Revolutionary Forces of Change

While we continue to podcast in the sleepy woods, the world continues to spin - perhaps out of control. Good thing Matt brought a special guest along to this episode, because Phil seems mad about recent events and wants some answers. We talk politics and some current events before getting into a new recurring segment. We tackle Youtube or U2: friends or foes?

Revolutionary Forces of Change (15:35)

Special guest Evan Ferguson is on to discuss Spain’s civil war and the workers’ social revolution of 1936. We talk about the forces that fought fascism and momentarily created an egalitarian ideal. Evan offers us an overview of some of the main players. We discuss the social and cultural aspects of the implementation of anarchist and libertarian socialist organizational principles throughout various portions of Spain. Paying attention to the regional realities of the revolution,  we debate a few potential critiques of the movement before drawing attention to George Orwell’s beloved account of the civil war and his admiration of the social revolution. We end by drawing connections between the Spanish revolutionary ideals of the past and present day Kurdish revolutionary forces.

 Suggested Reading:

• Francisco J. Romero Salvadó’s The Spanish Civil War : origins, course, and outcomes
• Sam Dolgoff (editor) The Anarchist Collectives: Workers’ Self-Management in the Spanish Revolution, 1936–1939
• Juan Gomez Casas’ Anarchist Organisation: The History of the F.A.I.
• David Graeber's twitter feed is a great way to keep up on the Kurdish propaganda.
• George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia
• One of the few news sites to cover the SDF and YPG in Rojava: http://theregion.org/
• For an overview of the players see:
  • CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, English: National Confederation of Labour)
  • FAI (Federación Anarquista Ibérica, English: Iberian Anarchist Federation)
  • UGT (Unión General de Trabajadores, English: General Union of Workers)

Recommendations (1:08:30)

• Matt recommends Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gentley’s Holistic Detective Agency
• Phil recommends Jeff Parker and Pasha Malla’s Erratic Fire, Erratic Passion (Featherproof, 2015)
• Evan recommends Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed & Citations Needed

Concluding thought:  

When I see an actual flesh-and-blood worker in conflict with his natural enemy, the policeman, I do not have to ask myself which side I am on.

― George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia

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Intro Music: Song "Soul Challenger" appearing on "Cullahnary School" by Cullah. Available at: http://www.cullah.com. Under CC BY SA license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Interlude Music: A Las Barricadas, Spanish Anarchist Anthem of the CNT-FAI from the Spanish anarchist songs collection, Canciones Libertarias; CNT-AIT Spanish Anarchist Folk song.

Outro Music: Song “1936, un peublo en armas” appearing on “Guerra a la guerra” by Sin Dios.