Everyday Anarchism
by Graham Culbertson
The core idea of this podcast comes from David Graeber, who wrote that our everyday life is mostly run on anarchism, and at the same time people believe that anarchism doesn’t work. One of these is wrong. I hope to illuminate how our communities already depend on Mutual Aid, in big and small ways. I'll do that by excavating the historical events and cultural trends you already know about, but have never thought about in terms of anarchism.Find me at https://www.everydayanarchism.com
Episodes
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207. The Whiskey Rebellion - Brady Crytzer
The Whiskey Rebellion is mostly just an AP US history question these days. At the time, it was almost another American revolution, or even the first American Civil War, between east and west instead of north and south. History Brady Crytzer walks me through the Whiskey Rebellion, why it happened,...
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206. Soccer, Argentina, and Anarchy -- Tomas Rothaus
Tomas Rothaus joins me to discuss his book Argentina, A Tale of Two Utopias: Anarchism, Soccer, Neoliberalism. We talk about the way that true soccer clubs are anarchic: they represent a community coming together and organizing around something. By contrast, billionaire-owned sports franchises…
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205. No Concessions -- Nathan Gelgud
Nathan Gelgud comes back on the show to discuss No Concessions, the next volume of his cartoon strip about a radical cell of Marxist cinephiles trying to create a revolutionary society by screening films the right way. Nathan and I talk about everything from "selling out" to the meaning of...
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204. Tom Paine's Basic Income -- Alberto Tena-Camporesi
If money is just made up, can't we solve the problem of poverty by just giving people money? This radical idea feels new, but Thomas Paine proposed it as a revolutionary solution during both the US and French revolutions. Alberto Tena-Camporesi joins me to discuss Paine's radical idea, its...
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203. Making Sense of Tolkien's Anarchism
The audio recording of a talk I gave at Oriel College, Oxford University. Thank you to Nick Gaskill and Oriel for inviting me!
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202. Against Money -- J.W. Mason and Arjun Jayadev
No one seems to really understand what money is and what it does. In this new book, Josh Mason and Arjun Jayadev give the best explanation I've ever seen for what money does, how it works, and the damage it's doing to the world.
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201. Five Years of Everyday Anarchism! -- Ruth Kinna
Ruth Kinna joins me for the Fifth Anniversary Episodes! First, an announcement: I wrote a book to be published by PM Press introducing everyday anarchism. No publication date yet, so more later on that front! Ruth and I discuss just what anarchy and anarchism is, and why anarchy is actually…
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200. Ann Leckie
For my 200th episode, I invited science fiction writer Ann Leckie to the show! Ann's novels are one of the original inspirations for the podcast. Ann has imagined worlds which are completely human, and yet totally different from the one we live in. Her works help me to remember that everything…
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199. Utopian Thinking -- Rhiannon Firth
Rhiannon Firth joins me to discuss Journey Through Utopia, Mary Louise Berneri's anarchist survey of utopian thinking. Rhiannon and I discuss why so many utopias seem so totalitarian, and how we can imagine a better world without falling into that trap. Here's a link to the Berneri book:...
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198. The Age of Revolutions in the Americas -- Arturo Chang
It's generally accepted that there was an "age of revolutions" in Europe in the 18th and 19th century. Sometimes the American revolution is added. But there were many, many revolutions in the Caribbean and Latin America in that same time. Shouldn't we have an "age of American revolutions"? And if...
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197. Seeing Paris Behind the Postcard -- Amit Chaudhuri
Amit Chaudhuri rejoins me to discuss his new novel/memoir/essay, Chateau Rouge. The book is about a writer who finds himself in a region of Paris, Chateau Rouge, filled with immigrants and their small business hustles, not cafes and patisseries. Shocked by how different Chateau Rouge is from the...
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196. Shay's Rebellion as Honorable Anarchy -- Daniel Bullen
Shays' Rebellion was a nonviolent, popular movement designed to stop corrupt Massachusetts elites from lining their pockets at the expense of workers. It worked, and is thus a perfect example of "self-regulation" or, as we might put it, anarchy. Jefferson called it "anarchy" and also "honorable."...
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195. The Fascist Appeal of The Movies -- David Thomson
David Thomson joins me to discuss his new book, A Sudden Flicker of Light. Although we both love movies, we've noticed that movies have distorted our way of seeing the world, changed our sense of reality, and most of all, turned politics into a fascist mass spectacle. After all, Hitler, Stalin,...
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194. The Boston Tea Party as Direct Action -- Benjamin Carp
Historian Benjamin Carp joins me to discuss The Boston Tea Party and how we should remember it today. We particularly discuss the tea party's place in revolutionary history, the radicalism embedded in the New England colonies, and whether or not labels like "direct action" or "civil disobedience"...
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193. Ancient Anarchy -- Christopher B. Zeichmann
Christopher B. Zeichmann joins me to discuss his new book about ancient anarchism. We discuss the way the origins of the word anarchy, the way that democracy and anarchy have long been linked, and how to remember the radical communities that the historians of that time wanted to forget or attack....
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192. Can AI be Saved From Capitalism? -- Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow joins me to discuss how capitalist ideology has made AI worse than useless, and if there's a way for us to make AI useful rather than malicious https://flyleafbooks.com/book/9780374621568
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191. The Deep American Constitution -- Mark Peterson
In this episode of Radicalism in the American Revolution, Historian Mark Peterson joins me to discuss his new book The Making and Breaking of the American Constitution: A Thousand-Year History. We discuss the way the constitution emerged from a long British tradition, Thomas Jefferson's ironic...
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190. Anarchism is...Cooking -- Mark Bittman
The fastest, easiest way to anarchize your life is to buy food locally and cook it yourself (or grow it yourself). It won't create an anarchist society. But it's a great first step. Mark Bittman and I discuss that first step, what might come after it, and what difference it'll make in today's...
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189. What's East of "the West" ? -- Anthony Kaldellis
Before it became west of Islam, or China, or "the Orient," "The West" was simply the Western Roman Empire, and what it was east of was the Eastern Roman Empire. But the westerners wanted to be the true inheritors of the classical tradition, so they renamed it "western civilization," and made up...
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188. Rewilding Crossover with Peter Michael Bauer
This episode is a crossover with Peter Michael Bauer's Rewilding Podcast. Peter and I talk about rewilding, everyday anarchism, and the connections between rewilding and anarchy We recorded this episode in support of Peter's new documentary film series on rewilding. It has successfully funded on...
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187. Imperial Delusions -- Luke Kemp
Luke Kemp rejoins me to discuss the second part of Goliath's Curse, "Imperial March and Fall." Luke and I start off talking about why empires and states are actually the same thing, and move from there to various ways that people justify imperial politics, what it's like to be anti-empire when...
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186. Thomas Jefferson: Radical, Revolutionary, Enslaver -- Annette Gordon-Reed
For this first episode in the Radicalism in the American Revolution series, historian Annette Gordon-Reed joins me to discuss her new book Jefferson on Race, a collection of writings by Jefferson on the topic of race from throughout his entire career. Anette and I grapple with a pair of...
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185. Radicalism in the American Revolution
Here's an introduction to a new series on Radicalism in the American Revolution, in honor of/in frustration with 250 years of America. Soon to come: Jefferson on Race, the American constitutional tradition, Thomas Paine's basic income, and more!
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184. The Horizontal Transcendence of the Everyday -- Clare Carlisle
How do you know your life is worthwhile? How do you connect to the world around you? What sort of life is worth living? In her new book, Transcendence for Beginners, the philosopher and biographer Clare Carlisle works through answers to these questions, answers inspired by the philosopher Spinoza...
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183. Mrs. Orwell -- Andrea Chalupa
Eric Blair, known as George Orwell, had all of his successes after he met and married Eileen O'Shaughnessy. The graphic novel Mrs. Orwell, written by Andrea Chalupa, is the story of how George Orwell became a couple, and helps re-introduce Eileen to history as the dynamic, radical activist and...
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182. A Door Into Ocean -- Joan Slonczewski
Joan Slonczewski joins me to discuss their novel A Door Into Ocean, a science fiction novel about an all-female society of "sharers" on an ocean planet, Shora. Joan's sharers are one of the best speculative depictions of what an anarchist society would look like, so Joan and I discuss the...
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181. The Language of Incompleteness -- Amit Chaudhuri
Amit Chaudhuri joins me to discuss his new collection of essays, Incompleteness. In these essays and his novels, Amit is constantly searching for new language that will acknowledge the instability and flux of the world around us. It is intellectual anarchy of the highest order, as well as...
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180. Aurora -- Kim Stanley Robinson
Kim Stanley Robinson comes back to discuss Aurora, his novel of a generational starship, in which generations of humans are born, live, and die onboard without ever seeing a planet. We discuss the generational starship as a science fiction genre, whether humans will ever be able to travel to the...
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179. Socialism from Bernie to Mamdani -- Dan Chiasson
Dan Chiasson joins me to discuss his combined Bernie and Burlington biography, Bernie for Burlington, and the connections between Bernie's socialism and Mamdani's socialism. You can purchase Dan's book here: https://flyleafbooks.com/book/9780593317495 Here's Dan's article about Mamdani:...
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178. Fighting for the Future of PM Press -- Ramsey Kanaan
For almost 20 years, PM Press has been publishing brilliant anarchist books, including many covered on this podcast. Co-Founder Ramsey Kanaan joins me to discuss what PM Press does, how it works on anarchist lines, and why they need to own their own building to secure their future. If you'd like…
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177. Year One of the Second Trump Regime -- Leonard Williams
Leonard Williams, who was my second guest on this podcast back in November of 2021, returns to talk about Trump's presidency over the past year, what it means, and what we can do to fight it. To hear more from Leonard, here's his 2024 podcast on what to expect from the Trump regime:...
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176. Building a World without Parkinson's -- Ray Dorsey
Ray Dorsey joins me to discuss The Parkinson's Plan, his new book about fighting and hopefully ending the disease. Ray and his co-author Michael S. Okun show that Parkinson's is primarily caused by human-made chemicals, chemicals we can stop using. As with climate change or ultraprocessed foods,...
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175. The Battle of Seattle -- D.W. Gibson
The modern anarchist movement began in 1999, when the World Trade Organization met in Seattle in order to create a set of rules which would require every country to accept the worst excesses of capitalism. Waiting for them in Seattle was a loose coalition of anarchists, farmers, organized labor,...
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174. Rules, Games, and Anarchy -- Jay Dragon
Ever since C. Thi Nguyen appeared on the podcast, I've been trying to use games to understand more about the relationship between rules and life. Jay Dragon, whose game Wanderhome is almost ruleless, joins me to discuss games, rules, and anarchy, and we especially talk about how we can analyze...
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173. From William Morris to Bauhaus to Midcentury Modern -- Robin Schuldenfrei
Robin Schuldenfrei rejoins me to talk more Bauhaus! In this episode, we discuss her book Luxury and Modernism, covering the complexities of the Bauhaus, which had a leftwing ethos but produced luxury objects, and made them by hand to appear machine made. Robin talks us through how the…
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172. Liberty as Independence -- John McGowan
John McGowan joins me to discuss Liberty as Independence, Quentin Skinner's new book about the way that our ideals of liberty were formed in in 17th and 18th century debates. The book covers legendary figures, such as Hobbes, Milton, Locke, Swift, Paine, and Jefferson, as well as many…
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171. Reel Politik -- Nathan Gelgud
Nathan Gelgud joins me to discuss Reel Politik, a comics collection about a group of Brechtian revolutionaries who take over the movie theatre they work in. Nathan and I discuss our shared love for movies, the radical nature of paying attention to a movie screen, and The Chelsea Theater, a local...
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170. The Biblical Curse of Wealth -- Pastor Micah
Pastor Micah joins me to share a radical reading of the Book of Genesis in which wealth isn't a blessing on God's people, but a curse! I recently appeared on Micah's podcast, The Word in Black and Red, to discuss the 10 Commandments with Micah. That link is here:...
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169. The Teacher and Society -- Alfie Kohn
Alfie Kohn returns to the show to discuss his new podcast, the role of teachers in social progress, and why someone's view on chatbots in the classroom tells you eveything you need to know about their view of education. You can listen to Kohn's Zone wherever you get your podcasts, or get it...
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168. Enshittification -- Cory Doctorow
It's not your imagination: everything is getting worse. And there's a reason why.
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167. Henry Fonda for President -- Alexander Horwath
More than any other individual, Henry Fonda was a symbol for better, more leftist, more social democratic America, from The Grapes of Wrath to 12 Angry Men. He even played an English professor who faced cancellation for teaching anarchist literature! Then in the 1960s, he was the literal father...
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166. Goliath's Curse -- Luke Kemp
According to conventional history, the last 12,000 years has seen the steady march of progress from primitive savagery to enlightened civilization. In the age of Trump, Elon, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Putin, Xi, Orbán, Netanyahu, Erdoğan, and Khamenei, this story can't be true. Luke Kemp joins me to…
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165. Politics in Hollywood Westerns-- Ruth Kinna
Happy 4th Anniversary to Everyday Anarchism! For this year's anniversary episode, Ruth Kinna comes on to talk about a couple of Hollywood Westerns: Fort Apache (John Ford, 1948) and Rancho Notorious (Fritz Lang, 1952). Hollywood Westerns are about law and order, violence and vigilantism…
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164. Slow Cinema as Democratic Cinema -- Paul Schrader
In normal cinema, the goal of the director is to control the audience, to direct their gaze, to dictate their emotions. What does it mean when directors make movies where the audience is allowed to decide what the film means to them? Legendary filmmaker Paul Schrader (screenwriter of Taxi Driver...
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163. Capitalism and Nature -- Alyssa Battistoni
Alyssa Battistoni joins me to discuss her new book Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature. Capitalist theory generally describes nature as a "free gift." If gifts are already free, why does capitalism have to claim that nature is a "free gift"? And why does capitalism keep declaring…
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162. Divorcing Anarchism and Liberalism -- Alexandre Lefebvre
Alex comes back on the podcast and we try to separate liberalism and anarchism, with some success! (I think the problem is that what Alex and I agree on is democratic socialism - so liberal socialism and anarchist socialism end up pretty close). The business of basketball is our central example…
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161. The German Peasants' War -- Lyndal Roper
Lyndal Roper joins me to discuss her book The Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants' War. 500 years ago, German peasants learned that Martin Luther had declared that they should be free. They agreed - and Europe was plunged into war.
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160. Marrying Anarchism and Liberalism -- Alexandre Lefebvre
Alexandre Lefebvre, author of Liberalism as a Way of Life, joins me to discuss the many ways that anarchism and liberalism are compatible. Later this month, you'll here Alexander back on the show, as we try to divorce the two traditions.
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159. The Folksinging Anarchist Tradition -- Willi Carlisle
In celebration of his new album Winged Victory, Folksinger Willi Carlisle joins me to discuss the connections between folk music and leftism, especially anarchism. I love all of Willi's albums. Here's his website: https://www.willicarlisle.com/
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158. Tolkien's Romantic Anarchy -- Meredith Veldman
Everyday Anarchism goes back to where it all began: the romantic anarchism of J.R.R. Tolkien. Meredith Veldman, author of Fantasy, The Bomb, and the Greening of Britain, joins me to talk about the romantic protest underlying The Lord of the Rings. We discuss the romantic quest for reintegration…
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About this show
The core idea of this podcast comes from David Graeber, who wrote that our everyday life is mostly run on anarchism, and at the same time people believe that anarchism doesn’t work. One of these is wrong. I hope to illuminate how our communities already depend on Mutual Aid, in big and small ways. I'll do that by excavating the historical events and cultural trends you already know about, but have never thought about in terms of anarchism.Find me at https://www.everydayanarchism.com
Hosted by
Graham Culbertson
Categories