“Fascism is capitalism’s worst mood”: Naomi Klein opens Prospect’s new weekly podcast, Tell Me Why.
Why are we so divided? Who really holds power? And is AI changing what it means to be human? Prospect magazine has launched Tell Me Why, a new weekly podcast bringing together some of the sharpest minds and most original voices to make sense of a world that rarely makes much sense.
In the first episode, Tell Me Why... Fascism has a new face, bestselling authors Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor join presenters Alona Ferber and Imaan Irfan to discuss their new book, End Times Fascism.
From religious zealots and ethnonationalists to Silicon Valley’s tech billionaires, they explore the forces driving what they believe is a new kind of fascism, its obsession with apocalypse and the unlikely alliance between the tech industry and fossil fuel giants.
“Fascism is capitalism’s worst mood. It’s its threat response,” says Klein. “For Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, apocalypse is living within limits.”
Taylor describes an emerging “Armageddon industrial complex”, in which powerful figures profit from the destruction they help fuel.
The second episode, Tell Me Why... AI has killed the author, also released last week, features tech journalist and The Londoner editor Alys Key discussing what artificial intelligence means for fiction, creativity, and the future of writing.
In this week’s latest episode Jess Phillips MP, former Parliamentary Under-secretary of state for Safeguarding and violence against women and girls, joins us to discuss the case of the Cornell 7 and why it could happen in the UK.
New episodes will be released every Thursday, promising big ideas, surprising answers and conversations worth having.
Editors’ Notes
Tell Me Why… the team behind the microphones
Alona Ferber, co-host: I have always wondered why people vote for leaders who do things against the best interests of voters, and why writing seems so mystical. As a generalist who believes that there is no such thing as boring, I have spent my career unpicking politics, feminism, conflict and extremism and am now senior editor at Prospect.
Imaan Irfan, co-host: I wonder why protest law has taken an illiberal turn, why our attention spans have shrunk, and why we can’t have historically accurate Jane Austen adaptations anymore. I have covered Gaza, Sudan and the populist right, and think the interesting stuff is usually in what gets left out. A perfectionist who believes plenty of things are boring, I am an assistant editor at Prospect.
Tell Me Why is produced by Ellie Jay.
Listen now:
Tell Me Why... Fascism has a new face
Read the Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor interview
Tell Me Why... AI has killed the author
For information email: jo.murray@prospectmagazine.co.uk
