In his long-term artistic project Theatrum Botanicum, Uriel Orlow considers plants as actors on a political stage: protagonists of colonial trade, flower diplomacy, or bio-piracy. As such, they serve as a prism through which environmental colonial history can be re-negotiated. Theatrum Botanicum can be read as an attempt to decolonize both, history and nature. And for decolonizing nature, it is crucial how plants are considered as acting and living beings. If they tell stories about colonialism, how are they brought to speak?

Brit Schulte tends to the (“anti-conclusion”) conclusion of Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s Abolition Geography: Essays Toward Liberation; Shani Strand follows the sonic landscapes of drill and dancehall attuned to the social potentials of “badness”; and Kate Wagner walks—metaphorically and literally—through the possibilities sparked by Socialist Reconstruction.

New Models speaks with Z, founder of the BLACK SOCIALISTS of AMERICA (BSA), an online channel turned IRL organization providing a forum and voice for black American leftists as well as education around the values of socialism (per Marx). In this episode, we discuss the inherent racism of the “American Dream” (i.e., capitalism), the promise of worker co-ops, identity politics’ tactical deficiencies in big stack activism, and how to leverage online traction to effect real world political change. This item is publicly available as part of the Library Stack Public Branch at NN Contemporary Art.

Civilizations at their peak present curious spectacles. They ooze wealth and pride, produce fantastic art and technologies, all while shredding the foundations of their prosperity. Their citizens seem to believe they eclipse mundane restrictions of time and space. The monuments their predecessors have left in Rome, on Easter Island, in Egypt, in Venice, littered like warning beacons elsewhere throughout the world, demonstrate such faith may not match reality. A rock thrown skyward must believe, at the top of its arc, fleetingly, that it is flying. When we admire our great cities, we find it hard to believe that they will ever ...

Liberation theologian Father Paul Butler discusses the radical interpretations of the Christian message.

Jen Pan, former host of the Jacobin Show, joins me to discuss YouTube political messaging, elite activist language and what social democracy can do for art. Stay tuned for her forthcoming book from Verso.

People’s Republic of Walmart co-author Leigh Phillips joins me to discuss eco-austerity, neo-malthusianism, degrowth, socially necessary atmospheric carbon and the ongoing debate around economic planning vs. neoliberalism.

Making Room: Cultural Production in Occupied Spaces is an anthology of texts on art, media and aesthetic practice in the context of squatting, occupation and urban space activism. It includes pieces by activist researchers working between the academy and the movements they write about, as well as journalistic first-person narratives by squatters, original photography, and interviews with artists, theorists and activists involved in struggles over urban space and creative production in the city. Focused primarily on the European context, its international relations and connection, this diverse collection of material is organized into sections by country so as to highlight the ...

Exposing the Emerald Empire (real), conspiracy tiers, Z-bellion, “big-igloo” gang, journo-bait, Hawaiian shirt nationalism, police & protestors on the same side???, CHAZ/CHOP, civil war 2.1, kink-shaming furries, taking the China-pill, flash-in-the-pan activism, anti-moralizer aktion, Adolph Reed vs the DSA, dissident right looking at the anti-woke left.

Use code “JOSH” for Wayfair discount, Posadism (real), Tumblr tactics for the revolution, breadcrumbs in the pipeline, “weak signals”, Dunbar’s number, Harper’s Letter = Socialism, major bans & retroactive hate speech?, Peepee-propertarianism, CIA sabotage, Chomsky is the real red pill + a special guest cameo by Paul Joseph Watson.

the Killstream to Whats Left pipeline?, political refraction, hide your power level, fin-tech-dem-soc, politicization funnels, anarchists deplatformed (RIP), DNC coffin dance, Q&A; glowposting, memes > news, socialism w/o nationalism, monarcho-syndicalism, class spirituality?, Biden/acc, morality vs. scalability, blackpilled again.

Josh recaps: edgy tweets from left-wing media figures, kids in cages with reverse timelines, right-wing influencers in shambles & actually existing in-game socialism.