The Plot is on Fire - a conversation with Manuela Zechner

On 27 May 2026, Max Haiven sat down with Manuela Zechner at Housman's books in London to discuss the latter's newly published book The Plot is on Fire: Care Struggles after Progress, Plantation and Patriarchy.

From the book's publicity:

As myths of progress and modernisation collapse in the relentless polycrisis of our time, how do we strengthen other plots—in community, practice and struggle? How do we come together as movements for earthcare?

This book weaves stories, proposals, and analyses around a key domain of living reproduction in crisis: agriculture. Looking at peasant, indigenous, and transecofeminist practices, it formulates another plot on how we want to sustain life collectively—beyond progress, plantation, and patriarchy.

Recovering and repurposing old and new technologies, and breaking down the division between rural and urban, the ground is made fertile for growing other futures. Alongside writers like Ursula Le Guin and Octavia Butler, this work of radical political theory raises critical questions about technology and storytelling, as matters of care and community.

For more information about the book, visit: https://www.plutobooks.com/product/the-plot-is-on-fire/ For more information about Common Ecologies and the Earthcare Fieldcast, visit: https://commonecologies.net/