Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor have described Gaza as “a moral tear in the universe” and argued that the world is no longer simply moving from one crisis to the next, but has entered a new and perilous period in history.
The two writers make the case in an extended interview on Radical Thinking with Aditya Chakrabortty, a new podcast series from the Guardian.
Across the conversation they examine what they term “end-times fascism”, weighing whether societies are now living through it. Their discussion ranges over Trump 2.0, the growing influence of technology billionaires, Gaza and the climate emergency.
Despite that assessment, Klein and Taylor told the programme they have not abandoned hope that a fightback can be mounted.
The episode was published on Sunday 11 October 2026 at 08.00 BST. It is presented by Aditya Chakrabortty, with Klein and Taylor as guests. Frankie Tobi and Luke Smith produced it; Maz Ebtehaj, Kirsty Major and James Tindale are executive producers. A full video version of the interview is also available.
Klein and Taylor’s book End Times Fascism is out now. According to the Guardian, it began as a special essay published by the paper.
The episode also points listeners towards further reading. Among the works cited in the authors’ book is Karen Hao’s Empire of AI, and the programme notes Gil Durán’s The Nerd Reich as a recent release. Also recommended are Yanis Varoufakis’s Technofeudalism, following his appearance in the previous instalment of the series, and Cecilia Rikap’s The Rulers, described as essential reading on how artificial intelligence is imposing a new age of total corporate control.
Other suggested material includes an essay on whether Trump 2.0 can be called fascist by the economist Branko Milanović; a Guardian long read and a book, Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, by Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff on the relationship between Elon Musk and Donald Trump; Regime Change by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan on Trump’s second term; and Paul Heideman’s Rogue Elephant on how the business class embraced Trump and chaos.
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