Gabriel Rockhill joins Breht to discuss his book Requiem for French Theory, coauthored with Aymeric Monville, and to challenge the radical reputation of thinkers such as Foucault, Derrida, and Deleuze. Situating their rise within the Cold War, Rockhill examines how intelligence agencies, capitalist foundations, universities, and publishers helped elevate intellectual (and broader cultural) currents that appeared radical or revolutionary while undermining the theoretical and political foundations of communism.

Along the way, Breht and Gabriel explore French Theory's rejection of dialectics, its contested relationship to May '68, capitalism's ability to turn rebellion into a consumer product, and the difference between liberal representation and material liberation. They also discuss Western Marxism's retreat from anti-imperialism, the lessons of actually existing socialism, and the necessity of criticism and self-criticism within a living Marxist tradition.

At the heart of the conversation is a practical question: how do we reclaim theory as a collective instrument of working-class liberation rather than another commodity in the capitalist marketplace?

(Caliban by Retamer is attached as a full pdf on the free, public post of this same episode over at our patreon; link below)

Check out Critical Theory Workshop HERE

Follow Rockhill's work on his Substack HERE

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Check out Unlearning Capitalism for more political educational resources

October 22 is the National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality (O22), a day of coordinated action across the country demanding justice for those killed and brutalized by police and an end to the epidemic of police violence in the United States.

In this episode, Breht is joined by Mia and Charlotta from Families Demanding Justice (FDJ), a national organization of families and loved ones of victims of police brutality, to discuss the upcoming O22 protests and the broader struggle to build a mass movement against police violence.

Together, they explore the relationship between policing, racism, capitalism, and state repression, the lessons of the 2020 uprisings, Charlotta's heartbreaking and enraging personal experience losing a loved one to police violence, and the importance of centering impacted families in the struggle for justice. They also discuss FDJ's organizing efforts and strategies, the necessity of sustained mass resistance, and how ordinary people can get involved in building a movement capable of confronting police brutality at its roots.

Finally, they discuss how listeners can participate in the October 22 National Day of Protest, connect with FDJ, and contribute to the ongoing fight for justice for all stolen lives.

Get involved and find out more: https://familiesdemandingjustice.org/

Follow them on instagram HERE

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Check out Unlearning Capitalism for more political educational resources

In this episode Alyson and Breht enter the strange and unsettling world of Nick Land: Marx, Nietzsche, Delueze, cybernetics, accelerationism, and the possibility that capitalism is becoming something more than a human social system.

For Land, techno-capital may be an inhuman process using humanity as a temporary vehicle - accelerating through markets, machines, computation, and artificial intelligence toward a future in which we are no longer necessary. We trace this vision from Land's anti-humanism and theory of deterritorialization to the Dark Enlightenment and neo-reaction, asking whether his philosophy is best understood as a kind of inverted Marxism: not humanity escaping capital, but capital escaping humanity. In the process, we discuss consciousness, artificial intelligence, historical and dialectical materialism, Land's influence on the techno-oligarchs, philosophy, and much more.

After explaining and exploring Land's philosophy and politics, Alyson and Breht dismantle it via a Marxist Critique.

Check out our episodes on:

Julius Evola

Louis Althusser

Nietzsche

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