Billionaires Beheaded in Manchester?
Plus Virtual Palestine and more...
Hi!
Before we get to the impersonal news, some personal news: I became a grandfather for a second time! My son and his partner welcomed a new daughter in September and, yes, indeed, Dolores is very cute. I’m very happy about this.
Billionaires & Guillotines live game show at TWT Manchester and more
If you’re at The World Transformed this year in Manchester, don’t miss the raucous Friday night (October 10) game-show edition of Billionaires & Guillotines, based on my board game out late this year from Pluto Press.
I’ll also be facilitating a track on game design at the Berliner Gazette’s annual conference Pluriverse of Peace, October 16-18.
Fighting Fascist Feelings deadline extended
Sarah Stein Lubrano and I are running a workshop in Brussels November 20-23 on Fighting Fascist Feelings.
We’ve extended the deadline to apply to participate until Monday October 6. I’d be grateful if you could help us spread the word.
https://senseandsolidarity.org/fff/
Against the Fascist Game podcast wraps up
We have just wrapped up the second season of THE EXPLOITS OF PLAY, the podcast I make with Faye Harvey for Weird Economies about the unusual intersections of games and capitalism, this year dedicated to the theme Against the Fascist Game.
Ep. 7 - Virtual Palestine, with Omar Zahzah
In this episode, we speak with Omar Zahzah about his new book Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital/Settler-Colonialism in the Palestinian Liberation Struggle. Our conversation touches on: the gamified collaboration between big-tech and the apparatus of mass murder and apartheid; the digital targeting, harassment and silencing of Palestinian solidarity organizers; the colonial violence invested in the algorithms that shape our lives (and deaths); and the way a profoundly transformative “Virtual Palestine” is created through the protagonism of those resisting genocide and their supporters around the world.
Ep. 6 - Rulemakers and Rulebreakers, with Vicky Osterweil
In this episode we discuss the contradiction within games between gender play and fantasies to control and order; video games as reproductive technology; the playfulness of the far right which could be characterised as play without pleasure; how rulebreaking and gamebreaking play out in liberal democracy and fascism; and the possibilities of play and protest in antifascist practices and riotous revolution.
Ep. 5 - Fight Fight Fight, with Jack Bratich
In this episode, we discussed the concept of microfascism, which refers to everyday life practices, and intersubjective relations that establish power dynamics and form the organisation of desire. The yearning for and supplication to power is at work in everyone and must constantly be guarded against, for these are easily amenable to fascist organisations and movements. As the saying goes: “Kill the cop in your head!” We also discussed martial masculinity as it manifests in combat sports such as Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), as well as figures of such franchises such as Dana White, who is a close associate of Trump and many other fascist personalities.