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Jacobin Radio

Jacobin Radio

1,869 episodes — Page 31 of 38

The Dig: Race and Class in the Liberal Suburbs with Lily Geismer

Dan interviews Lily Geismer, the author of Don't Blame Us: Suburban Liberals and the Transformation of the Democratic Party. While Boston whites fought school busing in the streets, suburban liberals along Route 128 maintained and benefited from the larger system of metropolitan residential and school segregation that made the crisis possible. Suburban liberals also played a key role in creating a new Democratic Party that embraced a superficial politics of recognition while advancing a technocratic elite-driven neoliberal agenda that included the demonization and persecution of poor black mothers on welfare and mass incarceration.Thanks to Verso Books. Check out their huge selection of left-wing titles at www.versobooks.comPlease support this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

Aug 2, 20191h 59m

The Vast Majority: "DSA 2019 Convention Breakdown" with Andrew Sernatinger

The Democratic Socialists of America's biennial convention is in Atlanta this weekend. The rise of the DSA is one of the most promising developments in American politics in at least half a century. I talked to Andrew Sernatinger, a member of Madison DSA, an elected delegate to the convention, and a rank-and-file member of Teamsters 695, about what's at stake at the convention. You can read Andrew's pieces about the convention and the state of DSA in New Politics: https://newpol.org/<wbr />dsa-2019-convention-breakdown/<wbr />https://newpol.org/dsas-<wbr />growing-pains/ Also, if you're going to be in Atlanta, come to the Jacobin "Our Socialism Is International" event, featuring leftist guests from Peru, Sudan, Brazil, Japan, Germany, the Philippines, and Yemen. https://www.facebook.<wbr />com/events/489420788296872/

Jul 31, 201939 min

The Dig: From the archives, Aziz Rana on Two Faces of American Freedom

Dan is taking his first week off ever in Dig history to finish his book. Here's a classic from deep in the archives: our first interview with Aziz Rana, on his book The Two Faces of American Freedom, aka episode 62. If you've already heard this one and are hungry for more content we've got everything organized by date, guest and topic at www.thedigradio.com.Support this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

Jul 25, 20191h 10m

Jacobin Radio: Report From the Border; UK Politics

Suzi talks to historian Myrna Santiago and immigrants' rights specialist Alicia Rusoja, who just returned from a week at the border, where they talked to men, women, and child migrants, sat in immigration court, and spoke to support groups — as well as deported veterans, and deported mothers of Dreamers in Tijuana. Their reflections and revelations include the way abuse and corruption are adding to the horrors these migrants face. Suzi then talks to Daniel Finn about British politics: while the Tories are deciding whether Boris Johnson will be their next leader, the Labour Party has its own dilemmas — over its attitude to Brexit, but also how to deal with the surprisingly effective smear campaign against Labour’s left-wing leadership, in particular leader Jeremy Corbyn. Finn looks at the underlying controversy, and as he wrote in Jacobin, despite Corbyn’s unprecedented efforts to expel antisemites from party ranks (no such similar move in the Conservative Party), Corbyn’s critics will never be satisfied — their issue is Corbyn’s politics itself. This has great relevance for our own politics, as Finn explains.

Jul 23, 201956 min

The Dig: The Struggle in Chile with Alondra Carrillo & Pablo Abufom

Dan's lengthy interview with two brilliant Chilean social movement organizers: Alondra Carrillo and Pablo Abufom. Carrillo organizes in the country's massive feminist movement. Abufom works in the labor-backed movement for a just pension system.Read Dan's interview with Daniel Jadue, the Communist mayor of Recoleta, in Jacobin.Thanks to Verso Books. Check out their huge selection of left-wing titles at www.versobooks.comPlease support this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

Jul 19, 20192h 44m

Behind the News: Puerto Rico and Turkey

Professor of philosophy Bernat Tort on Puerto Rico’s economic and political crisis. Then, sociologist Sahan Karatasli on Turkey’s economic and political crisis.

Jul 19, 201951 min

The Vast Majority: "They're Not Just Mad at AOC — They're Scared of Her" with Miles Kampf-Lassin

It's gotten heated this last week between Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the squad, on the one hand, and Nancy Pelosi, centrist Democrats, and the House Democratic Party leadership on the other. But this conflict isn't empty intra-party bickering. It's an actual political and moral battle, with one side, AOC's, on the right side of history and one, Pelosi's, not. Miles Kampf-Lassin wrote about the battle and what it means, in an article called "They're Not Just Mad at AOC — They're Scared of Her." https://www.jacobinmag.<wbr />com/2019/07/alexandria-ocasio-<wbr />cortez-aoc-nancy-pelosi-<wbr />democratic-party We also mentioned a recent Washington Post profile of AOC's chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, that's worth a read: https://www.<wbr />washingtonpost.com/news/<wbr />magazine/wp/2019/07/10/<wbr />feature/how-saikat-<wbr />chakrabarti-became-aocs-chief-<wbr />of-change/

Jul 18, 201939 min

The Dig: Abolish the Family with Sophie Lewis

Dan interviews Sophie Lewis about her new book Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family. Something is deeply wrong with commercial surrogacy—but it's just not what you might think. What's wrong is the brute labor exploitation taking place at the reproductive crossroads of a racialized global capitalist order.Thanks to Verso Books. Check out their huge selection of left-wing titles at versobooks.comSupport this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

Jul 11, 20191h 43m

The Vast Majority: "Why Bernie Was Right to Oppose US Intervention in Central America" with Hilary Goodfriend

The New York Times recently attacked Bernie Sanders’s record on solidarity with Nicaragua in the 1980s. It probably won’t be the last time we see red-baiting attacks against Sanders in the election season, so it’s important to establish what exactly happened in Central America in the 1980s, how brutal US intervention in the region was, what the Central American solidarity movement of that era looked like, and what side of history was the right one to be on. Hilary Goodfriend discusses all of this in her recent article ”Why Bernie Sanders Was Right to Oppose US Intervention in Central America.” Hilary is a doctoral student in Latin American Studies at the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City. You can read her article here: https://www.jacobinmag.com/<wbr />2019/07/bernie-sanders-<wbr />central-america-sandinista.

Jul 9, 201929 min

Jacobin Radio: NYT Bias, "Junkie Communism," and Deaths of Despair

Suzi does three stories on this episode of Jacobin Radio, beginning with Katie Halper's expose in Jacobinof <wbr />the New York Times'sproblem with Bernie Sanders, evident in their coverage.The problem is their correspondent Sydney Ember, who has a long record of unfairly attacking Sanders — while neglecting to mention that the sources she quotes as objective authorities are corporate lobbyists and austerity ideologues. Suzi then looks at two articles in the new journal Commune, first withM. E. O’Brien. Her article, “Junkie Communism” questions how the socialist project emphasizes the dignity of work as its basis, but leaves out those who are unable to maintain stable employment — and posits a politics that includes those whose lives have been broken by the cruel conditions imposed on us all. Suzi then talks to Chloe Watlington about her powerful piece “Who Owns Tomorrow,” a devastating and revealing look at deaths of despair — from opioids, alcohol, and unemployment in crumbling neoliberal America, an all-too-familiar story that has hit Watlington personally.

Jul 9, 201956 min

The Dig: Astra Taylor on Socialism, Democracy, Liberalism

For much of the twentieth century, Cold War politics defined socialism as the antithesis of democracy. Today, an insurgent democratic-socialist movement is transforming US politics. It is socialism that is at the forefront of a fight for a radical deepening of democracy, one in which ordinary people exercise control over our political, economic, and social lives — and one in which the people is expansively defined to include those excluded by racist immigration law and mass incarceration. Dan discusses this, and more, with filmmaker and writer Astra Taylor.Read Astra's article on socialism here: newrepublic.com/article/153804/reclaiming-future-growing-appeal-socialism-age-inequalityCheck out her film, What is Democracy? on your preferred streaming service.And her book, Democracy May Not Exist, But We'll Miss It When It's Gone, here: us.macmillan.com/books/9781250179845.Support this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig.

Jul 5, 20191h 0m

The Vast Majority: “Elizabeth Warren Can and Should Do Better on Foreign Policy" with Sarah Lazare

Elizabeth Warren is, by American political standards, a very strong presidential candidate. She has taken up a robust domestic social-democratic agenda — one that, while not as strong as Bernie Sanders’s, is pretty damn good.Foreign policy, however, is a different story. Here, Elizabeth Warren is far from the most hawkish in her party. But she still leaves much to be desired, as Sarah Lazare recently wrote in a piece titled “Elizabeth Warren Can and Should Do Better on Foreign Policy.”Sarah Lazare is a web editor at In These Times. You can read her piece on Elizabeth Warren’s foreign policy here.

Jul 3, 201936 min

The Vast Majority: “What a Socialist Society Will Actually Look Like” with Sam Gindin

<style type="text/css"></style> <style></style> What is a socialist society going to look like? Like, actually look like? We have to have some answers to this question. Luckily, Sam Gindin has some. He talks to Micah about his article in Catalyst, “Socialism for Realists,” which you can read here.<o:p></o:p>

Jun 28, 201937 min

The Dig: Our History Is the Future with Nick Estes

Dan's lengthy interview with Nick Estes on his remarkable book Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance. The problem that settler colonialism was repeatedly trying to solve by unleashing such terrific violence — through massacres, by nearly eliminating the buffalo, in reservation confinement, in dominating the Missouri River — was not just indigenous people being in the way but also the existence of a larger relationship between indigenous people and the land, water, and animals. The history of resisting this capitalist and colonialist dispossession has endured through the Water Protectors' struggle at Standing Rock — which will, in retrospect, be remembered as a pivotal moment in the global struggle against climate catastrophe.Thanks to Verso Books. Check out their huge selection of left-wing titles at www.versobooks.com.Please support this podcast with money at Patreon.com/TheDig.

Jun 28, 20192h 44m

The Vast Majority: "Why Bernie Talks About the New Deal" with Seth Ackerman

Bernie Sanders has been talking a lot about the New Deal lately, mentioning it in his recent speech on democratic socialism. Ironically, the response from many liberals has been to argue that the New Deal wasn’t really socialism. Jacobin’s Seth Ackerman has a few quibbles. Plus, we talk about why the idea that the New Deal was racist doesn’t fully capture its relationship to white supremacy. Read Seth’s article on Bernie’s New Deal rhetoric here: https://www.jacobinmag.com/<wbr />2019/06/new-deal-socialism-<wbr />bernie-sanders-democratic-<wbr />primary Read an interview with New Deal historian Richard Walker, who discusses the charge that the New Deal was racist, plus many other aspects of the New Deal’s wide-ranging policies, here: https://jacobinmag.com/2019/<wbr />03/green-new-deal-roosevelt-<wbr />public-works

Jun 26, 201940 min

Jacobin Radio: US-Iran Crisis, Hong Kong Protests

On this episode of Jacobin Radio, Suzi focuses on the intensifying US-Iranian crisis and war brinkmanship that saw us about ten minutes away from military strikes, before Trump pulled back. We get MIT historian Pouya Alimaghum’s analysis of the crisis, the implications and goals of the increasing bluster and ever more draconian sanctions, and what they mean for domestic dissent in Iran. Then Suzi talks to UCI professor of Chinese history Jeff Wasserstrom, who has just returned from Hong Kong and has written in the Atlanticabout the gigantic protest movement that was met with extreme violence, only bringing more people into the streets. The protestors were fighting against a bill that would allow the extradition of suspects to mainland China, a further threat to Hong Kong’s partial autonomy, and for the right to assemble without persecution, to speak freely, and enjoy freedom of information. For the moment the bill has been shelved, thanks to the massive protests in the streets, but not the efforts to erode the city’s freedoms. We get Wasserstrom’s analysis.

Jun 25, 201958 min

The Dig: Russia Beyond Putin with Tony Wood

Russia intervened and Trump is a criminal who committed obstruction of justice and is surrounded by constant criminality. But it's no doubt also true that this situation and the hawkish liberal response to it have dangerously damaged US-Russia relations. At the core of Western misunderstanding is the way we think about Vladimir Putin, which is what Dan is discussing today with Tony Wood, the author of Russia Without Putin: Money, Power and the Myths of the New Cold War.Thanks to Verso. Check out their massive left-wing book selection at versobooks.comGo to the Socialism 2019 conference in Chicago July 4-7! Register now at socialismconference.orgSupport this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

Jun 20, 20192h 3m

Behind the News: Danish Elections, the Indigenous in Canada

Political scientist Rune Møller Stahl on the Danish elections, which the Left won but partly by going anti-immigrant. Then, Heidi Matthews, author of this article, on Canada’s genocidal treatment of its indigenous people.

Jun 17, 201951 min

The Dig: The Italian Situation with David Broder, Lorenzo Zamponi, and Marta Fana

There is perhaps no more depressing situation in Western Europe than that which prevails in Italy: a coalition government between the far-right Lega party and the now subordinate, bizarre, amorphously anti-corruption, internet-fetishist, pseudo-directly democratic Five Star Movement. In other words, Italian politics is dominated by a viciously racist anti-migrant politics; the left, along with most traditional forces, is in utter disarray. Today, Lega, led by Interior Minister Mateo Salvini, runs Italian politics. But the bad news is maybe also the good news: Salvini has not solved Italy's deep rooted economic problems, and so it's quite possible that the very same instability that abetted his rise will ultimately lead to his downfall. Dan interviews David Broder, Lorenzo Zamponi and Marta Fana.Thanks to Verso. Check out their massive left-wing book selection at versobooks.comSupport this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

Jun 15, 20191h 12m

The Dig: The Spanish Situation with Carlos Delclós and Magda Bandera

In Spanish politics, the center-left Socialist Party has demolished the conservative Popular Party and checked risk of a major far-right surge. But meanwhile, the once very plausible-feeling dream of an insurgent radical left Podemos gaining power has faded. And fast. Dan discusses the Spanish situation with Carlos Delclós and Magda Bandera.Go to the Socialism 2019 conference in Chicago July 4-7! Register now at socialismconference.orgCheck out Next Left, a new podcast from The Nation magazine: thenation.com/next-leftSupport this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

Jun 13, 20191h 8m

The Vast Majority: "The Militant Minority" with Eric Blanc

Part two of our discussion with Eric Blanc on his new book Red State Revolt: The Teachers Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics. We discuss the role of a "militant minority" of rank-and-file radicals in Arizona and West Virginia's teachers strikes — as well as what it means when that militant minority wasn't present, as in Oklahoma. This episode is of particular interest to rank-and-file union members who are interested in making their unions more democratic and militant, as well as members of socialist groups who support unions but want to figure out how to get personally involved in the labor movement. Read Micah's article (coauthored with Barry Eidlin) in Labor Studies Journal, "US Union Revitalization and the Missing 'Militant Minority,'" here: https://journals.<wbr />sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/<wbr />0160449X19828470 (Sorry, you'll need academic access.)Buy Eric's book here: https://www.versobooks.<wbr />com/books/2955-red-state-<wbr />revolt

Jun 11, 201929 min

Jacobin Radio: Breaking Down the European Parliament Elections

Two interviews on the results of the May 26 European Parliamentary elections, which did not cleanly match predictions that there would be a further shift to to authoritarian hard-right parties. The biggest losers across the continent were the center-right neoliberal mainstream parties, but the shift to the Right was not as pronounced as feared. First, Sebastian Budgen, contributing editor for Jacobin, analyzes the election across Europe, especially in France, where the failed policies of the center were critical in understanding the results. We also get his take on the continuing protest and promise of the gilets jaunes social movement. Then Kevin Ovenden takes a deeper look at the vote in Great Britain, where the upset couldn’t have been more pronounced in the wake of the repeated failure by the Tories’ Theresa May to implement Brexit. The Conservative Party had its worst result in history, but Labour also lost votes, as Jeremy Corbyn tried to bridge the divide between those in favor and those against Brexit. The newly created “Brexit” Party of Nigel Farage took first, with the center Lib-Dems in alliance with Scottish and Welsh nationalists and Greens doing very well.

Jun 10, 201953 min

The Dig: The French Situation with Sebastian Budgen and Danièle Obono

The radical left has been unable to electorally capitalize on the Yellow Vest movement, a massive revolt against a vicious, unequal and alienating neoliberal order. Instead, French electoral politics has pit an insurgent far-right against a zombie liberal center that presents itself as a bulwark against the nationalist tide. Dan interviews Sebastian Budgen and Danièle Obono, a member of the National Assembly with La France insoumise.Check out War over Peace: One Hundred Years of Israel's Militaristic Nationalism by Uri Ben-Eliezer ucpress.edu/book/9780520304345/war-over-peaceSupport this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

Jun 8, 20191h 14m

The Dig: Labour's Brexit Bind with Grace Blakeley, Maya Goodfellow, and Richard Seymour

Brexit has so dominated UK politics that it has put the Labour Party in a profoundly difficult and perhaps untenable position of strategic ambiguity toward how to handle the never-ending matter of leaving the EU. Today, in part two of our five-part series on European politics, Dan discusses this all with Grace Blakeley, Maya Goodfellow, and Richard Seymour.Thanks to Verso Books, which has loads of great left-wing titles at versobooks.comGo to the Socialism 2019 conference in Chicago July 4-7! Register now at socialismconference.orgSupport this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

Jun 7, 20191h 37m

The Dig: The European Situation with Chris Bickerton and Jerome Roos

This week and next, we're bringing you five episodes on European politics. Today, we're starting things off with Chris Bickerton and Jerome Roos for an overview of the European situation and the debate on the European left over how to approach Europe and the EU. Then, an interview on British politics with Grace Blakeley, Maya Goodfellow, and Richard Seymour. After that, a discussion of French politics with Sebastian Budget and Danièle Obono, a member of France's National Assembly with the left-wing La France insoumise. Then, an interview on Spanish politics with Carlos Delclós and Magda Bandera. And finally, an interview with David Broder and Marta Fana on Italy.Thanks to n+1. To get 25% off a one-year subscription, go to nplusonemag.com/thedig and enter THEDIG at checkoutCheck out Next Left, a new podcast from The Nation magazine: thenation.com/next-leftSupport this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

Jun 5, 20191h 23m

The Vast Majority: "Red State Revolt" with Eric Blanc

The teachers strike wave of the last year and a half is the most important development in US working-class politics in decades. And nobody has covered that strike wave closer than Eric Blanc. Eric has been Jacobin's man on the ground for most of these strikes, and he was there when they kicked off in West Virginia, then spread to Arizona and Oklahoma. (Since then, he's written many articles about strikes in Denver, Oakland, Los Angeles, Baton Rouge, and elsewhere.) He wrote the "red-state" strike wave in a new book, Red State Revolt: The Teachers Strikes and Working-Class Politics, published by Verso as part of the Jacobin series. I can't recommend this book enough — it's one of the best labor books published in recent years in the United States, of interest both to rank-and-file workers looking to organize their workplaces but also anyone seeking to understand how and why these strikes came about. This is the first of two Vast Majority episodes with Eric. This one talks about the role of the Bernie Sanders campaign in bringing together the strikers, the myth of the "red-state" voters and their willingness to go on strike, the role of social media in the strikes, why low wages aren't enough to kick off strikes, and more. The second episode, which will be out later this week, covers the role of a "militant minority" in organizing the strikes and consolidating the strikes' gains. You can buy Eric's book here: https://www.versobooks.<wbr />com/books/2955-red-state-<wbr />revolt You can read his many Jacobin articles on the strikes and other issues here: https://www.jacobinmag.<wbr />com/author/eric-blanc

Jun 5, 201934 min

The Dig: Rashida Tlaib

US Rep. Rashida Tlaib on the local struggles that guide her work on behalf of the working class in Congress, the urgent need for a politics that puts people over profit, the question of impeachment, and why American people are coming around to supporting a free Palestine.Go to the Socialism 2019 conference in Chicago July 4-7! Register now at socialismconference.org Support this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

Jun 3, 201935 min

Behind the News: Tim Shorrock and Vijay Prashad

Tim Shorrock (Nation page here) on the US conflict with North Korea. Then, Vijay Prashad, director of the Tricontinental Institute, on Modi’s recent victory in India.

Jun 3, 201951 min

The Dig: Bernie and Black Voters with Malaika Jabali and Wendi Muse

Dan has in-depth discussion on Bernie's approach to race and what he must do to win over Black voters with Malaika Jabali and Wendi Muse. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Sanders isn't unpopular with Black voters. In fact, he has done rather well with young Black people. But to win the primary and beat Biden, he must do a lot better. In particular, Malaika and Wendi argue that Bernie must integrate racial justice into the core of his class struggle agenda, rather than emphasizing it as a separate and siloed issue.Read Dan's critique of Bernie's immigration agenda jacobinmag.com/2019/04/bernie-sanders-immigrant-rights-border-policyThanks to Verso. Check out their huge selection of left-wing titles at www.versobooks.comGo to the Socialism 2019 conference in Chicago July 4-7! Register for the early-bird rate now at socialismconference.org Support this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

May 30, 20191h 48m

Jacobin Radio: Barry Eidlin on Labor

Here, before a live audience at United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) headquarters, Suzi talks to Canadian sociologist and labor activist Barry Eidlin about socialist politics and the many issues facing radicals oriented to the working class. The interview is followed by a lively, well informed discussion from the largely DSA audience. The result is a remarkable “town hall” meeting that could serve as a primer for socialist politics in the present moment. Some of the issues discussed: the Democratic Party vs. Canada’s labor party or NDP (New Democratic Party); the potential of today’s labor upsurge and teachers' strike wave; the labor bureaucracy and the rank-and-file strategy required to combat it; how to develop a “militant minority” within the workers' movement; the relationship between organizing in the traditional industrial working class and new struggles oriented around problems of social reproduction; and how to relate to Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Party, and electoral politics.

May 30, 20191h 22m

The Vast Majority: "The Case for Open Borders" with Suzy Lee

What should the Left say about borders? Free flow of people across borders has always been a key topic for leftists, perhaps never more so than right now — especially given the realities of climate change. Some on the Left advance a maximalist demand of completely open borders; others (including, recently, Sen. Bernie Sanders) argue that social-democratic policies like Medicare for All require some restriction on the flow of people who can enter a country and access those goods. Suzy Lee is no fan of the latter argument. In "The Case for Open Borders" in the Winter 2019 issue of our journal Catalyst, she argues that the Left can't give any credence to restrictionist arguments by accepting the need to restrict people from entering the US or any other country. You can read Suzy Lee's essay "The Case for Open Borders" here: https://catalyst-<wbr />journal.com/vol2/no4/the-case-<wbr />for-open-borders You can also read Daniel Denvir's piece in Jacobin, "How Bernie Should Talk About Borders": https://www.<wbr />jacobinmag.com/2019/04/bernie-<wbr />sanders-immigrant-rights-<wbr />border-policy And you can subscribe to Jacobin at https://www.jacobinmag.com/<wbr />subscribe

May 28, 201927 min

The Dig: Doug Henwood on DSA

DSA's explosive growth continues; it has already, in a few short years, become the center of a renewed American socialist movement. Dan interviews Doug Henwood, who recently published a lengthy article in The New Republic entitled "The Socialist Network: Inside DSA's struggle to move into the political mainstream."Check out Lisa Duggan's Mean Girl: Ayn Rand and the Culture of Greeducpress.edu/book/9780520294776/mean-girlGo to the Socialism 2019 conference in Chicago July 4-7! Register for the early-bird rate now at socialismconference.orgSupport this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

May 25, 20191h 0m

The Dig: Capitalism and Slavery. Part 2.

Three interviews: historian Seth Rockman, scholars Crystal Eddins and Zachary Sell, and public historians Akeia Benard, Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, Elon Cook Lee and Marco McWilliams.Dan conducted six interviews on capitalism and slavery at The Dig’s recent Slavery’s Hinterlands symposium here in Rhode Island. This second of two episodes begins with Seth Rockman on the role of slavery in American capitalism. Then, scholars Crystal Eddins and Zachary Sell on revolution and counter-revolution across the racial capitalist global order. Finally, public historians Akeia Benard, Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, Elon Cook Lee and Marco McWilliams on teaching slavery today.Go to the Socialism 2019 conference in Chicago July 4-7! Register for the early-bird rate now at socialismconference.orgCheck out Next Left, a new podcast from The Nation magazine. Their first interview is with Rep. Ilhan Omar. thenation.com/next-left/Support this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

May 22, 20192h 37m

The Vast Majority: Socialism: The Movie with Yael Bridge

Socialism: The Movie with Yael Bridge Yael Bridge is one of the filmmakers behind the forthcoming documentary Socialism: An American Story. She talks with Micah about what she's trying to do with the film as well as her own transformation from a liberal into a socialist through the Bernie Sanders campaign. You can read more about Socialism: An American Story and chip in a donation for it here: https://www.kickstarter.<wbr />com/projects/socialismmovie/<wbr />socialism-an-american-story-<wbr />post-production

May 20, 201912 min

Behind the News: Teachers Strikes and Community-Based Reparations

Eric Blanc, author of Red State Revolt, on the teachers' strikes. Then, Catherine Kaiman, environmental lawyer, on community-based reparations (paper here).

May 20, 201952 min

The Dig: Capitalism and Slavery. Part 1.

Three interviews: historians Linford Fisher, Christy Clark-Pujara and Joanne Melish, and Emily Owens.Dan conducted six interviews on capitalism and slavery at The Dig's recent Slavery's Hinterlands symposium here in Rhode Island. This first of two episodes begins with historian Linford Fisher, who explains that the English settlement of North America was a settler-colonial project that required genocidally dispossessing indigenous people of their lands. What you might not know is that a central tactic for that dispossession, in New England and Virginia alike, was the threat and actual enslavement of native people, including the widespread practice of forcing native youth to labor in English homes. Then historians Christy Clark-Pujara and Joanne Melish, who pick up where Fisher leaves off: slavery wasn't the South's peculiar institution; it was the bedrock of the northern economy. And finally, historian Emily Owens on sexual labor under slavery: what, Owens' work explores, did slavery and freedom mean for women for whom, in brothels or the home, sex was work? On the next episode, Dan has two more interviews looking at the big picture questions of slavery, capitalism, revolution and colonialism, and an interview with a group of public historians who teach about slavery today.Thanks to n+1. To get 25% off a one-year subscription, go to nplusonemag.com/thedig and enter THEDIG at checkoutPlease support this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

May 16, 20192h 13m

The Vast Majority: "Chicago's Socialist Surge" with Carlos Ramirez-Rosa

Chicago recently made international headlines for the victories of six — six!! — members of the Democratic Socialists of America running for city council. It’s an astonishing victory, the biggest socialist victory in any American city in probably a century. These victories matter both for Chicago, which has seen growing working-class pushback to neoliberalism in recent years, but also for socialist organizers in cities around the country, who can learn from how Chicago won so many elections on a left platform. One of the six victors in the April elections was Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, who represents Chicago's 35th Ward, a gentrifying area on the city’s northwest side. Carlos was the only incumbent socialist city council member (or “alderman”); despite being attacked repeatedly by the area’s wealthy real-estate developers, he won re-election comfortably. You can read my interview with Carlos from two years ago, when he was kicked off a gubernatorial ticket for his support of Palestine (which we mention in our discussion) here:https://www.jacobinmag.com/<wbr />2017/09/carlos-rosa-chicago-<wbr />bds-democratic-party And you can read my piece in the Guardian on the Chicago electoral victories here:https://www.theguardian.com/<wbr />commentisfree/2019/apr/03/<wbr />americas-socialist-surge-<wbr />chicago

May 14, 201934 min

The Dig: Cyborg Revolution with Donna Haraway

Donna Haraway's work defies disciplines, combining insights from both biology and feminist thought, and drawing on her own involvement in political projects organized around feminism and radical science. Haraway’s most recent book, Staying With the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene, takes up these questions as the fragility of earth’s webs of life is becoming frighteningly and increasingly apparent. What are the ethical and political demands in the face of the most pressing threat of our era—catastrophic climate change? To stay with the trouble, Haraway argues, is to reject technofixes that will save us from doom on the one hand, and on the other, to reject the pessimistic idea that “it’s too late” to make the world better. The book outlines a view of what Haraway calls “multispecies flourishing” and the obstacles to achieving it through theoretical insights and speculative fiction imaginings. Interviewed by Jacobin editorial board member Alyssa Battistoni.Thanks to n+1. To get 25% of a one-year subscription, go to nplusonemag.com/thedig and enter THEDIG at checkoutPlease support this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDigAlyssa's piece on Haraway for n+1: nplusonemag.com/issue-28/reviews/monstrous-duplicated-potentSophie Lewis's critique of Haraway and population politics: viewpointmag.com/2017/05/08/cthulhu-plays-no-role-for-meThe Leap Manifesto: leapmanifesto.org/en/the-leap-manifestoThe Xenofeminist Manifesto: laboriacuboniks.net

May 9, 20191h 57m

The Vast Majority: "Bernie Sanders Wants You to Fight" with Meagan Day

If we want to transform the United States in a socialist direction, we're going to need to do much more than elect Bernie Sanders as president. Nobody harps on this point more than Bernie himself. You can see it in his "not me, us" campaign slogan, or his emphasis in stump speeches on how massive industries like health insurance companies would mobilize against Medicare for All. President Bernie couldn't do much without a mass working-class movement at his back. But that doesn't mean that such a movement and the Sanders campaign are two separate things — Bernie's campaign can help and has already helped bring those movements into being. Micah talks with Jacobin staff writer Meagan Day about it. You can read Meagan's article "Bernie Sanders Wants You to Fight" here: https://www.jacobinmag.<wbr />com/2019/03/bernie-sanders-<wbr />movements-not-me-us And you can read her article "Wielding the Imperial Presidency" in the new print issue of Jacobin or here: https://jacobinmag.com/<wbr />2019/02/wielding-the-imperial-<wbr />presidency Subscribe to Jacobin: https://jacobinmag.<wbr />com/subscribe

May 7, 201935 min

The Dig: Real Estate Capitalism and Gentrification with Samuel Stein

What is gentrification? It isn't just about what was once known as the hipster and is still known as the artist, the telltale warning signs of impending demographic change. It's part of an entire political-economic order that has made real estate global capitalism's most prized asset for storing wealth—one that has helped bend place-based urban governments to the will of mobile, and thus more powerful, capital. Dan interviews Samuel Stein on his book, Capital City: Gentrification and the Real Estate State.Come to The Dig's Slavery's Hinterlands symposium Thursday through Saturday in Rhode Island: facebook.com/events/661508874305008/Check out the English transcript of last week's Spanish-language interview with Communist Chilean Mayor Daniel Jadue jacobinmag.com/2019/04/communist-party-chile-left-governance-recoletaThanks to Verso. Check out their massive left-wing book selection at www.versobooks.comPlease support us with your cash at Patreon.com/TheDig

May 2, 20191h 42m

Jacobin Radio: Democratic Primary; Victor Serge

Alan Minsky, producer of Jacobin Radio, is the guest on this episode. He wears multiple hats and one of them is Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America (PDA). We talk about the Democratic primary field, and Alan reports on conversations he had on his recent trip to the European Parliament as part of a contingent of the American left. Then, a conversation with Mitch Abidor, translator of Victor Serge's just-published Notebooks, about the Belgian-Russian anarcho-Bolshevik and lifelong Left Oppositionist, who was one of the great writer-thinker-activists of the twentieth century. Serge's contribution is especially attractive today because he never compromised his commitment to the creation of a society that defends human freedom, enhances human dignity, and improves the human condition — and insisted that democracy was at the heart of the socialist project. This makes him both a contemporary as well as a man for our future. Serge’s life as a maverick and renegade relegated him to the margins. He was always poor. His last exile was in Mexico, and a rich trove of his daily writings, his notebooks, were discovered in Mexico in 2003. They were published in France in 2012, and NYRB has just published the English translation. We are fortunate today to speak to the translator, Mitch Abidor.

May 1, 201955 min

The Vast Majority: "The Socialist Manifesto" with Bhaskar Sunkara

It's the first episode of The Vast Majority, which will be bringing you conversations on American and international politics from a socialist perspective. So who better to have on than Bhaskar Sunkara, Jacobin's editor, publisher, and founder. Bhaskar is the author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality, which is out today, April 30. Micah talked to Bhaskar about the state of the socialist movement, socialism’s relationship to liberalism and markets, and Bhaskar’s utopian vision of a Buffalo Wild Wings on every corner.You can order The Socialist Manifesto from your bookseller of choice or your local bookstore. And you can read Bhaskar's editorial "The Exercise of Power," where he talks about "class-struggle social democracy," in the latest issue of Jacobin: https://jacobinmag.<wbr />com/2019/02/the-exercise-of-<wbr />power

Apr 30, 201947 min

A New Podcast from Jacobin: The Vast Majority with Micah Uetricht

It's a new podcast from Jacobin: The Vast Majority, hosted by Micah Uetricht. We'll be talking to authors from Jacobin and its sister publications like Catalyst and Tribune in the UK, plus whoever else is thinking and doing important work on the Left. The first episode will be out April 30.

Apr 29, 20191 min

The Dig: Un laboratorio del socialismo en Chile. Entrevista con Daniel Jadue.

*This episode of The Dig is a special Dig in Spanish. Visit Jacobin for a transcript in English. Este episodio de The Dig es un Dig especial en español. Entra a Jacobin para una transcripción en inglés.* Cuando se piensa en Chile desde el extranjero, generalmente surge la imagen de su pasado reciente marcado por la dictadura cívico–militar. Y esto con toda razón. El legado del régimen genocida de Pinochet todavía está presente en todas partes—en la memoria personal y colectiva, en las leyes y en una constitución profundamente neoliberal que sigue condenando al sistema político a un bipartidismo e impide las transformaciones deseadas por la soberanía popular. Daniel Jadue, el alcalde de la comuna de Recoleta, ubicada en la Región Metropolitana del Gran Santiago, se ha entregado a la empresa de construir en su territorio un laboratorio del comunismo del presente y del futuro. Junto a su equipo ha abierto una farmacia popular, una óptica popular y una linda librería popular. Todos estos servicios de primera necesidad venden sus productos a precios bajos y justos desafiando con ello a un mercado supuestamente autoregulado que en Chile sólo ha demostrado funcionar más bien estimulando prácticas de monopolio—un capitalismo salvaje. Si nos estas escuchando hoy por primera vez con este episodio especial en español y también hablas inglés, por favor revisa nuestro archivo que contiene muchísimas entrevistas con intelectuales y activistas de la izquierda: blubrry.com/thedig/

Apr 26, 20191h 28m

Behind the News: Rossana Rodriguez, Benjamin Fogel on Bolsonaro

Rossana Rodriguez on her successful campaign as a socialist for the Chicago city council, where she will join five other socialists. Then, Benjamin Fogel, author of this and this, on the lunacy of Bolsonaro's early months as president of Brazil.

Apr 19, 201951 min

The Dig: Empire and the War in Yemen

The US has played a major role in fomenting violence across Yemen, backing the Saudi and United Arab Emirates-led forces attacking the country while also conducting a direct war against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula under the guise of counterterrorism. But while it's understandable that US involvement is the top focus for the American left, understanding the war in Yemen requires a much broader analysis. The Yemeni conflict not only includes multiple outside actors but also multiple groups of Yemenis pursuing different outcomes, rooted in a complex history that few outside of Yemen understand. Explaining that context is what this show, in partnership with the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), is all about. This special episode includes two interviews with contributors to Middle East Report, MERIP's print publication. First, up is Yemeni journalist Afrah Nasser and political scientist Stacey Philbrick Yadav; and then, Dan speaks with political-economist Adam Hanieh. Check out The Fight for Yemen, the latest issue of Middle East Report at merip.org/magazine/<wbr />289 Thanks to Verso. Check out their huge selection of left-wing titles at www.versobooks.org Please support this podcast with your cash at Patreon.com/TheDig <style></style>

Apr 18, 20192h 5m

Jacobin Radio: Elections in Chicago and Israel

<font color="#000000">Our guest Yoav Peled argues that Netanyahu i</font>s the only issue in the April 9 election. <font color="#000000">Netanyahu is under indictment for one case of bribery and two cases of fraud, but Yoav says </font><font color="#000000">he is likely to win even though his party and their bloc </font>—<font color="#000000"> with far-right, racist and religious parties </font>—<font color="#000000"> is more or less tied with the anti-Bibi “Blue an</font>d White” coalition or bloc. Yoav also discusses his new book, The Religionization of Israeli Society— <font color="#000000">which sheds light on how the country has moved from secular Zionism to an increasingly far-right expansionist religious Zionism, and how that helps us understand the election, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict </font>—<font color="#000000"> and the relation between culture, politics, nationalism, secularization, and new social movements. </font> <font color="#000000">Suzi then talks to</font>Micah Uetricht in Chicago, where 5–6 socialists <font color="#000000">were just elected to the City Council. Micah argues they will have outsize influence in determining the political issues </font>— <font color="#000000">much as we have seen nationally with the election of democratic socialists to Congress. In his aptly titled article in</font> the Guardian<font color="#000000">“America's socialist surge is going strong in Chicago” Micah writes that the socialist victories in Chicago were not a fluke, people are miserable with the status quo of austerity </font>— and if Chicago’s elections are any indication, it just may be that people are ready to try socialism.

Apr 11, 201955 min

Behind the News: Police Surveillance; ISO

Jason Wilson on how cops are more interested in surveilling the Left than the Right (article here; Will Parrish article here). Then, Todd Chretien reflects on the forty-two-year history of the International Socialist Organization, which dissolved itself at the end of March.

Apr 10, 201952 min

The Dig: Chinese Class Conflict with Jenny Chan

In the US, China is often viewed at best as a nefarious and enigmatic rival and at worst as a civilizational enemy. But these stories of national rivalry that permeate both major parties and the mainstream media function as a mystification, shrouding the global supply chain that connects capitalist exploitation from East to West. When we cut through the noise, a rather different picture emerges: China is home to a massive portion of the world's working-class, a class that is struggling against the combined forces of state and global capital for dignified lives. And these struggles, contrary to conventional wisdom, are deeply connected, rather than opposed to, worker struggles in the West. Dan interviews sociologist Jenny Chan on China's class conflict and labor movement.Thanks to Verso Books. Check out their huge selection of left-wing titles at www.versobooks.comPlease support this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

Apr 10, 20191h 56m

The Dig: Against Idiocy with Kafui Attoh

Car dominance, public transit austerity, and the neoliberal political-economy within which both are embedded have fomented what Marx called idiocy, in its classical sense of privatized social isolation. Dan talks to geographer Kafui Attoh, the author of Rights in Transit: Public Transportation and the Right to the City in California's East Bay, about the political-economy of public transit and why the fight for transportation justice must be part of a broader struggle for the right to the city.André Gorz's "The social ideology of the motorcar" unevenearth.org/2018/08/the-social-ideology-of-the-motorcar/Two upcoming live Dig tapings in Providence!April 23: Dan interviews Sam Stein on his book Capital City facebook.com/events/2164662790291372/May 2-4: Slavery’s Hinterlands: Capitalism and bondage in Rhode Island and across the Atlantic world facebook.com/events/661508874305008/And check out the Philadelphia Socialist Feminist Convergence, April 26-28 socfemphilly.wordpress.comThanks to Verso Books. Peruse their massive selection of left-wing titles at www.versobooks.com

Apr 5, 20191h 38m