Jacobin Radio

Aziz Rana discusses his pivotal book, The Two Faces of American Freedom. Rana overturns conventional accounts of American history, from settlement and Revolution to the Populists and the present day. In reality, settler-colonialism, empire, and a brutally exploitative economic system grounded in racial subjugation have always been at the core of the American project. But radical thinkers and movements have consistently stepped forward at critical junctures to propose transformative alternatives that would make American freedom universal. Rana's most brilliant move is to ultimately make a devastatingly critical account of American history hopeful and optimistic. Thanks to our supporters at Verso Books. Check out Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump versobooks.com/books/<wbr />2535-alt-america Support us with $ at patreon.com/TheDig

Benjamin Opratko, a fellow at Humboldt University in Berlin who teaches at the University of Vienna, on the rise of the far right in Austria. On Sunday, October 16, Austria held elections, and the two right-wing parties will form a government (you can read Opratko's Jacobinarticles for more on this subject). Then Steven Teles, author of The Captured Economy, launches a hybrid "liberalitarian" attack on rent-seeking.

The exposure of Weinstein's predations has reignited widespread fury over the longstanding problem of sexual harassment and assault—especially in the workplace. Jacobin editor @alexnpress discusses two new pieces she wrote on how dealing with these problems as individuals only ends up harming individual women and why women must organize to fight back. Support us on Patreon.com/TheDig with some cash.

Corey Robin points to a tension that has defined conservatism from the get-go, between two competing conceptions of virtue and nobility: one defined by political and military distinction and another by entrepreneurial acumen and accumulated wealth. Robin parses how Trump fits into this dynamic history, in part by taking a look back to seminal conservative thinkers like Edmund Burke and Friedrich Hayek. Support us with $ at patreon.com/TheDig Listen to Dan's first interview with Corey: blubrry.com/thedig/22226639/corey-robin-on-the-reactionaries-minds-under-trump/

Dan was on a panel last week on ending the war on drug dealers at the Drug Policy Alliance conference in Atlanta. The panel was moderated by asha bandele and included Daryl Atkinson, Constanza Sánchez Avilé, Lyn Ulbrich, Kemba Smith and Dan. Thanks for listening. Support us at patreon.com/TheDig.

Suzi Weissman switches seats with Robert Brenner: she is the guest and he does the interviewing. The program begins with a talk Suzi gave recently in Berkeley: "One Hundred Years Since October: When the Russian Working Class Opened the Possibilities For Humanity." Robert and Suzi then discuss the significance of October 1917, when workers took power with profoundly democratic institutions of popular control from below in the Russian empire, creating the Soviet Union.

Isabel Hilton, editor of ChinaDialogue.net, discusses recent developments at the Chinese Communist Party Congress. Then, Doug is joined by Alex Vitale, author The End of Policing, who addresses how we cure ourselves of the cop sickness.

Since Bernie Sanders's success in the 2016 Democratic primary, much of the Left, from progressive Democrats to socialists, has had its sights set on something we had long at least implicitly assumed was impossible: state power and governing. The question now is how to take power, and the Left is consumed by debates over how and whether to engage with the Democratic Party or, in a more limited fashion, with the Democratic Party's ballot line. Joe Dinkin of the Working Families Party talks to Dan about the promise and pitfalls of fighting within the Democratic Party. Support us at Patreon.com/thedig.

In his new book The End of Policing Brooklyn College sociologist @avitale makes the case that technocratic reforms won't fix American policing. In reality, we can only fix policing by ending the carceral state and defeating neoliberalism. Thanks to Verso Books for their support. Check out Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump by David Neiwert versobooks.com/<wbr />books/2535-alt-america Support us with your $$ at patreon.com/thedig

An extended interview with former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis on his new book, Adults in the Room, the story of his surreal negotiations with Greece’s creditors

Chapo went on The Dig. Dan talks to@cushbombabout optimism, pessimism, Manitowoc, reptilians, why the internet might be mostly bad, and Dan’s personal connection to the PizzaGate coverup. Toss us some cash love atPatreon.com/thedigand check outThe End of Policing by Alex Vitale, from our sponsors at Verso Books.

<font size="4">Suzi Weissman talks to</font><font size="4">Einde O’Callaghan, a teacher and member of Die Linke, about Germany’s recent election, in which the far-right AfD gained 94 seats in Parliament, making it larger and more influential than the left-wing Die Linke. Then, Richard Lichtman joins us to discuss the notion (and failures) of democracy in the current period. How do we characterize a system that has the form of democracy but not the substance? Has this always been the case or is there something new in the era of Trump?</font> <img src="https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif" />

Former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner talks about being horrified by Trump, why single-payer is suddenly hot among likely 2020 Democratic contenders, and the work that Our Revolution is doing nationwide to fight the Democratic Party's neoliberal leadership. Thanks to our supporters at Verso Books, who just published Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age of Crisis by George Monbiot. Also, catch me in Atlanta at the International Drug Policy Reform conference on October 14.

Prevailing debate obscures the fact that we already have a form of gun control in the United States. As legal scholar Ben Levin explains, the problem is that it’s a form of gun control that is mostly about locking up poor black men in huge numbers. The Left should demand a society without readily available weapons of war on the streets and a society without mass incarceration. Thanks to our supporters at University of California Press. Check out their new title Race and America's Long War from Nikhil Pal Singh. And check out Dan's Jacobin article on carceral gun control here. Also, catch Dan in Atlanta at the International Drug Policy Reform conference on October 14.

First, author Joel Schalit explores the rise of the right in Germany. Then, Professor Marisol LeBrón talks about the role of debt and austerity in impairing Puerto Rico's hurricane recovery. And finally, Shawna Potter of the band War on Women, on being a feminist punk rocker.

Here's Dan's full interview with civil rights attorney and Democratic nominee for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. You heard some of it yesterday on the first in a four-part series on mass incarceration that we are co-producing with Cited, a podcast out of the University of British Columbia. Sponsorship from Harvard Law's Fair Punishment Project (sign up for their newsletter: http://eepurl.com/<wbr />cZMccH) and The University of Washington Center for Human Rights.

In the late 1960s, criminologists like Todd Clear predicted America would soon start closing its prisons. They couldn't have been more wrong. Interviews with Clear, formerly incarcerated poet and legal scholar Dwayne Betts, and civil rights attorney and Democratic nominee for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.Today's show is the first in a four-part series on mass incarceration that we are co-producing with @citedpodcast, which is out of the University of British Columbia. Special guest hosts are Cited's @Samadeus and scholar Katherine Beckett. Sponsorship from Harvard Law's Fair Punishment Project (sign up for the FPP newsletter: http://eepurl.com/cZMccH) and The University of Washington Center for Human Rights.

Journalist Lukas Hermsmeier on German politics after the recent election, which saw a breakthrough for the AfD, a far-right party, the first to have seats in the German Bundestag since the Nazi era. Then, the writer Margaret Corvid discusses the recent UK Labour Party conference.

Today’s Diglet is not really diminutive at all. Dan has two interviews with two separate guests because too much has happened over the past few weeks and there are too many smart people to analyze it all. First, scholar @marisollebron on how Wall Street-imposed austerity set Puerto Rico up for devastation, and why it will be an obstacle to a just recovery. Then, Twitter expert @BrandyLJensen on recent Republican grotesqueries. Donate to Taller Salud in PR at facebook.com/taller.salud, check out puertoricosyllabus.com and support this podcast at patreon.com/thedig

Islamophobia is conventionally regarded as racist and bigoted views about Muslims expressed by ignorant individuals, including the one who somehow became president. But legal and critical race scholar @KhaledBeydoun explains that the reality is more complicated. The War on Terror perpetrated state-backed Islamophobia, which nurtured and bolstered popular anti-Muslim bigotry. Support us at Patreon.com/TheDig. Check out Beydoun's article http://columbialawreview.org/content/islamophobia-toward-a-legal-definition-and-framework/

We look at urban politics from Barcelona to Chicago with Isidro Lopez, PodemosMember of Parliament in Madrid, and Troy LaRaviere, president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association. Isidro brings us his analysis of the independence referendum in Catalonia — slated for October 1 but now banned and declared unconstitutional by the Central Government — that has brought tens of thousands to the streets of Barcelona demanding the right to vote. Then, Troy LaRaviere, who is beginning his campaign against Rahm Emmanuel for mayor of Chicago, and taking on the Democratic Party in the process, joins us to to talk about his campaign, his support for the city's public schools and the Chicago Teachers Union, and the fight against charterization and privatization.

For this Diglet, Dan and Eve Peyser discuss What Happened, Hillary Clinton's new book. Eve also talks about spending time with Jill Stein recently, and argues that it's wrongheaded to blame Stein for Trump. Thanks to our supporters at University of California Press. Check out their new title How All Politics Became Reproductive Politics: From Welfare Reform to Foreclosure to Trump.

Andrew Cockburn, author of this article, on the Saudi involvement in 9/11 • Asad Haider, author of this article, on identity, Mark Lilla, and Ta-Nehisi Coates.

September 7, 2017 Christo Sims, author of Disruptive Fixation, on school reform and techno-fetishism • Christian Parenti, author of this article, on climate change and the threat to coastal cities.

Trump is normal in more ways than people care to admit, but he is different in that he parts from the bedrock ideology of American exceptionalism that has governed this country from its violent founding. Foreign policy scholar @stephenwertheim makes the case that the Trump Doctrine could reignite extreme nationalism and militarism but also provides the Left with an opening to finally launch a movement against American Empire. Thanks to University of California Press for their support. Check out their new title A Social Revolution: Politics and the Welfare State in Iran https://www.ucpress.edu/ebook.php?isbn=9780520965843<o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p>

The so-called Olympic spirit doesn’t match the reality of a highly-corporatized Games that often leaves taxpayers picking up the tab, engenders abusive policing and justifies the remaking of cities for the rich at the expense of ordinary and poor people. Dan’s guests today are Molly Lambert, a writer and member of Los Angeles DSA, and Jules Boykoff, the author of "Power Games: A Political History of the Olympics" from Verso. Support this pod with your money at patreon.com/thedig

On Jacobin Radio today we talk to Christian Parenti, now teaching in the economics program at John Jay College (CUNY) about the catastrophic effects of climate change already upon us — from Harvey to Irma, from Katrina to Houston, to the fires raging around the globe. Christian has written in the new issue ofJacobinon climate change, "Earth Wind, & Fire," about what the near future will look like "If We Fail" to act, but he says that technological solutions already exist, that the State will have to step up — and that brings up the question of political power and social movements.

This two-hour episode is a look at inequality in Houston from slavery to the present. First, Dan talks to Tyina Steptoe, historian at the University of Arizona and author of "Houston Bound: Culture and Color in a Jim Crow City." Then Robert D. Bullard, professor of urban planning and environmental policy at Texas Southern University in Houston and the “father of environmental justice.” Finally, John Henneberger, an expert in equitable disaster recovery and co-director of Texas Housers. Show your love for the show and support us at patreon.com/thedig.

Immigration law scholar César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández breaks down the lies, misdirections, and bigoted absurdities conveyed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions when announced that the Trump Administration would cruelly make some 800,000 young people who came to this country as children deportable. Check out César's blog at crimmigration.com Support us at Patreon.com/TheDig APOLOGIES FOR THE PRIOR TECH PROBLEM

The devastation wreaked by Hurricane Harvey has made the denial of climate change all the more dangerous. But writer Kate Aronoff says that mainstream liberals and environmental groups, touting cap-and-trade and business-friendly reforms, have put forward an agenda that can’t address the crisis and won’t mobilize the masses. We need a radical and transformative climate agenda. Thanks to our supporters at UNC Press and check out Knocking on Labor’s Door https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469632070/knocking-on-labors-door/ Also, support us at http://Patreon.com/TheDig and help Houston out at http://homelesshouston.org/take-action/donate

New Republic reporter Emily Atkin talks about why Harvey is already and inherently political thanks to climate change and the potential for petrochemical disaster in Houston. Calls to not “politicize” the disaster are political too: they’re efforts to defend the destructive status quo of fossil-fueled neoliberal capitalism. Support us at patreon.com/thedig and please donate to homelesshouston.org/take-action/donate

Is the internet good or bad? The debate is more often than not a proxy for one about politics more generally and populism in particular. But the real issue with the internet is this: unaccountable businesses wield oligopoly power over the digital public sphere. Support us with some cash https://www.patreon.com/thedig And check out Adrian’s article http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/09/04/the-fake-news-fallacy

Jodi Dean, a professor of political science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, discusses how to rethink the class vs. identity debate, as well as the tensions between online life and practice. Then, journalist Jason Wilson on Charlottesville and the far right.

First, Robert Kuttner, the co-editor of The American Prospect, recorded the day after Kuttner published his conversation with White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, just as Bannon was being ousted, likely for his call to Kuttner. Then, Bruce Cumings, University of Chicago historian and a leading expert on Korea, brings us historical perspective to help understand North Korea’s development of a nuclear deterrent.

Dan talks to Splinter Politics Editor Alex Pareene about his recent piece “Charlottesville Was a Preview of the Future of the Republican Party” and about why Phoenix is Trump’s happy place. This second weekly episode costs time and money. We can only keep it up if you contribute at patreon.com/thedig Check out Pareene’s article and podcast http://splinternews.com/charlottesville-was-a-preview-of-the-future-of-the-repu-1797988745 http://tarfureport.libsyn.com/

The War on Terror’s permanence should be remarkable, an outrage. But it is precisely because the war has become permanent that it has long since been rendered unremarkable. Dan’s guest is historian Andrew Bacevich, author or coauthor of over a dozen books, including most recently, America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History (Random House, 2016). Note that we spoke before Trump’s recent announcement that the US would double down on the Afghanistan War. And please support the show at Patreon.com/thedig. We can't do it without you!

Kristen Ghodsee, author of Red Hangover: Legacies of Twentieth-Century Communism (Duke University Press, 2017), joins Doug to discuss sex and gender in the former socialist world, and her recent essay in the New York Times, available here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/12/opinion/why-women-had-better-sex-under-socialism.html. Plus, Roger Lancaster, who has a new article in Jacobin on the subject, on prison reform and the problems with the abolition movement.

In the wake of the fascist terror attack, RL attended DSA Charlottesville's monthly meeting. Time and again, the issues of safety and violence were discussed along with how the terror attack would change their organizing work going forward. RL asked a few members to stay after the meeting for a chat.

New Republic writer Sarah Jones on Trump's invocation of the "alt-left," the term's unseemly centrist history, and more. We're gonna try doing two episodes each week now: the regular long Dig on Tuesdays and a shorter, hotter-take Diglet on Fridays. This will take more time and more money! If you listen to and love the show please support us at https://www.patreon.com/thedig

RL talks with Kevin, an organizer at The Haven, a nonprofit serving Charlottesville's homeless population. Kevin knew Heather Heyer because she had helped him escape homelessness himself. He was on the scene the day of the fascist attack that killed her.

The FARC peace accord is a historic victory for Colombian society. But the struggle to build an urban left strong enough to take on the country's powerful right remains a daunting one. Today's guest is Forrest Hylton, the author of Evil Hour in Colombia. Check out a great article from Forrest here https://www.academia.edu/26907051/The_Experience_of_Defeat_The_Colombian_Left_and_the_Cold_War_that_Never_Ended And also Forgotten Peace: Reform, Violence, and the Making of Contemporary Colombia from our supporters at University of California Press http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520293939

Paula Mielke lives in Falcon Heights, Minnesota--where Philando Castile was murdered by a police officer. She had never before considered herself an activist, but after Philando's death, she got to work. She and her team organized protests, petition drives, and vigils. They've also met weekly and attended every city council meeting in the year since Philando's murder. Now, Paula's running for city council herself. You can find out more about Paula's campaign here: https://votepaulamielke.com/Micah and RL recorded the introduction to the interview with Paula from a new studio. Special thanks to Wan for providing the technical support.

On Jacobin Radio, Dan La Botz. co-editor of New Politics discusses the Democrat Party's "bullshit deal;" Professor Jeremy Bendik-Keymer talks about Trump and fascism; and Dr. Adam Gaffney analyzes the demise of Trumpcare and why we need truly universal health care.

With Trump, Mexico is the symbol and source of so many things that are wrong with the United States. Oftentimes, these stories told about Mexico in the United States aren’t just wrong but serve to obscure the true source of our shared problems—which, more often than not, are both countries’ ruling classes. Today's guest is Christy Thornton, a professor of history and international studies at Rowan University, and soon to be fellow at the Weatherhead Research Cluster on Global Transformations at Harvard. Thanks to our sponsors at University of California Press.

We’re taking a quick break halfway into our four-part series of interviews on Latin America because this week is a big week for the American Left: Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA, is holding its first national convention since the organization has undergone a massive explosion in size. R.L. Stephens and Ella Mahony, running on competing slates for leadership in the organization, explain what's at stake. This episode is long and we apologize that some of the audio quality is a little worse than usual. But the debate and discussion is great.

On Jacobin Radio, UCLA historian and coeditor of Catalyst Robert Brenner joins Suzi to discuss the state of the US economy, mainstream politics, and neoliberalism. How are today's political earthquakes connected to the economy, and what can we expect from changes in US economic policy? What do the proclaimed health of the unemployment rate and stock market mean for working people?

A decline in oil prices gutted the revenue stream that Venezuela depended on to bankroll its social spending. The government led by Chavez’s successor Nicolás Maduro is increasingly turning to repression in response to constant, and often violent, protests from the opposition. NYU historian and NACLA Executive Editor Alejandro Velasco explains what's happening in Venezuela and why, as well as how the promise of the Bolivarian Revolution might still be salvaged. Thanks to supporters at nacla.org, an unrivaled source for left-wing news on Latin America.

Doug interviews two guests. First, James Forman, Jr., author of Locking Up Our Own, analyzes the relationship between race and mass incarceration. Then, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, in a reprise of her interview with Doug in June 2016, talks about a political response to incarceration and racist police violence.

Doug interviews two guests. First, Robert Pollin, a professor at U Mass-Amherst, addresses the economics of how single payer can work in CA. Then, Michael McCarthy, author of Dismantling Solidarity, tells us the story of how we got our current private pension system, with workers' savings appropriated by Wall Street

Doug interviews two guests. First, Kate Gordon, a Senior Adviser at the Paulsen Institute, talks about China, Climate, and the Paris climate accord. Then, Nancy Maclean, author of the recent book Democracy in Chains, talks about the Right's stealth war and democracy, paying special attention to the role of James Buchanan.