KPFA - Against the Grain

At the height of leftwing activism in the Sixties, conservatives funded tax-deducible rightwing groups on campuses to counter Black Power, demands for ethnic studies, and the New Left. As historian Lauren Shephard illustrates, such groups like Young Americans for Freedom groomed future Republican leaders and influential conservatives, like Karl Rove and Newt Gingrich, where they learned to spin unpopular politics as popular. Lauren Lassabe Shepherd, Resistance from the Right: Conservatives and the Campus Wars in Modern America University of North Carolina Press, 2023 American Campus Podcast The post The Right on Campus appeared first on KPFA.

Lasting contributions to radical political thought were made by Antonio Gramsci, the Italian thinker, writer, and politician who was imprisoned by Mussolini's fascist regime. Andy Merrifield discusses Gramsci's insights into political economy, everyday experience, social change, and the role of intellectuals. Andy Merrifield, Roses for Gramsci Monthly Review Press, 2025 (Image on main page by angrodZ.) The post How Gramsci Thought appeared first on KPFA.

The United States has often been celebrated as a nation of immigrants. Yet over the last century, the U.S. government expelled more people than were allowed to stay permanently. Historian Adam Goodman describes the U.S. state's “deportation machine,” motivated by a shifting combination of bureaucratic self-interest, capitalist gain, and racism, which Trump has now put at the center of his presidency. He also discusses how immigrants and their allies have fought back over this long history of expulsion and terror. Adam Goodman, The Deportation Machine: America's Long History of Expelling Immigrants Princeton University Press, 2020 The post Driving Out Immigrants appeared first on KPFA.

Black parents worry about racism's impact on their children. Jennifer C. Nash is interested in both the nature of racialized anxiety and the way it's rendered visible to the general public. Among other things, she looks at how Black mothers have used the epistolary form to convey their concerns, fears, and hopes. Jennifer C. Nash, How We Write Now: Living with Black Feminist Theory Duke University Press, 2024 The post Conveying Black Loss appeared first on KPFA.

No one escapes trauma or avoids stress. But what happens to our ability to imagine and pursue justice when individual and collective trauma goes unaddressed? Hala Khouri lays out a framework for understanding trauma; she also points to the important role that embodied practices can play in processes of healing and self-care. (Encore presentation.) Tessa Hicks Peterson and Hala Khouri, eds., Practicing Liberation: Transformative Strategies for Collective Healing and Systems Change North Atlantic Books, 2024 Hala Khouri, Tessa Hicks Peterson and Keely Nguyễn, Practicing Liberation Workbook: Radical Tools for Grassroots Activists, Community Leaders, Teachers, and Caretakers Working Toward Social Justice North Atlantic Books, 2024 The post Trauma, Healing, and Social Change appeared first on KPFA.

While we're told by politicians that the ideas of Karl Marx are foreign and have no place in this country, history proves otherwise. Andrew Hartman shows that Marx and Marxism have had an a significant influence on the United States, from Marx's journalistic writings for the New York Daily Tribune, to the mass politics the Socialist and Communist Parties and the Wobblies, on the most radical edge of the New Deal, and the New Left, and finally with the return to Marx's ideas since the Global Financial Crisis. The post Fund Drive Special: Marx's Influence on America appeared first on KPFA.

A radio and web media project whose aim is to provide in-depth analysis and commentary on a variety of matters — political, economic, social and cultural — important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. The post Against the Grain – May 20, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

How was it that in less than two centuries the world's tallest trees, the majestic redwoods, were almost logged off the face of the earth? And this despite the efforts over many generations, starting in the late 19th century, to preserve them. Greg King, writer and forest activist, argues that one of the world's first greenwashing organizations – the Save the Redwoods League, founded by white supremacists – played a key role. He details the heroic struggle against the odds to defend these unique trees. The post Fund Drive Special: Fighting for the Redwoods appeared first on KPFA.

Mark Matousek discusses his book “Emerson, the Stoics, and Me: Timeless Wisdom for Living an Authentic Life.” The post Fund Drive Special: Emerson and the Stoics appeared first on KPFA.

Until the mid-17th century, for the vast majority of Europeans, medical care was administered by women in the household and neighborhood for free, using herbs and other formulas passed down between and among generations. Karen Bloom Gevirtz illustrates how and why — only a century later — they were supplanted by men who established the basis of our for-profit medical system. The post Fund Drive Special: Making Medicine a Commodity appeared first on KPFA.

Christopher Bache, a professor emeritus of philosophy and religious studies, discusses the twenty-year psychedelic journey described and interpreted in his book “LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven.” The post Fund Drive Special: Psychedelic Journey appeared first on KPFA.

Wealth inequality is off the charts, with corporations reaping record profits, and billionaires awash in money. Economist Rob Larson returns to make sense of the Trump administration's relationship to the multimillionaire and billionaire class. The post Fund Drive Special: The Rule of the Billionaires appeared first on KPFA.

Jodi Dean discusses her book “Capital's Grave: Neofeudalism and the New Class Struggle.” The post Fund Drive Special: Neofeudalism appeared first on KPFA.

Whether it's basketball, billiards, or table tennis, sports in the U.S are segregated by sex. And most of the time those divisions are taken to be natural, not the result of social choices. Journalist Laura Pappano asserts that sports play a key role in shaping American politics and argues for breaking down the gender wall in sports. Eileen McDonagh and Laura Pappano, Playing With The Boys: Why Separate Is Not Equal In Sports Oxford University Press, 2007 Photo credit of Manon Rhéaume: Tsunami330 The post Why are Sports Gender Segregated? appeared first on KPFA.

For over half a century, Big Oil and the plastics industry, through their trade associations and front groups, have sold the public the false idea that plastics are recyclable. Recycling became the mantra of good ecological stewardship, promoted by the likes of city governments, school children, and environmental groups. Davis Allen lays out the mass-marketing of a deception. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Center for Climate Integrity, The Fraud of Plastic Recycling: How Big Oil and the Plastics Industry Deceived the Public for Decades and Caused the Plastic Waste Crisis February, 2024 The post The Plastics Recycling Deception appeared first on KPFA.

Max Haiven considers the relationship between board games and politics, and describes a new game he's designed called Billionaires & Guillotines. He also talks about an initiative that resulted in a book featuring nine speculative-fiction stories written by current and former Amazon workers. The World After Amazon: Stories from Amazon Workers Billionaires & Guillotines and the Kickstarter campaign Max Haiven, “All Games are Political” Jacobin The post Workers' Stories, Political Games appeared first on KPFA.

Blockbuster drugs are launched by the pharmaceuticals industry to great fanfare — with promises of treating intractable illness and often with a stratospheric price tag. Yet, despite the hype and cost, many of those drugs turn out to be less than useless. How is it that so many drugs that are vetted by the Food and Drug Administration escape real scrutiny? Jerry Avorn, one of the most cited scientists in medicine, discusses the deeply compromised state of drug production and government regulation, in thrall to a for-profit system. Jerry Avorn, Rethinking Medications: Truth, Power, and the Drugs You Take Simon & Schuster, 2025 Alosa Health Center for Science in the Public Interest Worst Pills, Best Pills The post Medicines: Expensive, Poorly Tested, and Often Useless appeared first on KPFA.

Lawrence Grossberg devotes a section of his book “On the Way to Theory” to the French theorist Michel Foucault's understanding of power. The post Against the Grain – April 23, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

Floods are the most destructive natural disaster and, thanks to a heating climate, the damages caused by floods are expected to worsen significantly. Flood mitigation of the past, such as levies and dams, has proved inadequate and often counterproductive by misallocating precious resources. Tim Palmer argues that it's time to start relocating our built environment out of the places with a high likelihood of flooding. Tim Palmer, Seek Higher Ground: The Natural Solution to Our Urgent Flooding Crisis UC Press, 2024 Photograph credit: Mark Moran The post Mitigating Flooding appeared first on KPFA.

Few things are more necessary than a roof over one's head, and yet few things feel as precarious as housing. Rents have skyrocketed across the country, far outstripping wages, and homelessness has risen to an historic high. Fellow tenant organizers Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis argue that this is the latest chapter in a century-long assault on tenants, but that we can draw powerful lessons from housing struggles to fight for a world without landlords. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis, Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis Haymarket Books, 2024 The post The War on Tenants appeared first on KPFA.

A radio and web media project whose aim is to provide in-depth analysis and commentary on a variety of matters — political, economic, social and cultural — important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. The post Against the Grain – April 15, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

KPFA first took to the airwaves on April 15, 1949. To mark the station's 76th birthday, we present excerpts of interviews we've conducted with Jane Fonda; Louise Erdrich; Agustín Fuentes (about human evolution and aggression); Elizabeth S. Anderson (about the dictatorship of the workplace); and David Hawkes (about money, finance, and symbolism). The post Fund Drive Special: Commemorating KPFA's 76 Years appeared first on KPFA.

Why is it that so many schools fail at teaching their students critical thinking skills that could help them understand the world? Political scientist Agustina Paglayan argues that mass primary education from its origins was set up not to raise children's prospects — but rather to teach them to obey. She locates the Right's recent attacks on schooling in the context of the social upheavals of our times. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Agustina Paglayan, Raised to Obey: The Rise and Spread of Mass Education Princeton University Press, 2024 The post Obedience and Mass Education appeared first on KPFA.

Capitalist processes wreak havoc on ecosystems. What stories or accounts can spur people to address environmental degradation, and help them grasp its root causes? Drawing on works by John Steinbeck and Anna Tsing, Tim Christiaens considers the impact of capitalist dynamics on ecological relations. Michiel Rys and Liesbeth François, eds., Re-Imagining Class: Intersectional Perspectives on Class Identity and Precarity in Contemporary Culture Leuven University Press, 2024 (open access) The post Ecological Relations Under Capitalism appeared first on KPFA.

Our lives are filled with innumerable choices, such as for the countless array of products for us to buy, assuming we can afford them. Our politics are often framed as a question of individual, not collective, choice such as the freedom to choose to have an abortion or the act of casting one's vote in secret, away from the eyes other others. Historian Sophia Rosenfeld argues that the notion that freedom means “the freedom to choose” has been central to modern Western society, but may be coming apart. Resources: Sophia Rosenfeld, The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life Princeton University Press, 2025 The post Is Freedom a Choice? appeared first on KPFA.

“The bosses have two parties,” they said. “We need one of our own.” In 1996, representatives and activists from hundreds of local and international unions came together to launch a workers' party — long missing from U.S. politics. Labor Party participant and economist Howard Botwinick discusses the organization's challenges and promise, and the lessons from its rise and fall — including how the failure to build leftwing politics rooted in the working class created a vacuum that was ultimately filled by the right. Resources: Labor Party Archive The post Lessons from the U.S. Labor Party appeared first on KPFA.

Jewish opposition to Israel, so visible recently through the spectacular actions of groups like Jewish Voice for Peace, is not a recent phenomenon. Historian Marjorie Feld argues that what may seem like unprecedented criticism of Israel by U.S. Jews is part of a long tradition of dissent, which has been repressed by establishment Jewish organizations and frequently erased by historians. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Marjorie N. Feld, The Threshold of Dissent: A History of American Jewish Critics of Zionism NYU Press, 2024 Photo credit: Marcy Winograd The post U.S. Jewish Anti-Zionism appeared first on KPFA.

After four decades of neoliberalism, capitalism is becoming neofeudal. So argues Jodi Dean, who lays out neofeudalism's main features, explains why she believes capitalism is on the way out, and identifies which sectors of society could spearhead the struggle against neofeudalism. Jodi Dean, Capital's Grave: Neofeudalism and the New Class Struggle Verso, 2025 The post Neofeudalism appeared first on KPFA.

More than two million farmworkers do the hard, sometimes backbreaking work of planting, growing, and harvesting crops in the U.S. Focusing on strawberry and grape pickers in California, David Bacon describes what the work involves, where the workers come from, and steps they're taking to protect their rights and pursue justice. (Encore presentation.) The Reality Check: Stories and Photographs by David Bacon David Bacon, More Than a Wall/Mas que un muro El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, 2022 (Image on main page by David Bacon.) The post Laboring in the Fields appeared first on KPFA.

The American diet is awash in junk food. More than half the calories Americans eat come from processed food and drink. Three decades ago, with obesity on the rise, the food industry funded scientists to conclude that exercise was the answer, rather than taxing soda and reining in the marketing of processed food. Anthropologist Susan Greenhalgh weighs in on Big Soda's influence on science — at universities, through front groups — and the ways that companies like Coca-Cola influenced public health in the U.S. and in China, one of the largest markets for processed food in the world. Resources: Susan Greenhalgh, Soda Science: Making the World Safe for Coca-Cola University of Chicago Press, 2024 Photo credit: Mike Mozart The post How Big Soda Shaped the Science of Exercise appeared first on KPFA.

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about rich people. Does his work also offer a critique of wealth and inequality? According to John Marsh, we can learn a lot about class, power, privilege, and impunity from a novel published 100 years ago. John Marsh, A Rotten Crowd: America, Wealth, and One Hundred Years of The Great Gatsby Monthly Review Press, 2024 The post Wealth, Inequality, and “The Great Gatsby” appeared first on KPFA.

The federal minimum wage languishes at $7.25 an hour and has not been raised since 2009. Given the disproportionate number of workers of color who receive the minimum wage or less, legal scholar Ruben Garcia argues that the fight for racial justice has to include raising the minimum wage. Resources: Ruben J. Garcia, Critical Wage Theory: Why Wage Justice Is Racial Justice UC Press, 2024 Photo credit: Fibonacci Blue The post Racial Justice Through Raising the Minimum Wage appeared first on KPFA.

What did the Communist Party accomplish in California, or try to? SFSU emeritus professor Robert W. Cherny considers the party's agendas and activities in relation to longshore workers, labor unions, political figures, and others. He also examines the stances the party took toward the Roosevelt administration, the New Deal, the Comintern, and U.S. involvement in World War II. (Encore presentation.) Robert W. Cherny, San Francisco Reds: Communists in the Bay Area, 1919-1958 University of Illinois Press, 2024 The post California's Communists appeared first on KPFA.

While the wealthy disproportionately own real estate in the U.S., in many locales the properties of low income homeowners and especially homeowners of color are assessed and taxed at levels higher than their actual market value. On average, African Americans and Latinos pay more than ten percent higher taxes than whites for similar properties. Property law scholar Bernadette Atuahene discusses what she calls predatory governance, in which states and municipalities increase their coffers by unfairly taxing or fining people of color. Resources: Bernadette Atuahene, Plundered: How Racist Policies Undermine Black Homeownership in America Little, Brown and Company, 2025 University of Chicago's Property Tax Fairness Portal Detroit's Coalition for Property Tax Justice The post Racism and Property Taxes appeared first on KPFA.

When and where did the practice of forcing incarcerated people to work without wages begin? Robin Bernstein reveals that prison-based slavery in the U.S. originated not in the South but in Auburn, New York. The Auburn System, under which incarcerated workers were prohibited from talking and were put in solitary confinement each night, spread across the U.S. and overseas. (Encore presentation.) Robin Bernstein, Freeman's Challenge: The Murder That Shook America's Original Prison for Profit University of Chicago Press, 2024 The post How Carceral Slavery Began appeared first on KPFA.

The rich have not been so powerful and mind-bogglingly wealthy since the Gilded Age of the late 19th century. Yet their grip on society has often been shrouded in a veil of adulation, enabled by a media that celebrates them rather than holding them to account. Economist Rob Larson discusses the multimillionaire and billionaire class, how they rule, and how to fight against them. (Full-length presentation.) Resources: World Inequality Database Rob Larson, Mastering the Universe: The Obscene Wealth of the Ruling Class, What They Do with Their Money, and Why You Should Hate Them Even More Haymarket, 2024 The post Rule of the Billionaires appeared first on KPFA.

Driven by his determination to place workers at the center of U.S. history, David Montgomery emerged as a key architect of what's called the New Labor History. James R. Barrett describes Montgomery's investigations into working-class life, his political commitments, and his legacy. Shelton Stromquist and James R. Barrett, eds., A David Montgomery Reader: Essays on Capitalism and Worker Resistance University of Illinois Press, 2024 The post Labor History Pioneer appeared first on KPFA.

Schools are underfunded. Parents often struggle with long working hours and too little social support. But corporations and tech companies, awash in money and power, promise to entertain and teach children with a near infinite array of devices, apps, and products. Psychologist Susan Linn discusses how those who least care for children have so much influence over their lives: marketing to kids through an avalanche of advertisements, collecting data about their private lives, and replacing their teachers in the classroom. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Susan Linn, Who's Raising the Kids? Big Tech, Big Business, and the Lives of Children New Press, 2023 Fairplay The post The Monetization of American Childhood appeared first on KPFA.

Christopher Bache, a professor emeritus of philosophy and religious studies, discusses his twenty-year psychedelic journey, a journey documented in his book “LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven.” The post Fund Drive Special: Psychedelic Journey appeared first on KPFA.

The rich have not been so powerful and mind-bogglingly wealthy since the Gilded Age of the late 19th century. Yet their grip on society has often been shrouded in a veil of adulation, enabled by a media that celebrates them rather than holding them to account. Economist Rob Larson discusses the multimillionaire and billionaire class, how they rule, and how to fight against them. The post Fund Drive Special: The Rule of the Billionaires appeared first on KPFA.

Daniel Fryer talks about his new book “How to Cope with Almost Anything with Hypnotherapy: Simple Ideas to Enhance Your Wellbeing and Resilience.” The post Fund Drive Special: Self-Hypnosis & Hypnotherapy appeared first on KPFA.

Noam Chomsky reminds us that the present inequalities of wealth and power were built into the system since the very founding of the U.S. government. The post Fund Drive Special: Democracy or Plutocracy? appeared first on KPFA.

Christopher Bache, a professor emeritus of philosophy and religious studies, discusses his twenty-year psychedelic journey, a journey documented in his book “LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven.” The post Fund Drive Special: Psychedelic Journey appeared first on KPFA.

The rich have not been so powerful and mind-bogglingly wealthy since the Gilded Age of the late 19th century. Yet their grip on society has often been shrouded in a veil of adulation, enabled by a media that celebrates them rather than holding them to account. Economist Rob Larson discusses the multimillionaire and billionaire class, how they rule, and how to fight against them. The post Fund Drive Special: The Rule of the Billionaires appeared first on KPFA.

Norma Wong discusses her book “When No Thing Works: A Zen and Indigenous Perspective on Resilience, Shared Purpose, and Leadership in the Timeplace of Collapse.” The post Against the Grain – February 19, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

History is being made right now, both by the Trump administration, attempting to slash the federal workforce and the public services that it provides, and by federal workers and their supporters resisting those efforts in the offices and the streets. Federal worker Mark Smith discusses a day of action called by the newly formed Federal Unionists Network to save public services. And labor scholar Eric Blanc explains his broad blueprint for what can be done to upend Trump's attack on workers and public goods. Resources: Save Our Services actions on February 19th The post Organizing for Federal Workers and Public Services appeared first on KPFA.

Every year, more than 80,000 African Americans die prematurely. The medical establishment relies on genetics or dietary patterns to explain such appalling numbers. But sociologist George Lipsitz argues that black people, as well as Native Americans and Latinos, are made sick by where they live — and that the most important cause of health hazards for people of color is residential discrimination. Resources: George Lipsitz, The Danger Zone Is Everywhere: How Housing Discrimination Harms Health and Steals Wealth UC Press, 2024 The post Health and Place appeared first on KPFA.

The prominent sociologist, writer, and U.C. Berkeley professor emeritus Michael Burawoy passed away on February 3. We present excerpts from three interviews with Burawoy, about marketization and commodification (from 2016), Pierre Bourdieu and Karl Marx (2019), and W. E. B. Du Bois's understanding of the period of Reconstruction (2023). In Memoriam: Michael Burawoy Michael Burawoy, Public Sociology Polity, 2021 Full-length interviews with Burawoy about marketization and commodification, Bourdieu and Marx, and Du Bois (Part 1 and Part 2) The post Remembering Michael Burawoy appeared first on KPFA.

The far right has been on the march not only in the United States, but in Italy, Hungary, France and elsewhere, united by racist nationalism, authoritarian populist rhetoric, and a call for law and order. Jordan Camp reflects on the work of Antonio Gramsci, who analyzed the rise of fascism while languishing in Mussolini's prisons, and considers why his emphasis on understanding the conjuncture is relevant today. Resources: Conjuncture Web Series and Podcast Jordan T. Camp, Incarcerating the Crisis: Freedom Struggles and the Rise of the Neoliberal State University of California Press, 2016 The post Gramsci on Authoritarianism appeared first on KPFA.

Commercial sex and imperialism — army bases and brothels — have often gone hand in hand. But in the early 20th century an emergent U.S. empire defined itself as rooted in sexual purity. Historian Eva Payne describes how a heavy price for this notion of American exceptionalism was paid by women in the United States, who were policed and punished, along with those in U.S. colonies like the Philippines and the Panama Canal Zone. Resources: Eva Payne, Empire of Purity: The History of Americans' Global War on Prostitution Princeton University Press, 2025 The post U.S. Empire and Sexual Morality appeared first on KPFA.

It's an open secret that there's an affinity between members of law enforcement and far right. White supremacist and fascist groups count police in their ranks, and many in law enforcement — from the federal down to the local level — turn a blind eye to the activities of the far right, while targeting anti-fascist and other left activists. Michael German discusses the relationship between the police and the far right. Resources: Michael German, Policing White Supremacy: The Enemy Within New Press, 2025 The post Police and the Far Right appeared first on KPFA.