John Bellamy Foster points to “Beyond Leviathan” by István Mészáros for insights into the ancient origins of the state and nature of its evolution over thousands of years, the necessity to move beyond the state, and how to meet that challenge. Produced by GPEnewsdocs.
The workers’ council movement took shape in several forms across Europe, Russia, Tito’s Yugoslavia, Algeria, and Iran. Political scientist Dr. Saeed Rahnema discusses the failure of workers’ councils in these different historical contexts and traces out the tensions between workers’ control and workers’ participation under capitalism. Is real workers’ control feasible under capitalism, and do struggles for increased workers’ participation and higher wages necessarily lead to workers’ control?
Justin Joque is a visualization librarian at the University of Michigan and the author of the book Revolutionary Mathematics: Artificial Intelligence, Statistics, and the Logic of Capitalism. His book examines the statistical models on which our algorithms, machine learning, and financial systems are built, highlighting the mechanisms of abstraction which lend these models an air of misleading objectivity. Can statistical models be used towards emancipatory aims?
On RAI with Paul Jay, Chris Hedges discusses the psychology of the super-rich; their sense of entitlement, the dehumanization of workers, and mistaken belief that their wealth will insulate them from the coming storms. This episode was published on December 5, 2013.
In part two of Reality Asserts Itself, Paul Jay and Vijay Prashad discuss the limits imposed on questioning the roots of inequality and how those who own the majority of property set the terms for everyone else. This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced August 8, 2013, with Paul Jay.
Vijay Prashad talks about growing up in India and coming to the realization that liberalism could never eliminate poverty. This is an episode of Reality Asserts Itself, produced August 2, 2013, with Paul Jay.