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Savage Minds

Investigative reporting and social commentary on public culture, the arts, science, and politics.

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S6 · E2
Sunday · 1 hr 47 min
Drew Hutton & Libby Connors
Drew Hutton, co-founder of the Queensland and Australian Greens, and Libby Connors, a founding member and historian, discuss their book Over the Rainbow: A Challenge to Cancel Culture (2026). Both have decades of activism in nonviolence, civil liberties and environmental causes. They frame transgender ideology not as a grassroots civil-rights movement but as a top-down institutional capture, a “long march through the institutions” reaching universities, schools, regulators, unions and political parties by way of legislation rather than public debate. Hutton separates harmless adult self-expression from what he calls sinister: the idea of an innate gender essence, children “born in the wrong body,” and state enforcement of speech codes and single-sex space rules. Connors argues the ideology suppresses open inquiry and treats words as violence. Hutton suggests wealthy foundations and funded activist careers helped drive the shift once marriage equality was won. Hutton describes his expulsion from the Greens, later reversed in court, while Connors let her membership lapse. Both say the party abandoned free speech and materialist politics. Hutton argues the left has lost its capacity for class analysis, governed by a university-educated “knowledge class” that looks down on working people, and predicts the populist right will benefit. They stress that the issue concerns democratic norms, human dignity and sex-based rights. Hutton urges readers to see themselves as citizens of a wider society rather than as members of a tribe, and to resist cancel culture while keeping the left’s traditional commitments to equality and materialism. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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S6 · E1
Saturday · 1 hr 24 min
Robert Jensen
Emeritus professor Robert Jensen discusses his book This I Don’t Believe: A Fulfilling Life Without Meaning (2026), which questions the assumption that human existence needs a transcendent purpose anchored outside the natural world. He suggests modern life, with its social media and manufactured spectacles, may deepen the hunger for something beyond the ordinary, though he admits that is only a guess. Speaking from his own experience, he says the absence of cosmic meaning has not led him to despair. He finds fulfilment in thinking, manual work, and relationships with neighbours. He links his outlook partly to an abusive, alcoholic childhood that taught him no one was coming to save him and says moving from academia in Texas to rural New Mexico deepened his humility. The conversation turns to intellectual humility, accepting the limits of human understanding, and living with uncertainty. Jensen criticises the left’s condescension toward religion, rigidity around transgender ideology, and dismissal of feminist critiques of pornography, while also describing hostility from the right. He argues that traditional political organising cannot remake the world, that a nation of 340 million cannot be truly democratic, and that neither fossil fuels nor solar power will sustain eight billion people living at modern levels. He expects a future of “fewer and less”, asking how to get there humanely. Examples such as his acequia irrigation association and his editing work with prisoners illustrate his central point: people with different beliefs can build real community when they share values and interests, rather than judging one another by ideology alone. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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S5 · E74
August 21 · 2 hr 30 min
Christian Parenti
Christian Parenti discusses the intellectual and political legacy of his father, the Marxist writer Michael Parenti, and the lessons that legacy offers for understanding socialism, imperialism, political power and the contemporary left. He reflects on his father’s anti-imperialist worldview, his defence of actually existing socialism, and his willingness to confront uncomfortable political realities that much of the left preferred to avoid. The conversation examines the contradictions of socialist societies, including the problem of labour discipline and the difficulty of building systems that depend on people being motivated by collective moral commitments rather than material incentives. Parenti considers the collapse of the Soviet Union, drawing on the work of David Kotz and Fred Weir, and discusses the role of elite interests, economic pressures and political transformation. He also addresses the failures of ideological purity and wishful thinking on the contemporary left, including the political lessons of COVID. From there, the discussion turns to human nature, aggression, self-interest and the question of how societies can function when people do not contribute equally. Parenti also explores Cuba’s revolutionary history, its struggle for sovereignty, US pressure, the CIA and the continuing conflict between Washington and Havana. A substantial portion of the conversation examines his father’s views on the Kennedy assassination, the CIA and the divisions this created within the Marxist left, including his disagreement with Noam Chomsky. Throughout, Parenti argues for a political realism grounded in history, material conditions and an honest assessment of power rather than ideological comfort. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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S5 · E73
August 18 · 2 hr 10 min
Charles Derber
Charles Derber, sociologist and political commentator, joins for a far-reaching discussion on democracy, oligarchy, economic inequality, the erosion of political power, and the emergence of a new generation of “robber barons.” Drawing on his analysis of political history and contemporary capitalism, Derber challenges conventional accounts of democratic development, examining the Magna Carta and the concentration of political authority among elites rather than ordinary citizens. The conversation moves from medieval Britain to the present, exploring how contemporary economic structures have transformed work and weakened the relationships that once allowed exploitation to generate collective resistance. Derber examines the rise of gig work, temporary employment, insecure jobs, and the growing pressures of housing and economic survival, particularly for younger generations. He considers how companies increasingly treat workers as disposable and how this fragmentation of employment can make organised resistance more difficult, even as economic insecurity intensifies. The discussion also explores the relationship between political democracy and concentrated wealth, asking whether formal democratic institutions can provide meaningful power when economic authority remains increasingly concentrated. Derber reflects on the pressures facing young people who recognise that the economy is being reorganised against their interests while simultaneously feeling that their futures depend on succeeding within it. Social media, psychological exhaustion, competition for professional opportunities, and the difficulty of converting widespread frustration into political mobilisation become central to the discussion. Ultimately, the conversation examines whether the pressures created by contemporary capitalism could produce a renewed resistance movement, or whether insecurity and fragmentation will prevent that transformation from occurring. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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S5 · E71
August 15 · 1 hr 11 min
Joanna Moncrieff
Joanna Moncrieff, professor of critical and social psychiatry at University College London, joins for a far-reaching discussion on depression, psychiatric diagnosis, antidepressants, the medical model of mental illness, and the expanding influence of psychiatry in contemporary society. Drawing on decades of clinical practice, research, and critical scholarship, Moncrieff challenges the assumption that mental disorders can be understood simply as underlying biological diseases and examines the evidence behind the widely repeated chemical imbalance theory of depression. The conversation explores the distinction between disease-centred and drug-centred approaches to psychiatric medication, the effectiveness and limitations of antidepressants, withdrawal, and the ways pharmaceutical interests have influenced psychiatric research and treatment. Moncrieff also considers the historical development of psychiatric interventions and the broader question of what happens when ordinary human experiences such as grief, distress, and social suffering become increasingly medicalised. The discussion moves beyond medication into questions of power, social control, and the changing boundaries of normality, drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of biopower and examining why psychiatric diagnoses have become increasingly prominent in public life. Vigo and Moncrieff also discuss ADHD, autism, psychedelic-assisted therapy, and the political and cultural implications of expanding psychiatric categories. Throughout, the conversation asks whether psychiatry should be understood primarily as a branch of medicine or as a discipline shaped by social values, institutional power, and contested ideas about human behaviour. The episode offers a sustained examination of what psychiatric diagnosis means, what psychiatric drugs actually do, and how mental distress might be understood beyond the conventional medical framework. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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July 23 · 1 hr 47 min
Roger Hallam
Roger Hallam, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil, and Insulate Britain, joins Julian Vigo on Savage Minds for a far-reaching discussion on climate breakdown, civil resistance, revolutionary politics, and the future of democratic society. Drawing on decades of activism, academic research, and firsthand experience as an organic farmer whose livelihood was devastated by extreme weather, Hallam argues that the climate crisis is inseparable from the structural failures of contemporary capitalism and that Western societies have entered a pre-revolutionary period. Julian Vigo challenges Hallam on the effectiveness of disruptive protest, the criminalisation of climate activism, the changing nature of the political left, and the contradictions exposed during the COVID-19 era regarding civil liberties, state power, and public participation. Their conversation moves beyond environmental policy into broader philosophical questions concerning historical revolutions, the psychology of mass mobilisation, the role of spirituality and meaning in political action, and whether existing democratic institutions are capable of responding to accelerating ecological collapse. Together, Vigo and Hallam examine why climate activism increasingly intersects with debates over freedom, political legitimacy, cultural identity, and social transformation, while reflecting on the tensions between reform and revolution, institutional politics and grassroots movements, and materialist analysis versus moral conviction. This episode offers an unflinching exploration of one of the defining political and ecological debates of the twenty-first century through an extended dialogue that challenges assumptions across the ideological spectrum. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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July 14 · 15 min
Robert Pape
Robert Pape, professor of political science at the University of Chicago and founding director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats, examines why modern military superiority so often fails to produce lasting political success. Drawing on decades of research into coercive air power, he argues that precision-guided warfare has fundamentally reshaped public expectations by creating the illusion that wars can be won quickly, cheaply, and with few casualties. Revisiting the lessons of Vietnam and the arguments developed in his landmark book Bombing to Win, Pape explains why tactical achievements frequently strengthen an adversary’s political resolve instead of compelling surrender. The conversation explores his concept of the “escalation trap,” in which battlefield successes steadily weaken a state’s broader strategic position by deepening political resistance and encouraging further military escalation. Applying this framework to the recent confrontation with Iran, Pape analyzes the strategic significance of the Strait of Hormuz, the limitations of coercive diplomacy, shifting regional power dynamics, and Washington’s declining credibility in the Middle East. He argues that effective strategy depends not on the destructive power of modern weapons but on understanding how military action interacts with political objectives, public opinion, and national resolve. Rather than viewing conflict through the lens of technological superiority alone, Pape contends that contemporary wars are ultimately decided by political outcomes, making strategic judgment far more important than tactical victories. The discussion offers a timely assessment of air power, deterrence, escalation, and the changing character of warfare in an increasingly unstable international system. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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S5 · E69
June 25 · 27 min
Trita Parsi
Political analyst Trita Parsi examines the deep contradictions at the heart of contemporary US foreign policy, tracing the consequences of decades of military intervention from Iraq and Syria to Iran. The discussion explores how the US invasion of Iraq helped create the conditions for the rise of ISIS, the rapid normalisation of Syria's new leadership despite its origins in Al-Qaeda-linked movements, and the broader erosion of public trust in mainstream media coverage of global conflicts. Parsi argues that sanctions on countries such as Iran and Syria overwhelmingly punish civilian populations while failing to achieve their stated political objectives. He also analyses the influence of the military-industrial complex on Washington's decision-making, explaining how economic and political incentives perpetuate a cycle of intervention even as public support for endless wars declines. The conversation turns to Iran, where Parsi challenges widely circulated narratives about protests, political unrest and regime change, arguing that foreign interference and media distortions have often obscured a more complex reality. Throughout the interview, broader questions emerge about empire, propaganda, media credibility and the limits of military power in shaping political outcomes. The result is a wide-ranging examination of how interventionist policies have reshaped the Middle East, why many official narratives are increasingly being questioned and what a more restrained and realistic approach to international relations might look like in an era marked by geopolitical instability and declining confidence in traditional institutions. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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S5 · E68
June 20 · 1 hr 40 min
Robin Andersen
Robin Andersen, professor emerita of media studies at Fordham University, examines how US media coverage of Gaza functions less as journalism than as a system of narrative management, transforming military violence into a language of self-defence while obscuring the historical realities of occupation, blockade, and dispossession. Drawing on her recent book The Complicit Lens (2026), Andersen argues that mainstream outlets relied heavily on Israeli military claims, anonymous intelligence sources, and reporting conventions that concealed agency and normalised civilian suffering. Rather than treating these distortions as isolated failures, she situates them within a broader history of wartime propaganda, comparing contemporary Gaza coverage to the media’s role in legitimising the Iraq War and advancing narratives during the War on Terror. The discussion explores how concentrated media ownership, corporate interests, and institutional dependence on official sources shape the limits of acceptable discourse, narrowing the range of perspectives available to the public during periods of conflict. Andersen argues that journalists who challenge dominant narratives often face marginalisation, while eyewitness accounts, humanitarian testimony, and independent reporting are subordinated to the claims of political and military authorities. The result, she contends, is a media environment that privileges power over accountability and framing over factual complexity. At the centre of the conversation is a critique of how language, sourcing, and editorial priorities influence public understanding of war, revealing the extent to which modern news institutions can become active participants in manufacturing consent rather than independent watchdogs holding power to account. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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S5 · E67
June 12 · 2 hr 17 min
Alex Byrne
Alex Byrne, Lawrence S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy at MIT and author of Trouble with Gender: Sex Facts, Gender Fictions (2023), argues in this conversation that the contemporary backlash against the biological definition of “woman” stems from two distinct and often conflicting intellectual currents: a longstanding feminist suspicion of biological essentialism, and a newer push, largely from trans activism, to redefine sex itself as socially constructed or non-binary. Byrne traces how this confusion has hardened into orthodoxy across academia and medicine, making dissent professionally dangerous even for scholars working from well-established science. The conversation examines the toll this has taken: researchers no-platformed, careers destroyed, and a climate in which even raising basic biological facts can trigger threats and reputational ruin. Byrne discusses MIT’s Civil Discourse Project, which he co-leads, as evidence that controversial topics can still be debated productively when expectations are set honestly and both sides are willing to show up. He reflects on the reluctance of gender-affirming care’s strongest proponents to defend their position in open debate, and on the growing body of evidence against pediatric medical transition. Asked whether a “truth and reconciliation” reckoning is possible, Byrne is doubtful that public admissions of error will come, but sees hope in quieter institutional change: medical bodies revising guidance, universities loosening restrictions on academic freedom, and the slow erosion of a consensus he believes is no longer defensible. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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S5 · E66
June 6 · 1 hr 13 min
Elena Poniatowska
Elena Poniatowska, Mexico’s most celebrated journalist and one of the most significant literary voices in the Spanish-speaking world, argues in this conversation that the crisis of contemporary journalism is inseparable from the collapse of critical reading—and that both are symptoms of a deeper cultural abandonment. Born in Paris in 1932 to a French-Polish father and Mexican mother, Poniatowska contends that her formation as a writer was shaped by displacement, by learning to listen to those rendered voiceless by history, and by understanding that journalism must be an act of solidarity before it is anything else. Widely credited with helping to establish the genre of testimonio in Latin American letters, she transformed the voices of the marginalised into literature that forced an entire nation to confront its own silence. She maintains that her landmark work La Noche de Tlatelolco was not a journalistic achievement but a moral obligation, and reflects on her decision to refuse the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize, asking who would award the dead. Poniatowska insists that the greatest threat to literature and journalism today is not artificial intelligence but the disappearance of patience—the willingness to sit with a text, a story, or a life long enough for meaning to emerge. At 94, she affirms her belief in the innate goodness of human beings as not a sentiment but a necessity. Elena Poniatowska, la periodista más célebre de México y una de las voces literarias más significativas del mundo hispanohablante, sostiene en esta conversación que la crisis del periodismo contemporáneo es inseparable del colapso de la lectura crítica—y que ambos son síntomas de un abandono cultural más profundo. Nacida en París en 1932 de padre franco-polaco y madre mexicana, Poniatowska afirma que su formación como escritora estuvo marcada por el desplazamiento, por aprender a escuchar a quienes la historia había silenciado, y por comprender que el periodismo debe ser ante todo un acto de solidaridad. Ampliamente reconocida por haber contribuido a establecer el género del testimonio en las letras latinoamericanas, transformó las voces de los marginados en literatura que obligó a una nación entera a confrontar su propio silencio. Sostiene que su obra emblemática La Noche de Tlatelolco no fue un logro periodístico sino una obligación moral, y reflexiona sobre su decisión de rechazar el Premio Xavier Villaurrutia, preguntando quién iba a premiar a los muertos. Poniatowska insiste en que la mayor amenaza para la literatura y el periodismo hoy no es la inteligencia artificial sino la desaparición de la paciencia—la disposición a permanecer con un texto, una historia o una vida el tiempo suficiente para que emerja el significado. A los 94 años, reafirma su creencia en la bondad innata de los seres humanos no como un sentimiento sino como una necesidad. English transcript: SAVAGE MINDS — Elena Poniatowska Julian Vigo (00:00:15): Welcome to Savage Minds. Julian Vigo (00:00:26): I am your host, Julian Vigo. Julian Vigo (00:00:30): Today’s guest is Elena Poniatowska Amor, Julian Vigo (00:00:33): daughter of a French father of Polish origin, Jean E. Julian Vigo (00:00:37): Poniatowski, and Mexican mother Paula Amor. Julian Vigo (00:00:41): She was born in Paris in 1932. Julian Vigo (00:00:46): She has practiced journalism since 1953 at the newspapers El Día, Excélsior, Novedades, and La Jornada. Julian Vigo (00:00:57): She is the first woman to receive the National Journalism Prize. Julian Vigo (00:01:02): Among her works is La Noche de Tlatelolco, Julian Vigo (00:01:05): a classic since its publication, for which she was awarded the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize, Julian Vigo (00:01:12): which she refused, asking who was going to award the dead. Julian Vigo (00:01:17): Her novels and stories include La Flor de Lis, Julian Vigo (00:01:20): De Noche Vienes and Tlapalería, Julian Vigo (00:01:24): Paseo de la Reforma, Julian Vigo (00:01:26): Hasta No Verte Jesús Mío, Julian Vigo (00:01:28): The Life of a Mexican Soldadera, Julian Vigo (00:01:31): Querido Diego Te Abraza Quiela, Tinísima, winner of the Mazatlán Prize in 1992, La Piel del Cielo, Julian Vigo (00:01:40): winner of the Alfaguara Novel Prize in 2001, and El Tren Pasa Primero, Julian Vigo (00:01:48): about the lives of Mexican railway workers, Julian Vigo (00:01:52): winner of the Rómulo Gallegos International Novel Prize in 2007. Leonora won the Premio Biblioteca Breve Seix Barral in 2011. El Universo o Nada (2013) is the biography of Julian Vigo (00:02:07): astrophysicist Guillermo Haro. Ondas de la Niña Mala is her first poetry collection, and Julian Vigo (00:02:14): her children’s books include Boda en Chimalistac, La Vendedora de Nubes, Julian Vigo (00:02:20): El Burro que Metió la Pata, Sansimonsi, illustrated by Rafael Barajas el Fisgón, and El Julian Vigo (00:02:27): Niño Estrellero by Fernando Robles, and El Charito Cantor by Osvaldo Hernández. Julian Vigo (00:02:34): Her most recent novel, El Amante Polaco, portrays the last king of Poland, Stanisław August Julian Vigo (00:02:41): Poniatowski. Translated into 20 languages. Gabi Brimmer and Las Mil y Una, the story of Julian Vigo (00:02:48): Paulina, Julian Vigo (00:02:49): address social issues. Julian Vigo (00:02:52): After receiving honorary doctorates from UNAM and UAM, Julian Vigo (00:02:57): she was awarded them from the University of Puebla, Julian Vigo (00:03:01): Sonora, Estado de México, Julian Vigo (00:03:04): Guerrero, Julian Vigo (00:03:06): Chiapas, and Puerto Rico. Julian Vigo (00:03:09): She also received honorary degrees from the New School for Social Research in New York, Julian Vigo (00:03:13): Manhattanville College, and Florida Atlantic University in the United States, and from Julian Vigo (00:03:19): Paris 8, Julian Vigo (00:03:19): La Sorbonne, and Pau-Pyrénées, as well as the Maria Moors Cabot Prize for Journalism at Julian Vigo (00:03:27): Columbia University, New York, in 2004, and from the Universidad Complutense, Madrid, in Julian Vigo (00:03:32): 2015. Julian Vigo (00:03:34): She received the French Legion of Honour at the rank of Officer, the Gabriela Mistral Prize from Chile, and in Julian Vigo (00:03:41): 2006, the Courage Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation. Julian Vigo (00:03:43): In 2013 she was awarded Julian Vigo (00:03:49): the Miguel de Cervantes Prize for literature in the Spanish language, and she received the Julian Vigo (00:03:55): Belisario Domínguez Medal in 2022. Julian Vigo (00:03:58): This is the highest honour granted by the Senate of the Mexican Republic, along with the Julian Vigo (00:04:05): Carlos Fuentes International Prize for Literary Creation in the Spanish Language in 2023. (00:04:12): I welcome Elena Poniatowska to Savage Minds. Julian Vigo (00:04:19): I wanted to begin with a memory I have of you. Julian Vigo (00:04:22): In 1993, Julian Vigo (00:04:25): I think, Julian Vigo (00:04:27): or 94 — Julian Vigo (00:04:28): one of those two years — Julian Vigo (00:04:29): I was in Puebla, Julian Vigo (00:04:31): Cholula, Julian Vigo (00:04:32): teaching at the Universidad de las Américas. Julian Vigo (00:04:35): Yes. Julian Vigo (00:04:36): And you came to give a talk at an observatory — I believe it was Tonantzintla. Elena Poniatowska (00:04:44): Yes, of course. Elena Poniatowska (00:04:46): Yes, I remember it, and Julian Vigo (00:04:49): you made a great impression on me that day. But I must confess that your entire life’s work made a great impression on me — not only on me. I wanted to begin with your formation, your life, because you were born in France and Julian Vigo (00:05:12): how do you remember your childhood in France, and what elements of that world did you bring with you when you arrived in Mexico in 1942? Elena Poniatowska (00:05:21): Well, thank you very much for your interest. Elena Poniatowska (00:05:29): I can tell you that I was born in 1932 in Paris, France, because my mother Paula Amor married Elena Poniatowska (00:05:42): Juan Poniatowski, who held a noble title — that of prince — Elena Poniatowska (00:05:54): b… Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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S5 · E65
June 4 · 2 hr 23 min
Chris Kaspar de Ploeg
Journalist, grassroots organiser, and author Chris Kaspar de Ploeg pulls back the curtain on how Western legacy media operates to manufacture consent for imperialist, neocolonial, and xenophobic narratives. Moving beyond surface-level partisan bickering, de Ploeg utilizes a rigorous socioeconomic and class-based analysis to dissect the structural mechanisms that dictate modern news coverage. The discussion explores how Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s Propaganda Model manifests today, examining a media ecosystem where the audience is treated as the product rather than the client. De Ploeg shares his firsthand experience with media blackouts following the release of his book, Ukraine in the Crossfire, illustrating the real-world boundaries of acceptable discourse. His analysis then expands to the broader political economy of news—including corporate monopolies, advertising reliance, and state subsidies—before delivering a critical evaluation of the media’s disparate framing of state violence, civilian casualties, and ideological weaponisation in the Gaza crisis. Finally, the conversation tackles the illusion of choice in the digital age, analysing how algorithmic shadow-banning and digital oligopolies bottleneck dissent to provide an essential, uncompromising look at the forces shaping our perception of global conflict. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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S5 · E64
May 30 · 1 hr 22 min
Angeliki Lysimachou
Dr Angeliki Lysimachou, Head of Science and Policy at Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe, examines systemic failures in EU pesticide risk assessment that prioritise industry data over independent science. With a background in environmental toxicology, she scrutinises how regulatory loopholes—such as selective dismissal of genotoxicity, neurotoxicity, microbiome disruption, and low-dose carcinogenicity studies—enable the continued authorisation of hazardous substances like glyphosate despite IARC’s probable carcinogen classification and alarming findings from the Ramazzini Institute’s full-life-cycle trials showing increased leukaemia and tumours at supposedly safe exposure levels. Lysimachou highlights how corporate influence, ghostwriting, revelations from the Monsanto Papers, and statistical manoeuvering by conflicted experts undermine the precautionary principle embedded in EU law, resulting in “glyphosate deserts,” biodiversity collapse, and persistent PFAS metabolites like TFA contaminating groundwater for decades. Her analysis reveals a deeper structural bias where economic dependencies on pesticide fees, political pressures from member states, and industry lobbying trump public health protections, as evidenced by repeated 5- and 10-year renewals amid abstentions and U-turns like Germany’s. By mounting court challenges and pushing for agroecological transitions under the Farm to Fork strategy, she exposes how the current framework shields profitable broad-spectrum herbicides while externalising long-term costs of soil degradation, farmer health burdens (e.g. elevated lymphoma risks), and irreversible environmental damage onto society. Lysimachou’s critique underscores the tension between regulatory rhetoric and implementation, calling for genuine accountability and faster phase-outs of forever chemicals. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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S5 · E63
May 26 · 2 hr 5 min
Biljana Vankovska
Biljana Vankovska, a Macedonian professor of political science, international relations and peace studies at Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, delivers a sharp systemic critique of declining Western hegemony in this wide-ranging conversation. She interprets the recent conflicts in the Middle East, particularly the Iran war and the Strait of Hormuz events, alongside the situation in Ukraine as structural turning points signaling the shift toward a multipolar global order. Rooted in her experience growing up in former Yugoslavia and the legacy of the Non-Aligned Movement, Vankovska rejects mainstream narratives that reduce global crises to the personal failings of leaders like Donald Trump or simple kakistocracy. Instead, she argues that the world is witnessing the violent death throes of hyper-imperialism and a declining global capitalist system. She deconstructs the so-called rules-based international order as a euphemism for arbitrary US diktat that masks ongoing neo-colonialism while whitewashing historical atrocities. Vankovska contrasts the media-driven fear, paralysis and moral bankruptcy prevalent in the US and EU with the historical optimism and strategic stamina of the Global South. Evoking Antonio Gramsci, she balances a pessimism of the intellect with an optimism of the will, defending legitimate resistance against the military-industrial-media-academic complex. Ultimately, she views the tragedies in Gaza and Iran not as isolated failures but as painful birth pangs of a new cooperative world order grounded in mutual sovereignty, trust, and emancipation from empire. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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S5 · E62
May 21 · 2 hr 8 min
Alex Taek-Gwang Lee
Alex Taek-Gwang Lee, professor of philosophy and cultural studies at Kyung Hee University in South Korea, examines the deep tensions between Western Marxism, Stalinist orthodoxy, and the possibilities for communist thought today. In a powerful critique of Gabriel Rockhill’s work, Lee argues that reducing Western Marxism to mere CIA manipulation is historically reductive and ultimately serves as a gift to right-wing anti-communists. He traces the vital lineage from Georg Lukács’ theory of reification and class consciousness through the Frankfurt School’s critique of the culture industry, defending cultural and philosophical analysis as a necessary extension of Marxism rather than a betrayal of it. Lee develops his own original concepts of “weak technologies” and “planetary cybernetics” to diagnose how late capitalism has reified technology, desire, and subjectivity itself, while rejecting both nostalgic defences of actually existing socialism and liberal accelerationist fantasies. Drawing on Deleuze and his earlier works such as Communism After Deleuze and Made in Nowhere, he insists that communism remains a living, transformative idea—an ontological openness that demands we invent new people and new modes of existence against the current master signifier of capital. This dense, philosophically rich conversation reframes longstanding debates on the left and offers sharp conceptual tools for understanding AI-driven capitalism and the future of radical politics in the 21st century. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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S5 · E61
May 19 · 1 hr 42 min
Jillian Spencer
Jillian Spencer, child and adolescent psychiatrist, examines the ideological transformation of modern medicine through her experience challenging paediatric gender treatment protocols and the institutional backlash by Queensland Health that followed. The interview evolves into a broader indictment of how liberal democracies increasingly discipline dissent behind the language of compassion, inclusion, and professional ethics. Spencer describes a medical culture where questioning the rapid expansion of gender-affirming interventions for minors became professionally dangerous, not because evidence had been conclusively settled, but because institutional consensus had already hardened into moral doctrine. The discussion repeatedly returns to the atmosphere of fear shaping hospitals, universities, and regulatory bodies, where clinicians privately express concerns yet remain publicly silent to avoid reputational destruction, accusations of bigotry or career ruin. What emerges is less a narrow debate over healthcare policy than a portrait of bureaucratic systems that reward ideological conformity while marginalising independent inquiry. Spencer depicts whistleblowing mechanisms as hollow structures incapable of functioning once institutions themselves become invested in preserving political narratives. The transcript also situates the controversy within a wider cultural shift across Western societies, where disagreement is increasingly pathologised and scientific uncertainty treated as social harm. Through Spencer’s account, medicine appears transformed from a field grounded in skepticism and evidence into one governed by managerial orthodoxy, emotional language, and activist pressure. Beneath the clinical specifics lies a darker warning about the shrinking capacity of public institutions to tolerate ambiguity, contested evidence and moral independence without resorting to professional punishment or social exclusion. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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S5 · E60
May 11 · 1 hr 8 min
Ida Susser
EJRkJKXYJbDiJ69cKu3ZIda Susser, distinguished professor of anthropology at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center, examines the Gilets jaunes (Yellow Vests) movement in France as a volatile yet transformative response to the deepening crises of neoliberalism, democratic erosion, and social fragmentation across the West. Drawing on years of ethnographic fieldwork in Paris, Saint-Denis, and provincial France, Susser argues that the movement disrupted conventional political binaries by creating forms of solidarity that exceeded traditional distinctions between left and right. Through concepts such as “commoning” and “thresholding,” she describes how precarious workers, retirees, migrants, and politically disillusioned citizens forged provisional alliances grounded less in ideology than in shared experiences of dispossession, police violence, economic exclusion, and social abandonment. Susser situates the movement within a broader historical trajectory of grassroots resistance, linking the Yellow Vests to Occupy Wall Street, the Indignados, Black Lives Matter, and earlier traditions of horizontalist organizing. She explores how the protests exposed the consequences of gentrification, rural decline, and the hollowing out of public life, while simultaneously generating new forms of mutual aid, including food collectives and neighborhood support networks during lockdown. The conversation also confronts the contradictions embedded within contemporary progressive politics, including disputes surrounding feminism, immigration, populism, and state authority, as Susser reflects on the increasingly unstable boundaries between emancipatory and reactionary movements. Framing the present moment as one marked by the resurgence of authoritarian tendencies and the normalization of state repression, she argues for the urgent construction of a new “historic bloc” capable of defending democratic space through collective struggle, civic participation, and radically inclusive visions of social justice. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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S5 · E59
May 9 · 39 min
Abby Martin
Abby Martin, an investigative journalist and advocacy filmmaker, exposes the catastrophic environmental and human costs of US militarism, arguing that the Department of Defense represents a singular, yet intentionally obscured, force of global ecological destruction. Drawing on her reporting for The Empire Files and her latest film, Earth’s Greatest Enemy, Martin discusses the institutional mechanisms that allow the military to remain exempt from international climate agreements, effectively functioning as a “blind spot” in mainstream environmental discourse while operating as the world’s largest institutional polluter. She challenges the “bipartisan consensus” for US imperialism, criticizing a “media blackout” orchestrated by corporate journalists—or “empire babies”—who normalize systemic violence while placing the burden of environmental responsibility on individual consumers. Extending the discussion beyond carbon emissions, Martin examines the toxic legacy of military operations, from the generational radioactive contamination caused by depleted uranium to the domestic betrayal of service members at Camp Lejeune. She contends that the current global atmosphere of “manufactured amnesia” masks the reality of an empire in its “waning” stages, which increasingly relies on emergency powers and state-sponsored censorship to maintain its grip amid growing public dissent. Reflecting on the ongoing crisis in Gaza and the historical precedents of US interventionism, Martin suggests that anti-imperialism and climate justice are naturally interlinked, viewing her work as a “tool in the arsenal” for movement building aimed at reclaiming transparency and justice within a crumbling global order. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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S5 · E58
May 7 · 59 min
Peter McCullough
Peter McCullough, an internist, cardiologist, and epidemiologist, reflects on the political, medical, and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that the global response fundamentally altered public trust in science, medicine, and democratic institutions. Drawing on his background in cardiovascular medicine and public health, McCullough discusses studies he believes demonstrate links between mRNA vaccines and myocarditis, sudden cardiac arrest, and broader cardiovascular complications, while explaining the biological mechanisms behind troponin elevation and inflammatory damage within heart tissue. He challenges mainstream public health narratives surrounding vaccine safety, criticizing what he describes as the suppression of dissenting medical voices and the failure of institutions to adequately investigate adverse events associated with mass vaccination campaigns. Extending the discussion beyond medicine, McCullough examines the broader political and cultural atmosphere that emerged during lockdowns, including censorship, social compliance, economic devastation, and the normalization of emergency powers across Western democracies. He argues that public discourse during the pandemic was shaped by coordinated messaging between governments, media organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and global institutions, creating a climate in which skepticism toward official policy became socially and professionally dangerous. Reflecting on athlete deaths, VAERS reporting controversies, vaccine mandates, and unresolved questions surrounding the origins of COVID-19 and the Wuhan laboratory, McCullough contends that the pandemic exposed deep contradictions within modern liberal societies concerning bodily autonomy, transparency, and informed consent. Yet amid this, he points to growing public skepticism toward institutional authority, suggesting that the long-term legacy of the pandemic may ultimately be a broader reevaluation of the relationship between citizens, governments, and public health systems. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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S5 · E57
May 5 · 1 hr 42 min
Nader Hashemi
Nader Hashemi, Director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, reflects on how his experience of the 1979 Iranian Revolution shaped a lifelong inquiry into the fraught relationship between religion, secularism, and democracy. Hashemi situates his intellectual trajectory within the tension between a Western secular framework—often equated with progress—and its very different reception across the Middle East, where it has frequently been associated with authoritarianism and externally backed regimes. He challenges dominant Western narratives about Iran and the region, arguing that media and policy discourses systematically erase the historical context of colonial intervention, coups, and geopolitical interests that continue to structure contemporary conflicts. From the Green Movement of 2009 to the Women, Life, Freedom protests, Hashemi examines the internal struggle for democratic reform under conditions of repression, economic sanctions, and external pressure, emphasizing how these forces have eroded the social base necessary for sustained change. Extending the discussion to Gaza, Israel-Palestine, and broader regional dynamics, he highlights the stark double standards in Western foreign policy and the persistence of imperial logics beneath the language of human rights. Yet, amid this, Hashemi points to a generational shift: younger audiences, shaped by social media and alternative information flows, are increasingly able to challenge entrenched narratives and recognize the contradictions at the heart of the so-called rules-based order. Get full access to Savage Minds at www.savageminds.co/subscribe
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