Sicko Mode ☭

The second dose of our festive offerings is a new years episode 💉

Siyang & Joe talk about the lows and highs of 2020 - the villains and heroes -  and what the left should be doing in 2021☭

And at the end of our episode we hear from some fans and guests as they tell us about their communist new years resolutions

Respect xx

Merry crimbles from the plague colony  :p

Siyang and I did one of our random last minute episodes, lots of gold in here. 

We have a feelings check, talk about air raid shelters, corona, capitalism and the dialectics of Christmas.  

I drank way too much coffee beforehand and go on several tangents. 

We talked with our new friend & comrade Jack (@_jackhy) about ACORN Manchester & ACORN Liverpool.

Jack is the newly elected communications officer for ACORN Liverpool (and Siyang is a big fan of his tweets)

This episode kind of functions as our introduction to ACORN.

Towards the end we talk about the red specter of the Northern republic; the peoples commissar Andy Burnham; 

& anti-maskism and the severely legitimate distrust of the government in Liverpool.

Enjoy worm that's an order. 

Stay safe, eat out, communize the world 2020 peace

Joe-ker xx

We sat down for interview with 'the don' Edmund Hardy, to discuss global capitalism, marxist economics, and the unfolding Corona-crash. 

In the intro we chit chat about everyone favourites app Next Door. 

Around 31:07 is the interview if you wanna skip the ice cream and move straight to the brain food. 

Lot's of fireworks were going off in and around Edmunds house during the interview, which adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the mix. 

Siyang and I did a long form interview with Vik ChechI-Ribeiro, about his latest article in Tribune:  

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2020/09/how-teachers-organised-in-a-pandemic. 

Defo read the article then have a listen, as both article and podcast cover really useful stuff: like the new trade unionism,  and organising to win in workplaces like schools. 

The interview starts around 11:36 if you wanna skip there and avoid our corona chat intro, although we do discuss rick-rolling (it's back baby and it's still good awooooooo).

Also we did have some audio issues - no I won't explain them - and no I won't apologize. We do this for free out of love, and a lack of alternatives - sicko mode inc. was not built on trust, but on revulsion. If you experience any audio discomfit that's part and parcel my friend. 

Stella della Rossa joins us to talk being a sabbatical officer - at a now deceased institution - and we chat students political generally.  

Siyang and Joey are in isolation due to an outbreak in their Cambridge lighthouse. 

They apply their vulgar marxism and cynical delirium to the present state of things. 

There is a lengthy discussion of work and organsing in the education sector,  and a reasonable bit of banter. 

Peace xx

Schools in the UK never closed - as educators have been running them  for the children of key workers and others - but now the government is trying rush schools into resuming a full service, against the advice of SAGE, NEU, BMA, and many others. We caught up with NEU organiser Ellie for an emergency mini-sode, to find out what's going on. 

We were blessed to have Vijay Prashad join us for a long-form interview. 

Siyang, Joe and Miriam indulge in a little stan culture of dear Mr Lenin, whilst avoiding a full hagiography.  

Join as we try to understand the 2020 oil crisis, with our chief economist Edmund Hardy, and chief ecologist Chris Saltmarsh.

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2020/04/do-not-resuscitate-the-oil-industry

Just as David Bowie did some of his greatest work in Berlin, this is our groundbreaking New York episode - with our special guest star US class war correspondent Jihye. We talk about what’s going down in New York - analyse how it got to be the pandemic ridden neoliberal metropolitan capital of the world - and repeatedly allude to the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal.

Siyang and I read the Labour leak so you don't have to; we share some of the salacious details - and some analysis. 

For how much longer will the Labour party be our political horizon? 

Quarantine film recommendation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_the_President%27s_Men_(film) 

Outro music:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5UU2TxOcZs 

Siyang and Joe discuss the coronavirus and the communist hypothesis.