Podcasts about The Indypendent

The Indypendent's John Tarleton caught up on Sunday with Assemblymember Claire Valdez while she was campaigning to represent New York's 7th congressional district which spans North Brooklyn and Western Queens. Valdez has the endorsement of Mayor Zohran Mamdani and is widely considered to be the favorite in a race that also includes Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Queens City Councilmember Julie Won. Topics discussed in this interview include Valdez's background as a low-wage worker and union organizer, her history with New York City DSA, her thoughts on New York nativism, how much she would like to cut the Pentagon budget by, whether she would oppose making Hakeem Jeffries the next Democratic Speaker and what it means to her to identify as a democratic socialist.

In our first segment, The Indypendent's John Tarleton caught with Assemblymember Claire Valdez while she was campaigning to represent New York's 7th congressional district which spans North Brooklyn and Western Queens. Valdez has the endorsement of Mayor Zohran Mamdani and is widely considered to be the favorite in a race. Topics discussed include Valdez's background as a low-wage worker and union organizer, her history with New York City DSA, her thoughts on New York nativism, how much she would like to cut the Pentagon budget by, whether she would oppose making Hakeem Jeffries the next Democratic Speaker and what it means to her to identify as a democratic socialist. In our second segment, we talked to progressive organizers on the events they're bringing us this summer. The Trump administration is set to kick off a so-called “America 250 celebration” with a massive MAGA Rally called the 'Great American State Fair'—but so many of the musical guests backed out over its ties to Trump that it's unclear if it will still happen or who will perform, except of course for Trump himself. Meanwhile, progressive organizers, including Linda Sarsour, are moving forward with other plans. On June 27, there will be a massive mobilization in DC organized by a coalition called NEXT 250 to host events that stand for democracy, dignity, equality, truth, and collective freedom. New Yorkers will also have a chance to revisit New York City's history on June 19 & 20 at Reclamation Day: A Reunion of Hope pulled together by BLIS (Black Liberation Indigenous Sovereignty). We spoke with Trevor Smith of BLIS about the Reclamation Day event which will be held at 25 Kent Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

In the second half of our show, we spoke with Reneé Feltz about her epic cover story for the May print edition of The Indypendent titled “Trash Revolution: NYC Dumps Throwaway Culture for Sanitation Overhaul. Will It Succeed?” We were also joined by Clarisa Alayeto, a South Bronx activist who has fought to clean up her community for decades and is featured in Renee's cover story.

Emily Gallagher, a democratic socialist from Brooklyn first elected to the State Assembly in 2020, discusses how Gov. Hochul has used her disproportionate power to break the legislative process for deciding on the states roughly $265 billion annual budget to push regressive legislation that has nothing to do with the budget and how this mess can be fixed if the legislature can find the courage to take on the governor. Reneé Feltz discusses her epic cover story for the May print edition of The Indypendent titled “Trash Revolution: NYC Dumps Throwaway Culture for Sanitation Overhaul. Will It Succeed?”

April 28, 2026: Peter Sterne Joins Us for Political Updates and Joseph Mogul Talks About The Demilitarize Brooklyn Navy Yard Movement by The Indypendent

The Indypendent is a progressive newspaper based in Brooklyn, New York, United States. It is published monthly, distributed worldwide and is available for free throughout New York City and online. It currently prints 30,000 copies per issue, covering local, national and international news, food, cinema and culture. Reader donations comprise the bulk of The Indypendent's funding.PICTURE: https://www.instagram.com/theindypendent/

April 7, 2026: Andrew Wang of Everyelectric.com Talks About How to Save on Your Power Bill by The Indypendent

April 7, 2026: Carl Miller's Murder Conviction Overturned + Andrew Wang of Every Electric by The Indypendent

April 7, 2026: Carl Miller Reflects on His 46-Year Battle to Overturn His Wrongful Murder Conviction by The Indypendent

March 31, 2026: Parents Protest Gov. Hochul's Anti-Climate Policies + How to Make Democracy Real by The Indypendent

March 31, 2026: Samantha Gore of Climate Parents NYC on Gov. Hochul's Push to Gut Major Climate Law by The Indypendent

March 31, 2026: Danielle Chynoweth & Elizabeth Adams Discuss Their New Book: Remaking Democracy by The Indypendent

March 24, 2026: Home Care Workers Push for No More 24 Hour Shifts & New York Politics Update by The Indypendent

March 24, 2026: Belinda Hu & Dr. Steven Aurerbach Discuss No More 24 Campaign for Home Care Workers by The Indypendent

In our final segment, we speak to author, activist, playwright and radical feminist Karen Malpede on her upcoming Indypendent article, “Reclaiming Mothers as an Antidote to the Epstein Class". We discuss the desire of the elite to use women's wombs as the vessels to birth a ‘superior' race, on mothers who were denied their motherhood and what it means to reclaim mothers in our societies and within our own hearts and communities.

On this episode of the Indypendent News Hour, we spoke with three women who are fighting abusers and for their own empowerment. In our first segment, we spoke to Addison Turek, a freshman at Barnard College, and one of the organizers protesting the college's ties to Jeffrey Epstein. In our second segment we spoke to Ximena Bustamente, founder of the Undocumented Women's Fund which held the 10th annual NYC Women's Strike Fest on Sunday in Bushwick's Maria Hernandez Park. In our final segment, we spoke to author, activist, playwright and radical feminist Karen Malpede on her upcoming Indypendent article, “Reclaiming Mothers as an Antidote to the Epstein Class".

Nancy Hoch wrote the cover article — NYC Prepares for ICE: Neighborhood-Based Mutual Aid Groups Are Mobilizing Against Trump's Immigration Goons — for this month's print edition of The Indypendent. In this interview, Hoch talks about the power of finding community in a time of rising authoritarianism, some of the tactics activists have innovated to thwart ICE and keep immigrants safe and how she took the lead in organizing an ICE resistance mutual aid group in her own "Little Caribbean" neighborhood in Brooklyn. To see her full article, go to indypendent.org/issue/301

We dig into the Indypendent News Hour archives to show you clips from 2022 and 2020 interviews the Indypendent did with Zohran Mamdani when he was still an eager assembly member. We discuss the free bus pilot program Zohran spearheaded and what this shows us about the campaign promise of fast and free buses. We also listen to Mamdani's experience of working in Albany as a democratic socialist. Before the Inauguration feels like a good place to reflect on the journey Mamdani has taken from assembly member to mayor and the consistent commitment to stay true to his principles and community along the way.

In our first segment we talk to author Ted Hamm on his new Indypendent article titled,‘Five Things Zohran Mamdani Can Do at Very Little Cost To Help Deliver a Successful Administration'. We discuss the recommendations Ted makes on how they could make Mamdani even more successful as mayor. We talk about how Zohran Mamdani's inauguration and what we can hope for in this new era. In our second segment, we dig into the Indypendent News Hour archives to show you clips from 2022 and 2020 interviews the Indypendent did with Zohran Mamdani when he was still an eager assembly member. We discuss the free bus pilot program Zohran spearheaded and what this shows us about the campaign promise of fast and free buses. We also listen to Mamdani's experience of working in Albany as a democratic socialist. An end of year reflection on the journey Mamdani has taken from assembly member to mayor and the consistent commitment to stay true to his principles and community along the way.

Nov 11, 2025: John Tarleton Breaks Down Why Democrats Stopped the Shutdown by The Indypendent

Nov 11, 2025: Shutdown Aftermath and DSA Potential by The Indypendent

Nov 11, 2025: Peter Sterne on Mamdani's Transition Team by The Indypendent

Nov 11, 2025: Where the DSA is Looking Now by The Indypendent

the-indypendent-news-hour_2025-11-18_17-00_01-00 by The Indypendent

Should Chi Osse Primary Hakeem Jeffries by The Indypendent

Rami Said and the Starbucks Union by The Indypendent

JVP's Battle to Keep Mark Levine Accountable by The Indypendent

No Kings Day and The Role of the Media by The Indypendent

Dr. Banjeree Discusses The Fall of the Empire of Arrogance by The Indypendent

Carl Davidson Discusses the Ideological Tents of No Kings Days by The Indypendent

YAMA on the Islamophobic Attacks by the New York Post by The Indypendent

The Pinnacle Tenants Union Demands Pinnacle Group Pay Up by The Indypendent

Dr. Basil Smikle Assesses the NYC Mayoral Race Without Adams by The Indypendent

The Bronx Times' Emily Swanson Explains the Drama over Morris Park's Just Home Project by The Indypendent

September 30: What Eric Adams Departure Means for the Mayoral Race by The Indypendent

September 23: The Indypendent News Hour by The Indypendent

Co-hosts John Tarleton and Ariana Orozco interview Dr. Tami Gold and Indy Contributor Alex Vitale about their new documentary “Sex Work, It's Just a Job” and then hear from Dr. Nicholas Powers about his experience at Burning Man 2025

July 29: Professor Joe Howley on Columbia's Settlement and Professor Jeanne Theoharis on the Firing of 4 CUNY Faculty by The Indypendent

CUNY-Brooklyn College Professor Jeanne Theoharis on CUNY Firing Pro-Palestine Faculty and MLK by The Indypendent

The Indypendent's John Tarleton and Amba Guerguerian speak in the first half of the show with mayoral candidate and former Bronx Assemblymember Michael Blake who cross-endorsed Zohran Mamdani the previous day. In the second half of the show, we talk with Jay Walker, co-founder of the Queer Liberation March who previews this year's march and how the second Trump administration was shaping its message. Founded in 2019 on the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, the QLM has become the radical alternative to the corporate-sponsored NYC Pride March.

We discuss the new post-election special edition of The Indypendent, take calls from listeners about the mayoral race and Zohran Mamdani and in the second half of the show we speak with two labor activists who are fighting in court to preserve the paid sick day rights of 3.6 million New Yorkers.

In our first segment, we speak with Liaga Guallpa, co-executive director of the Workers Justice Project, which celebrated some big legislative wins yesterday on the steps of City Hall for New York City's tens of thousands of bicycle deliveristas. In our second segment, Felix Matos Rodriguez, Chancellor of the City University of New York, was hauled before Congress today and grilled about alleged incidents of anti-semitism at CUNY since October 2023. We hear from Jennifer Gabourey, the first vice president of the CUNY faculty union, to get their response to today's show trial and the broader attack on American universities being carried out by the Trump administration. And in the final part of the show, we catch up on the latest news from the mayor's race.

In our first segment, co-host Amba Guerguerian joins us live from Foley Square, where immigrant rights groups and their allies are rallying today to protest the Trump administration's mass deportation program and the increasingly brazen tactics used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to detain and deport immigrants. Then we speak with a participant in the rolling hunger strike by students and faculty at the City University of New York. The hunger strikers want CUNY to cut all ties with Israel and companies that do business with Israel. And in the final part of the show, we catch up on the mayor's race with Indy Contributing Editor Nicholas Powers. A new poll out shows former Gov. Andrew Cuomo's lead over his top challenger, Zohran Mamdani, shrinking to a mere two points.

In our first segment, we hear from an organizer with NYC ICE Watch, a rapid response network founded in 2020 that responds to incidents of ICE sightings and other emergencies. In our second segment, we speak with City Councilmember Shahana Hanif. She's facing a tough re-election challenge in her Brooklyn district with money from Uber pouring into her district after she backed legislation that would protect the labor rights of immigrant gig workers. And in our final segment, we get the latest on the New York City mayoral race.

As famine and starvation spreads across Gaza, CUNY students and veterans here in New York have launched separate hunger strikes in opposition to the U.S.-backed genocide. We speak with a hunger-striking veteran and a hunger-striking grad student. Then we take a look at the latest news from New York City's mayoral race. A new poll shows socialist state legislator Zohran Mamdani rapidly gaining ground on former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Co-hosts John Tarleton and Amba Guerguerian look at the pro-Palestine activism that continues roiling New York City college campuses from CUNY to Columbia. We speak with Naomi Schiller of CUNY Faculty & Staff for Justice in Palestine and Josh Dubnau and Lillian Udell, two Columbia alumni who plan to burn their diplomas outside the campus gates Wednesday morning before the university holds its graduation ceremony. In the second half of the show, we speak with Nicholas Powers, longtime Indy contributor and African-American Literature Professor at SUNY-Old Westbury, about how Black America is generally responding to Trump's second presidency. His latest article is titled "Under Trump 2.0, Most Black Americans Have Nowhere to Turn."

In our first segment, we speak with democratic socialist State Senator Jabari Brisport of Brooklyn about the recently approved $254 billion-dollar New York State budget which was passed 38 days after its April 1 deadline. We talk with Brisport about the good and the bad of the new budget and why he ultimately voted against it. We will also talk about the convoluted process that led to the final agreement and the Governor's outsized role in causing the delay. In the second half of the show, we talk about former governor Andrew Cuomo, who is now the frontrunner in the New York City mayoral race. Our guest, Lindsey Boylan, was an economic development advisor to then-Gov. Cuomo. Boylan became the first of 11 women to go public with claims of sexual harassment against Cuomo that led to his resignation in August of 2021. In addition to her personal experiences with Cuomo, she got an up-close look at his vindictive governing style and is urging New Yorkers to reconsider putting him back in a position of power.

We were talking tenants rights on this week's Indypendent News Hour. In our first segment, co-hosts John Tarleton and Amba Guerguerian speak with journalist Steven Wishnia and Alina Shen, organizing director of CAAAV Voice, a group that fights against gentrification in working class Asian communities, about the history of rent control and why a rent freeze is needed now. In our second segment, we speak with two organizers from NYC-DSA's Independent Working Class Organizing Initiative, which is organizing tenants to directly resist the landlord class. IWCO will be holding a citywide tenant assembly this Sunday 1-6 pm at the Sixth Street Community Center.

Outraged Americans have been showing up at congressional town halls over the past couple of months to demand that their representatives do more to stand up to Donald Trump and Elon Musk's dismantling of the federal government. On Aprill 22, New York Congressmember Dan Goldman held a town hall at City Tech College in downtown Brooklyn. The Indy's John Tarleton reports live from the event. We also speak with James Davis, President of the Professional Staff Congress—the union that represents over 30,000 faculty and staff at the City University of New York—about the struggle to defend the City University of New York and other American colleges and universities from President Trump's authoritarian takeover.