12/10/2026

Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor with Aditya Chakrabortty

 


Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor’s new book, End Times Fascism, came out recently. The idea came after a special essay written by both of them in The Guardian in April 2025.


I recommend this conversation:




'Radical Thinking' with Aditya Chakrabortty: In this new series from The Guardian, Klein and Taylor speak in an extended interview about Trump 2.0, the rise of the tech billionaire to Gaza and the ongoing climate emergency.

They both argue that we are not just lurching from crisis to crisis but in a new and dangerous moment in history. Yet, they haven’t given up hope of a fightback.




11/10/2026

On trauma and identity

 


An interesting point of view... 




Lived Experience’ has become a byword for standpoint authority and progressive politics. It has allowed people from marginalised groups to speak and be heard, and forced us to confront how power plays out in interpersonal dynamics. 

But it has also become a way for people to brand themselves online, and excuse antisocial or even downright nasty behaviours. Has ‘lived experience’ helped the left, or turned us into self-obsessed therapy-speakers, incapable of communicating with the majority of people? 

At the latest Downstream IRL, Ash Sarkar from Novara Media sat down with Catherine Liu – cultural theorist, professor and author of Virtue Hoarders – to discuss her new book, Traumatized: The New Politics of Public Suffering. 

Liu argues that as class politics has declined, the language of psychology has stepped in to explain problems rooted in capitalism. But what happens when trauma becomes content and politics gives way to what Liu calls the ‘gentrification of pain’? 

Is ‘lived experience’ a prerequisite for legitimate political analysis? Why do movements so often end up policing each other rather than confronting power? And if politics becomes about who’s hurting most, who benefits?





10/10/2026

'Anywhere on This Road'


Mood tonight




'Anywhere on This Road' · Lhasa De Sela 

(The Living Road)


 

06/10/2026

Soutien aux lycéens de ce monde en perdition...






Paris, 6 octobre 2026




Plusieurs centaines de milliers de personnes - lycéens mais aussi parents, professeurs et syndicalistes - ont manifesté ce mardi (6 octobre 2026) dans plusieurs villes de France. Au moins 450 000 selon les organisateurs.rices.

Partie d’Île-de-France le 28 septembre, la mobilisation gagne toute la France. Environ un quart des lycées du pays étaient bloqués ce mardi.

Les lycéens ont l'intention de manifester de nouveau ce jeudi. 

-

Several hundred thousand people—including high school students, as well as parents, teachers, and union members—demonstrated this Tuesday in various cities across France. Organisers put the figure at at least 450,000.

Having started in the Île-de-France region on September 28, the protest movement is spreading across the entire country. Around a quarter of the nation's high schools were blockaded this Tuesday.

Pupils and students intend to march again on Thursday.

-


 


















-



More words to come




05/10/2026

3 years




 



The Crackdown on Protest and Why it Matters

 






The Fight to be Heard is a new documentary by Amnesty International UK that charts the changing landscape of protest in Britain. From record-breaking prison sentences for peaceful protesters to fears of surveillance and criminalisation, The Fight to be Heard looks at the growing pressures faced by protesters in the UK today – and asks why we continue to do it, despite the risks. 

At a time when it’s never been more vital for us to come together, this film is a rallying cry to make sure we continue to have our voices heard. 

Featuring testimony from Lucia Whittaker De Abreu (Just Stop Oil / Whole Truth 5), Chantelle Lunt, Patsy Stevenson, Usama Ghanem, Khalid Abdalla, and organisations including Defend Our Juries, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Save British Farming and more.


More here: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/issues/authoritarianism/protect-the-protest/fight-to-be-heard/




03/10/2026

Saint Levant - Afandi

 







27/09/2026

Naomi Klein on AI and arms

 



"I just saw a film about the AI-enabled apocalypse. Only it's not science fiction. It's not even in the future. It's in the present. The film is called NAZA. See it."




25/09/2026

Little break

 

Hello friends.

I've been quite unwell these past few weeks, and had to take a break from work...

I'm not able to do much, apart from seeing friends and walking in parks and nature.

I'll try to be back soon online, but obviously, what helps is to be away from bad news, screens, etc.

I will then have a mountain of admin to do to sort myself out...
Wish me luck.


I hope you all keep strong and well.