COUNTER•POWER

Northern Ireland occupies a strange position within the Brexit debate. It is at once at the centre and at the periphery of the constitutional uncertainty and political crisis Brexit has created. Poorly understood in Britain even amongst the most well informed, the political future of those living on the island of Ireland has been thrown into huge doubt by the 2016 referendum. Hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper went to Northern Ireland to understand how its troubled history shapes the present day. In this two part documentary they explain what they learnt. Part one looks at how the past reverberates into today and the on-going problem of sectarian division. Featuring: Katy Hayward, a sociologist at Queen's University Belfast, Garrett Carr, author of The Rule of the Land, and Mickey Brady, the Sinn Fein MP for Newry and South Armagh. Production and mixing: Jamie CowardThe documentary was produced in collaboration with Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Brussels Office. Funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.The European Cultural Foundation supports this initiative as it is rethinking Europe as an open and democratic space.

Hilary Wainwright and Mary Kaldor ... It seems almost everyone accepts there is a democratic crisis in Britain and Europe. But there is very little agreement what to do about it. For Brexiters satisfying the demand of the referendum in 2016 to leave the EU whatever the cost has become the catch-all solution to the country's democratic woes. Too many remainers, in contrast, deny there is even a problem with citizens participation today. In our latest podcast - recorded at a recent live audience event in London - hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Hilary Wainwright and Mary Kaldor to discuss how we really 'take back control' in the twenty-first century. The European Cultural Foundation supports this initiative as it is rethinking Europe as an open and democratic space.

Kojo Koram and Ana Oppenheim ... As Britain lurches into an unknown political moment we review the deeper issues and wider context. Hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Kojo Koram, a lecturer at Birkbeck who has written widely on the colonial fantasies animating the Brexit project, and Ana Oppenheim, a staff member of Another Europe Is Possible and, when she's not busy with that, a Polish anti-fascist. They discuss the moment of huge danger and opportunity we find ourselves in. The podcast was recorded at the Another Europe podcast and party event on Sunday 27th October.The European Cultural Foundation supports this initiative as it is rethinking Europe as an open and democratic space.

The best thing that ever happened for organised crime was financial globalisation. If you've stolen a massive wad of money there is an entire - largely legal - global infrastructure for you to pump it through. And if you've ever wondered why dark money loves the new far right, there's a simple reason: anyone who hates international cooperation is a friend of those moving dark money across borders. In the latest episode of our Saving Europe From Itself, Oliver Bullough has a big idea for Europe: get tough on the crooks.The European Cultural Foundation supports this initiative as it is rethinking Europe as an open and democratic space.

In the latest episode of our Saving Europe From Itself series, we were joined by Cambridge scholar, Priyamvada Gopal. Her idea for saving Europe? Decolonise our politics and our entire way of thinking about global politics. This, she argues, can be the basis for a unifying narrative, that binds working class Europeans and the peoples oppressed by European empires together in a common, entangled history of democratic resistance. She draws out how the very essence of the contemporary EU is its status as 'a paradoxical formation', entangled with deeply entrenched colonial legacies but also positing, at least potentially, a step to a truly decolonial world. The European Cultural Foundation supports this initiative as it is rethinking Europe as an open and democratic space.

Niccolo Milanese and Ruth Wodak ... What does it mean to say Europe is in a democracy crisis? And what exactly is the idea of illiberal democracy mobilised by the new far right? As the Austrian elections saw a drop in support for the far right did the centre-right just steal their clothes? Luke Cooper went to Vienna to talk to Ruth Wodak and Niccolo Milanese to find some answers.  

Expressing international solidarity is easy. But taking steps to build transformative change on a European and international level is much harder. At the World Transformed Festival, Another Europe's Zoe Williams hosted a discussion bringing together perspectives from two countries with quite different experiences of the EU: Portugal has been on the frontline of austerity and successfully stood up to a neoliberal Europe with its leftist government now riding high in the polls; Germany has been one of the most powerful and conservative of Europe's states. What can we learn from these experiences? With Kevin Kühnert of the German SPD, Ana Gomes from the Portuguese Socialists, Katja Kipping of Die Linke and the Labour Party MP Clive Lewis. Produced in collaboration with Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Brussels Office. Funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.

Jolyon Maugham QC ... Was the prorogation of Parliament illegal? And is the Supreme Court set to find against the Boris Johnson administration? As the British executive faces off against the two other pillars of the liberal democratic system - Parliament and the Courts - hosts Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams talk to one of the barristers at the centre of the case. Quite sensationally he says the government has failed to offer a defence in Court that its motives for prorogation were sound. He names two members of the government, which, it is said, according to a high level source, refused to sign pre-prepared affidavits from the government legal service. Maugham is confident that the Supreme Court will now find against the government. We apologise for the quality of some of the sound recording on this episode which was due to a technical fault.  

The Boris Johnson regime is moving from one crisis to another. And they are lashing out. This increasingly authoritarian government has even labelled the opposition traitors. As strategic debates break out on the left over how to defeat the most right wing government in Britain's post-war history, hosts Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper talk to the economist James Meadway, the Labour MP Lloyd Russell Moyle as well as Ana Oppenheim and Michael Chessum from the Another Europe Is Possible team. 

In this podcast Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams head to Parliament Square to join protests on the day that Boris Johnson announced his intention to shut down Parliament. We take in the atmosphere and discuss the constitutional crisis in Britain. Featuring a range of speeches and insights including from Nick Dearden, Amelia Womack, Owen Jones, Eloise Todd and Laura Parker.