Slavoj Zizek on the failure of liberalism, how capitalism restricts freedom, climate crisis & the US ideological civil war (E1051)
On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to world-renowned communist philosopher Slavoj Zizek, author of ‘Heaven in Disorder’. He discusses the ‘disorder under heaven’ quote by Chairman Mao Zedong and why he has turned it on its head for the title of his new book, the ideological civil war in the USA, the failure of liberalism and the rise of conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers, the US defeat in Afghanistan and how Western armies have become mercenaries for those in power, the polarisation of society into conspiracy theorists versus experts, the need for a transnational dialogue transcending ideologies to confront the 21st century’s biggest problems, the climate emergency now being ‘five minutes past midnight’, and much more! Finally, we speak to Enter Shikari’s Rou Reynolds, author of ‘A Treatise on Possibility: Perspectives on Humanity Hereafter’. He discusses how his book tries to intrigue a younger audience rather than to bludgeon them with ideological dogma, how so many of society’s ills stem from neoliberalism and the primacy of the profit motive, the climate crisis and how governments haven’t grabbed big oil and the fossil fuel industry ‘by the balls’, Extinction Rebellion and the crackdown on protests by Boris Johnson’s government, and much more!
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