This Wreckage

Latest Episodes:

E270 - The Rain in Spain w/ Prole.info Nov 18, 2024

Show notes

A report from the Valencia inundation zone by B from the propaganda powerhouse Prole.info! We discuss the floods and the political aftermath, including mudslinging at the King and the future of the Spain's tenuous socialist government. From there were move on to his thoughts about Trump, the Democrats, and the second edition of the Housing Monster (with an intro by Sean! pre-order now from PM Press!).

Show notes:

https://schengen.news/spains-congress-approves-bill-to-cancel-golden-visa-program-in-january-2025/

https://jacobin.com/2024/05/spain-sanchez-psoe-vox-eu-elections

Housing Monster PDF: https://www.prole.info/pdfs/thm_english.pdf

All other prole.info material: www.prole.info

B on Twitter: https://x.com/@proledotinfo

Jazz and Blues Radio show from Ben Kritikos

https://buenavida.co.uk/red-white-blues/ Lazo Edicioneshttps://lazoediciones.blogspot.com/

Cuadernos de Negaciónhttps://cuadernosdenegacion.blogspot.com/

Song: Waka Flocka Flame - I Remember

E269 - What Does the Election Mean for Labor? w/ Independent Labor Club of NY Nov 13, 2024

Show notes

On November 9th, 2024 the Independent Labor Club of NY hosted a panel at Woodbine in Ridgewood, Queens. Sean moderated this discussion between:

Aaron Lelonde of the International Longshoremen's Association
Sou Mi of WGA-East and Left Voice
Gregory Butler of Int'l Union of Operating Engineers and Gangbox News
Ellie Pfeffer of Maoist Communist Union, formerly of Amazonians United

What accounts for the realignment seen in 2024? Did large swathes of workers (including Black and Hispanic) vote Trump solely from racism and misogyny? What was the role of organized labor in the recent election? What effects might the results of the election have on the prospects for organizing labor in the future?

If you like what you hear, support our podcast and access great bonus content: www.patreon.com/theantifada

If you're interested in joining the ILC, we have chapters across the country and in Australia: https://ilclabor.com/

The event was held @woodbine.nyc in Ridgewood, Queens Saturday November 9th. Contribute to Woodbine's Fall Fundraiser drive.

Song - Capital STEEZ x Joey Bada$$ - Survival Tactics

E268 - Antifada Election Desk (Part 1) w/ Varn, Zhana, Reid Kane Nov 08, 2024

Show notes

Our roundtable discusses the meaning of Trump's victory--the election's stakes, its international reverberations, what it tells us about the crisis of capitalist accumulation, how economics connect with the the race/class/gender demographic voting shifts, and the historic characters of the Republican and Democratic Parties.

In Part 2, available for patrons at http://patreon.com/theantifada, we plot THE RESISTANCE!

Panelists: C. Derick Varn Zhandarka Kurti Reid Kane

Song: Los 3 de La Habana - Cancion de Trump

E267: Ex-Pat Zerg Rush w/ Nise_Yoshimi Nov 04, 2024

Show notes

Sean and Andy are joined by Sean, prolific poster and blogger and short fiction writer, to talk about the changes he has seen over the last decade as an expat worker in both mainland China and Hong Kong.

What shifts in politics, the economy and social life has he seen? What is the material basis for Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign? In what ways is the 'reform and opening up' period of 'market Stalinism' similar to Tony Blair's New Labour Britain? What does the imperial and post-imperial gaze on Hong Kong and the east more generally say about western precepts of China and Chinese capitalism? Is a new social explosion in China on its way or are we all, even in the west, lying flat for the foreseeable future?

To support our work, become a patron today at www.patreon.com/theantifada

Follow Sean on the shit app: https://x.com/nise_yoshimi

Check out his excellent blog: https://lateralthinkingtechnology.wordpress.com/

E266: Amerikkkan FEDeration of Labore w/ Jeff Schuhrke Oct 30, 2024

Show notes

Sean is joined by labor activist and historian Jeff Schuhrke to discuss his new book Blue Collar Empire: The Untold Story of US Labor's Global Anticommunist Crusade out now from Verso Books.

Why did American unions become a junior partner in US Empire during the Cold War ? How did anti-communists come to control US labor organizations in the 20th Century? What sort of high jinx were the AFL-CIO up to in Europe and the developing world? What did union activists do to expose this class collaboration and fight back against it? What might a reinvigorated working class internationalism look like in the 21st century? Join us for this great conversation about a great book that's absolutely essential reading for unionists and their allies.

To access the bonus portion of this episode and years worth of other premium content, support the show at www.patreon.com/theantifada

Buy Jeff's book: https://www.versobooks.com/products/2979-blue-collar-empire

Get involved:

https://ilclabor.com/

https://rankandfileproject.com/

https://workerorganizing.org/training/

https://rankandfilecrew.org/

https://labornotes.org/

Song: Neil Young - Union Man

E265: The Party is Always Right w/ Aidan Beatty Oct 23, 2024

Show notes

Aidan Beatty, author of The Party is Always Right: The Untold Story of Gerry Healy and British Trotskyism joins us to trainspot the British Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP), a Trotskyist cult that was tight with Qaddafi, boasted Vanessa Redgrave as a member, and collapsed after the revelation of years of its leader's sexual abuse of membership.

Sign up at http://patreon.com/theantifada for the bonus where we talk about Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon, the shared historical dynamics of the Irish and Jews, the WSWS's fascination with Woody Allen and Michael Jackson, and the macabre fate of Trotsky's death mask.

Get the book from Pluto Press

Song: Pop Smoke - For the Night

Fight Club Club w/ Jason & Daniel Oct 21, 2024

Show notes

Jason, Daniel, and Andy talk about Fight Club to celebrate to the 25th anniversary of the movie and the Battle of Seattle that followed it. We look at the history of the book and Chuck Palahniuk's situationist influence and his embrace of his rightwing fans, the Gen-X ennui behind the creation of Tyler Durden, the politics of Project Mayhem, and Marla Singer's character as the story's ethical core.

The full episode is available for free at http://patreon.com/theantifada. Sign up to support the show for the second episode about Joker 2!

Check out Jason's essay on Fight Club and his New York on Earth substack: https://newyorkonearth.substack.com/

Ep 264: Endgame Two - 2 End, 2 Game w/ Jamie Merchant Oct 16, 2024

Show notes

Sean and Andy are joined by returning guest and cofounder of ILC-Chicago Jamie Merchant (@pathtopraxis) to discuss his new full-length monograph, out now from Reaktion Books, called Endgame: Economic Nationalism and Global Decline. In it, Jamie provides a masterful, insightful and readable account of the political economy of the present moment.

What is the connection between the functioning of the profit system and the world-historic shift away from globalization? How do ruling class ideas like economic nationalism spread and why has conspiracism racked the left and right in recent years? Why has a bipartisan consensus emerged around state industrial policy and beggar-thy-neighbor trade policy? And what might the left do about all this except tail the least worst elements of it? This, along with an update on Independent Labor Club of Chicago and how civil-social organizing might pose a path forward that doesn't end in WWIII or a Brave New World.

Read an excerpt at Brooklyn Rail: https://brooklynrail.org/2022/03/field-notes/Endgame-Finance-and-the-Close-of-the-Market-System/

And stay tune for his 11/23 release event at https://www.woodbine.nyc/

To support our work become a patron at www.patreon.com/theantifada

Interested in joining the Independent Labor Club of North America? There may be a branch near you or other workers nearby interested in starting one, here's our Telegram: https://t.me/+TNXgQOPkV18yOGRh

Song: Rage Against the Machine - People of the Sun

&&& vs. General Ham w/ Quorators Oct 09, 2024

Show notes

&nders Lee and AP &y guest on the Quorators podcast to field questions about UFOs, cyptids, Pompeii, and, of course, ampersands.

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udhh_BrLui8

E263: ILWU/Houthi Solidarity Strike Oct 02, 2024

Show notes

NEWS EP! We talk about the hurricane disaster, the Middle East disaster, the Ukraine disaster, and the Longshoremen's strike as a prelude to the war on Christmas.

Sign up at http://patreon.com/theantifada for the fun half! We look at a proletarian get-rich quick scheme, an LAPD robbery gone wrong, and speculate on the REAL reason the Feds are taking down Mayor Eric Adams.

Organized abandonment & campaign strategy in Appalachia: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/09/30/helene-aftermath-live-updates-monday-north-carolina/75447978007/

https://www.axios.com/2024/09/27/kamala-harris-asylum-rules-border-crossings

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/harris-alcohol-prices-trump-tariff-plan-1235113532/

Biden on settling the "strike" https://x.com/greg_price11/status/1840576548992106698

The strike he’s probably thinking of: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/us-east-coast-port-strike-set-start-tuesday-says-union-2024-09-29/

Cruise ships and weapons shipments not effected by strike: https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/baltimore-cruise-ships-military-cargo-not-affected-by-dock-worker-strike/65-93d26a57-812c-44ba-bff6-5704ce08c292

https://apnews.com/article/longshoremen-strike-ports-pay-consumers-automation-october-77289c12bf3c3eff5e42cb6372126576

Asheville Mutual Aid Disaster Relief info: https://itsgoingdown.org/mutual-aid-hurricane-helene/

Proletarian self activity: https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/infinite-money-chase-bank-customers-in-trouble-after-viral-glitch/article_4b062eb2-6978-11ef-8c96-2346f53d638b.html

Song: Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees