KPFA - UpFront

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – January 29, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – January 28, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – January 27, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – January 26, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – January 23, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — Vincent Rigby is a Professor at McGill University, recently retired from Canada's Public Service after 30 years in departments including Global Affairs, Public Safety and National Defense. 00:33 — Sam Gould is an artist and educator who lives in Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis, four blocks from where ICE agents killed Renee Good.  The post How Canada is Responding to Trump's Aggressive Pursuit of Greenland; Plus Report from the Streets of Minneapolis appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — Rusha Latif is an Egyptian-American researcher and writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her work focuses on social movements and revolutions, particularly in the Middle East. Her book, Tahrir's Youth: Leaders of a Leaderless Revolution (2022), draws on ethnographic fieldwork in Cairo during the 2011 uprising to examine activist agency in the absence of formal leadership. The post Rusha Latif on the 15th Anniversary of Egypt's Tahrir Revolution appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – January 20, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 Hajar Yazdiha  is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and faculty affiliate of the Equity Research Institute at the University of Southern California; now author of The Struggle for the People's King: How Politics Transforms the Memory of the Civil Rights Movement  [repeat – originally recorded in 2024]   00:33 David K Randall, senior reporter at Reuters, discussing his book Black Death at the Golden Gate: The Race to Save America from the Bubonic Plague [repeat – originally recorded in 2019] The post The battle over the meaning of Martin Luther King Jr. appeared first on KPFA.

00:08  Christopher Mathias, journalist who's covered the far right for most of the past decade, now out with the forthcoming book To Catch a Fascist, the fight to expose the radical right  (due out February 3) . The post Christopher Mathias on Antifa and their work appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — Miguel R. Tinker Salas is Professor Emeritus of History at Pomona College. He is the author of The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture and Society in Venezuela. 00:33 — Renee Saldana is Press Secretary for SEIU-UHW. 00:45 — Aisha Wahab is California State Senator representing Senate district 10. The post Trump Meets María Corina Machado; Plus, California Billionaires Tax; California No Kings Act appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – January 14, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — Sussan Tahmasebi is executive director of FEMENA. 00:24 — Christopher Sweat is a technologist and journalist. He is the founder of GrayStak Media, they have been covering ICE activity around the country. 00:33 — JW Mason is Associate Professor of Economics at John Jay College of the City University of New York, and a senior fellow at the Groundwork Collaborative.  The post Anti-government Protests in Iran Escalate, Death Toll Rising; Plus, Fallout from ICE Killing in Minneapolis; Trump's Attack on the Fed Chair, Jerome Powell appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — John Feffer is Director of Foreign Policy in Focus. 00:33 — Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. The post Russia's War in Ukraine; Plus, Corona Calls appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — Narges Bajoghli is Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies. She is the author of How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare. 00:33 — Mitchell Plitnick, is a political analyst and writer. He is the president of ReThinking Foreign Policy, and is co-author, with Marc Lamont Hill, of Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics. The post Protests in Iran Escalate as Internet is Shut Off; Plus, Is AIPAC's Influence in US Politics Declining? appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — Ryan Goodman is co-editor-in-chief of Just Security and Professor at NYU Law School. He served as Special Counsel to the General Counsel of the Department of Defense(2015-2016). 00:33 — Rafael Osío Cabrices is Editor in Chief at Caracas Chronicles. The post Continued Coverage of the US Invasion of Venezuela appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — John Nichols, Executive Editor of the Nation 00:33 — Maureen Tkacik is investigations editor at the American Prospect. The post US Political Fallout Following Venezuela Invasion; Plus, Venezuelan Opposition Abroad appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – January 6, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

Discussed in this episode: Influenza levels are rising quickly This year's flu vaccine appears to be reducing the risk of hospitalization in adults by 30-40%. That's a significant help, but a worse topline than in prior flu seasons. This is likely because the Influenza A subclade K, which has come to predominate, emerged too late to be specifically targeted by this year's vaccine. The implications of RFK Jr's CDC drastically changing the childhood vaccination schedule (which it had not done by airtime, but did announce before we published the podcast). To send us a question in advance of next week's show, write to: coronacalls@kpfa.org Tune in live Monday mornings at 7:30am Pacific at kpfa.org. Podcast music credit:  Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License. The post Corona Calls for 01.05.2026 appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – January 2, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 Malcolm Harris, author of several books; the newest is What's Left: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis. This is a rebroadcast from 2025. The post Malcolm Harris on the paths through planetary crisis appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 Emily M. Bender is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Washington, Alex Hanna is Director of Research at the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR); they've co-authored the book The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want.  This is a rebroadcast from summer of 2025. The post Emily Bender and Alex Hanna on The AI Con appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — Julian Brave NoiseCat is a writer, filmmaker, champion powwow dancer and student of Salish art and history. His debut book is “We Survived the Night.” This interview was originally recorded earlier in December 2025. The post Extended interview with Julian Brave NoiseCat: We Survived the Night appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 – Mariah Blake, investigative journalist just out with the book They Poisoned the World: Life and death in the age of forever chemicals. The post Mariah Blake on Life in the Age of Forever Chemicals appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 Robert Reich, political economist who worked in the administrations of three presidents (most prominently as Secretary of Labor for Bill Clinton) now emeritus Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. His latest book is Coming Up Short: a memoir of my America. This is a rebroadcast of our original interview in summer of 2025. The post Robert Reich on Robert Reich: Former labor secretary talks new memoir appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 From Bruce Lee's San Francisco origins during the segregationist era of the Chinese Exclusion Act and family's immigration story, to his role in the lives and minds of young Asian Americans, a new book traces Lee's story. We talk with Jeff Chang, cultural historian, about Water Mirror Echo: Bruce Lee and the Making of Asian America. “He was a marker of culture, a sign, a signifier that put us in the pop culture conversation,” Chang says. “Folks want to whitewash his story… as if to separate him from other immigrants. No. Bruce was part of a class of people that was completely shunned and looked down upon… He's dealing with racism every day. Part of the story here is to recover that, so people really understand what that means.” Jeff Chang won the American Book Award for Can't Stop Won't Stop, his history of the early years of hip hop. The post Cultural Historian Jeff Chang on the Life of Bruce Lee appeared first on KPFA.

0:08 – A rebroadcast of our powerful October 2025 interview with Rebecca Solnit, author of two dozen books, and a profound storyteller of grassroots movements and the climate and environmental crisis on this planet. Most recently, she published No Straight Road Takes You There: Essays for Uneven Terrain. The post No Straight Road Takes You There: Extended Interview with Rebecca Solnit appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 – Betty Reid Soskin has been a homefront warriors worker, a singer-songwriter and a performer, co-founder of the legendary Reid's Records in South Berkeley, a writer and legislative aid and, until she turned 100, the oldest working National Park Service ranger. She died last weekend at the age of 104. This interview is from 2018, when she came to KPFA's studios to discuss her book, Sign My Name to Freedom: A Memoir of a Pioneering Life The post Betty Reid Soskin, in her own voice appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – December 22, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

On today's show: Doctors in Jail? Hospitals Stripped of Fed Funding? The Criminalization of Trans Youth Healthcare Kilmar Ábrego García Reunites with Family, But Trump Admin Threatens to Jail & Deport Him Again “Terror & Fear”: Trump Moves to Denaturalize Citizens, End Birthright Citizenship, Halt Visa Lottery   UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – December 19, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

0:10 – We start today's coverage in Venezuela. President Trump has announced a blockade on “sanctioned” Venezuelan oil vessels. Miguel R. Tinker Salas is professor emeritus of History at Pomona College and joins us to talk about Venezuela's oil industry and this development, and parse the “absurdity” of Trump's comments. He is the author of The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture and Society in Venezuela. “This was not about drugs,” Tinker Salas says. “This was about oil, this was about Western Hemisphere control, this was about geopolitics, this was about an effort to control the Caribbean and Central America, and U.S. hegemony.” 0:35 – Reviewing President Trump's Oval Office address and recent revelations in interviews by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, we are joined by John Nichols, executive editor of The Nation. To make a gift to KPFA and help us meet our fundraising goal, give at support.kpfa.org. The post U.S. to blockade “sanctioned” Venezuela oil tankers with military; John Nichols responds to Trump's Oval Office address appeared first on KPFA.

0:09 – Why do we fight for our Bay Area neighborhoods and advocate for change with our neighbors? And what local history informs our struggles? This fund drive special takes us on a journey from Oakland across the Bay Area with A People's Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area by Rachel Brahinsky, professor at the University of San Francisco in Urban Studies, and Alexander Tarr, assistant professor of Geography at Worcester State University. Click here to support KPFA during our winter fund drive. The post Fund drive special: A People's Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – December 16, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — John Feffer is Director of Foreign Policy in Focus. 00:33 — Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. The post Russia's War in Ukraine; Plus, Corona Call appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — Julian Brave NoiseCat is a writer, filmmaker, champion powwow dancer and student of Salish art and history. His debut book is “We Survived the Night.”  The post Fund Drive Special with Julian Brave NoiseCat appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — Sang Hea Kil is professor in the justice studies department at San Jose State University. Se was suspended from her tenured position at the university and is currently contesting her case. 00:33 — Peyrin Kao, is Lecturer in the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley, we previously spoke to him over a month into his hunger strike. He has now been suspended without pay for the Spring 2026 semester. Katie Rodger is a Lecturer at UC Davis and President of UC-AFT. 00:45 — Maya, is a Stanford alumni and defendant in the Stanford 11 case and one of 5 who have begun trial in Santa Clara County. The post Campus Attack on Pro-Palestinian Staff and Students at Bay Area Universities appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — Michael Willrich is a Professor of History at Brandeis University. His latest book is “American Anarchy: The Epic Struggle between Immigrant Radicals and the US Government at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century.” The post Fund Drive Special: History of Anarchism in the US appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — Victor Pickard is Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy at the University of Pennsylvania. 00:33 — David Dayen is the executive editor of The American Prospect.  The post The State of US Media; Plus, Paramount and Netflix Go After Warner Brothers appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – December 8, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 Tareq Baconi is a writer and scholar, president of Al-Shabaka: the Palestinian Policy Network; author of the 2018 book Hamas Contained, and just out with the memoir Fire in Every Direction The post Tareq Baconi on Fire in Every Direction appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – December 4, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – December 3, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – December 2, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – December 1, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 Greg Grandin, Peter V and C. Vann Woodward Professor at Yale, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, author of America America: a new history of the new world [originally recorded in May 2025] The post Greg Grandin on America, América [rebroadcast] appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – November 27, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – November 26, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – November 25, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.

00:08 — John Feffer is Director of Foreign Policy in Focus. 00:33 — Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. The post Russia's War in Ukraine; Plus, Corona Calls appeared first on KPFA.

00:08  Michael Willrich is a Professor of History at Brandeis University. His latest book, a Pulitzer finalist, is American Anarchy: The Epic Struggle between Immigrant Radicals and the US Government at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century. The post Michael Willrich on Emma Goldman and the how the Federal Government used Immigration Law against the left appeared first on KPFA.

UpFront delivers a mix of local, state, and international coverage through challenging interviews, civil debates, breaking updates, and in-depth discussions with authors. The post UpFront – November 20, 2025 appeared first on KPFA.