Jacobin Radio

Featuring Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and Mike McCarthy on the MAGA and DOGE war on woke, the complicity of bankrupt liberal identity politics, and the centrality of various oppressions to the class domination of capital and struggles against it. Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig Read Mike’s article “The Problem of Class Abstractionism” epublications.marquette.edu/socs_fac/356 Buy Enemy Feminisms at Haymarketbooks.com Buy Solidarity Betrayed at Plutobooks.com The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

Among the many government agencies facing cuts from President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, USAID has garnered wide support in the media. But for whatever humanitarian good it’s done in the world, the agency has played a role in US imperialism. In this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber examines the true history of USAID and breaks down the false dichotomy between soft and hard US power. Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.

On February 21, Suzi talked to Zakhar Popóvych, a Ukrainian researcher and activist in Kyiv with roots in labor and socialist organizing, and Ilya Budraitskis, a Russian historian and political theorist now in exile, about Trump’s foreign policy moves regarding Ukraine on the eve of the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion. The Trump administration has engaged in peace talks in Saudi Arabia that excluded Ukraine entirely. Trump has even embraced Putin’s revisionist narrative claiming Ukraine started the war. What does this mean for Ukraine’s survival, Europe’s stability, and the broader left struggle against imperialism and authoritarianism? Suzi asks Zakhar and Ilya to unpack the shifting geopolitical landscape, the implications of Trump’s concessions to Putin, the resilience of Ukraine, and the role of the internationalist left in an era of resurgent imperialism. Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Anatol Lieven looks at the global dimensions of Trumpism. Quinn Slobodian, who wrote a recent article for the New York Review of Books, muses on whether Trump is a neoliberal and examines the three major strands of DOGE-ism. Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

For now, the ceasefire deal between Hamas and the Israeli government appears to be holding. However, Donald Trump has openly proposed the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Trump has used the destruction of Gaza with American-made bombs as a rationale for his plan. Paul Rogers, emeritus professor of peace studies at the University of Bradford and the author of many books, joins Long Reads for a conversation about Trump’s scheme and whether it can be stopped. Paul’s most recent work is The Insecurity Trap: A Short Guide to Transformation. Stay tuned for our series about histories of the Palestinian Left, which we postponed to address the current danger facing Palestinians. Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies with music by Knxwledge.

Featuring Danielle Carr on the history and present state of American unwellness and how that’s been shaped by psychiatry, prescription drugs, neuroscience, popular culture, smartphones and social media. We trace the rise of psychiatry as a Gilded Age human science, the disastrous contradictions of asylum deinstitutionalization, the invention of neuroscience and deep brain stimulation, Elon Musk’s Neuralink fraudulence, how Adderall made the Internet run, the liberal gospel of traumatic literalism recounted in The Body Keeps the Score, and the scientific Bonapartism of RFK Jr.’s medical freedom movement. Buy Empire of Normality at Plutobooks.com Buy Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal at Haymarketbooks.com Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our vast archives and newsletters at thedigradio.com

Our theme for today’s program is resistance in the time of monsters: resistance to the Trump/Musk wrecking ball that threatens the well-being of millions of people here and across the globe. Their actions are illegal, have provoked a constitutional crisis, and constitute a technical coup. At the same time, the Trump/Musk rampage has galvanized resistance in the courts and on the streets. Suzi talks to Geologist and IFPTE local president Colin Smalley, who is part of the Federal Unionists Network, or FUN. They have called for a national day of action, an SOS — Save our Services — for February 19. We then turn to Canada, where Trump’s across-the-board tariffs — though temporarily paused – threaten economic havoc with our largest trading partner, an unprecedented trade war. The promised tariffs have sparked a spontaneous national resistance across the country and across the political spectrum, uniting Canadians as never before. Canadians are fighting back against Trump's suggestion that Canada join the US as the 51st state. Suzi talks to NDP MP Charlie Angus about the power of a grassroots Canadian boycott and the ways Canadians are coming together to stop the Trump-Musk goon squad reign that threatens Canadian sovereignty. Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò picks apart the contradictory strands of the DEI obsession. Sophia Rosenfeld, author of the book The Age of Choice, explores the history of that concept over the last few centuries. Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Within weeks of assuming the presidency, Donald Trump has instituted tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China. Trump has touted protectionism as a way of supporting American workers. In this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Catalyst editor Vivek Chibber and Jacobin contributor Melissa Naschek discuss how nineteenth and twentieth-century protectionist trade policies helped build domestic manufacturing bases around the world, but why Trump's twenty-first century tariffs are very different. While decades of global free trade have contributed to deindustrialization, workers are not likely to benefit from Trump’s tariffs. Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.

Kristin Du Mez, author of the book Jesus and John Wayne, looks at the world of Christian nationalism. Jennifer Middlestadt, who wrote a recent opinion piece in the New York Times, speaks about the “sovereigntism” guiding the foreign policy of Trump et al. Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Featuring Chris Newman on Trump's far-right anti-migrant agenda and Democrats' cruel and stupid complicity. Read All-American Nativism versobooks.com/products/704-all-american-nativism Read Dan's essay on Gaza and migration politics in n+1 nplusonemag.com/issue-48/politics/do-border Trump's immigration executive orders propublica.org/article/donald-trump-immigration-executive-orders Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy After Accountability at Haymarketbooks.com Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15—a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin

Last year, Martin Empson joined Long Reads to speak about the German Peasants’ War, Europe’s biggest social revolt before the French Revolution. Martin returns to talk about what happened next. After the revolt was crushed, radical religious tendencies became a vehicle for social discontent. The most famous of those tendencies was known as Anabaptism. A group of religious radicals inspired by Anabaptist ideas even took power in the German town of Münster. After the bloody repression of the Munster rebels, the very idea of Anabaptism became a sinister bogeyman for Europe’s ruling classes. Martin’s book The Time of the Harvest Has Come: Revolution, Reformation and the German Peasants’ War will be published later this year. Read Martin’s Jacobin article, “Anabaptism Was the Revolutionary Face of Reformation Europe,” here: https://jacobin.com/2024/07/anabaptism-reformation-europe-peasants-revolution Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies with music by Knxwledge.

Just two weeks in power, the new Trump administration has already led a horrifying whirlwind of attacks on immigrants, transgender people, tribal nations, people of color, and women. Government institutions are being dismantled. Make no mistake, these shock-and-awe actions are designed to keep people in fear and paralyzed as a fascistic presidency stages what is being called an administrative coup. Our guests today, David Cobb and Kali Akuno, are among the few who saw this moment coming years ago, and have never stopped organizing against the fascist threat. In their work, including the creation of the People’s Network for Land and Liberation, they take a programmatic approach to overcoming fear through clear analysis and direct action. They aim not only to resist, but to build real infrastructure to keep people safe, meet basic needs, and cultivate the idea and practice of political and economic democracy on a mass scale. As the Italian antifascist and theorist Antonio Gramsci said, “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters.” For David and Kali, as well as for our guest host Meleiza Figueroa, the way through is not only fighting the monsters, but bringing that new world into being. We’ll spend the hour with our guests discussing the nature of this current historical conjuncture, and what they have been doing to prepare the people for this very moment. Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Eoin Higgins, author of Owned, talks about tech moguls and the journalists, like Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi, who work for them. Ronnie Grinberg, author of Write Like a Man, on the mostly male, mostly Jewish New York intellectuals of the postwar scene. Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Featuring Hannah Srajer on building tenant unions by applying labor organizing models. The Connecticut Tenants Union is partnered with SEIU 1199NE to organize fighting super majority tenant unions that win collectively bargained leases and wield working class political power. It's a model that's spreading nationwide. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Peruse The Dig's vast archives at thedigradio.com Support Reclaim RI https://secure.actblue.com/donate/reclaimri Buy Not Your Rescue Project at Haymarketbooks.com Buy My Country, Africa at Versobooks.com

President Trump is back in power and immediately moved to carry out his xenophobic policies with a slew of unconstitutional executive orders and plans for mass detention and deportation of the nation’s immigrants. Suzi talks to three extraordinary activists whose organizations and coalitions are building effective solidarity and defense for those about to be detained and deported: Victor Narro, UCLA’s long time expert on immigrant rights and low-wage workers, works in the sanctuary movement, Nana Gyamfi of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), and Aquilina Soriano-Versoza of the Pilipino Workers Center of Southern California explain what their Black, Latino, and Filipino led and focused coalitions are doing to counter the Trump offensive against immigrants. This is practical solidarity that builds power — and it is moving and uplifting. Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

There is no cultural phenomenon more hated today than what is called wokeness. While it is wrongly associated with the Left, the Right is very successfully taking advantage of it. In this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber traces the political and economic origins of it, and argues that the Left should be at the forefront of criticizing it. Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.

Featuring Leonardo Vilchis and Tracy Rosenthal on their book Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis. Tenant unions fighting to transform Los Angeles, the country, and the world. Support Reclaim RI https://secure.actblue.com/donate/reclaimri Buy Abolish Rent haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent Subscribe to Dissent at dissentmagazine.org/subscribe Use code ‘DIG50’ for 50% off your first order at Plutobooks.com The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

Mouin Rabbani surveys the Gaza ceasefire and Trump’s plans for the Middle East. Angela Jones and Bernadette Barton discuss the new book they co-edited, Sex Work Today. Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Akbar Shahid Ahmed returns to Long Reads to discuss the recent ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas — and what’s likely to happen next. Akbar is the senior diplomatic correspondent for the Huffington Post and the author of a forthcoming book about the Biden administration and the Israeli attack on Gaza. He has been a guest on the show several times last year. This conversation was recorded January 23rd. Read more about the role of Gaza in the 2024 election: https://www.imeupolicyproject.org/postelection-polling https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/kamala-harris-gaza-israel-biden-election-poll And find our previous interviews with Akbar here: https://jacobin.com/author/akbar-shahid-ahmed Subscribe to Jacobin Radio to hear a special Long Reads series starting next month. Red Star Over Palestine will look at histories of the Palestinian left, from the Communist movement to groups like the PFLP. Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies, music by Knxwledge.

Laura Jedeed, author of an article for the New Republic, talks about San Francisco and tech moguls’ plans to “fix” it. Yasha Levine, co-director of a new documentary, Pistachio Wars, talks about billionaire couple and self-styled philanthropists the Resnicks and their involvement in the California water crisis. Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Featuring Michael Denning on Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State and Law and Order, collectively authored by Stuart Hall and his colleagues at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham. Hall’s method of Marxist conjunctural analysis applied to the generalized crisis that paved the way for neoliberalism's rise; a model for how we should ask questions about our world that will provide us with knowledge we need to change it. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our vast archives and newsletters thedigradio.com Support Atlantic Mills Tenants Union Legal Fund https://bit.ly/4jg4D61 Buy Dead Cities and Other Tales at haymarketbooks.org Donate to Jacobin Magazine at jacobin.com/donate The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

Jacobin Radio has featured many presentations from the recent conference held in honor of Boris Kagarlitsky, author of The Long Retreat, a sobering analysis of the international Left that was discussed in our previous episode, and currently a prisoner in Russia for speaking out against Putin’s war in Ukraine. We continue with Trevor Ngwane, a South African scholar-activist at the University of Johannesburg, and Nancy Fraser, professor of philosophy and politics at the New School for Social Research, who bring to the table some difficult truths and critical questions for the global Left. After brief introductory comments from Patrick Bond, Trevor Ngwane outlines the brutal history of South Africa’s turn to neoliberalism and its consequences — widespread suffering and deepening despair among ordinary people as well as a political crisis in the African National Congress. He asks what it will take to revitalize the vibrant, militant, working-class movements that once overthrew apartheid. Nancy Fraser then reflects on Kagarlitsky’s analysis of the chaotic political reality we face today, and raises three central strategic questions for the Left and mass politics: How can we engage with actually existing social forces towards positive social change? How do we navigate the geopolitics of war and migration in mass movement organizing? And what could a transformative working-class movement even look like in the 21st century? Guest host Meleiza Figueroa and Alan Minsky, executive director of Progressive Democrats of America, follow with a discussion of the critical insights and questions brought up by Trevor Ngwane and Nancy Fraser, and consider what this means for American politics at this particular moment in history, as we face a new year filled with uncertainty, political confusion, and deepening crisis. Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Colette Shade, author of Y2K: How the 2000s Became Everything, talks about culture at the turn of the millennium. Tim Shorrock discusses the political crisis in South Korea. Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Foregrounding workers’ material interests used to be commonplace among socialists. But as the Left faced decades of defeat, a materialist approach to politics fell out of favor. In this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber defends materialism from its critics and discusses how a materialist perspective understands rationality, the challenges around collective organizing, and cultural differences. Read the article mentioned in this episode: https://catalyst-journal.com/2024/12/the-flight-from-materialism Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.

Featuring Michael Denning on Stuart Hall’s Marxism—a Marxism without guarantees. This is a comprehensive introduction to Marxism as a method to analyze historically specific, complex and contradictory capitalist social formations, and what that means for making, rather than assuming the existence of, a working-class socialist politics. Next week Dan interviews Denning on Policing the Crisis, a 1978 book collectively authored by Hall and his colleagues; it’s a remarkable project that anticipates today’s politics around anti-immigrant xenophobia, mass incarceration, and Trumpism. Listen to Hall’s full 1983 Inaugural Karl Marx Memorial Lecture in Sheffield youtube.com/watch?v=IP_OWahR-Gc Our two-part series on Gramsci with Denning: thedigradio.com/podcast/gramsci-hegemony-w-michael-denning/ thedigradio.com/podcast/gramsci-organization-crisis-w-michael-denning/ Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Set the Earth on Fire at Haymarketbooks.com Use code "DIG" for 30% off a subscription to The-Syllabus.com The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

This week is a best of 2024, with Rashid Khalidi, Pankaj Mishra, Annelle Sheline, Aziz Rana, Anna Kornbluh, Brooke Harrington, and, in memoriam, Jane McAlevey. Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Branko Marcetic, staff writer at Jacobin and author of Yesterday's Man, says farewell to Joe Biden (and takes some shots at Joe Scarborough too). Santiago Pérez, co-author of a recent paper, discusses his research on how little the class composition of elite college student bodies has changed. Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

In the wake of Kamala Harris's defeat, the Left's association with identity politics has been a major focus of public debate. But what identity politics is or who primarily benefits from it remains contested. In this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber discusses the Democrats’ long-standing attachment to identity politics, why this form of politics can't fight oppression, and the real history behind struggles for justice. Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.

Suzi recently participated in a conference in honor of the dissident sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky, who is languishing in Putin's prison for speaking out against the war in Ukraine. On this episode of Jacobin Radio, we bring you a panel from the conference discussing Boris's latest book, The Long Retreat, published while he was in prison. Three activist-scholars, Bill Fletcher Jr., Alex Callinicos, and Jayati Ghosh, present their appreciation and their critiques of Kagarlitsky's analysis of the rise of the Right and the decline of the Left over the last forty plus years. Our speakers address Kagarlitsky's internationalist account of left organizations across the globe that, he argues, remain stuck in the past, unable to come to terms with new realities. The speakers also address Kagarlitsky's critique of identitarian politics of difference, which makes forming broad mass political projects difficult. Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Featuring Bassam Haddad on the historical and geopolitical origins of Assad’s rise and fall — and what might happen next. We think through the contradictions: honoring the joy felt by Syrians at Assad’s ouster while simultaneously taking stock of a truly bad geopolitical outcome. Want to learn more? Listen to “Thawra,” our series on the 20th-century political history of the Arab East thedigradio.com/Thawra Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Palestine in a World on Fire at Haymarketbooks.com Buy Against the Crisis at versobooks.com The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

Trita Parsi and Joshua Landis analyze what’s been going on in Syria. Tina Gerhardt reviews the annual UN climate conference, COP29, where little happened. Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

As with many other periods, the history of the Roman Empire has often been told from the vantage point of a minoritarian social elite. Sarah Bond, a professor of classics at the University of Iowa, set out in her research to uncover something different: a "history from below" detailing the class struggle in ancient Rome. She joins Long Reads to discuss this project. Sarah's book Strike: Labor, Unions, and Resistance in the Roman Empire will be published in February of next year. Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies, music by Knxwledge.

Featuring Patrick Blanchfield on assassination and political violence: from the routine to the extraordinary; authored by the state, capital, the left, the right, the unwell and alienated; as an anxiety, in our fantasies, as a morbid symptom and repetition compulsion; and as expressing distinctively American logics of domination and human disposability. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Listen to the Ordinary Unhappiness podcast at ordinaryunhappiness.buzzsprout.com/ Read Patrick’s essay on the death drive late-light.com/issues/issue-1/death-drive-nation Buy China in Global Capitalism at haymarketbooks.com Use code “DIG” for 30% off a subscription to The-Syllabus.com The Dig, hosted by Daniel Denvir, is a weekly interview podcast going deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political-economy to imperialism and immigration.

Bernie Sanders resurrected socialist politics in the United States after many decades of defeat. But what socialism will entail or how we get there remains unclear. In this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber discusses the difference between social democracy and socialism, how progressives won policies in the past, and where the Left should go after the Bernie moment. Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.

The Democratic Party has long clung to the notion of “demographic destiny,” the view that minorities will vote blue no matter who. But now it is clear that workers of all races are abandoning the Democratic Party, either by moving to the right or dropping out of politics altogether. In this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber and Melissa Naschek discuss how Donald Trump’s recent victory is different from eight years ago, why the Democrats gave up their working class base, and how the Left can respond to dealignment. Read the article mentioned in this episode: https://jacobin.com/2024/11/obama-democrats-2024-election-race Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.

Larry Bartels discusses his Foreign Affairs article about the right-wing “populist wave." Sopo Japaridze, co-author of a recent Jacobin article, examines the crisis of democracy in Georgia (the country, not the US state). Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Suzi talked to Gilbert Achcar just before the spectacular collapse of the Assad regime that has ruled Syria for more than fifty years. Achcar, author of many books on the region, explains Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)’s origins, what is behind the lightning offensive that toppled Assad's government, and how that overthrow was prepared by Israel’s war on Lebanon and Gaza. We will also get Gilbert’s take on the collapse of the political center and rise of the far right worldwide, including in France and the US. What new dangers does Gilbert see for the Middle East with Trump’s election? The conversation was recorded December 5. Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

In the inaugural episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber is joined by Jacobin's editorial director Bhaskar Sunkara to discuss why Trump won the election, how socialists should think about strategic alliances with liberals, and what it means to be an anti-capitalist. Read the articles mentioned in this episode: https://jacobin.com/2024/09/liberalism-marxism-cohen-rawls-workers https://jacobin.com/2024/11/obama-democrats-2024-election-race Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst, a journal for theory and strategy, and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.

Brooke Harrington, author of Offshore, uncovers how and where the mega-rich stash their cash. Mahendran Thiruvarangan talks about a new leftish government in Sri Lanka. Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Featuring Quinn Slobodian and Wendy Brown on Trump’s triumphant return to power and the freakish, obscene, billionaire-dominated, capitalist reactionary, Christian nationalist, contradiction-ridden MAGA movement that surrounds him. A comprehensive early assessment of what is going on, where it’s coming from, and where it all might be heading. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Share Thawra with a friend thedigradio.com/Thawra Use code "DIG" for 30% off a subscription to The-Syllabus.com  Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15— a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin 

Last week, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant. It was a rare moment of hope for Palestinians, but the US government responded with outrage.Earlier this year, a report by the Guardian and +972 Magazine showed that Israel had been spying on the ICC for a number of years. The aim of the espionage was to keep track of which particular allegations of war crimes were being investigated by the ICC. Israel would then start its own investigation retroactively into the same allegations. This was designed to undercut the ICC and make it possible for people like US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller to speak about the virtues of the Israeli court system.Our guest today for a conversation about the ICC arrest warrants is John Reynolds. John is a professor of law at Maynooth University and the author of Empire, Emergency and International Law. He’s joined us twice before on Long Reads to speak about the challenges Israel is facing on the international legal front.Find his last interview for the podcast, "Backing Israeli Apartheid Isn’t Just Immoral — It’s Illegal," here: https://jacobin.com/2024/08/israeli-apartheid-gaza-icj-iccLong Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies, music by Knxwledge.

Veteran journalist Marc Cooper joins Suzi to talk about the landslide that wasn’t, Trump’s transition swamp, and the state of the Fourth Estate. Trump’s victory is confined to the undemocratic electoral college. His winning margin in the popular vote is 1.6 percentage points, the smallest in more than 20 years. Trump may claim an historic, unprecedented mandate, but he just squeaked by. He is still dangerous but vulnerable. We talk about the danger and the chaos to come, including the threat to formal democracy.Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Michael Meeropol, son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, talks about how the government executed his mother despite knowing her innocence. Ruth Whippman, author of BOYMOM: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity, discusses the challenges of raising boys.See recent documents shedding light on "Why Ethel's execution was wrongful": https://www.rfc.org/node/4836Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Featuring Hilary Goodfriend and Jorge Cuéllar in the final installment of a three-part series on Central America. This episode picks up with Nayib Bukele’s authoritarian crypto enthusiasm in El Salvador; Daniel Ortega’s perversion of Sandinismo’s revolutionary legacy in Nicaragua; anti-mining movements in Panama; Honduras and Guatemala, where popular social movements have elected left presidents to confront entrenched power structures. We conclude by discussing mass migration from the region that’s taken on a mystified form in US politics as the MAGA far right’s principal scapegoat. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Share Thawra with a friend thedigradio.com/Thawra Check out nacla.org for in-depth coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean  Buy Defund: Conversations Toward Abolition at haymarketbooks.com

Anatol Lieven tries to divine a Trump foreign policy out of unreliable rhetoric and early appointments. Alex Vitale tries similar on Trump and criminal justice.Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Featuring Hilary Goodfriend and Jorge Cuéllar in the second of a three (not two!) part series on the history and present of Central America. This interview picks up our discussion of revolutionary armed struggles against brutal US-backed military-oligarchic regimes in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. Then, the peace accords and postwar transitions accompanied by the imposition of neoliberal economic restructuring. Finally, the rise of mass migration, new transnational gangs, and the regime of El Salvador’s authoritarian Bitcoin enthusiast Nayib Bukele. And more. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Want to learn more? Greg Grandin on The Dig: thedigradio.com/podcast/empires-workshop-with-greg-grandin We now have a special feed dedicated entirely to our Thawra series. Listen and spread the word: thedigradio.com/Thawra Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15— a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin   Buy Abolish Rent at Haymarketbooks.com

Suzi talks to UC Berkeley sociologist Dylan Riley, who has written a great deal about fascism and far right politics. The US has just elected to the Presidency a man who represents a dire threat to democracy and constitutional rule as we know it. We get Dylan’s understanding of the specificity of Trump’s politics, the basis of his support, and the fascistic measures favored by people in and around his party, including the frightening Project 2025. Central to MAGA is a reactionary view of gender, which sees women’s advances happening at the expense of men and their traditional family role. Dylan sees Trump as more of a patrimonial misfit, a charismatic leader who rules more incoherently than a consistent fascist. We also ask how Trump fits in with analogous movements of the far right around the world.Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Earlier this week, Joe Biden welcomed the Israeli president Isaac Herzog to the White House. Last October, Herzog announced that there were no innocent civilians in Gaza. The International Court of Justice cited his comments as evidence that the Palestinian people needed protection from the threat of genocide.Akbar Shahid Ahmed of the Huffington Post has been following the Biden administration’s support for the Israeli attack on Gaza from the start. He’s currently working on a book that will give a detailed account of the inside story. Akbar has joined the podcast twice before to discuss the latest developments. Dan spoke to him again after the US presidential election about the events of the past few months and what is likely to happen next.Find our last Long Reads interview with Akbar here: https://jacobin.com/2024/06/biden-administration-israel-cease-fire-policyAnd read his ongoing coverage for Huffington Post here: https://www.huffpost.com/author/akbar-shahid-ahmedLong Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies, music by Knxwledge.

We look at the election results that took many of us by surprise — giving Donald Trump and Republicans an across the board victory. For a look at the bigger picture, Suzi speaks to Robert Brenner, professor of history at UCLA, for analysis and some post-election blues. This podcast was recorded on November 8, before all the votes were counted along the West Coast. The final tallies will likely shrink Trump’s margin of victory, but not the overall results. The striking character of the Trump victory is attributable virtually entirely by the drop off in the vote for the Democrats. We try to understand what happened, and how to analyze this shift to the right.Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.