Novara Media

ACFM Microdose: The Communist Manifesto

The AFCM gang gather for a midwinter reading of one of the most influential political tracts ever written. Download a version online and follow along as Nadia, Keir and Jem reassess The Communist Manifesto,

Novara FM: Why The Left Needs To Care About Crypto w/ Sam Hart

Having long promised to decentralise power, Bitcoin is looking more and more like it will end up as a tool of American power under Trump. But blockchains could also be used to empower local economies. And why should the left stay attached to a money …

Novara FM: Love Actually w/ Nathalie Olah

In Richard Curtis’ Love Actually, a selection of mainly white and middle-class Londoners seem to be living in a parallel universe – one in which the war on terror never happened and the ’90s never ended. What kinds of love are really on offer in this…

Downstream: 2024 Round Up: Gaza, Starmer and the Death of Woke

On the 10th of December, Ash Sarkar, Michael Walker and Aaron Bastani discussed an epoch-defining year and its implications for the future. Is Starmer screwed? Are expansionist wars back? Has ‘woke’ died? Find out in our end of year Downstream specia…

Novara FM: Die Hard w/ James Butler

Die Hard is a perennial of festive TV, but is it really a Christmas movie? James Butler and Eleanor Penny explore what the 1988 action comedy reveals about corporate power, class antagonism, mid-century terrorism and women in the workplace.

Downstream: Germany, Russia and the Death of Europe w/ Wolfgang Munchau

Almost 140 or so years ago, Germany invented the car. In the subsequent century, it was central to two world wars; its manufacturing was the envy of much of the world, and in the latter half of the 20th century, it was vital to European integration.

Novara FM: We Need a New Wikileaks w/ Stefani Maurizi

In the 2010s, we found out that we were all being watched.  A series of leaks, from Wikileaks and others, put meat on the bones of what many had long suspected: that our governments were conducting mass surveillance operations on their own population…

Downstream: The Journalist Who Spent A Year With The Taliban w/ Ibrahim Nash’at

When the Taliban retook all of Afghanistan in 2021, it came as a shock to much of the West. The day after the last American soldier left, journalist and filmmaker Ibrahim Nash’at flew into Kabul to spend a year filming with their senior military lead…

ACFM Trip 48: Political Commitment

Which side are you on? Keir, Nadia and Jem consider the ebb and flow of political commitment with ideas and music from Jodi Dean, Gramsci, John Coltrane and the Raincoats. Is cultural production the same as political action?

Novara FM: The New Scramble for Africa in the Vacuum of Empire w/ James Pogue

In 1891, the French drew the borders of what became Mali. Like many colonial borders, they were arbitrary, absurd to the many nomads who supposedly lived within them. Now climate change is ravaging the Sahel region,