Return to Bandung Ep. 35 - Reviving the European Left
feat. special guest Peter Mertens!
Episode 35 of the Return to Bandung podcast is out now! Listen below, and read on for more information about my guest and today’s topic:
The Return to Bandung podcast, along with the writing that I publish on culture shock, is a political education project and a labor of love. To support this important work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber today! Paid subscribers get access to the entire culture shock archive, as well as a typewritten physical newsletter in the mail each month :)
About this episode:
In this episode, I’m joined by Peter Mertens, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Belgium (PTB), to discuss the current situation and future outlook of the European left. We discuss the PTB’s meteoric rise as one of the most prominent and fastest-growing left-wing parties in Europe today, the fight against a rising tide of militarism and far-right nationalism, and the role of parliamentary politics in revolutionary struggle, and discuss what role Europe—and in particular, the European left—has to play in a shifting international order.
About the show:
Return to Bandung is hosted by Pranay Somayajula, an Indian-American writer, researcher, and organizer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His work explores themes of diaspora, (inter)nationalism, anticolonial politics, and the many lives and afterlives of empire. You can learn more about Pranay and read his writing on his website, as well as on his Substack blog, culture shock.
Support Return to Bandung:
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a review or rating, and subscribe to the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts! If you’re able, please also consider supporting my work—which encompasses both my writing and this podcast, as well as various other political education projects by signing up as a paid subscriber to my Substack or making a one-off contribution:
Sources and helpful links:
Joe Todd — Between Autonomy and Control (The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, March 2026)
Marc Botenga — A Marxist in the European Parliament (interview in Jacobin, May 2019)
Rosa Luxemburg — The Junius Pamphlet (1915)
Grace Blakeley — Inside Die Linke’s Resurgence (Jacobin, March 2025)
David Pestieau — Facing a Tilting World and the Rise of European Militarism: Why Peace and Socialism Matter Now (speech at the 2025 European Forum in Vienna)
Peter Mertens — Mutiny: How Our World is Tilting (LeftWord Books, 2024)
Peter Mertens — A Mutiny Against the West’s Order (interview in Jacobin, October 2024)
Johan Grimonprez — Soundtrack to a Coup D’État (documentary, 2024)
Rosa Luxemburg — Peace Utopias (1911)
Social links:
Return to Bandung:
Twitter: twitter.com/returntobandung
Instagram: instagram.com/returntobandung
Pranay Somayajula:
Twitter: twitter.com/p_somayajula
Instagram: instagram.com/pranay.somayajula
Website: pranaysomayajula.com
Substack: culture-shock.xyz
Peter Mertens:
Twitter: twitter.com/peter_mertens
Instagram: www.instagram.com/mertens.p
Workers’ Party of Belgium:
Twitter: twitter.com/pvdabelgie
Instagram: instagram.com/pvdabelgie
Website: https://international.pvda-ptb.be/