Downstream IRL: Aaron Bastani in Conversation With Ash Sarkar

Join us for the first Downstream IRL of the year, where Aaron Bastani will be sitting down with our very own Ash Sarkar, for the London launch of her book Minority Rule.

Most of us are getting screwed over. Our world is defined by inequality, insecurity, lack of community and information overload. As the world burns, mega-corporations are reporting record profits. How are they getting away with it?

‘Minority rule’ is the term Ash uses to describe the irrational fear that minorities are trying to overturn and oppress majority populations. In her debut, she reveals how minority elites rule majorities by creating the culture wars that have taken over our politics, stoking fear and panic in our media landscape.

Aaron and Ash will be discussing ‘woke capitalism’, left strategy, and how ‘chavs’ became the ‘white working class’. They’ll be taking an honest look at how our social worlds might have blinded us, and asking, has identity politics ultimately been damaging for the left? What does it get right? How can we move beyond distractions and build meaningful solidarity?

To kick things off, Michael Walker will be sitting down with sociologist and author of A Nation of Shopkeepers: The Unstoppable Rise of the Petty Bourgeoisie, Dan Evans, and Shanice McBean, an activist and co-author of Abolition Revolution, and co-host of The Life of the Party, a podcast that offers lively debate on the future of the left. They’ll be unpicking class reductionism, neoliberal identity politics and much more.

Expect big questions, bold analysis, and the kind of conversation you simply won’t find anywhere else.

Doors will open at 6.30pm and the event will begin at 7.30pm. If you buy a copy of Minority Rule with your ticket, you’ll get 15% off the retail price – or you’ll have a chance to grab one on the day at our merch stall in the bar.