Aaron Bastani

Aaron Bastani (formerly Aaron Peters) is an Iranian-British political commentator, writer, broadcaster, activist and amateur ornithologist specialising in digital media. Bastani is Senior Editor of Novara Media, which he co-founded. He has written for The Guardian, Vice and the London Review of Books blog as well as appearing on CNBC, Channel 4 News, and Sky News.

Life and work

Education

Bastani was educated at University College London before completing his doctorate at Royal Holloway, University of London. His thesis was entitled "Strike! Occupy! Retweet!: The Relationship Between Collective and Connective Action in Austerity Britain."

Novara Media

In 2010, Aaron Bastani co-founded the political and social commentary forum Novara Media, of which he is also a Senior Editor and the main broadcaster. He co-hosts Novara Media's weekly podcast, NovaraFM, also broadcast on Resonance FM. Bastani has carried out interviews with such figures as the economist Yanis Varoufakis, Marxist geographer David Harvey, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, and the journalists Owen Jones and Paul Mason.

Political views and activities

Bastani has generally taken a leftist line, describing himself as a libertarian communist and a feminist. His support for political parties has varied, as a member of the Green Party and supporter of their mayoral candidate Siân Berry, as well as the Labour Party leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

Bastani currently supports the political aspiration to "fully automated luxury communism", describing a post-scarcity economy with provision of a universal basic income.

In the run-up to the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, 2016, Bastani initially campaigned for the UK to leave the European Union. Bastani went on to change his position on pragmatic grounds two weeks before the referendum.