On the Rack

Samantha Asumadu

Culture, Politics and Everything in Between samanthaasumadu.substack.com

  1. 24/10/2025

    Make Britain Great Again

    On The Rack this week I have thought leader, educator, and consultant, Lee Jasper. He was an advisor in government to five consecutive Home Secretaries up until 2010, the Senior Political Advisor to former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone for eight years (2000-2008) and is the co-founder of Operation Black Vote. He is a veteran racial justice campaigner and strategist who I first met fourteen years ago. You can also listen to this episode on Spotify, YouTube and Apple Podcasts In our conversation we discussed his role as the current chair of the Alliance of Police Accountability (APA), the rise of far-right movements in the UK, the role of religion in social movements, and the decline of traditional neoliberal politics. We got a bit heated about the current state of trade unions, which Lee believes have retreated from their social mandate and are beholden to the Labour Party who themselves are corporately captured. We went on to talk about the "Unite the Kingdom" rally that attracted 150,000-200,000 people last month. During the rally, Lee, as part of his work at APA was coordinating community groups from a high vantage point in central London, monitoring and surveilling the march to both prevent any outbreak of violence and warn if the march seemed to be veering towards other areas such as Tower Hamlets. Does the rise of the far right demand a need for increased counter-protest participation, especially from white people? We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. — Ursula K. Le Guin We discussed the historical context of the Union Jack being corrupted by the extreme right and the visceral reaction it evokes among certain communities. Lee told me about the three reports into the Met Police that the Mayor and the commissioner have tried to bury. Both before and since the BBC Panorama documentary, Undercover in the Police exposed evidence of racism, misogyny and officers revelling in the use of force in Charing Cross Police station. The reports all address the fundamental weaknesses in the architecture of police accountability in London. And a breakdown of moral authority from top to bottom. They've got an infinite capacity. You're talking about 143,000 employees. A £4.2 billion budget. We're not talking about an organisation. We're talking about an empire. It's got its research department to undermine your staff. It's got a press department to get out the propaganda. It's got a legal department to challenge you over there. It's got this specialiam and that specialism, and they use it in such a way as an empire would, in order to defend what they see as the ideological core and heart of the Metropolitan Police service. Which is nobody tells us what to do. We're not giving up the streets. We search who the hell we like. We do what we want." — Lee Jasper, Chair of the Alliance for Police Accountability We started with Jamaica, Lee's motherland, their economic ties with the U.S., it’s wealth distribution, and the impact of climate change on rural farmers. And we ended as always with a round of Mad Geniuses! Lee has dedicated his life to advancing social justice, equity, and community empowerment and the mad geniuses he chose tells you why. You can find the Alliance for Police Accountability on Instagram here. Follow and read Lee’s articles on Substack here And find out more about his consultancy work here. Have a good weekend! I'll hopefully be back with another On the Rack episode soon. In the meantime if you haven’t read them already, check out some of my favourite articles from last year (I won’t be writing anymore anytime soon): I Want to be the Villain The Guilty Men (and Women) Why I’ll Never Write Off The White Working Class, Even Those Who Are Racist On Violence and The Wretched of the Earth Zack Polanski Sees All Sally Rooney Has Paid Her Rent The Journalism Paradox: Class origins and proximity to power 🎧 Jazz’s Favourite Son | Plurality and Dissonance with Alex Hitchcock This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samanthaasumadu.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 17m

  2. 12/07/2025

    Jazz's Favourite Son

    You can subscribe to On the Rack via Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube. Alex Hitchcock is a New York based, London born, leading voice on the saxophone and distinctive improviser on the international stage. He has been described by The Guardian as a ‘virtuoso’ saxophonist, and his innovative collaborations have confirmed his growing reputation as an instigator and catalyst for captivating musical encounters that continually push the envelope a little further. According to — BBC Jazz World he has, “Ridiculous technique and harmonic proficiency combined with progressive creativity that sees him leading the charge in terms of new jazz music being created in the UK.” I got all that from the Ronnie Scott’s website where he'll be playing on the 2nd October. In the episode we chatted about, Nickel Boys (2024) directed by RaMell Ross Set primarily in the early 1960s, “Nickel Boys” chronicles Elwood (Ethan Herisse), a wide-eyed Black teenager whose dreams of college and civic progress collide headfirst with the brutal reality of Jim Crow Florida. Pattern recognition, you kind of don't realise what an important skill that is until you get a bit older, and you maybe don't realise the way you've always been doing it, but haven't quite realised how you've been doing it. And I think you want to, in both, literal and abstract ways, be able to draw those connections across, whether you're a musician and you're doing it across different art forms or you're doing that thing of hearing the music in boxing or whatever. – Alex Hitchcock It was a pleasure having Alex featured on the new era of my newly named podcast, On The Rack. Here’s all the tracks you heard in the episode: (unless otherwise indicated they are all either composed and/or performed by Alex) Rio - London Live Cakeism (Alternative) London Live Be Less, Reflex - JSPHYNX Gowns of Dark, Stay Now, Joe Lyssarides Don't Wait too Long, In the Same Moon, Same World, Ant Law, Alex Hitchcock Ray's Ideas - Kirk Lightsey Caprice 24, Niccolò Paganini, Hilary Hahn Brocken (Intro) London Live Gertrude 'Ma' Rainey - Prove It On Me Blues TJG 30th Anniversary Series, Tyshawn Sorey Folk Devils, AuB, Tom Barford, Alex Hitchcock Upcoming gigs 13th July, Colchester Arts Centre 14th July, Pizza Express Jazz Club Soho 17th July, Ant Law & Alex Hitchcock, 606 Club 18th July, Ant Law & Alex Hitchcock, Jamboree Jazz, Barcelona, Spain Keep informed of his gigs via his website here Catch Up with the last episode with Gareth Dennis: Have a read of last week's newsletter, FREE THE GRANDEM! about the proscriptionof Palestine Action and erosions of our civil liberties and freedom of expression here and On Violence and the Wretched of the Earth. I think it’s the best and most urgent thing I wrote last year. Consider booking me for a campaigning journalism talk or workshop, details and photos here. I can only justify writing this newsletter and publishing this podcast because of my paying subscribers 🙏🏿 If you haven’t already please consider subscribing or even better drop some cash in my paypal. Have a great weekend! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samanthaasumadu.substack.com/subscribe

    54 min

  3. 07/02/2025

    Ethics, Engineering and Star Wars with Gareth Dennis

    It's the first Chat S**t Get Banged of 2025 and I was delighted to invite Gareth Dennis on the show! Gareth is the author of How Railways Will Fix the Future, published by Repeater Books. In a review of the book, Steve Dawe writing for West England Bylines said, Gareth Dennis uses current, historical, and global contexts to chart how the railways can assist in the climate emergency and social justice. Despite 29 global conferences on the climate, and thousands of illustrative academic papers, climate policy failures remain. As Gareth Dennis observes in this book, a third of global end-use emissions are from transport. As a step away from the climate emergency, he offers a railway renaissance focussed on this country particularly, with emphasis on public ownership. Many observations also reference what he calls “private individualised transport” as part of the wider pattern of inequalities and pollution in our society. He attempts to quote “describe how railways fit into the future, but also how they can act as a lens through which to filter and understand what future we want to see, allowing us to think clearly about our relationship with organised labour, with technology and with democratic principles.” Gareth is an engineer and writer, specialising in transport systems and policy. As well as his day job as a railway design engineer, he is a writer for the railway and national press and regularly appears on television and radio explaining engineering and transport ideas to a broad audience. He is a lecturer in rail infrastructure, safety and sustainability and presents a weekly video podcast called #Railnatter on YouTube that I highly recommend. He points out that only half of the 20% of households with the lowest income in the UK have access to a car. He argues dealing with car dependence is part of reducing poverty, pollution, and inequality. This was a satisfyingly *wide-ranging talk, that not only covered engineering but politics, music, film, the big ideas and the small too. There's some bombshells and some fighting talk 💪🏿 Gareth is convinced and cited evdence that engineering has contributed more to the world than medicine. I feel that needs an octagon, a referee and a bell to sort out. During the interview, my longest so far at 90 minutes, there is a reference to the hashtag #RailwaysExplained and slavery. Further reading by Gareth here: Slavery and the Railways, Part 1: Acknowledging the Past and here's the full quote from the 2020 thread I read out, Last night's #RailNatter, we talked about #BlackLivesMatter and how it is crucial to keep up the pressure and for all of us to learn about our colonial past. Here's a really important #RailwaysExplained about how Britain's railways only really exist as a legacy of slavery…Back in 1833, the UK government abolished slavery and decided to compensate former slave owners - not the people who had been held as slaves - to the tune of £20m… That's more than £19bn in today's money, and represented 40% of the government's budget at the time. Around half the money stayed in the UK despite only 3000 of the 47000 compensated slave owners living here, meaning that very wealthy individuals received huge payouts. People like George Hibbert and John Gladstone received the 1833 equivalent of tens of millions of pounds each. Former slave owners needed somewhere to invest this money, and the embryonic but exciting new technology of railways seemed like a solid bet… Lines like the Liverpool and Manchester and the Great Western Railway were substantially funded using their compensation. *A Cargo Cult: Its use as a metaphor (in the sense of engaging in ritual action to obtain material goods) based on stereotypes of cargo cultists as "primitive and confused people who use irrational means to pursue rational ends. Typically (but not universally) cargo cults included: charismatic prophet figures foretelling an imminent cataclysm and/or a coming utopia for followers—a worldview known as millenarianism; predictions by these prophets of the return of dead ancestors bringing an abundance of food and goods (the "cargo"),  typically including a bounty of Western goods or money, rooted in pre-existing aspects of Melanesian society, as a reaction to colonial oppression and inequality disrupting traditional village life, or both. Chat S**t Get Banged is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and probably other places I am unaware of. Become a paying subscriber to get access to exclusive episodes coming up this year. Or even better drop some cash in my PayPal and I'll hook you up! Have a great weekend. Til next time. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samanthaasumadu.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 30m

  4. 07/11/2024

    Presenting Yung Yusuf... Palestine has a new Poet

    Yung Yusuf is a Palestinian-English rapper making music to fuel a revolution. His lyrics are marked by a deep exploration of fear, identity, and vulnerability, while his animated wordplay and unique energy keep listeners on their toes. I wrote about Yung Yusuf back in September, in my most read newsletter to date 'KNEECAPPED’ Friday night I met Lowkey's son. He isn't his son of course, too close in age but could perhaps be his nephew, son of an older sister perhaps. Before I left, I went over to Yusuf who had just done the electrifying set where he sang something I hadn't ever heard in the heart of Babylon. Free Free Palestine His howls of "Free Free Palestine" were a scream of righteousness that reverberated throughout the high ceilings and old stone walls of St Martin in the Fields crypt. His set was electric, the crowd varied from apathetic to ecstatic. He and his dance partner descended into the crowds at one moment, masks on feeding each other to do a delicate dance Perfectly in tune with one another.. Righteous rap plus liquid break-dance but with one eye masked. One black, one white. I limped to the merchant table to find out if he had ever listened to Soundtrack to the Struggle. Yusuf said, “Of course. I supported Lowkey some time back but I didn't really know my own my identity back then.” I asked if he was Palestinian He said yes. I said, okay because people think Lowkey is Palestinian but he's actually Iraqi. I honestly don't know how many people know that. So I was eager to interview him, which I did on Sunday. One day after I went to see Lowkey perform at the Jazz cafe… Recorded at Cafe Oto in Dalston Listen to all episodes here This episode has LOTS of music in it. (Please excuse my croaky voice. I'm sick!) In order: Martyr - A.Rob Hand on Your Gun - Lowkey Live at Jazz Cafe Al Kufiyyeh - Shadia Mansour Ft M1 from DEAD PREZ Move on - Yung Yusuf Dance with the Devil - Immortal Technique Burbank - Yung Yusuf Zionist Agenda - Genocide * You can find Yung Yusuf's music on Spotify. * Pre save his new album SOLARIS here. * Follow him on Instagram and see him perform at the Plant Food x Yung Yusuf: Double Album launch on FRIDAY 15TH NOVEMBER at The Jago in East London * Yusuf's next rap workshop is in December. Details here * Find out more about Camden Friends of Palestine * CADFA (Camden Abu Dis) Charity promoting human rights in Palestine * Cafe Palestina As mentioned this is my last podcast at least for this year. If you want me to continue, drop some money in my PayPal so I can pay myself a wage. Or to browse my archives and read three chapters of my book which are now behind a paywall, become a paying subscriber! p.s WHEN THE WAR IS OVER by Anonymous I once saw the deer.They were all wearing blue scarves.We have finally finishedKilling everything.We are now looking ahead But have killed past the future. We own are own narratives. Go forth and write them. ~ Little Samz out This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samanthaasumadu.substack.com/subscribe

    53 min

  5. 18/10/2024

    From Palestine to Middlesbrough: What is Art for with Daniel York Loh

    Listen to episode four on any platform here. In 2018 I was also lucky enough to see see  playwright Daniel York Loh’s #Forgotten遗忘 . It was well crafted. Intelligent. Necessary. In fact to envision and then produce a story with the sweeping width and breadth of #Forgotten遗忘 takes massive brain power and tenacity. The Stage introduced their rave review thus, ‘Daniel York Loh’s study of the 140,000 Chinese Labour Corps who worked tirelessly for Britain during the First World War is a rhythmic and expansive piece of theatre which showcases the best of (often underestimated) British East Asian talent.’ I’ve known Daniel for his comment pieces on Theatre and TV  which I commissioned, for years as Editor in Chief of Media Diversified. That was fire enough, his playwriting however astounded me. Well done to the  Arcola theatre also for having the vision to program it. Not a single weak link amongst the cast. In fact if the British acting industry were fairer they would all be household names. I want to see this as a 3 part BBC One TV series. It could be our generation’s version of War and Peace or Parade’s End but without the raging b***h played by Rebecca Hall and the stoic piece of cheese that is Benedict Cumberbatch’s character. When talking to Daniel recently about what seemed to me to be a burgeoning movement of creatives of colour without fear or favour he said to me: “I saw Misty earlier this year and was completely inspired and emboldened by it. It fired me to take what I was doing with #Forgotten遗忘 even further. I love what diverse theatre makers are doing with London theatre at the moment. I’ve never known it so vibrant, urgent and exciting’ and everything fell in to place. Indeed both #Forgotten遗忘 and Misty utilised magical realism in a way I have never seen on stage. Excerpt from Creatives of Colour are the Fela Kutis of Our Time DANIEL YORK LOH is — a writer, performer, filmmaker and musician of mixed Singaporean British heritage. His dramatic writing has been performed at the Arcola, Royal Court, Plymouth Theatre Royal, Ovalhouse and Soho Theatre. His first stage-play, The Fu Manchu Complex was produced at Ovalhouse. His second play, Forgotten 遗忘, was staged at Arcola and Plymouth Theatre Royal in 2018. He is one of 21 ‘writers of colour’ featured in the best-selling essay collection The Good Immigrant. He has performed at most of Britain’s leading theatres – including the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre and in the West End - as well as extensively in Singapore. His short films have played in festivals worldwide and is currently Associate Artistic Director at Kakilang with whom he co-created and performed the award-winning every dollar is a soldier/with money you’re a dragon. He is a founder member of BEATS (British East & Southeast Asian in Theatre and on Screen) and has served on Equity’s Race Equality Committee as Chair and Vice Chair. He is one-third of the alt-folk punk trio Wondermare. And just finished filming a TV series with Sheridan Smith due to air in 2025. We met at a protest convened by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign outside the courts of Justice today to protest Barclays banks acquisition of Tesco Bank. And raise our voices against the ongoing Genocide in Palestine. Writing for Media Diversified Abu Bakr Hussain analysed the past 12 months of atrocities commited by Israel and said the following about what's coming next... Gaza is now effectively uninhabitable. A report 6 months ago from the UN stated over 70% of all housing in Gaza is already destroyed or damaged. This percentage will now be undoubtedly higher. There are over 40 million tonnes of rubble in Gaza. The work to remove this will likely take decades, complicated by the fact that much of this rubble will contain human remains.  Compounded with un-exploded ordnance and the carnage left behind by total war, the landscape of Gaza should be better thought of as the battlefields of the First World War known as ‘zone rouge’ which to this day remain largely uninhabited.  Mass graves (120 so far recorded) are abundant in Gaza. This is an incontrovertible fact which the world is pretending not to notice. In addition there are an untold number of bodies held inside Israel itself. Sde Teiman detention facility for example has 1,500 known bodies, with autopsies not carried out.  Our estimates such as one from Lancet estimating perhaps 186,000 deaths are only hazy at present and hence deniable. Real substantive investigation will have to be carried out to ascertain the final death tolls.  There has been no real state-level intervention against Israel at the time of writing. Even Iran, which has launched missiles against Israel, deliberately launched them as a deterrent with well-telegraphed salvos that were limited in scope. Arab and Muslim countries which had been presumed to be natural allies of Palestinians have stayed largely on the sidelines. There has been some performative issuing of communiques, but no boots on the ground or intervention as yet. Paradoxically, this poses an issue for Israel. If it does not escalate, the war will eventually come to a natural conclusion and Israel will face a reckoning for its actions and there will be a reconfiguration of the world. He warns we should fear any other outcome.  This is episode 4 of the 8 part season. Go hear to listen to the show on any platform you usually use. P.S I know there is going to be some non-black women and/or middle class women who try to take my experiences and use them as their own. Trust me, I will hunt you down if you do and you will catch these hands. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samanthaasumadu.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 6m

  6. 08/10/2024

    Investigative Journalist and Private Members’ Clubs Expert

    This week I sat down with Dr. Seth Alexander Thévoz, a political, cultural and social historian of 19th and 20th century Europe and empires, specialising in the history of private members’ clubs, and the history of corruption. He's also an award winning investigative journalist. Catch up with all episodes here. We intended to meet at the British Film Institute in St Stephen's Street, as I was a former member there and know it's quiet. It was closed. So we headed to The Mandrake. It was expensive. We ended up in the Bricklayers Arms on Gresse Street, just off Charlotte's Street which is off Oxford Street. An old haunt for both of us. We had a great chat about Private Members’ clubs from the 1800s til today including the merits of Soho House and Groucho Club, which Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, and associate editor of The Spectator was kicked out of for telling tales. Plus the benefits or not of belonging to members owned clubs or corporate enterprises. We then veered into our work as investigative journalists, the upcoming British Journalism Awards, the Paul Foot Awards where we first met in 2022, the film and book version of WHITE MISCHIEF. (I've watched, he's read) and finally mad geniuses. Seth holds degrees from the Universities of Cambridge, London and Warwick, and is a former research associate of the History of Parliament Trust and Nuffield College, Oxford. His research has focused on two distinct strands - the history of clubs (particularly their global dimension, including their post-colonial legacy) and sociability more generally; and the history of corruption. He worked as a researcher in the House of Commons (2006-7). He was the Librarian of the National Liberal Club for 10 years. And has also been known to contribute to Private Eye in some capacity or another, allegedly! He has a book out now called Behind Closed Doors: The Secret Life of London’s Private Members’ Clubs (London: Robinson/Little, Brown, 2022; updated paperback edition, 2024 and coming next year… London Clubland: A Companion for the Curious (London: Robinson/Little, Brown, forthcoming 2025). Plus his own newsletter Clubland, which you can find at Substack which you should all check out and subscribe to! Seth's MA in Modern History was completed at King’s College, London (2008-9). He won the Jinty Nelson Prize in History for his dissertation, which was on Winston Churchill’s 1922 election defeat at Dundee, and its ramifications for our understanding of British political realignment in the 1920. Seth's PhD was conducted at the University of Warwick on the 19th century political impact of London clubs, supported by a scholarship from the History of Parliament Trust, whilst being jointly supervised by both institutions (2010-4). A reworked version of the thesis was converted into his first book, Club Government, published by I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury in 2018, and shortlisted for the Whitfield Prize for the best history book by a first-time solo author. He's taught at Georgetown, London, Oxford and Warwick, as well as at other institutions such as the Victoria & Albert Museum. So despite that rather daunting CV we had a delightful and informative chat. Enjoy! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samanthaasumadu.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 7m

  7. 06/09/2024

    "What is Prison For?"

    UPDATED 12/09/24 Welcome to the newly launched Chat S**t. Get Banged podcast! This time round it's just me, myself and eye. Over the next few weeks I'll be interviewing some interesting people, some of who whom you will know, such as Patrick Vernon,who runs his own social enterprise promoting the history of diverse communities, as founder of Every Generation and the "100 Great Black Britons" campaign and ran a successful campaign for 22 June to be recognized annually as Windrush Day, a national day acknowledging the migrant contribution to UK society. In 2018 myself and Ava Vidal, my former co-host on NDA Podcast interviewed war correspondent Assed Baig. His stories have gained international coverage and millions of views worldwide. He has worked in Syria, Central African Republic, Myanmar, Lebanon, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Libya. Listen here. Investigative journalist Mark Watts and coordinator of the The FOIA Centre which uses open-access laws, including the Freedom of Information Act and Data Protection. Listen here. And ethnographer of Whitney Houston and former editor in chief of Media Diversified, Marcus Daniel. Listen here. I also interviewed Author, journalist, broadcaster, Matt Potter. Matt’s first book tracked post-Soviet pilots running arms, drugs and worse from Afghanistan to Somalia. His second Book is an alternate history of the world as it has been shaped by entropy and the force of quitting, was published in 2015, entitled ‘F**k You & Goodbye. Listen here. We also interviewed Marc Thompson, strategic lead health improvement at the Terrence Higgins Trust, co-founder of Team Prepster and co-editor of Black Out UK. Listen here. I interviewed Actor Stephan James on Barry Jenkins' radical empathy, James Baldwin, black love stories and British slang! On the back of his then newly released film If Beale Street Could. Listen here. And others For the newly launched Chat S**t. Get Banged podcast it seems only fitting that I am in the hot seat! So today I am being interviewed by Chris Akers who's 286 Project hosted on YouTube talks about art, politics and culture and sport plus anything else he can think of. We talk about my history as a journalist and mine and other campaigners work on Imprisonment for Public Protection, Parole Board, the punitive ratchet of sentencing and answer the question, “What is Prison For?” “Unless there is resentencing, this crime against humanity will continue. More deaths, more suicides, more self harm, that is what the IPP sentence does. And that is now on the shoulders of Shabana Mahmood and James Timpson as the leaders of the Ministry of Justice.” -Samantha Asumadu Chris’ show is hosted on YouTube, unfortunately the video on my end looked very very bad and some of the audio was dodgy, so he was kind enough to pass along the audio to me. This interview was conducted in early July. The music you can hear in the background is Madlib, Movie Finale, as I was excited to hear that he and Talib Kweli released a new album today - Liberation 2 Instrumentals. All I've ever wanted from Talib is music. Thus I'm glad he’s taken at least time off being a social media jihadist and is making beautiful albums with other genius musicians. Long may it last. The outro song is Be (Intro) by Common. Hope you enjoy or at least get something out of it. Please free to post comments and I will endeavour to reply. As always I hope you will listen to Trapped: The IPP Prisoner Scandal. The series has finished and there's 16 excellent episodes which the team worked VERY hard on for two years. Read The Guilty Men Read all my substack posts on Imprisonment for Public Protection here. For more info about the Campaigns for Justice for IPPs prisoners go to: UNGRIPP website or Twitter @UNGRIPP and IPP Committee In Action or Twitter @ActionIPP You can follow Trapped: The IPP Prisoner Scandal on Twitter , Instagram, Facebook or Tik Tok @Trapped_Pod for updates. P.S I know there is going to be some non-black women and/or middle class women who try to take my experiences and use them as their own. Trust me, I will hunt you down if you do and you will catch these hands This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samanthaasumadu.substack.com/subscribe

    58 min

  8. 08/03/2022

    Guest Ep. What a Hell of a Way to Die: The Information War

    These were the tweets that prompted me to ask author and broadcaster Matt Potter if I could interview him. Also because I think Carole Cadwalladr was wrong in her viral tweets calling Ukraine/Russia the first great information war or second, as then she corrects herself within the same tweet and says the one in 2014 was first. I didn’t know much before interviewing Matt but I did know she was wrong about the dates. Wrong on both accounts. I knew Matt was writing a book about Cyber warfare but was unsure of the details. This interview of about 35 minutes clears that up! This has been an information war * You’ve shown an intense interest in Ukraine over the past few days as have many other, reporters, correspondents, politicians and hackers. What is your new book about and what has it got to do with Ukraine or Russia? * Which last conflict did you watch closely – how did it roll out compared to this one? Did you watch ARAB SPRING? * Communication is happening on platforms that host porn, a proto metaverse, non FB social media (In 2010 it was mainly Facebook) has the world moved on from Facebook since the January 6th protesters were arrested? * What would your advice to Yemen, Afghanistan, Nigerian and Armenian grassroots activists be? Matt Potter: Author, journalist, broadcaster (ex-BBC, Telegraph, writer of BBC books) Matt’s first book tracked post-Soviet pilots running arms, drugs and worse from Afghanistan to Somalia. Hailed as a “dazzling” book of history and first-person reportage, ‘Outlaws Inc: Flying with the World’s Most Dangerous Smugglers’ became a Top 10 WHSmith bestseller, now published in 29 languages through Bloomsbury, Pan MacMillan, Ullstein, Einaudi, Reader’s Digest and others. ‘Outlaws Inc’ is now in production as a Hollywood movie through Thunder Road Studios, the team behind ‘The Expendables’. Matt’s story tracking these merchants of death became part of the 2014 Sundance Festival Award-winning documentary feature film ‘The Notorious Mr Bout’, by Tony Gerber and Maxim Pozdorovkin. The film won acclaim, and became part of the BBC 2 Storyville 2015 season, ‘Arms Dealer: The Notorious Mr Bout’. Matt now works consulting with monitoring and investigative groups tracking arms and crime across borders. His second book, an alternate history of the world as it has been shaped by entropy and the force of quitting, was published in 2015, entitled ‘F**k You & Goodbye: The Dark & Hilarious History of the Resignation’. In it, Matt examined the phenomenon of quitting as a historical force, from the Berlin Wall and the American Civil War to Iraq, Thatcher and neoliberalism. It became a Waterstone’s bestseller, and was republished in expanded format, with new material as ‘The Last Goodbye: A History of the World in Resignations’, in the UK, Commonwealth, USA and internationally. Buy his books here * Come through! SHOW NOTES There’s no Hell of a Way this week, as Nate has covid and Francis left on vacation before the war in Ukraine started. We’ll hopefully be back next week. In the interim, we’re crossposting a piece from Media Diversified (@WritersofColour) director and previous guest Samantha Asumadu, in which she speaks with author Matt Potter about information warfare (both as relates to Ukraine and in general). Thank you for your patience, and hope you enjoy. Subscribe to What A Hell Of A Way To Die here I did a zoom TV type thing for a TV station in Holland last Monday. DESIGNING CITIES FOR ALL Redesigning Journalism: The Power of Language Part 1: Language is design - how can we deconstruct our language and make it fitting for all? As the war in Europe continues and use of language such as 'oligarch' and 'regime' abound please watch #RedesigningJournalism Wish me luck, tonight is the screening of my film The Super Ladies, plus they will now be screening two of my other non-broadcast films. It’s at The Point, Glasgow. Come through if you’re in the area! It’s free, but have to book Between a Rock, a Hard Place and a Dystopia is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Have a great day Sam This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samanthaasumadu.substack.com/subscribe

    35 min
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About

Culture, Politics and Everything in Between samanthaasumadu.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Samantha Asumadu
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2025
  • Episodes
    15
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Samantha Asumadu
  • Show Website
    On the Rack