THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE Mohammed Hassan

When not being overworked as a teacher under consecutive Conservative governments, DaN McKee writes and produces music, creates, and uploads articles to his blog “Philosophy Unleashed” and aims to get the young students in his classroom engaged with critical thinking skills in the hopes that they will be guided out of the metaphorical cave of state propaganda and capitalist realism (and it may have just worked on a couple students if you ask me) but as a political thinker DaN McKee puts forward his arguments for why if we wish to be faithful to the claims of democracy that so many of us make we should look towards anarchist thought to how we should structure our social and political organisations, in his recently released book: Authentic Democracy: An Ethical Justification of Anarchism. And today we discuss his book, anarchist thought, how anarchism can be applied to current affair and what we can do to transform our democratic systems.

Welcome to Propoganda Machine Podcast - the podcast hosted by me - Mohammed Hassan, a "radical" lefty who is very opinionated. Join me for discussion on anything political, philosophical and relevant in the world right now.

Hit me up in a DM to talk about anything you want regarding the podcast or politics:  I

NSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/m0.033/​

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/M0hammedWrld

When not being overworked as a teacher under consecutive Conservative governments, DaN McKee writes and produces music, creates, and uploads articles to his blog “Philosophy Unleashed” and aims to get the young students in his classroom engaged with critical thinking skills in the hopes that they will be guided out of the metaphorical cave of state propaganda and capitalist realism (and it may have just worked on a couple students if you ask me) but as a political thinker DaN McKee puts forward his arguments for why if we wish to be faithful to the claims of democracy that so many of us make we should look towards anarchist thought to how we should structure our social and political organisations, in his recently released book: Authentic Democracy: An Ethical Justification of Anarchism. And today we discuss his book, anarchist thought, how anarchism can be applied to current affair and what we can do to transform our democratic systems.

Welcome to Propoganda Machine Podcast - the podcast hosted by me - Mohammed Hassan, a "radical" lefty who is very opinionated. Join me for discussion on anything political, philosophical and relevant in the world right now.

Hit me up in a DM to talk about anything you want regarding the podcast or politics:  I

NSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/m0.033/​

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/M0hammedWrld

Donald Trump is long gone history, right? He lost the election, got banned off all major social media websites and even Fox News seem to have turned away from him – focusing instead on covid denialism and being, well, Fox News. All the twitter users with blue checkmarks seem to be almost out of work since the task of filling up his comment section with tweets about how terrible he is being null and void now that he is banished to the exiles of his Florida golf courses. The big bad bully is gone once and for all and now everyone can go back to brunch – or maybe not.

Welcome to Propoganda Machine Podcast - the podcast hosted by me - Mohammed Hassan, a "radical" lefty who is very opinionated. Join me for discussion on anything political, philosophical and relevant in the world right now.   Hit me up in a DM to talk about anything you want regarding the podcast or politics:  INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/m0.033/​    TWITTER: https://twitter.com/M0hammedWrld

People my age grew up hearing a very similar story on how to succeed in their own personal lives, you work hard at school, you get into university, you get a degree, you get a job and depending on how hard you worked from ages 5-23 you have basically decided the outcome of your life. Simply put work hard now and reap the rewards of this work later. Yet since I was born in 2003 that means, in the UK alone, I lived through the Iraq War Scandal and the consequences of it, the 2008 financial crisis, Austerity, Brexit, COVID-19 and the 2020 economic crisis. But also, being from Sudan I have witnessed the effects of the Arab Spring and the revolutions across Africa and the middle east, seen dictators be toppled only to be replaced by other dictators. I have also lived through Trump and his tsunami like effect on how politics is not only talked about and taught but also practiced and done. The rise of china and the implications it has on the future of capitalism and our socio-economic reality. I’ve seen people my age become polarised by their lived experiences, becoming raging political activists fighting against the inherently unjust systems or in some cases others turning their back on this liberal agenda that is cancelling everything they enjoyed. We’ve been called lazy and ungrateful but also too idealistic and optimistic yet at the same time we are also sheep lacking the imagination to improve the world without destroying it in the process. We have to think for ourselves stop following what the mainstream tells us while also not being too radical and extreme and think about what the normal ignorant people who we are also a part of because we’re not grown up enough to understand how the world work will think of our divisive rhetoric and postmodern bullshit. In the face of all of this we are forced to act like everything still works while the mask slips and the institutions and authority figures we were once told knew everything crumble in front of us and lose all legitimate claim to power. People my age are stuck in a limbo where politics is everything and nothing, ideology is claimed to be rejected only to be further imbedded into our communities. And in all of this I’m expected to do fucking A-levels, are you fucking kidding me?  

Welcome to Propoganda Machine Podcast - the podcast hosted by me - Mohammed Hassan, a "radical" lefty who is very opinionated. Join me for discussion on anything political, philosophical and relevant in the world right now.   

Hit me up in a DM to talk about anything you want regarding the podcast or politics:  I

NSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/m0.033/​   

 TWITTER: https://twitter.com/M0hammedWrld

Recently, I received a letter of acceptance into one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Not to dwell on that for too long but being where I am from and who I am this meant a lot to me and over the next few days I was overwhelmed by messages of support telling me: how I deserved this, how they knew I could do it, how no one could stop me. Those are fairly typical congratulations but what made me think about them was their referral to “me” to this idea of Hassan that they had all crafted. This may not seem like an incredibly large problem on the surface level but the following question of “who am I?” and “is the same person they’re talking about the same person I think I am?” are incredibly important and personal questions. Now many do not go on a personal quest of introspection once they receive a university offer but then again, this sort of behaviour is probably the reason that I got accepted into the university in the first place. So today we will be exploring something, I think all of us can relate to – identity, what does it mean to be you, or I, or a person. 

Welcome to Propoganda Machine Podcast - the podcast hosted by me - Mohammed Hassan, a "radical" lefty who is very opinionated. Join me for discussion on anything political, philosophical and relevant in the world right now.  

 Hit me up in a DM to talk about anything you want regarding the podcast or politics:  

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/m0.033/​​    

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/M0hammedWrld

In so called “post-industrial” first world countries, we are lauded for our liberal democracy – champions and leaders of the free world, pushing forward the boundaries on political representation and ensuring that all members and citizens of the public can be represented in the political sphere with their voices and decisions having actual political power and force. We aren’t like those barbaric countries, those dictatorships the scary Chinese or the corrupt Russians we (well some of these commentators may not include you or I, depending on, let’s call them, external qualities) have democratic foundations and institutions that uphold the rule of law and the agency of the individual and are founded upon preserving and promoting these values. We have a “democracy” they say. Do we actually? The rise of protests, the mishandling of the pandemic, the economic inequalities becoming more and more entrenched in our societies leading to starving children becoming a norm in the biggest and richest economies in the world and I find myself having to reassess this belief that we have a democracy, in fact it leads one to question what we actually mean when we say we have a “democracy”? So, let’s talk about that today.  Welcome to Propoganda Machine Podcast - the podcast hosted by me - Mohammed Hassan, a "radical" lefty who is very opinionated. Join me for discussion on anything political, philosophical and relevant in the world right now.   Hit me up in a DM to talk about anything you want regarding the podcast or politics:  INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/m0.033/    TWITTER: https://twitter.com/M0hammedWrld