Downstream: Are We Living Through the End of an Empire? w/ Lea Ypi

Personal history, political identity, and the enduring legacy of 20th-century geopolitical shifts define the intersection of this dialogue. Lea Ypi, an academic and author, examines how her family’s experiences in Stalinist Albania and the broader collapse of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires inform her socialist critique of contemporary capitalism. Discussions center on the "unmixing of peoples" through population exchanges, the dehumanizing impact of restrictive citizenship policies, and the dangers of nationalist rhetoric in modern Europe. Ypi argues that the left’s failure to articulate a coherent critique of systemic power has left a vacuum filled by right-wing identity politics. By drawing parallels between past imperial collapses and current geopolitical tensions, the analysis highlights the necessity of addressing the structural causes of migration and inequality rather than merely managing their symptoms through bureaucratic exclusion.