Episode #27: Foreign Policy, Part II - Negotiations, Reparations and Development

Images (cw): Liz Truss as Foreign Minister // Support Demonstration for draft resister Mike Leavy, at Seattle's Federal Building, September 13, 1968, photo by Fred Lonidier // Tony Benn makes his speech against the bombing of Iraq in 1998 // TNK logo by 3dperson // Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström’s phones as pictured by Sydsvenskan.

EPISODE #27: FOREIGN POLICY PART II On negotiations, debates, development and reparations - and why Sweden’s foreign minister should try less hard

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FOOTNOTES

• Foreign Policy Part I is episode #24 - listen to that here;

• Sarah Crook & Charlie Jeffries' book, in which Charlotte has a chapter, is called Resist, Organize, Build: Feminist and Queer Activism in Britain and the United States during the Long 1980s. It was published by SUNY Press in 2022. Charlotte's chapter is called "Spiritualists, ideologues, pragmatists, feminists, and women of all descriptions": The British Women's Liberation Movement, the UN Decade for Women, and Feminist Transnationalism in Spare Rib. Read more about Sarah here and Charlie here, and the book here;

• Joceyln Olcott’s book is International Women's Year: The Greatest Consciousness-Raising Event in History and it was published by Oxford University Press in 2017. Read more about Jocelyn’s work here;

• Charlotte’s book - Imperial Island: A History of Empire in Modern Britain - was published a few weeks ago, and a must-have (according to Emma who keeps buying every copy she sees - let’s hope Waterstones on Argyle Street in Glasgow have managed a re-up since my visit…). Buy your copy here!

• Charlotte’s chapter in Rethinking Labour's Past - an edited by Nathan Yeowell and published by I.B. Tauris in 2022 - is called ‘This Party is a Moral Crusade or it is Nothing’: Labour and Ethical Identity at Home and Abroad;

• ‘Swedish parliament elects new PM backed by far right', a BBC news story from 17 October 2022;

• Many thanks to the editors of this Wikipedia page on Sweden’s relation with NATO and Erdoğan who seemingly don’t tire easily;

• This is the UN’s take on Feminist Foreign Policy - Emma hopes to publish something on the topic in 2024;

• Kate Law is a historian at the University of Nottingham; the research network she runs with Emma is called Global Solidarity Activism: Connecting Local and Global Histories;

• Swedish research ethics law is complicated;

• Theresa May’s feminist t-shirt and Frida Kahlo bracelet featured in TNK episode #2, back in 2017. Listen to that here;

• The full quote from Veep is “You have achieved nothing, apart from one thing: the fact that you are a woman means we will have no more women presidents. Because we tried one, and she f—ing sucked.” Read a recap of Season 4 Episode 5 (Convention) here;

• We talk about the gendering of women in politics in episode #2, episode #11, and episode #13;

• Emma was on Progressive Britain talking about women in politics in the autumn of 2022 - listen here;

• There are plenty of videos of Liz Truss’ gaffs on the internet;

• This is how the BBC reported on the criticism in Foreign Affairs Select Committee report on the evacuation of Afghanistan;

• Here’s Nigel Farage’s last speech in the European Parliament;

• Emma recently took 25 students and colleagues to the Scottish Parliament for First Minister’s Questions - which is by far her favourite parliamentary debate forum as of now;

• Amineh Kakabaveh was born in Kurdistan, trained as a guerilla fighter, arrived in Sweden at the age 19 and was an MP in the Swedish parliament 2008-2022;

• Emma first spotted Swedish foreign minister Tobias Billström’s phone cases in this Sydsvenskan article (they also feature in our episode header photo);

• Here are Tony Benn and Hilary Benn’s speeches on Iraq and Syria respectively, as featured by BBC News;

• Here is Robin Cook’s resignation speech, as recorded by Hansard, on 17 March 2003;

• Emma runs an online module on anti-apartheid activism - in South Africa and in a global perspective - in the autumn of 2024;

• ‘Sweden's new right-wing govt slashes development aid’, The Local, 8 November 2022;

• Barbara Castle features in plenty of TNK episodes, like this one;

• DfID was the Department for International Development, founded on the election of the Labour government in 1997 and dissolved by Boris Johnson in 2020;

• Here’s the House of Commons’ Library’s research briefing on the 0.7% development aid target;

• Sarah Champion is a Labour MP since 2012; Clare Short was a Labour MP 1983-2006 and an independent MP 2006-2010;

• Emily Baughan is a historian at the University of Sheffield, while Tehila Sasson is a historian at Emory. Read more about Emily here, and Tehila here;

• Mary Agnes Hamilton features in TNK Episode #2 - listen here;

• AJP Taylor’s distinction between pacifism and pacifists is: “Pacificists are those who favour peaceful foreign policies and who seek to develop international institutions for the promotion of peace. Pacifism in its pure form is a total rejection of war as an instrument of policy.” London Review of Books, 2 October 1980;

• Cynthia Enloe is one of our favourites. We spoke about her in episode #11, which you can listen to here.

The poem is Richard Siken’s Landscape with a Blur of Conquerors:

Land a man in a
landscape and he’ll try to conquer it. Make him
handsome and you’re a fascist, make him ugly and
you’re saying nothing new. The conqueror suits up
and takes the field, his horse already painted in

beneath him. What do you do with a man like that?

Read the whole poem here.

Charlotte also quotes a line from Richard’s poem Little Beast - read that here.

OUR RECOMMENDATIONS

• Emma is recommending Literary Friction by Carrie Plitt and Octavia Bright, which you’ll find on Apple Podcasts here, Patreon here, and NTS Radio here. It is the perfect soundtrack to walks, runs, flights and lots more. One of Emma’s favourite books of 2023 is Amy Liptrot’s The Instant - listen to the episode of Literary Friction that made her run to the (online) shop to buy it here;

• Charlotte is recommending If Books Could Kill by Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri - you’ll find it on Apple Podcasts here and Spotify here.

THE NEXT EPISODE…

…is not yet recorded, but future episodes will be on borders, the Second World War, publishing and poverty. We’re also planning a new Christmas special (here’s the first one, which was about Mad Men, and here’s the second, on The Crown).

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