Demarchic Communism Podcast

Episode 19-B (Part 2 of 3) Cristina Lafont's essay "Sticking to the Long Road of Participation: Replies to My Critics"

Continuation from 19-A. Shaunsky and Sasha discuss "Sticking to the Long Road of Participation: Replies to My Critics," an essay by Cristina Lafont in response to criticisms of her book Democracy Without Shortcuts. 
Recorded May 4, 2025. What we were intending to call Episode 19 ran about 2 hours, so we divided it into parts A & B. You can find the essay at https://krisis.eu/article/view/37053/34617.
Intro music: "District Four" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Outro music: "RetroFuture Nasty" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

19A: "Sticking to the Long Road of Participation" (part 1) by Cristina Lafont

Shaunsky and Sasha begin reading our second engagement with a criticism of lottocracy. "Sticking to the Long Road of Participation: Replies to My Critics" is a response from Cristina Lafont to criticisms of her book Democracy Without Shortcuts. 
Recorded May 4, 2025. The discussion of what we were intending to call "Part 1" ran about 2 hours, so we've now divided Episode 19 into parts A & B. You can find the essay at https://krisis.eu/article/view/37053/34617.
Intro music: "District Four" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Outro music: "RetroFuture Nasty" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

18: "Alternatives to Democracy" Benjamin Studebaker

Shaunsky and Sasha tackle a criticism of lottocracy for the first time."Alternatives to Democracy" is the fourth section within "What If This Book Is Wrong?" which is the final chapter of Benjamin Studebaker's book The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy: The Way Is Shut.There is no link to this text online, but email us (demarchiccommunism@proton.me) if you would like us to send you the pdf file we read from.Intro music: "District Four" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Outro music: "RetroFuture Nasty" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
 

17. Real Democracy Will Require Revolution

Shaunsky and Sasha read a short essay by Sasha: "Real Democracy Will Require Revolution." https://tinyurl.com/352md9a3
 
If you would like to contribute to the project, or have questions, criticisms, comments, or suggestions, contact us at demarchiccommunism@proton.me.
Contact Sasha directly on Bluesky @demarchicroad.bsky.socialor on twitter @demarchiccommie.
 
Intro music: "District Four" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Outro music: "RetroFuture Nasty" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

16: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 by David Graeber, chapter 3, part 4

Shaunsky and Sasha finish reading chapter 3 of David Graeber's The Democracy Project, "The Mob Begin to Think and to Reason: The Covert History of Democracy."
https://astudygroup.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/the-democracy-project.pdf
 
If you would like to contribute to the project, or have questions, criticisms, comments, or suggestions, contact us at demarchiccommunism@proton.me.
Contact Sasha directly on Bluesky @demarchicroad.bsky.socialor on twitter @demarchiccommie.
 
Intro music: "District Four" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Outro music: "RetroFuture Nasty" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

15: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 by David Graeber, chapter 3, part 3

Red, Shaunsky, and Sasha continue reading in David Graeber's The Democracy Project, chapter 3 "The Mob Begin to Think and to Reason: The Covert History of Democracy."
https://astudygroup.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/the-democracy-project.pdf
 
If you would like to contribute to the project, or have questions, criticisms, comments, or suggestions, contact us at demarchiccommunism@proton.me.
Contact Sasha directly on Bluesky @demarchicroad.bsky.socialor on twitter @demarchiccommie. Find Red on twitter @ComradeRed49.
 
Intro music: "District Four" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Outro music: "RetroFuture Nasty" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

14: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 by David Graeber, Chapter 3, Part 2

Shaunsky and Sasha continue reading in David Graeber's The Democracy Project, chapter 3 "The Mob Begin to Think and to Reason: The Covert History of Democracy."
https://astudygroup.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/the-democracy-project.pdf
 
If you would like to contribute to the project, or have questions, criticisms, comments, or suggestions, contact us at demarchiccommunism@proton.me.
Contact Sasha directly on Bluesky @demarchicroad.bsky.socialor on Twitter @demarchiccommie.
Intro music: "District Four" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Outro music: "RetroFuture Nasty" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

13: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 by David Graeber, Chapter 3, Part 1

Shaunsky, Red, and Sasha begin reading David Graeber's The Democracy Project.
https://astudygroup.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/the-democracy-project.pdf
 
If you would like to contribute to the project, or have questions, criticisms, comments, or suggestions, contact us at demarchiccommunism@proton.me.
Contact Sasha directly on Bluesky @demarchicroad.bsky.social or on Twitter @demarchiccommie.
Intro music: "District Four" by Kevin MacLeod 
Outro music: "Warpath" by Drezushttps://drezus.bandcamp.com/track/warpath-2
 

12: "Can We Go Forward If We Fear To Advance Towards Socialism?" -Lenin

Shaunsky and Sasha read "Can We Go Forward If We Fear To Advance Towards Socialism?" which is the 11th chapter (of 13) of Lenin's pamphlet The Impending Catastrophe and How to Combat It.
Text available at Marxists Internet Archive at https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/ichtci/11.htm#v25zz99h-360
If you would like to contribute to the project, or have questions, criticisms, comments, or suggestions, contact us at demarchiccommunism@proton.me.
Contact Sasha directly on Bluesky @demarchicroad.bsky.social or on Twitter @demarchiccommie.
Intro music: "District Four" by Kevin MacLeod 
Outro music: "RetroFuture Nasty" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

11: 𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺, Part 2, Lesson 4 (cont'd)

Shaunsky, Red, and Sasha finish up Lesson 4 of Araling Aktibista.
 
If you would like to contribute to the project, or have questions, criticisms, comments, or suggestions, contact us at demarchiccommunism@proton.me.Activist Study (Araling Aktibista) can be found at https://foreignlanguages.press/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/S22-Activist-Study-ARAK-4th-Printing.pdf
Contact Sasha directly on Bluesky @demarchicroad.bsky.social or on Twitter @demarchiccommie.
Intro music: "District Four" by Kevin MacLeod 
Outro music: "RetroFuture Nasty" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/