Do Your Own Research: How Private Equity Bought the World w/ Hettie O’Brien

Do Your Own Research: How Private Equity Bought the World w/ Hettie O’Brien

Secret backrooms where deals are done in private: the realm of conspiracy theories? Or an increasingly large part of capitalism? Since the financial crisis, some of the big winners have been private equity firms. They’ve snapped up bargains on everything from high street brands, to care homes and nurseries – and maybe even the house you own. Hettie O’Brien is a journalist for The Guardian and the author of The Asset Class: How Private Equity Turned Capitalism Against Itself. She spoke to Richard Hames about private equity’s secret influence over the ways we are all born, work, and die – and what it all has to do with the rise of the far right.   See the full Do Your Own Research map here: https://novaramedia.com/category/video/do-your-own-research/ [https://novaramedia.com/category/video/do-your-own-research/] Music by Iglooghost.

Downstream: ‘They Want Racial Holy War’ – The Truth About the US Military w/ Matt Kennard

The War on Terror ended in 2021, with the US and British militaries’ catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan. But the consequences of that decade of conflict in the Middle East continue to play out both overseas and at home. On Downstream this week, Aaron Bastani sits down with investigative journalist and author Matt Kennard, to discuss the updated findings in his book Irregular Army: How the US Military Recruited Neo-Nazis, Gang Members, and Criminals. Matt is the founder of Declassified UK, and an expert on the US and British war machines. What happened to the US military when recruitment standards were abandoned, in the early 2000s? What do Pete Hegseth’s tattoos tell us about his fanatical far-right beliefs? How did such a person rise to become Secretary of War (formerly Defense)? What do the Trump administrations’ actions in the Middle East tell us about the status of the US empire? And how has the US government been captured by Netanyahu, in his pursuit of a so-called Greater Israel?

Do Your Own Research: Israel Is Literally Burying Evidence of Its Genocide w/ Eyal Weizman

The so-called ceasefire in Gaza has not ended the genocide. The bombing runs may be quieter, but the bulldozers roar on. Israel is tearing up homes, orchards, schools and hospitals, then flattening the rubble to erase the memory that Palestinian life was ever there. To understand this architecture of death, Richard Hames spoke to Eyal Weizman, author of Ungrounding: The Architecture of Genocide and founder of Forensic Architecture. His team builds meticulous 3D reconstructions from the scattered traces of an event – phone footage, survivor testimony, documented shrapnel – to prove what really happened, even when states want it covered up. Their work is rigorous enough to have been submitted in South Africa’s case against Israel at the ICJ. Get the map here: https://novaramedia.com/category/video/do-your-own-research/ [https://novaramedia.com/category/video/do-your-own-research/] Music by Iglooghost.

Downstream: AI Billionaires Want to Control Every Aspect of Your Life w/ Karen Hao

It has been a year since Aaron Bastani first met with AI investigative journalist Karen Hao, to discuss her book Empire of AI.  A year is a long time, in the fastest growing sector on the planet. To bring us up to date, Aaron and Karen sat down again to discuss the major shifts in the empire – and their impacts on us all.  Billions of people now use, AI as it has become more integrated into our lives, from chatbots, Google searches, predictive text, and beyond. At the same time, there has been a groundswell of fear and even anger about the arrival of the most disruptive technology of the 21st century: its impact on jobs, its use of resources, and the reckless behaviour of its billionaire founders. What have been the changes at the top of the major AI companies: OpenAI, Google, xAI and Anthropic? As Elon Musk approaches trillionaire status, how is he making this much money? What impact is the rollout of AI at such speed and scale having on the economy? What forms of resistance to this form of AI are emerging?  And why are billionaires all choosing to build their bunkers in New Zealand?

ACFM Microdose: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

The ACFM crew gather for a close reading of Walter Benjamin’s foundational contribution to 20th century cultural and media theory. Download the short text [https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm] and follow along as Nadia, Keir and Jem consider The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, published in 1935. Sign up to the ACFM newsletter: https://novaramedia.com/newsletters Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support