The Intercessor

Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso interview Laura Raicovich about Fall of Freedom, which begins on the day this podcast drops. NOVEMBER 21 | SERIES 2025
STREAM A CULTURE OF POSSIBILITY | EPISODE 58 
PARTICIPANTS
Arlene Goldbard | François Matarasso | Laura Raicovich
COMMENTARY
On episode 58 of A Culture of Possibility, Arlene Goldbard and François Matarasso talk with writer and curator Laura Raicovich, one of the initiators of Fall of Freedom, an action beginning 21 November in the US, described as “an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation,” “activating a nationwide wave of creative resistance.” 
Artists and organizations are invited to participate by hosting public events of any size. We’ll talk about the organizers’ hopes and their sense of why and how art can resist authoritarianism.
Since this podcast goes out on November 21, it could not be timelier. Listen to the podcast, go to miaaw.net to get the links, and then look and see what is going on where you are! 
REFERENCES
Fall of Freedom website
Download the Fall of Freedom Toolkit
 
 

This month Owen Kelly looks at some of the deeper meanings of Katie Lam’s recent remarks on cultural coherence.
 
NOVEMBER 7 | SERIES 2025
STREAM Meanwhile in an Abandoned Warehouse | EPISODE 80
 PARTICIPANT
Owen Kelly
COMMENTARY
In this episode Owen Kelly looks into the idea of cultural coherence, something that bubbled to the surface after Katie Lam, a member of parliament for the Conservative Party used it in an interview with the Sunday Times. She appeared to use it one way, and then later claimed she meant it in a rather different way.
What do people mean by cultural coherence? Should we regard the idea as dog-whistle politics, or should we see it as a useful idea we need to claim for ourselves, before it gets claimed by those who would whistle to dogs…
REFERENCES
Sam Leith: In Defence of the Rules-based Order, in The Spectator 
Tali Fraser: The Tories and the search for cultural coherence on ConservativeHome
The Sustainability Directory