Jacobin Radio

Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the second episode of Thawra (Revolution), our rolling mini-series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. Today’s installment lays out early 20th-century anti-colonialism: from the Iraqi, Syrian, and Palestinian Great Revolts, to the birth of Arab nationalism, Islamic resistance, Ba'athism, and communism. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Subscribe to a year of Jewish Currents at 50% off with special code DIG2024 secure.jewishcurrents.org/forms/subscribe  Buy Towers of Ivory and Steel: How Israeli Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom at versobooks.com

The early period of the CIO arguably ended with the Little Steel strike in 1937. The strike's brutal repression and failure dramatically illustrated the limits of the New Deal order. But the CIO continued to grow through the 1940s during the war escalation. Episode seven of Organize the Unorganized is devoted to the CIO's role in and relation to the war effort, and what it meant for this labor upsurge. Listen to the eighth episode here: https://shows.acast.com/jacobin-radio/episodes/organize-the-unorganized-08-is-there-an-end-to-the-cio Find all the episodes on the web, or by searching for "Organize the Unorganized" on your podcast app. Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO is a limited-run history podcast telling the story of the CIO through the voices of labor historians. Hosted by Benjamin Y. Fong and produced by the Center for Work & Democracy at Arizona State University with Jacobin. Find the full show notes for this episode here: https://soundcloud.com/organizetheunorganized/episode-7-war

Jeet Heer, author of a recent article for The Nation, discusses Indian Americans in politics and society. Stephen Maher and Scott Aquanno, authors of The Fall and Rise of American Finance, takes on the new finance capital.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 1987, America was ready to look back on the Vietnam War... with laughter. We discuss GOOD MORNING VIETNAM (1987) and why it is one of the quintessential "boomer liberal" texts. PLUS: We check in on the state of Canadian politics (it's not good, folks).Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.

Over the last four months, the Israeli war on Gaza has spilled over into the rest of the Middle East, from Lebanon to Iraq. But the most dramatic example has been the link between events in Palestine and Yemen. Ansar Allah, the movement known as the Houthis, imposed a blockade on ships going to Israel until there was a ceasefire. In response, the US and the UK have carried out air strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen. The Houthis say they won’t be deterred by military action.Helen Lackner, one of the leading experts on modern Yemen and the author of several books about the country, returns to Long Reads to discuss the recent actions of the Houthis. The interview was recorded on Tuesday, February 20th.Hear our previous episode with Helen, on the history of Yemen, from 2021: https://shows.acast.com/jacobin-radio/episodes/619be5d09c63710019611394Read her recent articles for Jacobin here: https://jacobin.com/author/helen-lacknerLong 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.

There are many markers showing February 2024 to be a landmark month of cruelty — not least in Gaza, but also in Russia, where we turn our focus today. The slow murder of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in the Arctic Circle penal colony Kharp on Friday, February 16, signals a turning point for Putin’s Russia and underscores both the Kremlin’s power and weakness. We cover the turmoil in Russia in the lead-up to the March 2024 rubber-stamp presidential election. We were scheduled to speak to Boris Kagarlitsky, but, on February 13, Kagarlitsky’s appeal trial took place. He had been arrested in July 2024 for his criticism of Kremlin policy and opposition to the war in Ukraine. Kagarlitsky spent four and a half months in pretrial detention in the far northern Republic of Komi and was freed in December 2024. On February 13, the December verdict was overturned. Kagarlitsky was whisked from the courtroom into custody to begin serving five years in a penal colony. Three days later, on February 16, Alexei Navalny died. Suzi speaks to Russian dissident activists and scholars Ilya Budraitskis and Grusha G. to get their understanding of these events. Budraitskis says Navalny is a man the regime truly feared, and they subjected him to a slow, cowardly murder, drawn out over many months. The Marxist critic Boris Kagarlitsky is now in their hands — and international solidarity is required. This is happening in the context of an election and the upcoming 2nd anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, when the Kremlin looks to portray Russians as united behind Putin. Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the first episode of Thawra (Revolution), our rolling mini-series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. Today’s installment sets the stage: European imperialism in the Arab Mashriq from the late 18th century through the early 20th.Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDigCheck out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.comSubscribe to a year of Jewish Currents at 50% off with special code DIG2024 secure.jewishcurrents.org/forms/subscribeBuy A Short History of Trans Misogyny at versobooks.com

Gerald Epstein, author of Busting the Bankers’ Club, discusses the finance racket and how to transform it. Anna Kornbluh, author of Immediacy, examines our sped-up, unmediated cultural eternal present.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.

On episode six of Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO, we go deeper into some of the key CIO unions: the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), the Textile Workers Organizing Committee (TWOC), and the Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee (PWOC). There were many other unions that formed the CIO — in oil, printing, transport, and other areas — but these four were some of the biggest and most influential. Listen to the seventh episode here: https://shows.acast.com/jacobin-radio/episodes/organize-the-unorganized-07-war Find all the episodes on the web, or by searching for "Organize the Unorganized" on your podcast app. Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO is a limited-run history podcast telling the story of the CIO through the voices of labor historians. Hosted by Benjamin Y. Fong and produced by the Center for Work & Democracy at Arizona State University with Jacobin. Find the full show notes for this episode here: https://soundcloud.com/organizetheunorganized/episode-6-from-the-docks-to-the-killing-floors

We discuss THE MENU (2022) and its place in the context of the current wave of "eat the rich" cinema. PLUS: we discuss Walter Isaacson's new hagiography of Elon Musk, and Joe Biden's wildly successful "I'm fit for office" press conference.Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.

Ajay Singh Chaudhary talks about his new book, The Exhausted of the Earth: Politics in a Burning World. Matt Notowidigdo, co-author of a recent NBER paper, examines how recessions increase life expectancy.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.

If you think about the French revolutionary tradition, you’re most likely to picture the storming of the Bastille and the overthrow of the monarchy. But that wasn’t the first time there was a major uprising against the established order in France. In the second half of the fourteenth century, there was a popular revolt known as the Jacquerie, which terrified the French ruling class. They drowned the revolt in blood and set about demonizing the peasants who took part in it. It was only in the wake of a successful revolution four centuries later that historians began taking a fresh look at the Jacquerie.Long Reads is joined by Justine Firnhaber-Baker to discuss this uprising. She's a professor of history at the University of St Andrews and the author of The Jacquerie of 1358: A French Peasants’ Revolt. Published in 2021, the book was the first major study of the Jacquerie since the nineteenth century.Read her article for Jacobin, "The Jacquerie Was a Great Popular Rebellion Against the Rich Nobles of France" here: https://jacobin.com/2023/09/jacquerie-peasant-revolt-france-middle-ages-class-conflict-nobilityLong 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 Luke Messac on Your Money or Your Life: Debt Collection in American Medicine. An estimated 100 million people in the US are in debt because they sought medical treatment. Medical debt exacerbates poor and working-class people's physical and psychological suffering while undermining their financial well-being and freedom.Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDigSubscribe to a year of Jewish Currents at secure.jewishcurrents.org/forms/subscribe 50% off with special code DIG2024Buy What Was Neoliberalism at haymarketbooks.org/books/2056-what-was-neoliberalism

Are commercial considerations always doomed to taint art? And are commercial considerations really a taint? We discuss Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman's meta-movie ADAPTATION (2002) and the artist/hack dichotomy. PLUS: We mark the passing of the world's most famous minimalist sculptor and murder suspect.Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.

Episode five of Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO examines the Little Steel strike in the summer of 1937. It was a tragic failure for the Steel Workers Organizing Committee and the CIO, one that illustrates the limits of the New Deal order. The Little Steel strike was in many ways a turning point, a key hinge in our story. To fully understand it, we also delve into the general history of steel organizing in the US, a fantastically brutal affair that reveals the soul of American capitalism. Listen to the sixth episode here: https://shows.acast.com/jacobin-radio/episodes/organize-the-unorganized-06-docks-to-the-killing-floors Find all the episodes on the web, or by searching for "Organize the Unorganized" on your podcast app. Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO is a limited-run history podcast telling the story of the CIO through the voices of labor historians. Hosted by Benjamin Y. Fong and produced by the Center for Work & Democracy at Arizona State University with Jacobin. Find the full show notes for this episode here: https://soundcloud.com/organizetheunorganized/episode-5-little-steel

Ed Broadbent died January 11, 2024. Suzi speaks with the co-authors of Ed's recent book, Seeking Social Democracy: Seven Decades in the Fight for Equality. We also hear clips from Ed during his long political career.Ed was the very popular leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) in Canada, first elected to the House of Commons in 1968 from Oshawa, Ontario, and always at the forefront of the parliamentary struggle for democratic socialism. Ed was also Vice President of the Socialist International. In 2011, he founded the Broadbent Institute, a think tank. Seeking Social Democracy: Seven Decades in the Fight for Equality isn’t a memoir per se: Ed thought most political memoirs ended up being self-serving and self-justifying. He wanted to discuss the ideas he tried to exemplify and win while he was leader of the NDP in Parliament and afterwards with the Broadbent Institute. To do this, he engaged in dialogue with three collaborators, Carleton University Professor Frances Abele, policy analyst Jonathan Sas, and Jacobin writer Luke Savage, each from different generations. They dive deep into the theory and practice of social democracy.In the postscript to the book, Ed leaves us with an enduring vision and his hopes for what is to be done to build the good society for today and the future. He writes: "To be humane, societies must be democratic—and to be democratic, every person must be afforded the economic and social rights necessary for their individual flourishing... Social democracy alone offers the foundation upon which the lives of people everywhere can be made dignified, just, and exciting."Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Sean Jacobs explores why South Africa brought the genocide case against Israel. Eric Blanc, who wrote a recent piece about sprawl and the suburbs, talks about organizing in a scattered and atomized society. Hassan El-Tayyab discusses the widening war in the Middle East.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 at https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html.

Featuring Emily Dische-Becker on how Germany became attached to a wildly narcissistic anti-antisemitism and Israeli proxy nationalism that have made it one of the most anti-Palestinian governments on earth. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletters and vast archives at thedigradio.com Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15— a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin  Buy Against Erasure: A Photographic Memory of Palestine before the Nakba at haymarketbooks.org/books/2325-against-erasure

How was it that the CIO was finally able to make good on the decades-old dream of industrial unionism? In the fourth episode of Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO, we outline two more factors, alongside political opportunities and organizational militancy, that were key to the CIO’s success. First, we look at the great energy and commitment of the left toward the stable end of collective bargaining. Then we discuss what podcast guest Lizabeth Cohen has called the “culture of unity” bred by the CIO. Listen to the fifth episode here: https://shows.acast.com/jacobin-radio/episodes/organize-the-unorganized-05-little-steel Find all the episodes on the web, or by searching for "Organize the Unorganized" on your podcast app. Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO is a limited-run history podcast telling the story of the CIO through the voices of labor historians. Hosted by Benjamin Y. Fong and produced by the Center for Work & Democracy at Arizona State University with Jacobin. Find the full show notes for this episode at https://soundcloud.com/organizetheunorganized/episode-4-taking-stock.

The world can't stop discoursing about it. Hillary Clinton herself has championed it. And our superdelegate patrons specifically requested it. It's time for us to turn our attention to the most discussed movie of the past year, BARBIE (2023). PLUS: We bid a fond farewell to Ron DeSanctimonious.Seeking Social Democracy, the book Luke coauthored with Ed Broadbent, is available here: https://ecwpress.com/products/seeking-social-democracy-ed-broadbentMichael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.

At least 26,000 people are now estimated to have been killed by Israel’s war on Gaza, although the real figure is believed to be even higher. The main legal challenge to Israel’s war has come from South Africa at the International Court of Justice. The court published its first response to the South African case on Friday, January 26th.John Reynolds, professor of law at Maynooth University and author of Empire, Emergency, and International Law, joined Long Reads the day of the court response to discuss the case.Read John's Jacobin essay, coauthored with Noura Erakat, about South Africa’s submission to the ICJ: https://jacobin.com/2024/01/south-africa-icj-isarel-gazaLong 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.

Shireen Al-Adeimi of Michigan State and the Quincy Institute discusses the Houthis. Political scientist Aurélie Daher gives another view of Hezbollah.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 at https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html.

Featuring Helen Lackner on the Houthis, the politics of their attacks on Red Sea shipping, and the long history of Yemen from British colonial Aden through the current civil war.  Read Helen's articles for Jacobin jacobin.com/author/helen-lackner Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Environmentalism from Below: How Global People’s Movements are Leading the Fight for our Planet at haymarketbooks.org/books/2101-environmentalism-from-below Buy The Good Die Young: The Verdict on Henry Kissinger at versobooks.com

On the third episode of Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO, we examine the first major victories of the CIO in rubber, auto, and steel. The story begins at the Goodyear complex in Akron, Ohio, where a victorious strike put the CIO on the map. We turn to the General Motors strike in the winter of 1937, a transformational victory and perhaps the most iconic confrontation of the period. Finally, we hear about an important steel organizing campaign, whose success was drawn in part from the threatening militancy of the CIO. Listen to the fourth episode here: https://shows.acast.com/jacobin-radio/episodes/organize-the-unorganized-taking-stock Find all the episodes on the web, or by searching for "Organize the Unorganized" on your podcast app. Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO is a limited-run history podcast telling the story of the CIO through the voices of labor historians. Hosted by Benjamin Y. Fong and produced by the Center for Work & Democracy at Arizona State University with Jacobin. Find the full show notes for this episode here: https://soundcloud.com/organizetheunorganized/episode-3-sit-down

Wanda Bertram of the Prison Policy Initiative discusses ankle bracelets and electronic monitoring. Joseph Daher, author of Hezbollah: The Political Economy of the Party of God, delves into that demonized organization.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 at https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html.

On the second episode of Organized the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO, we discuss the institutional formation of the CIO and meet some of the organization’s key personalities. We learn about figures such as John L. Lewis, whose bold leadership came at a decisive moment in history, and Sidney Hillman, the only other real center of power besides Lewis in the early CIO. Finally, we hear about some of the CIO’s key organizers, most of whom hailed from the United Mine Workers of America. Listen to the third episode here: https://shows.acast.com/jacobin-radio/episodes/organize-the-unorganized-03-sit-down Find all the episodes on the web, or by searching for "Organize the Unorganized" on your podcast app. Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO is a limited-run history podcast telling the story of the CIO through the voices of labor historians. Hosted by Benjamin Y. Fong and produced by the Center for Work & Democracy at Arizona State University with Jacobin. Find the full show notes for this episode at https://soundcloud.com/organizetheunorganized/episode-2-powerful-personalities.

Political scientist Jacqueline Behrend examines Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei. Then Benjamin Fong, author of Quick Fixes, talks about Americans’ love-hate relationship with drugs.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 at leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html.

Featuring Ashley Mears on her book Very Important People: Status and Beauty in the Global Party Circuit. Mears, a sociologist and former fashion model, explores the super-elite "models and bottles" party scene where beautiful young women and conspicuous consumption heighten the status of rich men.  Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Contact Spotify and tell them: stop hiding The Dig! Why is The Dig so hard to find on Spotify? support.spotify.com/contact-spotify-support Buy Against Erasure: A Photographic Memory of Palestine before the Nakba at haymarketbooks.org/books/2325-against-erasure Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15. A special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin 

Your coworkers are spying on you. Your boss won't let you keep the expired food. The coffeeshop is charging you an arm and a leg to rent a laptop. In Aki Kaurismäki's funny and wonderful FALLEN LEAVES (2023), can a budding romance survive the everyday indignities of life under capitalism? PLUS: What would a British West Wing look like?Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.

On episode one of Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO, we explore the conditions that led to the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations. We first dive into the history of the organization from which the CIO broke off, the American Federation of Labor. Then, we discuss three key developments that raised workers’ expectations in the lead-up to the CIO’s inauguration: the broken promises of welfare capitalism, the National Industrial Recovery Act, and the mass strikes of 1934. Hear the next episode here: https://shows.acast.com/jacobin-radio/episodes/organize-the-unorganized-02-powerful-personalities Find all the episodes on the web, or by searching for "Organize the Unorganized" on your podcast app. Organize the Unorganized: The Rise of the CIO is a limited-run history podcast telling the story of the CIO through the voices of labor historians. Hosted by Benjamin Y. Fong and produced by the Center for Work & Democracy at Arizona State University with Jacobin. Find the full show notes for this episode at https://soundcloud.com/organizetheunorganized/under-the-blue-eagle.

Suzi talks to Boris Kagarlitsky, Russian left intellectual writer-activist, just two weeks after he won his release from over four months in pre-trial custody. Kagarlitsky was arrested in Moscow on July 25 by the FSB, the Russian secret police, and taken more than 800 miles north to the city of Syktyvkar in the Komi Republic, where the local FSB opened a criminal case against him. He was accused of justifying terrorism, ostensibly for comments that he posted months earlier on social media regarding the attack on the Crimean Bridge. Even pro-Kremlin commentators were surprised at how far-fetched the accusations were. The state has imposed increasingly draconian charges and sentences for even minor anti-war activities, arresting thousands.Kagarlitsky's arrest was part of a coordinated attack on the online journal and popular YouTube channel that Kagarlitsky edits, Рабкор.ру (Workers Correspondent). The Russian Socialist Movement saw Kagarlitsky’s arrest as an attack on the whole left movement in Russia, and a huge movement to free Boris emerged all over Russia and the world in response.Kagarlitsky’s trial opened on December 11 in Syktyvkar and lasted two days. The prosecution and the FSB demanded five and a half years in prison. Kagarlitsky’s lawyer argued that “the charges against Boris were absurd, Kagarlitsky never supported or justified terrorism. The purpose of all his speeches is an attempt to show the real problems that the Russian state faces.” In a total surprise, the Russian authorities conceded to public opinion and the demands of thousands of scientists, researchers, artists, politicians, trade union members, and political activists from around the world. Kagarlitsky was found guilty, fined 600 thousand rubles (about $6600), banned from editing any media outlet or webpage for two years, and set free. The next day Rabkor held a crowdfunding event and 700,000 rubles was raised within an hour.We are fortunate to have Boris Kagarlitsky with us to tell the story.Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Featuring Ussama Makdisi on how Western colonialism and Zionism exploited, exacerbated, and imposed sectarianism across the Arab Middle East. This is the SECOND of a two-part interview.Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDigContact Spotify and tell them: stop hiding The Dig! Why is The Dig so hard to find on Spotify? support.spotify.com/contact-spotify-support/Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.comBuy The Good Die Young: The Verdict on Henry Kissinger at versobooks.comBuy War Made Invisible thenewpress.com/books/war-made-invisible

Samuel Moyn, law professor and historian, discusses the political and legal dubiousness of excluding Trump from the presidential ballot. Labor journalist Alex Press talks about the year in labor. See her Jacobin article, "In 2023, the US Working Class Fought Back" here.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.

This is another special episode of Long Reads looking at Israel’s war on Gaza. Our focus today is on the politics of the Biden administration and its backing for Israel. Joe Biden and his team are still giving their firm support to Benjamin Netanyahu as he talks about a war lasting for “many months." With a presidential election due in the fall, there appear to be strong echoes of Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam in 1968.Akbar Shahid Ahmed is the senior diplomatic correspondent for the Huffington Post. He’s been following Biden’s policy and the dissent among US government officials. We spoke on Tuesday, January 2nd, shortly after an Israeli bomb attack that killed a Hamas leader in Beirut, sparking fears of a wider escalation.Find his coverage of Gaza 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 kick off 2024 by raiding the fridge for some holiday leftovers. It's become an annual tradition on this podcast to try to extract ideology from Tim Allen's "Santa Clause" franchise. With THE SANTA CLAUSE 3: THE ESCAPE CLAUSE (2006), we hit the motherlode.Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.

There have been many moments of labor upsurge in America: the influx of members into the Knights of Labor in 1886, the dramatic growth of unions during and after World War I, and the great wave of public sector unionism in the 1960s and ‘70s. But none matches the period of the 1930s and ‘40s, when millions of workers unionized under the aegis of the great labor federation, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO. If we’re looking to get millions of private-sector workers into the labor movement today, there’s no better example than the ascendant period of the CIO. In Organize the Unorganized, a podcast produced by the Center for Work & Democracy at Arizona State University and Jacobin, author Benjamin Y. Fong tells the story of the CIO with the help of prominent labor historians, including Nelson Lichtenstein, Dorothy Sue Cobble, Steve Fraser, Erik Loomis, Jeremy Brecher, Robert Cherny, Lizabeth Cohen, David Brody, Melvyn Dubofsky, and others. The multi-part series begins with a short history of the organization from which the CIO broke off, the American Federation of Labor, and explores central causes for the CIO’s founding: the broken promises of welfare capitalism, the National Industrial Recovery Act, and the mass strikes of 1934. Organize the Unorganized will be available weekly here on Jacobin Radio starting January 9. Subscribe and join us as we explore the rise, importance, and legacy of this crucial labor federation.

Gabriel Hetland has just published his study of populist experiments in Venezuela and Bolivia, Democracy on the Ground, showing the complexity of implementing participatory democracy at the grassroots level. Suzi talks to him about his findings. He examines the possibilities, limits, and concrete cases of participatory democracy, including participatory budgeting at the local level during the highpoint of Latin America’s Left Turn in the 2010s. Hetland's study immediately begs the question: what kind of democracy? It’s a pertinent question here in the US, where democracy is under threat.Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Featuring Ussama Makdisi on the late Ottoman Empire's Arab culture of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish coexistence—an ecumenical frame that was interrupted by European colonialism and Zionism, which exacerbated and exploited sectarianism. This is the first of a two-part interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Shop Haymarket's ALL 40% off Holiday sale at haymarketbooks.org   Buy Let Them Eat Crypto at plutobooks.com

If society outlawed emotions, could we stop all war and conflict? This is the very, very stupid question at the heart of EQUILIBRIUM (2002), the dystopian extravaganza that introduced the world to the art of "gun kata."Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.

Environmental journalist Tina Gerhardt analyzes the recently concluded COP28 environmental summit, where limited good intentions were uttered and oil contracts were signed. Historian Forrest Hylton talks about Javier Milei, the new libertarian, authoritarian president of Argentina.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.

If anyone thinks about medieval Flanders today, it’s most likely because they have an interest in the art of painters like Bruegel and Rubens. But Flanders also pioneered the art of class warfare. There was nowhere else in Europe during the Middle Ages where the popular classes posed such an effective challenge to aristocratic power. At its high point during the early fourteenth century, this wave of popular mobilization defeated some of Europe’s most powerful armies.Jan Dumolyn, professor of history at Ghent University, joins Long Reads to talk about the social conditions behind this wave of uprisings.You can read Jan's piece for Jacobin, "Flanders Was the Epicenter of Class Conflict in Medieval Europe," here: https://jacobin.com/2023/07/flanders-class-conflict-medieval-europe-feudalismLong 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.

Joel Schalit, editor of The Battleground, discusses what it is in Israeli politics and society that’s behind the carnage in Gaza. Amy Schiller, author of The Price of Humanity, looks at what’s wrong with philanthropy and how to fix it.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.

The French Revolution and the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte have inspired a lot of takes... so, of course, you can depend on Ridley Scott to find the least imaginative one. We discuss his lugubrious NAPOLEON (2023). PLUS: An update on Canadian politics, and some thoughts on the man who may be Prime Minsiter, Pierre Poilievre.Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.

Featuring Shaul Magid on post-1948 Jewish Zionism and Jewish anti-Zionism—including today's new generation of young, militant, left-wing, anti-Zionist American Jews and the Jewish establishment's quixotic efforts to deny and disavow them. PART TWO of a two-part interview.Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDigJoin Jewish Voice for Peace jewishvoiceforpeace.org/join-usBuy The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation at Versobooks.comBuy Let Them Eat Crypto at plutobooks.com

In the lead-up to the 2003 Iraq War, HBO made a movie about the lead-up to the first Gulf War, from the perspective of its most important factor: CNN. In LIVE FROM BAGHDAD (2002), Michael Keaton and his team of CNN reporters are Davids against the Goliaths that are establishment media... and the Iraqi security state. We discuss a mind-bogglingly awful piece of American propaganda from the Bush era. Richard Seymour on CNN and Iraq - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELrGcK6XInE&ab_channel=TeleSUREnglish Luke's interview with Tantoo Cardinal - https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/youve-got-to-crash-a-door-and-fail-and-get-back-up-canadas-most-recognizable/article_729f94ea-8ec2-11ee-843c-733c6d38c787.html Luke's review of Werner Herzog's memoir - https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/werner-herzogs-new-memoir-is-as-complicated-and-fascinating-as-the-filmmaker-himself/article_92daad66-8ed7-11ee-9628-9345052d7cc2.html Will's new zine, "The Journal of Stoogeological Studies" - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPM5JBPB Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.

Trita Parsi discusses the global context of the Gaza war. James Bamford, author of a recent article for The Nation, investigates how Israel spies on US campuses. And Alberto Toscano, author of Late Fascism, talks about the latest iteration of the rough beast.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.

Alan Minsky, Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America, spoke with Israeli historian and Genocide Studies scholar Omer Bartov at a public forum this week about the Israel/Gaza crisis. Bartov published two widely read pieces in November: "What I Believe as a Historian of Genocide,"New York Times, November 10, and "A political stalemate led to the bloodshed in the Middle East. Only a political settlement can truly end it," published in the Guardian November 29. Their conversation focuses on the necessity of relaunching serious negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians to achieve a just, long-term, political solution to the 75-year conflict in Israel/Palestine, a demand they insist activists and the left in general should foreground immediately. Professor Bartov puts forward his proposal for a political solution that Alan Minsky describes as a “Confederated State Solution, neither a one-state nor a two-state solution, but something in-between.” Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Featuring Shaul Magid on the long history of Jewish Zionism and its antagonist, Jewish anti-Zionism. Defenders of Israel defame anti-Zionists as antisemites. In fact, today's growing ranks of anti-Zionist Jews draw on a powerful and diverse tradition.Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDigBuy Ireland, Colonialism, and the Unfinished Revolution at haymarketbooks.org/books/2111-ireland-colonialism-and-the-unfinished-revolutionUse code DIG2023 for 50% off a subscription to Jewish Currents at secure.jewishcurrents.org/forms/subscribe

The estimated number of Palestinians killed or missing in the occupied territories since this war began is now 24,000 people — twenty times as many Israelis as were killed on October 7th. US government officials claim to have privately told Israel that it “must do more to limit civilian casualties” as the focus of the operation moves south. However, there is no evidence of any change in Israel's approach as the focus shifts from northern to southern Gaza and the relentless bombardment of civilian targets continues.Palestinian academic Bashir Abu-Manneh joins for another special episode of Long Reads to discuss the latest developments in Israel's war on Gaza. Bashir is a reader in Postcolonial Literature at the University of Kent and the author of The Palestinian Novel: From 1948 to the Present. He’s also a contributing editor at Jacobin who’s written many articles for us about Palestinian politics, including, most recently, "Israel Can’t Win Peace Militarily. Palestinian Democracy Is the Solution." https://jacobin.com/2023/11/israel-us-gaza-postwar-plan-nakba-palestinian-democracyOther articles and videos mentioned in the podcast:Josh Paul on CNN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5106v4b05IWashington Post, "White House grapples with internal divisions on Israel-Gaza" by Yasmeen Abutaleb and John Hudson: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/26/biden-white-house-divisions-israel-gaza/+972, "‘A mass assassination factory’: Inside Israel’s calculated bombing of Gaza" by Yuval Abraham: https://www.972mag.com/mass-assassination-factory-israel-calculated-bombing-gaza/Al-Shabaka, "An Inevitable Rupture: Al-Aqsa Flood and the End of Partition" by Tareq Baconi: https://al-shabaka.org/commentaries/an-inevitable-rupture-al-aqsa-flood-and-the-end-of-partition/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.

Ed Harris is a senator with presidential ambitions. Diane Keaton is the love of his life, but uncomfortable in politics. And with the White House in his grasp, his campaign is about to be rattled by a very, very stupid revelation from her past. We discuss Michael Lindsay-Hogg's RUNNING MATES (1992), a movie that emerged straight from the primordial ooze of the 1992 election cycle.Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.