The Real News Podcast

What role does fiction have to play in the class struggle? Should the left be making a stronger case for the political importance of reading literature? In this special Working People episode, which has been months in the making, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez talks with writer and editor Sarah Lazare about her novel Testimony, which she co-authored with her late father, Peter Lazare. Testimony is a leftist crime thriller that takes place in Springfield, Illinois, at the height of the “war on terror” panic in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. It is also a deeply moving story about trust, commitment to everyday people, and fighting the corrupt, self-serving, and nefarious forces that weaponize fear for their own gain.As the back cover of the book describes, "Testimony isn't about One Great Man taking on the system, but about one okay, flawed person working with a rag-tag team of other okay, flawed people to combat a system of cynicism and greed much bigger than them." In this deep and wide-ranging conversation, Alvarez talks with Lazare about the book itself, about her father and the long process of getting the book ready for publication, and about the important role genre fiction has to play in our collective fight for a better world. This episode also features segments of dramatic readings from Testimony performed by Alvarez, Lazare, and friends of the show Adam Johnson (Citations Needed) and Mel Buer (Morning Riot). And a special thanks to Working People producer Jules Taylor for all his hard work editing the episode!Additional links/info below...Sarah's In These Times author page and Twitter page:https://inthesetimes.com/authors/sarah-lazarehttps://twitter.com/sarahlazareSarah Lazare & Peter Lazare, Strong Arm Press, Testimony: https://strongarmpress.com/catalog/testimony/?fbclid=IwAR3N2Ki8cW7WDPyBaYqk4nNjkXZD1AXfU1cfnifN7ezM6C5ea9BgxALZ2fQStrong Arm Press, Book Launch Event: "Why the Left Should Engage Fiction: A Conversation With Radical Thriller and Mystery Writers": https://www.facebook.com/events/822725148380203Mel Buer Twitter page and Patreon:https://twitter.com/coldbrewedtoolhttps://www.patreon.com/mel_buerMorning Riot podcast Twitter page: https://twitter.com/morningriotpodAdam Johnson Twitter page and Substack:https://twitter.com/adamjohnsonNYChttps://thecolumn.substack.com/Citations Needed Twitter page and Patreon:https://twitter.com/citationspodhttps://www.patreon.com/citationsneededpodcast/postsFeatured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org): Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

After spending nearly half a century in prison, leftist revolutionaries and political prisoners David Gilbert and Russell Maroon Shoatz (who also spent 22 years in solitary confinement) were released earlier this year. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, TRNN Executive Producer Eddie Conway speaks with Charles Hopkins, better known as Mansa Musa, about the historic occasion of Gilbert and Shoatz's release and the reasons for their imprisonment. Conway and Hopkins are both former Black Panthers and longtime political prisoners who engaged in radical organizing and education programs while locked up. While reflecting on the historical climate in which they, Gilbert, Shoatz, and a generation of radicals were killed or imprisoned in the 1960s and ‘70s, Hopkins and Conway also offer advice to today's social justice activists on the imperatives of community organizing and the continuing threat posed by the draconian apparatus of state repression.Pre-Production/Studio/Post Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters just held a pivotal leadership election that will set a new course for one of the most storied unions in existence. The election officially marked the end of the Hoffa era—James P. Hoffa, son of Jimmy Hoffa, retired as Teamsters General President. In a major shift that will have significant ripple effects within the Teamsters and the labor movement writ large, members elected the Teamsters United reform slate headed by incoming president and Hoffa critic Sean O'Brien. As journalist Indigo Olivier wrote for Jacobin, “With 1.4 million members, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) election results have implications not just for the massive upcoming United Parcel Service (UPS) contract, but for organizing Amazon and pushing labor-friendly legislation like the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. The election marks the first time that a coalition backed by Teamsters for a Democratic Union, a rank-and-file reform caucus, will head the union since former IBT president Ron Carey was removed from office on false corruption charges in 1997.”We will bring you a rank-and-file breakdown of the election in the coming weeks, but for now we are publicly releasing one of our recent Working People bonus episodes so listeners can have some context to understand the importance of this election. In this episode, recorded in October, we talk with Indigo Olivier about the Teamsters leadership election and the 46th annual Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) convention, which was held in Chicago on Oct. 1-3. Olivier is a 2020–2021 fellow with In These Times' Leonard C. Goodman Institute for Investigative Reporting and her writing has been featured at outlets like Jacobin, In These Times, and The Nation. She is also a member of NYC-DSA.Additional links/info below...Indigo's Twitter page: https://twitter.com/IndigoOlivierIndigo's author page at In These Times: https://inthesetimes.com/authors/indigo-olivierIndigo Olivier, Jacobin, "Teamster Rank-and-File Reformers Are Making a Bid for Union Leadership": https://jacobinmag.com/2021/10/teamsters-tdu-convention-reform-amazon-election-upsIndigo Olivier, Jacobin, "With Reformers Victorious, It's a New Day for the Teamsters": https://jacobinmag.com/2021/11/teamsters-united-democratic-union-ibt-electionWorking People, "The Teamsters Have Entered the Chat (w/ Joe Allen)": https://www.patreon.com/posts/53478081Ryan Haney, Labor Notes, "Teamster Insurgents Plan for a Win—And What Comes After": https://labornotes.org/2021/10/teamster-insurgents-plan-win-and-what-comes-afterAndy Sernatinger, In These Times, "Hoffa's House Divided: The 2021 Teamster Election, Explained": https://inthesetimes.com/article/hoffa-teamsters-for-a-democratic-union-reform-labor-militancy-electionInternational Brotherhood of Teamsters Election Results: https://www.ibtvote.org/Election-ResultsFeatured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org): Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Even with majorities in both the House and Senate, conservative Democrats fought and removed parts of the Build Back Better plan that were wildly popular with voters—voters who elected Democrats expecting them to deliver things like paid leave, universal pre-K, and expanded Medicare coverage. As those voters continue to face real struggles, what options do they have when their representatives won't even defend their agenda against members of their own party? On this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, longtime labor organizer Bill Fletcher Jr. and Jacobin staff writer Luke Savage discuss how voters need to organize and counterattack with litigation, ballot initiatives, and mass action to confront voter suppression and gerrymandering, and pressure Democrats into action—and not just wait until midterm elections “for the meteor to hit.”Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday and Thursday on TRNN.Pre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

In 2017, Ismail Ziada filed a civil suit at the District Court of the Hague against former Israeli military leaders Benny Gantz and Amir Eshel for their role in a 2014 strike—part of the Israeli offensive in Gaza known as Operation Protective Edge—which killed six of Ziada's family members. In 2020, the court dismissed Ziada's civil suit, arguing that, as agents of the state, Gantz and Eshel enjoy functional immunity from prosecution, and the court had no jurisdiction over the matter.Now, the Dutch court hearing his appeal has until Dec. 7 to decide whether the international legal principle of universal jurisdiction will allow him to pursue his case from the Netherlands, an enormous step forward for Palestinians trying to seek justice in Israel, where they're prohibited from addressing cases or appeals against Israel for war crimes and acts of war. TRNN contributor David Kattenburg talks to Ziada's lawyer, Liesbeth Zegveld, about this case and what it could mean for those seeking international justice by way of local jurisdictions.Read the transcript of this interview: https://therealnews.com/a-dutch-court-may-help-deliver-justice-for-a-gazan-family-killed-in-an-israeli-strikeHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

In this video installment of Battleground Baltimore, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez sits down with Laura Albans and Matt Papich, two workers at the renowned Baltimore Museum of Art who are involved in a crucial unionization effort that is currently taking place at the museum. From security guards and visitor services to art installers and curators, workers across departments are fighting to form a "wall-to-wall" union with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 67. After officially announcing their unionization effort in late September, BMA workers have joined a broader surge in labor organizing at cultural institutions around the country, including at the nearby Walters Museum in Baltimore. According to the union's mission statement, "We, the BMA staff, are part of the wave of change that is happening at cultural institutions around the country. By forming a union, we will champion better working conditions for all employees and create a positive cultural shift throughout the institution and the Baltimore community."In this interview, Alvarez talks with Albans and Papich about the work they do, how the unionization drive developed, and where things currently stand between workers and museum leadership. Laura Albans is a curatorial research associate who has worked at the BMA for nearly two decades; Matt Papich works in the exhibitions design and installation department and has been with the museum for 15 years.Read the transcript of this interview: https://therealnews.com/baltimore-museum-workers-are-fighting-for-a-wall-to-wall-unionHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

In the wake of the recent Nicaraguan elections, the US imperialist war machine is once again directing its wrath at the governments of Nicaragua and Cuba. In response, anti-imperialist leftists around the world are rightly denouncing the onslaught of US aggression, sanctions, and propaganda, but many are also pushing for the left to engage in serious debate about how revolutionary governments can maintain systems of democratic accountability and hold true to the principles from which they were born.In this segment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc talks with Circles Robinson, who has been living between Nicaragua and Cuba since late 1984, about the Nicaraguan elections and the need for such debate to take place, both within Nicaragua and the broader left sphere. Before moving to Cuba, where he now works as editor of Havana Times, Robinson worked in Nicaragua for the National Union of Farmers and Ranchers and edited the Nicaragua Farmer's View.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Tuesday and Friday on TRNN.Pre-Production/Studio/Post Production: Stephen FrankRead the transcript of this interview: https://therealnews.com/democratic-accountability-keeps-revolutions-aliveHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

For years, prisoners, activists, and legal advocates have been drawing attention to the inhumane conditions at Rikers Island, New York's most infamous jail complex. But the COVID-19 pandemic turned what was already a dire situation at Rikers into a full-blown humanitarian crisis. With cells grossly overcrowded, guards and medical staff largely absent, and an interior crumbling from disrepair, Rikers became a hotbed of contagion and needless death. What's worse, as Judge Jonathan Lippman recently wrote in The New York Times, “90 percent of the human beings subjected to the appalling conditions at Rikers are there pretrial, many because they cannot afford bail. Almost 1,600 have been waiting for a trial for over a year. Almost 700 have been waiting for more than two.”In this episode of Rattling the Bars, TRNN Executive Producer Eddie Conway speaks with Olayemi Olurin about the ongoing crisis at Rikers and the renewed wave of outrage from the public and elected officials who are demanding that the jail be closed for good. Olurin is a public defender and staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society and an analyst at the Law & Crime Network.Pre-Production/Studio/Post Production: Cameron GranadinoRead the transcript of this interview: https://therealnews.com/we-want-rikers-closed-and-no-new-jails-in-its-placeHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

As a canonized work of fantasy fiction, a Hollywood institution, and a global cultural phenomenon, JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is in a class all its own. Not only has the series had tremendous cultural staying power since its original publication in the 1950s, renewed for generations with Peter Jackson's film adaptations, but it became a lifeline for many people quarantining throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Why have Tolkien's works captivated us for so long? What does it tell us about our world and about the world Tolkien created that each perpetually has so many revealing things to say about the other? How has the series become the subject of an unending interpretive battle between reactionaries and revolutionaries who want to claim it as their own? And what does it mean to truly love Lord of the Rings for what it is, warts and all?In the inaugural episode of her new TRNN podcast Art for the End Times, writer and editor Lyta Gold dives deep into one of the most complex, lore-filled, and culturally enduring works in the fantasy canon with journalist, researcher, and diehard Lord of the Rings fan Talia Lavin. Lavin is the author of the critically acclaimed book Culture Warlords: My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy, and her writing has been featured in outlets like The New Yorker, The New Republic, The New York Times Review of Books, the Washington Post, the Village Voice, and more. She also writes regularly on her Substack The Sword and the Sandwich.Pre-Production/Studio/Post Production: Stephen FrankRead the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/reading-lord-of-the-rings-in-the-end-timesHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

This week, PAR continues its coverage of the overt abuses of police power by examining new data that shows just how dangerous—and even deadly—systematic over-policing can be. PAR hosts Taya Graham and Stephen Janis break down several cases that show how police use pretextual car stops to expand their power, challenge the constitutional rights of citizens, and expand the reach of the country's law-enforcement-industrial complex.Post Production: Adam ColeyHelp us continue producing Police Accountability Report by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-parSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-parGet Police Accountability Report updates: https://therealnews.com/pod-up-parLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

On Nov. 7, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega secured a fourth consecutive term in the country's latest round of national elections with Rosario Murillo, Ortega's wife, serving as Vice President. Prior to his current run as President, which began in 2007, Ortega had headed the government throughout the 1980s, first through the Junta of National Reconstruction after the Sandinista National Liberation Front ousted the right-wing Somoza dictatorship in 1979, and then as President from 1985 to 1990. Nicaragua's electoral authority has said that voter turnout in this week's elections reached 65% and that Ortega's Sandinista alliance secured about 75% of votes cast. The United States is currently leading an international chorus rejecting the legitimacy of the elections and condemning the Ortega-Murillo government, with President Joe Biden threatening action against Nicaragua. “What Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, orchestrated today was a pantomime election that was neither free nor fair, and most certainly not democratic,” Biden's official statement says. The “United States, in close coordination with other members of the international community, will use all diplomatic and economic tools at our disposal to support the people of Nicaragua and hold accountable the Ortega-Murillo government and those that facilitate its abuses.”The aggressive posture and threats of sanctions (or worse) from President Biden follow a well-worn path of flexed imperialist might, political and even military intervention, and self-serving definitions of democracy that the US has often deployed against left-wing governments throughout Latin America. In response, leftists of different stripes in North America and beyond have denounced President Biden's threat while also claiming that accusations of rigged elections in Nicaragua or doubts about the leftist bonafides of Ortega's government are entirely unfounded. But there is a lot more context that needs to be unpacked here, and doing so from a historically honest and anti-imperialist perspective is vital to understanding the very real political crisis in Nicaragua. In this interview, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with professor and Latin American specialist William I. Robinson about the deeper historical context surrounding Nicaragua's elections, the very real political crisis that many are not seeing, and the need for the internationalist left to oppose US imperialism while soberly assessing the abuses of the Ortega-Murillo government.William I. Robinson is Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Global, and Latin American Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He worked in Managua with the Nicaragua News Agency and the Nicaragua Foreign Ministry in the 1980s and was affiliated faculty with the Central American University in Managua until 2001. Along with authoring a series of analyses of the 2021 Nicaraguan elections for the North American Congress on Latin America, Robinson has authored, co-authored, and edited numerous books, including Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Humanity; David and Goliath: The U.S. War Against Nicaragua; The Global Police State; and A Faustian Bargain: U.S. Intervention in the Nicaraguan Elections and American Foreign Policy in the post-Cold War Era.Pre-Production/Studio/Post Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Recent federal elections in Norway and Germany saw entrenched conservative and neoliberal governments swept from power, replaced by an odd assortment of liberals, leftists, and Greens. In Norway, Europe's largest oil and gas producer, a new ruling coalition has emerged between the social democratic Labour Party and agrarian Centre Party. In Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse and its largest energy consumer, Chancellor Angela Merkel has stepped down after nearly two decades in power, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) is now the largest party, and the Greens drew nearly 15% of the vote, gaining 51 seats in the Bundestag. In the wake of record-setting rain and flooding in Germany this summer, as well as near-record heatwaves in Nordic countries, tackling climate change was a major concern for voters in the recent German and Norwegian elections. With new coalitions in power, what hope is there that each country, and the European Union writ large, will take substantive steps to address the climate crisis?In this interview, TRNN contributor David Kattenburg speaks with Jule Könneke and Rafael Loss about the recent European elections and what opportunities they present for Germany and Norway's new coalition governments to take serious action. Jule Könneke is the former president of Polis180, a Berlin-based think tank on foreign and European affairs; she is also a climate diplomacy researcher at the German NGO E3G. Rafael Loss is the coordinator for pan-European data projects at the European Council on Foreign Relations' Re:shape Global Europe project; he is also a co-author of the policy brief “Europe's Green Moment: How to Meet the Climate Change Challenge.”Post-Production: Adam ColeyHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

With few exceptions, traditional accounts of the development of the modern world put European history at the center of everything, often focusing on the “Age of Discovery” and global expansion, the Enlightenment, and so on. “The history of Africa, by contrast, has long been relegated to the remote outskirts of our global story,” as Howard W. French asserts in his critically acclaimed and game-changing new book. “What if, instead, we put Africa and Africans at the very center of our thinking about the origins of modernity?”In this segment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc talks with French about his new book, Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War, and about the forcibly forgotten history of Africa's central place in the making of the modern world. Howard W. French is a professor of journalism at Columbia University and former New York Times bureau chief in the Caribbean and Central America, West and Central Africa, Tokyo, and Shanghai. He is the author of numerous books, including A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa and China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Tuesday and Friday on TRNN.Pre-Production/Studio/Post Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

35,000 members of the Alliance of Health Care Unions, a coalition of 21 local unions representing over 52,000 workers at the healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente in states around the country, have set a strike date. Unless the company addresses the serious issues that workers have raised at the bargaining table, Kaiser workers will walk off the job on Nov. 15, and thousands more may join in what could become one of the largest strikes ever in the healthcare sector. The core issues that led to the potential strike not only involve adequate compensation for union workers, but also the dire concerns about healthcare workers being grossly overworked and under-resourced, as well as two-tier employment and the struggle to draw in and retain trained staff. On top of the essential concerns that directly impact the jobs and livelihoods of healthcare workers, the outcome of this high-stakes labor struggle will have huge implications for the future of healthcare in the US as we know it.In this special edition of Working People, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with two Kaiser workers, Hannah Winchester, DPT, and Nicholas Eng, RNFA, about the work that they do, the changes they've experienced in the healthcare system, and the dire conditions that have led to a potential strike. Hannah Winchester is a home health physical therapist by trade; she is also her department's Labor Partner, a shop steward, and a member of the bargaining team for the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP) Professional Bargaining Unit. Nicholas Eng has been a nurse for nearly 10 years; he is also an OFNHP shop steward and is currently on release for OFNHP to be present for contract bargaining and to help with organizing union members and actions, including strike planning.Post-Production: Adam ColeyRead the transcript of this interview: https://therealnews.com/35000-kaiser-permanente-workers-are-set-to-strike-and-the-future-of-us-healthcare-is-at-stakeAdditional links/info below…The Alliance of Health Care Unions website, Facebook page, and Twitter page:https://www.ahcunions.org/https://www.facebook.com/AHCUnions/https://twitter.com/AHCunionsOregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram:http://ofnhp.aft.org/https://www.facebook.com/ofnhp/https://twitter.com/ofnhphttps://www.instagram.com/ofnhp/?hl=enOFNHP Cares - Member Hardship Relief Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/y3h5p-ofnhp-cares-member-hardship-relief-fund?qid=b651426291f2babae96217e9a9d1d90eNoah Lanard, Mother Jones, ““You Are Worth More”: Kaiser Permanente Workers Are on the Verge of a Historic Strike”: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/10/kaiser-permanente-strike-health-care-nurses-decades/Dave Muoio, Fierce Healthcare, “Nearly 32,000 Kaiser Permanente Workers Set to Strike Nov. 15. Tens of Thousands More Mulling Their Own Demonstrations”: https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/hospitals/nearly-32-000-kaiser-permanente-workers-set-to-strike-nov-15Working People, The Real News Network, “A Small-Town Hospital Goes After Its Union Nurses”: https://therealnews.com/a-small-town-hospital-goes-after-its-union-nurses

Mansoor Adayfi, “Detainee No. 441,” was imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay for over 14 years without charges as an enemy combatant. As detailed in the description for Adafyi's new book Don't Forget Us Here: Lost and Found at Guantánamo, “Arriving as a stubborn teenager, Mansoor survived the camp's infamous interrogation program and became a feared and hardened resistance fighter leading prison riots and hunger strikes protesting inhumane treatment and arbitrary detention. With time though, he grew into the man nicknamed ‘Smiley Troublemaker': a student, writer, advocate, and historian.” In this special episode of Rattling the Bars, TRNN Executive Producer, legendary Black Panther, and longtime political prisoner Eddie Conway sits down with Adafyi to talk about his new book, his time at Guantánamo, the human cost of the War on Terror, and about the battle for survival in the dark heart of American empire.Pre-Production/Studio/Post Production: Cameron GranadinoRead the transcript of this interview: https://therealnews.com/surviving-the-darkness-eddie-conway-speaks-with-guantanamo-bay-detainee-mansoor-adayfiHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

As we have been covering at The Real News, coal miners in Brookwood, Alabama, represented by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), have been on an unfair labor practices strike against Warrior Met Coal since the beginning of April. Now entering their eight month on strike, workers and their families are facing violence on the picket line, vilification from the company, and even court orders that infringe on their legally protected right to picket. And yet, striking miners and their families continue to hold the line and provide support for one another—and they say they will continue to do so for as long as it takes.In this segment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Braxton and Haeden Wright about the conditions that led to the strike at Warrior Met Coal, what families have endured throughout the strike, and how solidarity from supporters around the world has kept them going. Braxton Wright is one of the UMWA miners on strike in Alabama; he comes from a family of miners and has been working at the mine now owned by Warrior Met Coal for 17 years. Haeden Wright is president of the UMWA Auxiliary Locals #2368 and #2245; she is a high school teacher who also comes from a coal mining family. Braxton and Haeden are married.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Tuesday and Friday on TRNN.Pre-Production/Studio/Post Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Did prosecutors silence a progressive activist under the guise of enforcing an obscure law? That's the issue PAR explores as we look at the case of a pot legalization activist who was charged with two felonies for livestreaming an encounter with a conservative congressman's aide during a protest.Help us continue producing Police Accountability Report by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-parSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-parGet Police Accountability Report updates: https://therealnews.com/pod-up-parLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

“A colossal battle to save the last temperate rainforest on Vancouver Island, Canada, is under way, as police and forest protectors are engaged in a cat-and-mouse chase through hundreds of kilometres of thick woods,” Brandi Morin wrote earlier this summer for Al Jazeera English. Since then, the battle in British Columbia has only gotten more intense as Indigenous land protectors and non-Indigenous activists put their bodies on the line to defend the ancient rainforest in the Fairy Creek and Central Walbran areas, facing arrest and forced removal by Canadian police.In this segment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Morin about what she's seen on the ground covering this crucial struggle to preserve unceded First Nations land from the onslaught of settler-colonial violence and the environmentally destructive logging industry. Brandi Morin is an award-winning French/Cree/Iroquois journalist from Treaty 6 territory in Alberta, Canada. Her work has appeared in numerous outlets, including Al Jazeera English, The Guardian, The National Observer, The New York Times, Vice Canada, and CBC Indigenous.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Tuesday and Friday on TRNN.Pre-Production/Studio/Post Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Calls to “defund the police” reverberated throughout communities across the US in the summer of 2020, when millions took to the streets to protest a brutal, unchecked, and racist system of police violence and control. Then came the backlash. Since the initial push by activists and protestors to get the public to consider alternatives to endlessly increasing police spending, a forceful chorus has pushed in the opposite direction, demanding more funding for more police who should be given more power over our lives. “Defund the police” has been criticized for being not only a “bad slogan” but a political pipe dream that fails to reckon with the messy realities of maintaining “public safety.”However, as Geo Maher argues in his latest book, A World without Police: How Strong Communities Make Cops Obsolete, America's policing system is a demonstrably terrible way to keep people and communities safe. In fact, Maher writes, police “don't prevent violence, and they don't make any measurable contribution to public safety... The police have wormed their way into the very foundations of American society and work every day to make themselves—and their bloated budgets—seem indispensable.” In this special conversation for the TRNN podcast, Police Accountability Report Host Stephen Janis speaks with Maher about his groundbreaking assessment of American policing and the practical necessity of collectively devising better models for communal safety.Pre-Production/Studio: Stephen JanisPost Production: Stephen Janis, Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

For decades, climate scientists and activists have been sounding the alarm that, unless the world takes drastic action, humanity is careening toward disaster and the climate crisis is spiraling out of control. And yet, for all the public talk from world leaders about the seriousness of the situation, the world's worst contributors to climate change have failed to even begin taking the steps necessary to curb runaway climate catastrophe. This is the backdrop for the convening of the 26th United Nations conference on climate change, also known as COP26, which will take place in Glasgow, Scotland, from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12. In this urgent interview, TRNN contributor Radhika Desai speaks with economist Peter Victor about what we should and shouldn't expect to happen at the COP26, and about the rapidly closing (and possibly already closed) window for humanity to save itself from climate catastrophe. Peter Victor is professor emeritus at York University in Canada and author of Managing Without Growth: Slower by Design, Not Disaster; he was the founding president of the Canadian Society of Ecological Economics and is a past-president of the Royal Canadian Institute for Science.Pre-Production: Paul S. GrahamStudio/Post Production: Adam ColeyHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

From folkloric figures like Lamia and Grendel who feast on human flesh, to historical monsters like Vlad the Impaler and Elizabeth Báthory who reveled in human blood and carnage, to Bram Stoker's Dracula, the antecedents to the modern vampire have instilled fear and morbid fascination for centuries. Especially during periods of social devastation, imperial conquest, plague, and mass death, vampires and vampiric figures have featured prominently in popular imagination. In every case, the cultural phenomenon of the vampire reveals much about the time, place, and people from which it emerged—and the persistent relevance and adaptability of the vampire allegory likewise reveals much about the evolution of human society and its timeless struggle to come to terms with death. So, in the age of runaway capitalist destruction and climate catastrophe, what should we make of the popularity of new vampire allegories like Netflix's Midnight Mass and the Provincetown series in the new season of FX's American Horror Story?In this panel discussion, just in time for Halloween, the TRNN team hosts a wide-ranging discussion about the historical significance of the vampire and its enduring allure in the 21st century. Our panel today includes TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez; TRNN Managing Editor Jocelyn Dombroski; Marc Steiner, host of The Marc Steiner Show; and special guest, renowned author and editor Lyta Gold.Pre-Production/Studio/Post Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Grassroots activists worked tirelessly to get voters to the polls in 2020, and their efforts helped Joe Biden win in key swing states like Wisconsin. Now these same activists say they feel deeply disappointed that Democrats have broken their campaign promises by gutting their own economic agenda, which could have brought real change to working people across the country. Reporting from on the ground in Wisconsin, TRNN's Jaisal Noor sits down with Angela Lang, who launched Black Leaders Organizing for Communities, a year-round community engagement and voter turnout organization that helped Biden win Wisconsin and the White House. As Lang warns, Democrats must deliver meaningful change for voters if they want to avoid getting routed in the 2022 midterms.Pre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

The mysterious death of Baltimore filmmaker Rey Rivera continues to prompt more questions than answers. Did Rivera really jump off the roof of Baltimore's Belvedere Hotel, or was he the victim of foul play? Why did the investigation into Rivera's death come to such a sudden close? And why won't police reopen the case as a potential homicide? Throughout this special investigation series, TRNN reporters Taya Graham and Stephen Janis have examined one of Baltimore's most notorious and mysterious cases and detailed the glaring issues with the official police report that deemed Rivera's death a suicide. In the third and final installment of this series, Graham and Janis discuss a new analysis of Rivera's injuries by a medical illustrator, which points to an entirely different explanation of why and how a 32-year-old man with a lot to live for ended up dead in an abandoned hotel conference room.This podcast was originally published on Dec. 27, 2020.Help us continue producing Police Accountability Report by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-parSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-parGet Police Accountability Report updates: https://therealnews.com/pod-up-parLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

On Monday, Oct. 25, Sudan's military seized control of the country, arresting Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and dissolving the transitional council government that was created to oversee the country's passage to a more democratic system of governance. The coup comes just weeks before the military was expected to hand leadership of the transitional council over to civilians, and General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the head of the Sudanese military, announced on national TV that he was declaring a state of emergency and that the military would be appointing a technocratic government to run the country until elections are held in July 2023. However, already battered by years of dictatorship, revolution, and economic turmoil, on top of the interlocking crises of COVID-19 and global vaccine apartheid, the people of Sudan have risked their lives to take to the streets and rebel against the coup. In this urgent interview, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Mubarak Elamin of the Sudan US Policy Network about the unfolding political crisis in Sudan and about the people's democratic fight against the military coup.Pre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Adam ColeyHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

The arrest and incarceration of New Mexico resident Chris Dixon provide yet another stark example of the Kafkaesque nature of contemporary police power. Dixon was arrested after police tired to force him to consent to an illegal search of the business where he worked. But the actions of the officer, coupled with the fallout Dixon faced, show that American law enforcement deliberately wields its arbitrary and heavy-handed power to sow chaos and erode the rights of the people.Help us continue producing Police Accountability Report by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-parSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-parGet Police Accountability Report updates: https://therealnews.com/pod-up-parLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

The mysterious death of Rey Rivera has continued to stoke speculation and controversy, especially after the case received national attention from a Netlfix reboot of Unsolved Mysteries in July, 2020. In Part I of their three-part investigation, TRNN reporters Taya Graham and Stephen Janis reviewed the unsettling circumstances surrounding Rivera's death and the ensuing police investigation. In Part II, Graham and Janis take a closer look at the homicide case files, which were recently released by the Baltimore police and shed light on new clues and glaring questions about a case that remains unsolved to this day.Help us continue producing Police Accountability Report by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-parSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-parGet Police Accountability Report updates: https://therealnews.com/pod-up-parLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

The mysterious death of Rey Rivera made national headlines when the case was investigated on the Netflix reboot of Unsolved Mysteries, which became the number one show on the popular streaming platform. Many viewers who have learned about the case are skeptical of the police theory that the young filmmaker jumped to his death from the roof of the Belvedere Hotel in Baltimore's Mt. Vernon neighborhood. In Part 1 of this three-part podcast series, TRNN investigative reporters Taya Graham and Stephen Janis re-open the unsettling case that has captivated audiences and amateur detectives alike, exploring new evidence that points to a more sinister theory of how Rey Rivera died.Help us continue producing Police Accountability Report by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-parSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-parGet Police Accountability Report updates: https://therealnews.com/pod-up-parLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

President Joe Biden signed a major $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that provided funds to cities and states around the country to recover from devastating effects of the pandemic. Regardless of widespread condemnation and criticism, Alabama's Republican Gov. Kay Ivey and the state legislature have pushed through plans to use a significant portion of those federal COVID-19 relief funds for the construction of new prison complexes. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, TRNN Executive Producer Eddie Conway speaks with Pastor Kenneth Glasgow, founder of The Ordinary People Society, about the shocking move by the state of Alabama to divert desperately needed relief funds to build up its carceral system.Pre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

A lot of important history is being made right now, and something potentially game-changing is unfolding among the American workforce. At this very moment, 10,000 UAW members at John Deere are on strike in Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas; 35,000 healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente have authorized a strike; 1,400 workers at cereal giant Kellogg's are on strike in Nebraska, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee; 1,100 coal miners in Alabama have been on strike since April; 800 nurses in Massachusetts have been on strike since March; and numerous other strikes and strike authorizations are also unfolding. On top of that, record numbers of US workers are voluntarily quitting their jobs, in what is being called the “Great Resignation.”At the same time, there are crucial struggles happening that may not seem as dramatic as collective strikes but are no less important for the future of the labor movement. One of these struggles is taking place within the United Auto Workers itself, where members are currently voting on an unprecedented referendum that will decide whether or not the 400,000 working members and nearly 600,000 retirees can directly elect their top union officers. Ballots went out on Oct. 19 and are due back at the end of November. If the referendum passes, it could be the beginning of a massive shakeup for the union, which many members say needs more democratic governance and more militant energy coming from the rank-and-file. Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD), a grassroots caucus of UAW members advocating for direct elections, has been leading the charge for this historic referendum. In this episode of Working People, we talk with Justin Mayhugh, who has worked at General Motors in Kansas City for over a decade and is an organizer with the UAWD caucus.Justin Mayhugh Twitter page: https://twitter.com/justinmayhughUnite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD) Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram:https://www.facebook.com/UniteAllWorkersForDemocracyhttps://twitter.com/UAWD_Reformhttps://www.instagram.com/uawd_reform/Jonah Furman, The Real News Network, "A Once-in-a-Generation Chance to Revive the UAW Is Coming": https://therealnews.com/a-once-in-a-generation-chance-to-revive-the-uaw-is-comingFeatured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

The ancient city of Hebron, said to be the burial site of the prophet Abraham, is the second holiest site in the Jewish world, the fourth holiest site in the Muslim world, and currently the largest Palestinian city in the Occupied West Bank. Besieged by the violence of Israeli occupation and economic turmoil, Hebron has become a pressure cooker of settler aggression and Palestinian resistance—and the human toll has been immense. In this important segment of The Marc Steiner Show, we get an on-the-ground view of the daily reality of Israeli occupation and apartheid from Basil al-Adraa and Oriel Eisner, who say that the violence in Hebron has gotten demonstrably worse over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Basil al-Adraa is an activist, journalist, and photographer from the village of a-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills; Oriel Eisner, who currently lives in Jerusalem, is an American-Israeli activist and organizer with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Tuesday on TRNN.Pre-Production/Studio/Post Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

A questionable traffic stop by an Arizona highway patrol officer reveals how the powers bestowed upon police are ripe for abuse. Video shows how the officer escalated the encounter after he was challenged by a motorist to justify his actions. PAR breaks down how the misuse of police power during a single car stop reflects a broader anti-democratic imperative that drives American policing.

On Wednesday, Oct. 20, a group of taxi drivers in New York City with the New York Taxi Workers' Alliance began a hunger strike to demand that the city enact life-saving debt relief to workers who have been taken advantage of and squeezed to the breaking point. The infiltration of app-based rideshare services like Uber and Lyft has been disastrous for taxi workers and their industry, undercutting rates and creating a perpetual race to the bottom for everyone. On top of that, taxi drivers in New York City, many of whom are immigrants and people of color, have found themselves crushed under the weight of massive debt and are facing financial ruin. This debt stems from the artificially inflated cost of taxi medallions, the city-issued permits drivers are required to have to own a cab and pick up street hails in the city.In this urgent interview, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Mouhamadou Aliyu and Bhairavi Desai about the dire situation taxi drivers are facing and their life-or-death struggle to get City Hall to take action. Mouhamadou Aliyu is a longtime taxi owner-driver in New York City and a member of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance; Bhairavi Desai is the executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.

The world was a very different place when Robin DG Kelley's renowned book Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination was first published in 2002. As the reality of post-9/11 America and the war on terror hardened into a dystopian, jingoistic consensus, and as the global economy careened towards impending catastrophe, the possibility of a future in which peace, justice, and equality reigned had all but disappeared. And yet, as people in the darkest of times throughout human history have done, many still had the audacity to dream of—and fight for—something better. Now, 20 years later, as we face the reality that unchecked capitalist pillage, endless war, and climate catastrophe have put humanity on a path to mutually assured destruction, the future seems bleaker than ever, and the possibility of averting disaster feels more unattainable than ever. How do we confront the enormity of all this devastation and still keep fighting? How can we keep hope alive that we can save ourselves, humanity, and the planet when the world around us gives us so little cause for hope? As we continue the impossible struggle for a better world, how do we deal with constant failure without succumbing to defeat?In this special interview, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez and Kelley grapple with these questions and discuss the continued necessity of freedom dreaming—and fighting like hell—in the face of catastrophe. Robin DG Kelley is currently the Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in US History in the Department of History at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research has explored the history of social movements in the US, the African diaspora, and Africa; Black intellectuals; music and visual culture; surrealism, and Marxism, among other vital topics. His essays have been published in general publications and academic journals across the board, including the Journal of American History, American Historical Review, The Nation, Monthly Review, New York Times, Color Lines, Social Text ,The Black Scholar, Journal of Palestine Studies, and Boston Review. He has authored and edited numerous influential books, including Africa Speaks, America Answers: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times; Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original; Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination; Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class; and Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression.Read the transcript of this interview: https://therealnews.com/robin-dg-kelley-on-fighting-for-freedom-in-the-darkness-of-capitalist-dystopia

At this very moment, 10,000 UAW members at John Deere are on strike in Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas; 35,000 healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente have authorized a strike; 1,400 workers at cereal giant Kellogg's are on strike in Nebraska, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee; 1,100 coal miners in Alabama have been on strike since April; 800 nurses in Massachusetts have been on strike since March; and many other strikes and strike authorizations are also unfolding. On top of that, record numbers of US workers are voluntarily quitting their jobs, in what is being called the “Great Resignation.” Something is happening here. How should we understand this pivotal moment of labor strife? And what could this moment become if the working class gets more organized and more militant?In this segment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc talks about Striketober, the “Great Resignation,” labor militancy, and the importance of bottom-up organizing with longtime labor organizer Alex Han. Han is a former union leader who has spent 20 years organizing in the labor movement; he is the Bargaining for the Common Good Fellow at the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University. Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Tuesday on TRNN.Pre-Production/Studio/Post Production: Stephen Frank

In the state of Louisiana, 786 inmates—none of whom were ever sentenced to death—died behind bars between 2015-2019 while serving out their prison sentences. Since Black people are already incarcerated at disproportionate rates, these deaths have been disproportionately among Black inmates. This information has not been publicly available until now, because no single authority in Louisiana is required to collect such data. When law professor Andrea Armstrong and her students took it upon themselves to conduct this research, they were shocked by what they found. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, TRNN Executive Producer Eddie Conway speaks with Armstrong about investigating the quiet horror happening inside Louisiana prisons and what can be done to stop it. Professor Armstrong joined the Loyola University New Orleans,College of Law faculty in 2010 and founded IncarcerationTransparency.org, a database that provides facility-level deaths behind bars data and analysis for Louisiana and memorializes the lives lost. She is a leading national expert on prison and jail conditions and is certified by the US Department of Justice as a Prison Rape Elimination Act auditor.

Like Frito-Lay, Nabisco, John Deere, and Heaven Hill Distillery, cereal giant Kellogg's has seen consumer demand skyrocket during the pandemic, reporting profits of $1.25 billion in 2020. To meet this demand, many workers in Kellogg's plants around the US report pulling 12-16-hour shifts seven days a week, leaving little time for anything outside of work beyond sleep. But the creation of a two-tier employment system in 2015 has meant that newer employees in the lower “transitional tier” are earning significantly less than their coworkers for doing the same work. Demanding that the company raise the floor for all of its employees, Kellogg's plant workers in Nebraska, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee have been on strike since Oct. 5.In this special video edition of Working People, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez discusses the ongoing strike with Dan Osborn, who has worked at the Omaha, Nebraska, plant for 18 years and currently serves as president of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), Local 50G.Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org): Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"

As we previously reported at The Real News, voters in Berlin were recently faced with a game-changing referendum to expropriate housing held by giant corporate landlords who have made the city increasingly unaffordable for most residents. The passing of the referendum, and the organizing that made it possible, was not only a shock but a source of hope for many around the world who have seen options for affordable housing gobbled up by vampire capitalists and large companies contributing to the runaway financialization of the housing market. How were Berliners able to take on these big landlords and pass this historic referendum? What happens now? And can Berlin provide a model for those fighting for housing justice around the world?In this segment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with longtime TRNN contributor Molly Shah and Berlin-based activist Ian Clotworthy about the recent referendum and the great global housing struggle to come. Ian Clotworthy is from Ireland and has lived in Berlin for about 10 years; he is active in DW Enteignen (where he represents the Right2TheCity group), DSA Berlin, and the Green New Deal for Europe. Molly Shah is a freelance writer and social media consultant based in Berlin, and she's a regular contributor to The Real News. Prior to moving to Germany, Molly was an activist, teacher, and lawyer in Louisville, Kentucky.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Tuesday on TRNN.

In October of 1966, the Black Panther Party was founded in Oakland, California. Since then, the Panthers have been a driving radical force for Black liberation, self-defense, and community organization and self-determination. In this special episode of Rattling the Bars commemorating the 55th anniversary of the founding of the BPP, TRNN Executive Producer and former Lieutenant of Security for the Baltimore chapter of the Black Panther Party Eddie Conway speaks with Black Panther Party archivist Bill Jennings about the legacy of the Panthers and how people are carrying on that legacy today.

Facebook had a very bad week last week. First, Frances Haugen, a former product manager at Facebook assigned to the Civic Integrity group, blew the whistle on her past employer, leaking a cache of internal company documents and testifying in front of Congress that the social media giant is knowingly and repeatedly “paying for its profits with our safety.” Then things got significantly worse when Facebook basically disappeared from the internet for 6 hours on Monday, Oct. 4. This was the biggest outage Facebook had experienced since a 2019 crash that took the site offline for over 24 hours. Facebook has said that last week's outage was unrelated to news about the leaks and that it was the result of a routine software update gone horribly wrong. The outage, however, affected billions of people who depend on the suite of applications and services owned by Facebook that went offline, including Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram.While Facebook is back online and the news cycle has largely moved on, it's important to take a step back and examine what these outages tell us about the precariously assembled infrastructure of our digital world, our global dependence on that infrastructure, and the implications of having that infrastructure controlled by private, incredibly powerful, and voraciously profit-seeking entities like Facebook. In this interview for The Real News podcast, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with writer, commentator, and legal services attorney Sparky Abraham, who wrote a 2020 article for Current Affairs titled “A Series of Tubes: Reclaiming the Physical Internet.”

The media circus surrounding Democrats' internal battle over infrastructure spending and the Build Back Better Act can make us focus too intently on the individual representatives involved and ignore the bigger picture. But the fact of the matter is the lives of many Americans, our ability to seriously address the climate crisis, and the upcoming outcome of the midterm elections all hang in the balance. On this segment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc is joined by a lively panel of guests—Max Sawicky, Karen Dolan, and Bill Fletcher Jr.—to discuss the drastic implications of the battle unfolding on Capitol Hill right now.Max Sawicky is an economist, writer, and senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research; he has worked at the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, the Economic Policy Institute, and the Government Accountability Office. Karen Dolan is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and currently directs the Criminalization of Race and Poverty project; her public scholarship and activism focus on anti-poverty issues, juvenile justice, criminal justice reform, and transgender rights with a focus on race, gender, and gender identity. Bill Fletcher Jr. has been an activist since his teen years and previously served as a senior staff person in the national AFL-CIO; he is the former president of TransAfrica Forum, a senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, and the author of numerous works of fiction and non-fiction, including ‘They're Bankrupting Us!' And 20 Other Myths about Unions and The Man Who Fell from the Sky.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Tuesday on TRNN.

We conclude our series of interviews from rural Wisconsin with farmers and community members fighting to defend life as they know it from the onslaught of Big Agriculture and the factory farming industry. As part of a special collaboration between The Real News Network and In These Times magazine for “The Wisconsin Idea,” TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez, Cameron Granadino (TRNN), and Hannah Faris (In These Times) travelled to Polk County in Western Wisconsin over the summer to speak with residents about their fight to halt—or, at least, adequately regulate—a proposed concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) that would house 26,000 hogs and produce millions of gallons of liquid manure every year.In this interview, Alvarez sits down with Lisa Doerr, who has been on the front lines of this struggle and lives right down the road from where the proposed CAFO would be built. Doerr and her husband own and operate a hay farm in Polk County that supplies food for small-scale livestock farmers in the area.Additional links/info below...Working People, "Kristy Lynn Allen"Working People, "Hog Wild (w/ Lisa Doerr, Forest Jahnke, Hannah Faris, & Maeve Conran)"Maximillian Alvarez, Cameron Granadino, & Hannah Faris, The Real News Network, "Factory Farms Pose an 'Existential Threat' for Rural Wisconsin Communities"Grace Connatser, Wisconsin State Farmer, "Documentary Captures Rural Wisconsin's Struggle with Hog CAFOs"Maeve Conran, Just Solutions, "Rural Wisconsin Communities Battle Industrial Scale Hog Farms"Simon Davis-Cohen, In These Times, "'In for a Fight': Rural Wisconsinites Resist Influx of Industrial Hog Facilities"Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org):Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"

Just weeks ago, as we reported previously on The Real News, onlookers in the US and around the world were horrified yet again by scenes of pain, desperation, and brutality at the US-Mexico border in Del Rio, Texas. With COVID-19 and global vaccine apartheid continuing to exacerbate a public health crisis, with continuing political turmoil following the assassination of former President Jovenel Moïse in July, and after another devastating earthquake shook the battered nation in August, thousands of Haitian refugees have been forced to leave their homes in the hope of seeking asylum in the US.Instead of having their appeals for asylum heard and their situation recognized for the crisis of humanity that it is, these refugees were met by menacing US Border Patrol agents on horseback who rode them down and rounded them up in brutal fashion. Since then, the US government under President Joe Biden has deployed the Trump-era Title 42 policy to mass expel thousands of refugees back to Haiti without hearing their asylum claims, even though the Department of Homeland Security designated Haiti for Temporary Protected Status in May.While the news cycle has moved on from the immediate so-called “crisis at the border,” the nightmare for Haitians and the country of Haiti is still very much ongoing. In this interview, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez talks with Pascal Robert about the larger political context that led to the horrifying scenes at the US-Mexico border last month, and about the deep disdain, fear, and imperialist designs that have historically shaped US policy toward Haiti and its people. Pascal Robertis an essayist and political commentator whose work covers Black politics, global affairs, and the history and politics of Haiti. He is the co-host of the podcast THIS IS REVOLUTION, a frequent contributor to the Black Agenda Report, and his writing has been featured in outlets like The Huffington Post, Alternet, and the Washington Spectator.

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/%ef%bb%bfimmigration-law-firm-uses-gig-economy-model-to-bludgeon-union-driveWhile the 'gig economy' was originally pitched as a way to boost pay and flexibility for workers, it has long been criticized as a method for companies to replace full-time workers with underpaid, overworked contractors who have fewer labor protections. And it's not just rideshare drivers and delivery workers feeling the impact—the gig model is spreading to other industries. Right now, for instance, workers at the Hudson immigration law firm say their employer is using the gig economy model to undermine their union drive and become the first law firm to operate entirely on a contractor-based employment model.“I've long worried that the exploitative practices of Uber would spread to other industries, and we see exactly that happening at Hudson Legal,” professor Veena Dubal, a leading scholar of the gig economy, told the Real News. “The decision to move to using independent contractors, instead of full-time employees, should be understood as an attack on labor rights. Not only does this bring precarity into a stable workforce, it also is a not-so-subtle restructuring to avoid having to deal with organized labor and a future union.”In this interview for the TRNN podcast, Jaisal Noor speaks with two workers currently employed by Hudson about the company's working conditions and union-busting efforts, as well as the ongoing organizing campaign by workers. Out of fear of reprisal from Hudson, these employees spoke with TRNN under the condition of anonymity, and their names and voices have been disguised.

Just about every year, like clockwork, the issue of raising the federal debt ceiling generates apocalyptic and platitude-filled proclamations of impending doom from politicians, as well as breathless coverage by the mainstream press. Then, in the blink of an eye, lawmakers inevitably raise the debt ceiling and the issue disappears down the national memory hole as the news cycle moves on. Rest assured, the consequences of not raising the debt ceiling would be catastrophic, and with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warning Congress that the federal government will run out of cash and extraordinary measures by Oct. 18, the clock is ticking. So why is this issue even up for debate? Why do we need to have an apocalyptic partisan showdown almost every year over raising the debt ceiling, a procedure that used to be entirely mundane and uncontroversial?In this interview for the TRNN podcast, Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez and political scientist Ed Burmila try to answer three basic questions for listeners: What the hell is the debt ceiling? Why is it a constant source of political anxiety? And should we care about it? Ed Burmila is a writer and political analyst whose work has appeared in outlets like The Nation, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, The Baffler, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. He's been publishing the popular blog ginandtacos.com since 2003, he hosts a companion podcast called Mass for Shut-Ins, and he is currently finishing a book that will be published in September 2022 with Bold Type Books on why the Democratic Party is stuck in a cycle of making the same mistakes.

Phillip Alvin Jones has been in prison for over 30 years. As the result of a trial allegedly riddled with irregularities and dubious evidence, Jones and his supporters say that he was wrongfully imprisoned at 19 for a crime he did not commit. What's worse, Jones, who was arrested and tried in Baltimore, Maryland, was transferred under questionable circumstances to Washington State Penitentiary, thousands of miles away from friends and family who would otherwise be able to visit him. Supporters have set up a website and a petition for Jones, who also hosts a podcast called The Wall: Behind and Beyond, which he records from prison. In this exclusive and urgent episode of Rattling the Bars, Jones calls from Washington State Penitentiary to talk to TRNN Executive Producer and former political prisoner Eddie Conway about his fight for freedom and how people on the outside can help.

“I identify as an Arab Jew,” Hadar Cohen recently wrote in +972 Magazine. “My family has lived in Jerusalem for over 10 generations, and my other ancestral cities include Aleppo in Syria, Baghdad in Iraq, and Shiraz in Iran, along with a small village in Kurdistan.” And yet, the Zionist project has no place for Mizrahi Jews like Cohen. “There is no space for Arabness in Zionism. I need to repress, erase, and hide my Arab lifestyle and assimilate into European notions of Jewishness.”In the first segment of this week's Marc Steiner Show, we bring you the latest installment of our ongoing series “Not in Our Name,” which highlights the diverse voices of Jewish activists, artists, intellectuals, and others who are speaking out against the Israeli occupation. In this installment, Marc talks with Cohen about living as an Arab Jew in Israel's “racial caste system,” and about the crisis ofspirituality underpinning Israel's militarist occupation. Hadar Cohen is a Mizrahi feminist multi-media artist, Jewish mystic, healer, and educator. She is the founder of Feminism All Night, a project that designs communal immersive learning experiences about feminism and spirituality.