2016 (Brexit; Trump; AfD); 2020 (Trump & Biden, Corbyn & Boris); and the coming 2024 election. In the second segment, Pamela sits down with the Platypus Review Editor-in-Chief, Lou S., to discuss what is in the Dec 2022—Jan 2023 issue, including the interview with Vivek Chibber, his perspectives on ideology, the task of the Left today, and the DSA & the elections, as well as a book review of Chibber's book by Russell Jacoby, and the interview with Enzo Traverso. Election & the Left Links: 2008: "Obama: Progress in regress: The end of 'black politics'" https://platypus1917.org/2008/09/01/obama-progress-in-regress-the-end-of-black

On this special holiday episode, SPS brings to you reports from protests in the USA, Germany and Austria. We include shotgun interviews with participants and reflections by our members. In the first segment, our West Coast members interview the academic workers part of the strikes at the University of California. They ask the strikers at the LA and Santa Barbara campuses about their participation in the strike and their views on the relationship between this labor struggle and the long-term vision for the Left. On the second segment, our members Marius, Lisa and Andreas went to several university occupations organized by “End fossil: Occupy!” –– a climate justice movement with the goal to put an end to the fossil fuel economy. Students occupied lecture halls in different cities for several weeks to draw attention to their demands and to initiate negotiations with their respective university administrations. Links: (1) On December 15th, 2022 the Platypus Affiliated Society hosted a public forum in New York

On this episode of SPS, Pamela first sits down with Platypus Brazilian members Paulo & Rosa. They comment on the election results, how the Left is responding to the return of Lula, and what the election of the Brazilian Workers Party means for the future of a socialist Left. In the second part, Platypus Oregon member Andony hosts a roundtable conversation on the U.S. Midterm elections with members from around the country. From New Hampshire, Walla Walla, Washington, Philadelphia, to Merced, California, we hear what our members have to say about the left's response and if there is anything for us to learn from this election. SPS is broadcasted on Apple Podcasts, Spotify & Soundcloud. If you like the episode, share it and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps us get the word out! I. Brazilian Election Segment Links: SPS Ep. 10: On Cynthia Nixon, the Brazilian elections, and Afrofuturism (Sept 2018) w/ Alex Hochuli https://soundcloud.com/platypus-affiliated-society/ep10 "What is political party for

Our 50th anniversary SPS episode comes in two parts. First, we cover the on-going cost of living protests organized by the Left in the U.K, Germany and Austria. Co-hosts Lisa and Andreas attended protests in Leipzig and Vienna, where they recorded soundbites and interviews with several leftist activists. Later, they discuss these interviews and the current crisis on the Left with SPS co-host Rebekah and former president of Platypus, Efraim C. -- both based in the U.K. In our Shit Platypus Does segment, Rebekah and Lisa sit down with our members Audrey and David to discuss how Platypus has hosted the conversation on sexual liberation & the Left. For that purpose they all went into our archive, our panel discussions, Platypus Review articles and SPS episodes, which we have created over the 15+ years of the Platypus Affiliated Society. Platypus on “Sex and the Left” Links: “#MeToo and the millennial sex panic”. Platypus Review 111.  November 2018. https://platypus1917.org/2018/11/02/metoo-and-the-millennial-s

In the first segment, our European Correspondent, Andreas W. interviews Emanuel Rota, a leftist historian from Italy who published extensively on the history of the Italian Communist party. He currently lives in the US and is the director of the European Union Center at the University of Illinois. They discuss the aftermath of the "Long '68" in Italy, the current crisis of the Italian government as well as the impact and outlook of the Millennial Left during the crisis of neoliberalism. The second segment highlight our members in Platypus New Zealand, a new chapter which offers reading groups and coffee breaks at the University of Otago. Platypus member, Michael McClelland (Otago), together with Ryan Mickler (Melbourne), both sit down with Tom Roud, the founder of Canterbury Socialist Society -- a local branch of the newly-developed New Zealand Federation of Socialist Societies. They discuss the socialist William Morris, the role of fraternal, non-sectarian organizations on the Left, exploring how the Federa

This is a stand alone SPS segment to promote and introduce our fifth Platypus European Conference in Vienna, from 8 - 10 September, 2022. Lisa and Rebekah interview the lead organizers of the conference, Victor and Andreas. They talk about the different events of the conference and how they relate to its title "The Crisis of Society and the Left" as well as to our current historical moment of the death of the left. Here you can find all the information about the conference, the different events and how to participate: https://platypus1917.org/2022/06/08/platypus-european-conference-2022/ SPS is hosted by Pamela and Andreas, with original tracks by Tamas Vilaghy, and editing assistance by Michael Woodson and Tamas Vilaghy. Our Sh-t Platypus Does team is Lisa M. and Rebekah P. To learn more about Platypus, go to platypus1917.org

On this episode of SPS, our resident financial guru sits down with Pamela to discuss the so-called Great Resignation, or “Big Quit”. They take up the concerns over birth rates & mental illness, as well as how social democratic policies naturalize the crisis of capital. In the second half of the episode, Pamela interviews Andy Gittlitz, cohost of the Antifada podcast and author of I Want to Believe: Posadism, UFOs and Apocalypse Communism. They discuss the trajectory of the millennial left, from the anti-war movement, through Occupy to BLM; and the obstacles to building an independent political party on the left. Links: Erin Hagood on Antifada Podcast (March 16, 2022) - https://fans.fm/p/21V7vzkhttps://fans.fm/p/21V7vzk
 Crisis in Ukraine, Platypus NYC - https://youtu.be/Uyoe5ml05LQ Chris Cutrone, "Dogmatization and Thought Taboos on the Left" in sublationmag.com (July 1, 2022) - https://www.sublationmag.com/post/dogmatization-and-thought-taboos-on-the-left Links from Andy Gittlitz - https://www.sm28.org/arti

On this episode of SPS, Pamela and Sophia discuss the Depp v. Herd and the exhaustion of #metoo. Andreas and Platypus members, Sebastian Vogel interview Boris Kagarlitsky on the war in Ukraine and the Russian Left. Finally, Lisa and Rebekah sit down with Chris Cutrone to discuss the Platypus Summer Reading Group on classical social theory, titled "What is Society?" The reading group is happening at a Platypus chapter near you, as well as online for those who are unable to join us in person. What is society? https://platypus1917.org/2022/05/17/summer-2022-what-is-society/

In this episode of SPS, Pamela sits down with Platypus member Tana F. to discuss the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade and the responses by the Left, including Marxist Humanist member, Mike Dola, and the Socialist Workers Party's newspaper, The Militant. They talk about what it means to defend constitutional rights absent an independent working class movement and a socialist party. In the second part, Rebekah and Lisa sit down with Clay M. from Chicago, Lucas B. from Frankfurt and Conrad C. from Portland to reflect on the 14th annual platypus convention 2022. We welcome responses to our segments. You can reach us at shitplatypussays@gmail.com, or you can find us on FB, IG, and Twitter @platypussays. Terry Evans, "A working-class course is needed to support our families, women’s rights" in The Militant, Vol. 85/No. 48(27 Dec 2021) - https://themilitant.com/2021/12/18/a-working-class-course-is-needed-to-support-our-families-womens-rights/ Alexandra Kollontai, "The Labour of Women in the Evolution of the

In the first part of the episode our co-hosts Lisa Müller und Rebekah Parlar sit down with Platypus member Clint Montgomery to talk about our annual international Platypus Convention. Our international Convention, which is sort of the highlight in your platypus calendar, will take place in Chicago from the 31st of March until April the 3rd. In the segment Lisa, Rebekah and Clint talk about why this year's convention will be held under the overarching theme of “Marxism and the ends of liberalism”, what that has to do with the COVID pandemic and what other events will be hosted during the convention. Whether you want to meet Platypus members from all over the world, discuss global trends within the Left and its history or get a sense of meaning of the death of the left for our current moment in history, you should come to Chicago and get yourself a ticket for the convention. Your SPS podcast team will be there as well! For the second part of the episode Lisa and Rebekah talk with the editor in chief of the Ge

On this two-part episode of SPS, Pamela sits with Leila Mechoi, the co-host of Red Star Radio podcast. They reflect on the Left's reaction to the late trucker protest in Canada, and discuss the role of civil liberties in the organization of the working class, as well as what sort of missed political opportunity -- if any -- did the protest present. In the second part of the episode, Andreas and Berlin-based Platypus member, Tamas talked to Peter and Noemi, both members of Szikra, a leftist group in Hungary founded in 2019. They discuss the situation of the Hungarian Left with regards to developments within the international left over the past decade, as well as the next Hungarian parliamentary election in April of this year. They also take up the deeper history of the Left in Hungary and specific political challenges in the "post-socialist "countries of Eastern Europe today. Links for Leila Mechoui interview - Red Star Radio podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/red-star-radio/id1516544636 - https:

On this episode, Pamela sits down with our Toronto member Cam Hardy to discuss Canada's "Freedom Convoy", and the responses by the "Left". They investigate Jacobin's hot take on the "inauthentic" working-class character of the protests, and the call by the Canadian Communist Party to criminalize the convoy. In the second segment, Andreas interviews Amir Sturm, a member of the Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ). Andreas asks about the current state of the KPÖ, its history & political self-understanding and the relationship between the KPÖ and Junge Linke, an Austrian leftist youth organization. Finally, our Shit Platypus Does team, Rebekah and Lisa, chat with our members Ryan, Daniel, and Phedias about how Platypus has engaged the Left over the Legacy of Occupy, the meaning of Capitalism, and the politics of COVID-19 in our panel events in 2021. + The Left on the "Freedom Convoy" > Jacobin https://jacobinmag.com/2022/02/canada-freedom-convoy-conservative-right-wing-anti-worker-anti-vaccine https://jacobinmag.co

In this special Xmas edition of SPS, your new hosts of the "Sh-t Platypus Does" segment, Rebekah and Lisa, chat with the Platypus Review Editor-in-Chief, Lou, about the new issue, PR #142 -- including articles: "What can one learn from the Right?" by D.L. Jacobs, "The Left is not a concept" by Benedict Cryptofash, "We are the city-building tendency" by Caleb T. Maupin and "Paths to Marxism" by Chris Cutrone. New Issue, PR #142 https://platypus1917.org/platypus-review/ Leszek Kolakowski "The Concept of the Left" (1968) https://platypus1917.org/wp-content/uploads/readings/kolakowskileszek_conceptleft1968.pdf The Marxist hypothesis: A response to Alain Badiou's "communist hypothesis" by Chris Cutrone, in the Platypus Review #29 (November 2010) https://platypus1917.org/2010/11/06/the-marxist-hypothesis-a-response-to-alain-badous-communist-hypothesis/

On this episode of SPS, Sophia and Pamela sit down with Spencer L., founding member of Platypus and historian of imperialism, to discuss the Rittenhouse trial and the “Left’s” response. They clear up the confusion around the Second Amendment among todays leftists, address the anti-racism of progressive liberals, and take up responses by Daniel Lazare (Weekly Worker) and the Bolshevik Tendency. In the second part of the episode, Andreas W. and Platypus Melbourne member, Ryan M., interview Sue Bolton (Socialist Alliance) on the protests against the Australian vaccine mandate, including the September attack on the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) offices. Union leadership was under attack by union members for their complicity with state measures, which prevented a return to work without vaccination. Andreas and Ryan ask, how should the left respond? Are these protests simply cannon fodder for the right? How should socialists understand this discontent in civil society? SEGMENT I Links >Th

For this episode of SPS, Sophia and Pamela take up Dave Chappelle's latest Netflix special, "The Closer," and the blowback following its release. For the main segment, Sophia catches up with the makers behind the Aufhebunga Bunga pod, Alex Hochuli and George Hoare, to discuss their new book, The End of the End of History: Politics in the Twenty-First Century. She asks about their characterization of "anti-politics," how they understood the Trump & Brexit moment, and the importance of Hegel for the Left today. Hochuli is a writer and translator living in Sao Paolo, Brazil, and Hoare is a researcher and political consultant in London. Aufhebunga Bunga podcast https://bungacast.com/ The End of the End of History (Zero Books, 2021) https://www.amazon.com/End-History-Politics-Twenty-First-Century/dp/1789045231 Links to SPS episodes with Aufhebunga Bunga boys: [Ep 23] Convo w/ Philip Cunliffe in London for a post-panel reflection on our "After the Election" panel at the London School of Economics https://soundc

On this episode of SPS, Pamela and the Platypus Review Editor-in-Chief, Lou S. chat about the recent NBA crack-up over vaccine skepticism and discuss the articles in the new issue of the Platypus Review. Andreas, our EU correspondent, reports from the frontlines of a protest camp in the North East of Vienna. And, in the last segment, Andreas sits with our German members, Tobias, Tom and Anna, to reflect on the recent Bundestag election. They discuss the past and future of Die Linke, the upset by the Greens & the collapse of the left/right distinction within the Green Party, and the future of a post-Merkel, post-Neo-liberalism Germany. Latest Issue of the Platypus Review: - platypus1917.org/platypus-review/ SPS on the DSA: - soundcloud.com/platypus-affiliated-society/ep22 - soundcloud.com/platypus-affiliated-society/ep8 - and on the DSA & Seth Ackerman: soundcloud.com/platypus-affiliated-society/ep3 Platypus Panels: - Panel Series “What does Climate Change?": platypus1917.org/international-series/what-does-

On this episode of SPS, Pamela and Sophia discuss the Biden bungle of the Afghanistan withdrawal and the responses by the “Left,” including Tariq Ali for the New Left Review and Branko Marcetic for Jacobin. SPS European Correspondent Andreas interviews Eduardo Maura, from the Spanish party Podemos, and asks him to reflect on his political trajectory, from his work in the Indignados -- the Spanish anti-austerity movement -- to Podemos in government, to the party’s recent electoral defeats. In the last segment, Platypus president Efraim interviews Mike Watson, a UK born art & media theorist, and author of The Memeing of Mark Fisher: How the Frankfurt School Foresaw Capitalist Realism and What To Do About It, released by Zero Books in 2021. They discuss the different responses to the New Left by Adorno and Marcuse and the conditions of possibility for political consciousness in an administered society. Links: Chris Cutrone, “Afghanistan: After 20 and 40 years” in Platypus Review 139 (September 2021) https://

On this three-part episode of SPS, Sophia and the Editor of the Platypus Review, Lou Sterrett, give a teaser of what’s inside the latest issue. In the second segment, our European Correspondent Andreas Wintersperger catches up with Ian Cassidy. Originally from Ireland, Cassidy is a Berlin-based activist, working for the campaign 'Deutsche Wohnen & co enteignen' which aims to pressure Berlin’s largest private housing companies to better serve their tenants. In the final segment, SPS co-host Pamela sits down with Victor and Sidsel, our members in Aarhus, to discuss the recent debates over academic freedom in Danish universities in response to the parliament in Denmark accusing researchers of “excessive activism”. LINKS: Platypus Review Issue 138, July 2021 https://platypus1917.org/platypus-review/ Platypus in Aarhus, Denmark https://www.facebook.com/groups/2026045940750202 Chris Cutrone, The end of the Gilded Age: Discontents of the Second Industrial Revolution today, December 2017, https://platypus1917.