COUNTER•POWER

The first year of Donald Trump’s second term is over — with three long years still to go. Far from the myth of “Trump the peacemaker,” the past twelve months have been marked by war, repression, corruption, and growing global resistance.
In this episode, we take stock of Trump’s record so far: from bombing seven countries and backing Israel’s assault on Gaza, to embracing tech oligarchs at home and unleashing ICE against immigrant communities. 
But resistance is growing. From some of the largest protests in US history to mass demonstrations in the UK against Trump’s second state visit, a global movement is pushing back.
Host Zoe Williams is joined by Zoe Gardner from the Stop Trump Coalition and Alyssa Elliott from Indivisible London, the first international chapter of the major US resistance movement. Together, they explore what Trump’s first year tells us about the road ahead — and how movements can confront authoritarianism moving forward. 
In This Episode

One year into Trump’s second term: what has actually happened

The myth of “Trump the peacemaker” vs the reality of endless military action

ICE raids, police violence, and the targeting of immigrant communities

Mass protests in the US and UK — and what they’ve achieved

What global resistance to Trump looks like going forward — and why appeasement and fear are not the answer

ABOUT THE PODCAST
COUNTER•POWER is brought to you by Stop Trump Coalition, Another Europe Is Possible and Global Justice Now, three organisations at the centre of the new global resistance. 
This podcast isn’t just about chatting and conversation — it’s about turning ideas into action and building real community power. 
That’s why we have a simple pledge to you, our audience. On every single episode we’ll leave you with something you can do to catalyse change. Whether it’s the latest big ideas or the movements you need to check out, you’ll find them on COUNTER•POWER. 
But we need your help to launch this project. 
We need £8,000 to catapult COUNTER•POWER into the podcasting sphere with the aim of making it self-sustaining in the future.
The funds will cover high-quality production – including sound and visuals – as well as consistent editorial quality, all of which are essential to creating the kind of impactful podcast we’re aiming for.
Any donation – big or small – can help us get there. Thank you for your support.
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Music(cc): Intro R&B instrumental loop, Mcgrogo (Freesound.org)

To much fanfare, Britain has announced yet another "strategic" defence review - the fifth that a UK Government has undertaken in the last 15 years. The peculiar thing, however, is that despite the frequency of these reviews, they have a strong tendency to assert continuity over change.

This is certainly the narrative of the present UK Government's latest review: that nothing has changed in UK and US transatlantic relations, apart from the willingness, they suggest, of the UK to spend more on defence. Trump's close friendship with Vladimir Putin and sympathy towards Russia's geopolitical narrative - and the broader turbulence of American politics he forms part of - is, apparently, unimportant for Britain's future defence and security arrangements.

And rather than address the varied range of threats and challenges, the review advocates more submarines and nuclear weapons as its big-ticket proposals.

In this podcast, Zoe Williams, Luke Cooper and Mary Kaldor discuss this muddled and small-c conservative thinking. They lay out what an alternative defence policy would be, at the centre of which should be a closer relationship with our European allies. 

For more on the discussion in this podcast, check out Luke and Mary's recent blog, "‘Organised irresponsibility’: How Britain’s defence strategy clings to a bygone world"

In an age of war and permanent crisis, is it all too easy to forget the fundamentals? How do we look after each other, care for one another and create economies that prioritise our human development? In this podcast, Seema Syeda and Zoe Williams welcome back Tim Jackson to talk about his new book, The Care Economy (Polity 2025). Going back to the philosophical fundamentals, the book re-centres the whole discussion of care. It urges us not think about the politics of care as types of support system for particular group of vulnerable people but as the basis for reproducing all organic life. We are all, in other words, carers, and it's time to recognise it. 

As usual members of Another Europe get access to extra material as a benefit of membership. To join and support our work, go to AnotherEurope.org/Join

The drift of the global billionaire oligarchy to the radical right is quickening its pace. The Arc conference - billed as a "far right Davos" and with ticket prices to match - recently descended on London, and was joined by the various luminaries and politicians from the British right. On this podcast, Zoe Williams and Luke Cooper are joined by Stella Tsantekidou, a rising star in the UK media and an unusual category of progressive, who likes to wine and dine across the political divide. Stella spent three days and nights at the Arc conference. In the podcast she offers her fly-in-the-wall account of why we should be worried about this extremely well funded global network, drawing the mainstream right into discussion and collaboration with far more radical and in some cases extreme political forces.  

For more from Stella and the Arc conference check out her Substack, the Human Carbohydrate, which includes a blog with her Arc Forum diary: https://humancarbohydrate.substack.com/p/jordan-peterson-and-pieter-thiel

With the return of Donald Trump in the White House - and his insistence that Kyiv and Moscow strike a peace deal "in 24 hours - huge uncertainty now hangs over the future of Ukraine's democracy and freedom. In this podcast, Luke Cooper and Zoe Williams discuss the huge challenges and hardships Ukraine has experienced in the war, drawing on insights from Luke's recent visit to Ukraine. They are joined by Ukrainian academic Yuliya Bidenko from Karazin University in Kharkiv.

For more on some of the topics discussed in the podcast, check out these articles:
On the Home Front: Ukraine's War Economy and the Spirit of Defiance
Will oil decide the fate of the Russia-Ukraine War?

Additional podcast material is available to members of Another Europe Is Possible. In this week's extra time, Luke and Zoe discuss the Labour government and to what extent its terrible lack of popularity in what should be its honeymoon period is a crisis of its own making. To join and support our work go to AnotherEurope.org/Join