Emancipations Podcast

Philipp Felsch, an intellectual historian at Humboldt University who writes on Nietzsche and Habermas, unpacks Jürgen Habermas’s life and thought. He traces Habermas’s Frankfurt School roots and his shift from Marxism to theories of communication. They explore the origins of the public sphere, debates with Foucault, Habermas’s role in German public life, and recent controversies around his stance on Gaza.

We discuss Pierre Bourdieu's legacy and its implications for understanding intellectuals. You can find C. Derick Varn at VarnVlog. In addition to going through some of Bourdieu's key categories, these are the primary readings we discuss: Pascalian Meditations by Pierre Bourdieu  Homo Academicus by Pierre Bourdieu The Political Ontology of Martin Heidegger by Pierre Bourdieu "The Role of the Intellectual in the Modern World" by Pierre Bourdieu Distinction by Pierre Bourdieu

My guest Yanis Iqbal is the author of The Sword and the Neck, a militant work of philosophy that insists Gaza must be approached not as a humanitarian "exception," but as a primary terrain of proletarian and anti-colonial struggle. Iqbal develops an incisive critique of contemporary leftwing philosophers Slavoj Žižek, Ètienne Balibar and the wider tradition of post-colonial thought in the wake of October 7th and the subsequent genocide in Gaza. In this interview we discuss Iqbal's core ideas, the limits of post-colonial thought and the role of Marxist practice in the Palestinian liberation struggle. I encourage everyone to purchase Yanis Iqba's book The Sword and the Neck, published in 2025 with Iskra Books. If you download the PDF for free, please make a contribution to Iskra as gratitude for their work. I wrote the Preface to this very fine work where I address a number of important questions that the book raises. Yanis Iqbal is studying political science at Aligarh Muslim University, India. He is the author of the book 'Education in the Age of Neoliberal Dystopia' and 'The Sword and the Neck.' -- If you find my work valuable, please become a Patron to gain early access to all of my interviews and videos: www.patreon.com/emancipations 

We discuss the roots of anti-intellectualism in American life for the first episode in a four-part series co-created and presented with C. Derick Varn, "The Problem of Intellectuals." Learn more about C. Derick Varn by checking out his show "VarnVlog" https://www.patreon.com/c/varnvlog/posts  These are the primary readings we discuss:  Anti-Intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter The American Intellectual Elite by Charles Kadushin  The New Radicalism in America: The Intellectual as Social Type by Christopher Lasch The Future of Intellectuals and the Rise of the New Class by Alvin Gouldner "The Missing Generation: Academics and the Communist Party from the Depression to the Cold War" by Ellen Schrecker   

Josef Gregory Mahoney, professor of politics and noted scholar of Chinese Marxism and governance. He explores the plurality of Chinese Marxist thought, Xi’s melding of Marxism with Chinese traditions and ecological values. He traces the Mao-to-Deng transition, factional politics and anti‑corruption, and debates on class, labor precarity and China’s global strategy.

My guests Mikey Downs, Nance‪‬ and Grady Page are all accelerationists. We discuss the curious return of accelerationism in today's political moment and what it signals. We debate the politics in the philosophy of Nick Land and Curtis Yarvin. My guests find Land's thought to be generative and important, and they insist that Land is not a fascist thinker. We debate that precise point and dive into the core of what my guests find so incisive in the wider accelerationist movement. -- If you benefit from my work please consider a donation: paypal.me/danieltutt1 You can also become a Patron to gain early access to all of my interviews and videos: www.patreon.com/emancipations

With guest co-host Benji Schoendorff, I sit down with Dr. Ali Kadri, a leading Marxist political economist and scholar of the Arab world to discuss his important new book The Accumulation of Waste: A Political Economy of Systemic Destruction (2023). In this interview we discuss Kadri's critique of Western Marxism, the question of revolutionary consciousness today, class issues, imperialism and its status and dynamics, the role of the anti-imperialist struggle and Dr. Kadri discusses his influences in contemporary Marxism. In his book The Accumulation of Waste, Kadri traces how capitalism, especially in the Global South, increasingly accumulates waste not only in discarded commodities, but in wasted lives, labor, and entire nations rendered disposable by imperial extraction. Through his incisive critique of “Western Marxism” and its retreat from anti-imperialist struggle, Kadri argues that Marxism today must re-anchor itself in the lived realities of colonial domination, military intervention, and financial subjugation. This conversation explores why imperialism remains central to capitalist reproduction and why any Marxism that cannot think anti-imperialism is destined to fail politically and theoretically. Co-host Benji Schoendorff is a clinical psychologist and podcast host of "Resistance is Fertile" (https://bit.ly/3KIRiGH).

Grady Page, co-owner of Pure Panic Books and thinker on accelerationism, dives deep into the interplay of technology and capitalism's impact on politics. He discusses Nick Land's controversial views and how they challenge leftist thought, suggesting that Land's nihilistic approach contrasts sharply with Mark Fisher's hopeful vision. Grady also addresses the rise of online violence tied to algorithms and critiques of political institutions. Ultimately, he advocates for a move beyond vengeance-driven politics toward more constructive alternatives.

In this engaging discussion, political theorist Tony Chamas explores Jean-Claude Michéa's critique of liberalism. He argues that liberalism pacifies class struggle by merging cultural and economic imperatives. Chamas highlights the left's complicity in cultural liberalism, which hinders true socialist politics. He also critically analyzes the role of tradition in conservatism and advocates for reclaiming working-class power. The conversation emphasizes the need for nuanced critiques of cultural issues, urging the left to prioritize economic policies that resonate with working people.

I am joined by Lacanian philosophers Nadia Bou Ali and Surti Singh to discuss the concept of "Extimacy" in the work of Jacques Lacan. In 1960, Lacan coined the neologism extimité (extimacy) to denote a structure of subjectivity in which the most intimate, internal core is already external, thus complicating the traditional philosophical dualisms and binaries that have informed traditional notions of subjectivity. We discuss what this idea helps us to think in terms of philosophy, culture and politics. This conversation is based on a new collection of essays co-edited by Nadia and Surti entitled Extimacy, a book that is the first sustained interrogation of the concept.  Nadia Bou Ali is an associate professor and director of the Critical Humanities Program for the Liberal Arts at the American University of Beirut. She is the coeditor of Lacan contra Foucault: Subjectivity, Sex, and Politics and the author of Hall of Mirrors: Psychoanalysis and the Love of Arabic. Bou Ali is a candidate analyst at the Lacanian School of Psychoanalysis in the Bay Area. Surti Singh is an associate professor of philosophy at Villanova University.