Keeping tabs on left/alternative news media

[charlie mowbray]

Craig Gent was a member of the Anarchist Federation back in the day.

 

[Jeff Robinson]

Tbf, Bastani is frequently shit, and anyone who uses "cope" as a noun or adjective or whatever he's doing there is very annoying and clearly suffering from internet poisoning, but I dunno if the substance of what he's saying is that objectionable. Mao did achieve things and continues to enjoy quite a big rep in China as a result of his achievements. I don't think that means you have to be a Maoist, far from it, but you can oppose Mao/ism while also recognising that it did have real achievements.

I disagree. For one Maoism is charactised overwhelmingly by failure, not success, even on its own terms. Great Leap Forward was meant to revolutionise agriculture, it led to one of the worst famines in history. Cultural Revolution was meant to stop capitalist roaders, but they took power as soon as Mao died. The efforts to spread Maoism around the world were a spectacular failure, including the genocide in Cambodia. He was successful in building a chaotic, violent totalitarian state that slaughtered millions I guess.

Second Bastini has form on China, he’s constantly banging on about the great achievements of the CCP. When you observe that someone is ‘revered’ for their ‘achievements’, you’re not merely reporting a historical fact, there’s a background endorsement there. Like if some rightwing politician said Mussolini is revered in Italy for his historic achievements, it’s clear there’s a level of endorsement there. Ditto with Bastani.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

I think the Mao stuff is complicated by the fact that he's defending Diane Abbott saying it.

Which is complicated by the fact that she is one of the most attacked figures in British life - by racists.

Which is complicated by the fact that she regularly says stupid shit like that.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

I must confess to having worn a Maoist t-shirt myself, for full transparency.

It was a pisstakey one (a big black cat drawn like a Maoist propaganda poster which said Chairman Meow) which was given to me as a present.

I did get some odd looks from people when I wore it (yes yes, even more than usual, etc etc). So I stopped.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

There used to be a Chairman Meow on here iirc. Or similar.

 

[lazythursday]

I remember finding the Long March pretty inspiring when I was taught about it at school as a teenager. And Jiang Qing seemed well cool but I fear I may have got the wrong end of the stick about the rights and wrongs of the cultural revolution.

 

[Jeff Robinson]

Tbf, Bastani is frequently shit, and anyone who uses "cope" as a noun or adjective or whatever he's doing there is very annoying and clearly suffering from internet poisoning,

On this we agree. Imagine using a word like 'Chad' and talking about how much someone can 'bench' in the same tweet, I bet he thinks he's lord of the internet.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

It’s always fun to be lectured on work ethic by a posh boy.

 

[Silas Loom]

Steve Topple keeps writing articles about ME/CFS on the Canary which get lots of traction with the angrier activists in a community whose many and eminently justified grievances occasionally lapse into conspiracy theory.

Even if I was of the left, I would have zero time for Mendoza’s clickbait project. And Topple is a dreadful twat, who doubled down on his support for PeaceData long after it was exposed as a Russian disinformation operation, and who wrote some revoltingly antisemitic stuff which he later blamed on being overly online.

So it’s deeply embarrassing to see my chronic illness community sharing his diatribes against our common foes. It does us no good at all with the policy makers we need to influence to have Topple as a spokesman.

I really hope that his partner, who has ME/CFS, either gets better or leaves him, so that he loses interest and can return to ranting about capitalism and the Mendoza betrayal and the rootless cosmopolitans.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Also according to his Linkedin profile Craig Gent has been with Novara since 2013 in various roles as well as various academic things.

So I don't know if his new role represents the org expanding or not.

 

[8ball]

On this we agree. Imagine using a word like 'Chad' and talking about how much someone can 'bench' in the same tweet, I bet he thinks he's lord of the internet.

He’s been talking to the naughty big boys sat at the back.

 

[Brainaddict]

One thing I will say in their favour though - none of them went turncoat (as of yet). That's not nothing given the temptation will have been there, especially for reasonably well-performing media faces like Bastani and Sarkar. Sticking with a media project when it's past the Sexy New Thing phase involves graft and they have stuck with it.

I don't see signs of Sarkar turning, but Bastani's weakness is he seems to see himself as a populist, so he's always trying to say things he thinks will appeal to conservative people and find common cause with the right wing people he interviews from time to time. I think this idea of populism he has could make him stray fairly far from even his mild social democracy, given the right conditions and opportunities. We shall see.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

don't see signs of Sarkar turning, but Bastani's weakness is he seems to see himself as a populist, so he's always trying to say things he thinks will appeal to conservative people and find common cause with the right wing people he interviews from time to time.

Christ, that’s appalling. Just imagine trying to engage people with different views in the hope of winning them over to yours.

 

[Rob Ray]

Constantly being aggy towards people you disagree with has its downsides, certainly.

But there's a difference between engagement and indulgence.

 

[Brainaddict]

Christ, that’s appalling. Just imagine trying to engage people with different views in the hope of winning them over to yours.

I should be more specific then. It's possible to find common cause with lots of people on things not being right as they are, it's dangerous to try to find common cause with the right wing on solutions to that problem.

 

[chilango]

Bastani is definitely cosying up to people on the Right, but only those he seems to 'respect'. Career move? Ego? Pragmatism?

Who knows, doesn't really matter the trajectory is well established. He'll be a mildly interesting to watch on tv middle-aged ex-leftie in no time.and it won't make a jot of difference to anything.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

and it won't make a jot of difference to anything.

The sound of the nail being hit on the head.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

I should be more specific then. It's possible to find common cause with lots of people on things not being right as they are, it's dangerous to try to find common cause with the right wing on solutions to that problem.

Definitely

 

[yield]

Credit to Gary Stevenson who so far at least seems to have an unblemished record on analysis and prediction regarding UK economy at least

Gary's good, thanks for the recommendation. This one is just over 4 minutes.

 

[Dom Traynor]

Anyhow I think with each and every economic commentator it needs taking with salt, seems to me it's more an art than science, doesn't mean people don't have interesting things to say... It's more the tone of certainty that winds me up a bit.


economics too hard for my brain, very little sticks. I still don't understand basics, like what is money, gold standard, all that stuff. Maybe one day

I manage a small team of economists and when they agree completely with each other on what the next year has in store I get suspicious. It's definitely not a science and nor would they claim that. Having said that as left wing economists they have got more right than wrong over the last few years. As has Meadway actually I rate his work and agree with others that his view then and now is not necessarily contradictory with his view now.

 

[Jeff Robinson]

Darren Bacardi now a regular commentator on GB News it seems. I can see him gradually morphing into a rightwing commentator but he's currently facing a backlash on twitter from moronic leftists for not supporting the October 7 massacre. Murdering jewish civilians Zionist occupiers seems to be quite a popular position on the dogshit left atm.

 

[Jeff Robinson]

Bastani really pisses me off. Why is this 'geniunely funny'? Guarantee he'll be a rightwing populist hack in the next 3-5 years

 

[chilango]

In (sort of) fairness to Bastani I think his politics are just adapting to his social position. A middle-aged, middle-class family man looking for a longer term gig as a sensible intellectual talking head. I don't think there's a dramatic populist lurch in store more a gradual decline into Times columnist and panel show guest.

 

[Serge Forward]

It's sort of a bit funny... when you realise there's a fuckton of country songs which all mention "a good ol' Chevy, an ice cold beer and the King James Bible". It's also, weird, sad and scary.

 

[LDC]

In (sort of) fairness to Bastani I think his politics are just adapting to his social position. A middle-aged, middle-class family man looking for a longer term gig as a sensible intellectual talking head. I don't think there's a dramatic populist lurch in store more a gradual decline into Times columnist and panel show guest.

Funny you should say that... for my sins I watched a Triggernometry debate on immigration between Bastani & Polly Toynbee and Konstantin Kisin & Matthew Goodwin from a few days ago. During it either Goodwin or Kisin quipped Bastani is sensible and right wing now (or something similar). Oh I did laugh....

TBF he was not too bad in some ways, at least he had some OK points (if somewhat mildly progressive, isn't he supposed to be some kind of communist radical?). Toynbee was fucking an embarassment, she came across as both stupid and completely isolated from anything that wasn't some Guardian readers circle jerk.

Novara do publish some right shit though, I imagine partly as some kind of commercial reaction to their growing 'success' and the need to constantly produce things for the clicks.

 

[The39thStep]

Funny you should say that... for my sins I watched a Triggernometry debate on immigration between Bastani & Polly Toynbee and Konstantin Kisin & Matthew Goodwin from a few days ago. During it either Goodwin or Kisin quipped Bastani is sensible and right wing now (or something similar). Oh I did laugh....

TBF he was not too bad in some ways, at least he had some OK points (if somewhat mildly progressive, isn't he supposed to be some kind of communist radical?). Toynbee was fucking an embarassment, she came across as both stupid and completely isolated from anything that wasn't some Guardian readers circle jerk.

Novara do publish some right shit though, I imagine partly as some kind of commercial reaction to their growing 'success' and the need to constantly produce things for the clicks.

Bastani some kind of communist radical?

 

[hitmouse]

Tbf, of all the things you can slag Bastani off for, saying that Trump flogging special Trump bibles is genuinely funny seems pretty inoffensive.

 

[hitmouse]

OTOH, I just had a look at Novara to see what they're up to, and:

No thanks, I think I'm alright there. (And, of course, Hitchens himself does have a fair claim to have been a communist radical at one point in his career.)

 

[LDC]

Bastani some kind of communist radical?

View attachment 417522

Think he would have said he was pretty recently. But he's done the quickest slide across the political spectrum ever. Greased by his ego and ambition to be a Paul Mason for the ketamine generation.

 

[The39thStep]

He's done the quickest slide across the political spectrum ever. Greased by his ego and ambition to be a Paul Mason for the ketamine generation.

Always thought he was just part of that enthusiastic but no movement behind him lot who helped promote Corbyn tbh . Think chilango got it right .

Mason is far more destructive and disruptive imo.