The event is a conversation with Scott B. Ritner (NSSR PhD, 2018, currently at the University of Colorado, Boulder) about his recent book, "Revolutionary Pessimism: Simone Weil's Antifascist Politics" (Stanford University Press, 2026). Ritner argues that the antifascist philosopher and mystic Simone Weil's critical writings about the social crises of the mid-twentieth century, especially fascism, are particularly instructive for today. Now, as then, liberal democratic capitalist states are under threat from authoritarian leaders and fascist movements. Situating Weil and her work in the tradition of pessimistic critical theory, Ritner reveals how Weil's work can be understood as participating in an ongoing project critique of capitalist and liberal, neoliberal, and fascist modes of domination.