Podcast
Downstream – Novara Media Podcasts
Hosted by Novara Media · EN
10episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Downstream: Governments Do Capitalism Wrong. Here’s How We Fix It. w/ Mariana Mazzucato
1w ago01:08:07Tap to summarizeMariana Mazzucato is a towering figure in contemporary economics, best known for her work on the entrepreneurial state and mission-oriented economics. Her congregation is broad, ranging from an ascendant Andy Burnham, to the Pope, to Marco Rubio. Ash Sarkar sat down with her in front of a live audience at EartH Theatre in Hackney to test the ideas in her new book, The Common Good Economy. Support
Transcribe →Downstream: What the US-Iran Peace Negotiations are Really About w/ Daniel Levy
2w ago01:37:53Tap to summarizeDaniel Levy is a British-Israeli analyst, commentator, and former Israeli government negotiator whose biography reads like a map of the peace process’s rise and fall. Ash Sarkar sat down with him as a new Iran deal is announced, with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz set to reopen and the US-Iran ceasefire extended for 60 days. In this conversation, Daniel picks apart what these peace negotiations are really about. What does Israel really want? Who blinked first, the US or Iran? And how does a ceasefire announcement from the Oval Office differ fundamentally from long and lasting peace? Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support
Transcribe →Downstream: The Truth About the US Military w/ Matt Kennard
3w ago01:51:39Tap to summarizeThe war on terror ended in 2021 with a catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan, but the consequences of that conflict continue to play out both overseas and at home. Aaron Bastani sat down with investigative journalist Matt Kennard, founder of Declassified UK, to talk about the status of the American empire, Trump’s war-hungry administration, and how the US government has been captured by Netanyahu. Matt’s new book is Irregular Army: How the US Military Recruited Neo-Nazis, Gang Members and Criminals. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support
Transcribe →Downstream: AI Billionaires Want to Control Every Aspect of Your Life w/ Karen Hao
Jun 801:16:58Tap to summarizeIt has been a year since Aaron Bastani first met with AI investigative journalist Karen Hao, to discuss her book Empire of AI. A year is a long time, in the fastest growing sector on the planet. To bring us up to date, Aaron and Karen sat down again to discuss the major shifts in the empire – and their impacts on us all. Billions of people now use, AI as it has become more integrated into our lives, from chatbots, Google searches, predictive text, and beyond. At the same time, there has been a groundswell of fear and even anger about the arrival of the most disruptive technology of the 21st century: its impact on jobs, its use of resources, and the reckless behaviour of its billionaire founders. What have been the changes at the top of the major AI companies: OpenAI, Google, xAI and Anthropic? As Elon Musk approaches trillionaire status, how is he making this much money? What impact is the rollout of AI at such speed and scale having on the economy? What forms of resistance to this form of AI are emerging? And why are billionaires all choosing to build their bunkers in New Zealand?
Transcribe →Downstream: The Woman Who Invented Intersectionality w/ Kimberlé Crenshaw
Jun 101:55:22Tap to summarizeThe far right holds power in the US, inflaming tension along racial lines. ICE agents terrorise the streets, while Black history is erased from school curricula. In the UK too, Nigel Farage’s far right party Reform is on the ascendancy, riding a tide of anti-immigrant sentiment that he himself helped to stoke. Our guest on Downstream this week is Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, civil rights advocate and legal scholar. Crenshaw is known for coining the term ‘intersectionality’ to describe the ways different forms of discrimination combine or intersect, and is a leading figure within the field of Critical Race Theory. Born into segregation, her new memoir Backtalker (2026) tells her life story, tracking 60 turbulent years of American history in the process. How have the forces of race, class and gender shaped Crenshaw’s own life? What is Critical Race Theory – the academic field Crenshaw founded – really about? Was Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign a failure because she was a weak candidate, or because she was a victim of the forces of misogynoir? And in these times of rising fascism, should progressives put their efforts into tackling inequality based on race, or class?
Transcribe →Downstream: Top Economist Exposes Inequality Death Spiral w/ Gabriel Zucman
May 2601:19:18Tap to summarizeA wealth tax on the very richest people in our society has never been more popular. Recent polling puts the plan at 90% approval, a figure almost unheard of for any policy proposal. This week’s guest, Gabriel Zucman, is a French economist who has done the most comprehensive work on what such a tax could accomplish. And he’s also a key inspiration for the UK’s leading wealth tax advocate – and friend of the show – Gary Stevenson.
Transcribe →Downstream: British Politics Is in Meltdown. Here’s Why w/ James Butler
May 1901:45:43Tap to summarizeIt has been a seismic week in British politics. The two-party system has collapsed. Keir Starmer is digging in at Downing Street, while Labour leadership contenders line up outside, and Reform clouds gather overhead. Now: the most important by-election in more than a century looms. How did we get here? And what happens next? On this week’s Downstream, Aaron Bastani is joined by James Butler, contributing editor at the London Review of Books and co-founder of Novara Media, to make sense of the paradigm shift underway in British politics. How has first past the post, long promoted as a source of political stability, become the background for systemic chaos? Why is there such a democratic deficit in Britain, and what can be done about it? Have two lost decades on the economy simply killed both historic parties? And where should progressives position themselves, as we now begin the slow march towards the final general election of the 2020s?
Transcribe →Downstream: The Most Influential Leftist You’ve Never Heard Of w/ Peter Mertens
May 1101:16:27Tap to summarizeBritish politics is in turmoil. The two party system has collapsed, the far right has won huge gains across the country. Crises of this scale can create huge opportunities for socialists too, but only when the left is organised and ready. Peter Mertens is the general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Belgium. If recent years in British politics have had a manic-depressive quality, with extreme highs and extreme lows, the Workers’ Party of Belgium under Mertens takes a very different approach. They might be relatively unknown in the UK, but as we speak, they’re fourth in the national polls, and leading in Brussels. They’ve got 15 parliamentary seats – not bad for out and proud Marxist-Leninists. How have they done it? By growing cautiously and deliberately. They run community health clinics, organise locally, and impose strict internal discipline. Their party prioritises unity and strategy. But how well-placed is it to take on the overlapping crises of the 21st Century? What advice does Mertens have for Zack Polanski? How can we stop middle class people taking over and dominating the left? And how is politics like football?
Transcribe →Downstream: British Politics Is About to Collapse w/ James Meadway
May 402:12:24Tap to summarizeThe two-party system has defined British politics for centuries, but the status quo is under attack from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and an insurgent Green party – both looking to clean up in the local elections on 7 May. This week Aaron Bastani speaks to economist James Meadway about the disruptive new progressive party on the block. Meadway was an economic advisor to John McDonnell during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of Labour, and is now chief economist of Verdant, a new think tank set up to craft the Green party’s strategy for 2029. But who are the Greens? What is their vision for Britain? How can they build a broad coalition of voters, big enough to win elections? And what mistakes can Zack Polanski learn from the Corbyn era? Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support
Transcribe →Downstream: The Truth About Smartphones’ Dirty Supply Chain w/ Nicholas Niarchos
Apr 2701:18:18Tap to summarizeThe 21st century runs on batteries: from phones and laptops to electric vehicles, drones and clean energy. Embedded in these batteries are rare earth minerals, drawn from a brutal supply chain that begins in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The race to electrify the global energy system is underway, but most people know almost nothing about how the necessary batteries are made – even those of us with green politics. Aaron Bastani finds out more with Nicholas Niarchos, author of The Elements of Power: A Story of War, Technology, and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth. Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support
Transcribe →