Podcasts about socialist worker

The only left-winger in the family. That's Sue Bolton, well-known to many in Melbourne's left and socialist communities, long-standing councillor at Merri-Bek. Sue is always standing up for what is right, for people's rights, in her community. Sue hails from Western Queensland and says the class divide was really vivid in the bush. After boarding school she went and studied psychology for a little bit, then went fruit picking around the country before turning onto the revolutionary movements in Latin America. Sue eventually joined the Socialist Worker's Party and both during that time and before she drove buses and trucks. Sue moved to Melbourne in the early 90's and began full-time organising at the Resistance Centre, getting involved in the student movement, including organising a school walk-off against Pauline Hanson, industrial struggles, anti-nuclear testing, anti-logging and the East Timor struggle. Sue has a good memory of all her activities and what was going on politically in Australia throughout that time. Let's face it: Sue is a bit of a legend and so very well-respected in our communities. She has packed a lot of activity into her life and we will have her back on in March. We hope you enjoy this chat getting to know Sue and where she comes from. Thanks so much, Sue.Radical Australia producer, Kelly Whitworth (l), with Sue (c) and host, Joe Toscano (r) outside 3CR.

Solidarity 687, 25 October 2023. Articles may include: Against the war, for consistent democracy Vote Lloyd-Moloney from 9 November Capitalism: Poverty for more, insecurity for all Labour and the right to protest Votes at Labour conference The politics of the last atrocity New gender identity law in Spain Veolia workers accept Amazon workers strike on Black Friday Doctors: Tories agree to talk Terence Davies, 1945-2023 How to avoid getting hit by a train The history of gender variance Why isn't Hamas like the Algerian FLN? The hell of war in Mariupol Against suspensions, for discussion Slogans on Gaza protests Women's vote tips Polish election Labour after the by-elections Stalin in London: not the true story Socialist Worker doubles down Israel-Gaza: what are the endgames? RMT moves to ballot in ABM TOC railworkers renew strike mandate "The Most Horrifying of Times - And What Can We Still Do?", a report from Adam Keller, Gush Shalom "I'll write while I can still breathe": article by Ameer Fakhoury, A Land for All "Put fossil fuel industry under public ownership and run it in reverse" More online: https://workersliberty.org/publications/solidarity/solidarity-687-25-october-2023

Solidarity 636, 25 May 2022 — 24 pages! Articles: Beyond the windfall tax Action on Covid-19 Couriers organise for a long haul Anti-war feeling may be rising in Russia Inflation 10.2% for rich, 8.7% for poor Murray's way forward for Labour A new terminology for Israel-Palestine Israel-Arab détente leaves Palestinians sidelined Letter: The age of consent, again Letter: Threat to women's sports Green hydrogen? Yes, but... Letter: Huge gender care waiting lists are a danger Twilight of the oligarchs Sylvia Pankhurst and "the first of its kind" Drop the debt! A Workers' Plan for Ukraine! The language question in Ukraine Women and Roma in the war The history behind the war To resist is not anti-feminist! Socialist Worker condemns “war of conquest”... by Ukraine! Lutte Ouvrière and Ukraine's right to self-determination Refugees need a real welcome USA: a House Divided yet again A good start, but there's more Democracy vs sexism in the unions “I have always believed in discontent” Mixed verdict from Texas Supreme Court Aslef and FBU vote down disaffiliation Tories' "extremism" adviser airbrushes far right Another clampdown by Starmer UCU needs a new strategy Post workers prepare to ballot New Labour purge in Wirral Diary of a trackworker: Facilities for extra staff Diary of a Crossrail worker: Two tiers Kino Eye: Silkwood and work safety PCS meets in conference Rail workers vote to strike Station staff: all out on 6 June! Drive out the Tories! Drive out their policies! Be bold for a republic Patel facilitates racist harassment How to defeat “minimum service” threat More online: https://workersliberty.org/publications/solidarity/solidarity-636-25-may-2022

We've got another big famous classic on our hands! This week's guest is Said Sayrafiezadeh, author of new collection AMERICAN ESTRANGEMENT. These stories explore the insidousness of boredom, apathy, frustration, and alienation while navigating day to day life in America. Some stories thrive in the mundane, such as a reception desk at an art museum. Others explore a nation just outside the realm of current reality, imagining borders between states as stifling as those between countries. All are detailed, incisive stories that do not span genres, but at times press at their delineations in new and intriguing ways. Said cites George Orwell's classic novel NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR, or 1984, as an all time favorite book, dating back to an initial reading experience as a young teen. But this book, read in classrooms all over the western world, has garnered polarizing opinions. Are the ideas of Big Brother, Newspeak, Doublethink, and Orwellian regimes just too saturated in popular culture? Or are there new and overlooked insights that can be gained from NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR, years after its publication? Said reflects on his upbringing in the Socialist Worker's Party and how it influences his reading of the book. In his own work he discusses turning to fiction and how he discerns what to render as real or unreal. How can we convey boredom without being boring? How does a decades-old book continue to influence works to come? All these are discussed, and more, in this week's episode of Your Favorite Book. Note: there are spoilers in this episode! To avoid discussions of the ending, please skip over minutes 41 to 47 of this episode. Find Said and buy his book on his website at https://www.sayrafiezadeh.com/ Follow the podcast on twitter and instagram @yfbpodcast

Hassan Mahamdallie is a playwright, writer, senior policy-maker specialising in diversity and the arts, and campaigner for race equality. In the 1990s he was a reporter on The Socialist Worker newspaper, assigned to report on race and racism in British society – from racially motivated crimes, to deaths in police custody, to enforced deportations. “There was a point where it looked as if the Metropolitan Police might actually be disbanded by the Home Secretary …. so this notion of defunding the police as being some kind of airy fairy nonsense dreamed up by the far left actually, to be honest, when it comes to the context of Stephen Lawrence and the Macpherson inquiry it was a very very real threat that the Metropolitan Police faced” In this wide-ranging conversation with The Colour of Our Politics hosts, Javaad Alipoor and Tanya Vital, Hassan shares a personal eyewitness account of the murder of black British teenager, Stephen Lawrence. He explains how the dynamics of institutional racism played out from the very first minutes of the police investigation all the way through to the 1998-9 Macpherson public inquiry; about the unrelenting determination of Stephen's parents, Doreen and Neville Lawrence, their supporters and legal team to put the police on trial; and the extraordinary yet brief moment – on publication of the Macpherson Report which outlined urgent reforms of the UK police service, and the seismic shift that then followed in public trust in the police – that it looked like the Met was on the brink of being disbanded.

A conversation about Palestine, socialism, and anti-imperialist solidarity across borders. Palestine holds a central place in socialist organizing, and the role of socialism is crucial to the struggle to free Palestine. To mark the recent publication of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction, our speakers will discuss possibilities for connecting the struggle against occupation and apartheid in Palestine, to the international solidarity movement and growing support for socialism across the globe. We will analyse the impact of recent normalization agreements between Israel and Arab states, the upcoming Palestinian Authority elections, and how we can build a global socialist movement that tackles Israeli apartheid. Join Sumaya Awad, brian bean and Yara Hawari for a discussion on these themes, chaired by Ilan Pappé. Palestine: A Socialist Introduction systematically tackles a number of important aspects of the Palestinian struggle for liberation, contextualizing it in an increasingly polarized world and offering a socialist perspective on how full liberation can be won. Contributors include: Jehad Abusalim, Shireen Akram-Boshar, Omar Barghouti, Nada Elia, Toufic Haddad, Remi Kanazi, Annie Levin, Mostafa Omar, Khury Petersen-Smith, and Daphna Thier. Order the book: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1558-palestine-a-socialist-introduction Speakers: Sumaya Awad is a Palestinian writer and socialist organizer based in New York City. Her writings focus on Palestine, anti-imperialism, Islamophobia, and immigration, and have been featured in the Feminist Wire, In These Times, Open City, and Jacobin, among others. She is currently Director of Strategy at the Adalah Justice Project. Sumaya is the co-editor of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction. brian bean is a Chicago-based socialist activist, writer, and speaker originally from North Carolina. He is one of the founding editors of Rampant magazine. His work has been published in Jacobin, Socialist Worker, Red Flag, International Viewpoint, Bel Ahmar بالأحمر) ) and other publications. He is co-editor of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction. Yara Hawari is a Palestinian writer and political commentator. She completed her PhD in Middle East Politics at the University of Exeter, where her research focused on oral history and Indigenous Studies. She currently works as a senior analyst at Al-Shabaka, a Palestinian think tank. Her first book, The Stone House, is forthcoming with Hajar Press. Ilan Pappé is the bestselling author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine: A History of Modern Palestine and The Israel/Palestine Question. Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/rZMo7NdjzF8 Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

A conversation about Palestine, socialism, and anti-imperialist solidarity, marking the release of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction. Join Sumaya Awad, brian bean, Khury Petersen-Smith, and Jehad Abusalim for a timely discussion about Palestine, socialism, and anti-imperialist solidarity across borders, marking the release of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction. Winning freedom in Palestine necessitates contending with the forces of capitalism, just as the struggle for socialism will have to take on US imperialism. A broadening movement of workers and activists see the injustices they oppose as common expressions of a cruel and irrational system—capitalism, and understand the need to posit a humane alternative: socialism. At the same time, the centrality of the Palestinian liberation struggle is becoming more and more apparent to leftists who see the relationship between liberation within the US and beyond its borders. As the US socialist movement continues to grow, it is critical that it embraces anti-imperialism, and the cause of Palestinian liberation in particular. Just as significantly, it is crucial that the growing Palestine movement orients toward socialist politics, as the only plausible means to achieve justice regionally and internationally. Sumaya Awad and brian bean, editors of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction, will be joined for a discussion about these themes by contributors Khury Petersen-Smith and Jehad Abusalim. Palestine: A Socialist Introduction systematically tackles a number of important aspects of the Palestinian struggle for liberation, contextualizing it in an increasingly polarized world and offering a socialist perspective on how full liberation can be won. Contributors include: Jehad Abusalim, Shireen Akram-Boshar, Omar Barghouti, Nada Elia, Toufic Haddad, Omar Hassan, Remi Kanazi, Annie Levin, Mostafa Omar, Khury Petersen-Smith, and Daphna Thier. ---------------------------------------------------- Sumaya Awad is a Palestinian writer, analyst, and socialist organizer based in New York City. Her writings focus on Palestinian liberation, anti-imperialism, Islamophobia, and immigration, and have been featured in the Feminist Wire, In These Times, Open City, the Middle East Solidarity magazine, and Slate, among others. She is co-editor of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction. brian bean is a Chicago-based socialist activist, writer, and speaker originally from North Carolina. He is one of the founding editors of Rampant magazine. His work has been published in Jacobin, Socialist Worker, Red Flag, International Viewpoint, Bel Ahmar بالأحمر) ) and other publications. He is co-editor of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction. Khury Petersen-Smith researches, writes, and organizes about US empire, Palestine, solidarity, and resistance. He is the Michael Ratner Middle East Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC. He is a cofounder of Black 4 Palestine, an organization of Black people in the US building solidarity with the Palestinian freedom struggle. Jehad Abusalim is a PhD candidate in the History and Hebrew and Judaic Studies joint program at New York University. He studies Arab intellectual writings on Zionism from the first half of the twentieth century. He earned his bachelor's degree in business administration and Hebrew from Al-Azhar University in Gaza. He has been published in +972 Magazine, Al Jazeera, Palestine Square, Journal for Palestine Studies, and Vox. ---------------------------------------------------- Order a copy of the book: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1558-palestine-a-socialist-introduction Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/YiW_E5UTiTk Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Introductory speech by Daniel Randall from a meeting of the same name. Future meetings: https://workersliberty.org/meetings Video: https://soundcloud.com/workers-liberty/what-is-left-antisemitism-and-how-can-it-be-confronted-with-daniel-randall-workers-liberty The imminent publication of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) report, as well as the ongoing fallout from the Panorama documentary and subsequent legal wranglings, have kept the issue of antisemitism in the Labour Party in the news and political discussion. But the “debates” so far have tended to generate more heat than light, by keeping the focus on the factional implications rather than the underlying political issues. This discussion seeks to get back to the fundamental questions: what does antisemitism on the left consist of, where does it come from, and how can it be confronted? More on this topic: https://workersliberty.org/left-as See more videos on this and related topics: https://www.youtube.com/c/WorkersLibertyUK **Reading list** Steve Cohen – That's Funny, You Don't Look Antisemitic https://libcom.org/files/thats_funny.pdf Robert Fine and Philip Spencer – Antisemitism and the Left http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526104977 Moishe Postone - “Zionism, Antisemitism, and the Left” https://www.workersliberty.org/files/100205postone.pdf Stan Crooke – “The Stalinist Roots of Left Antisemitism” https://www.workersliberty.org/files/wl10stalinismantisemitism.pdf Isabella Tabarovsky - “Soviet anti-Zionism and contemporary left antisemitism” https://fathomjournal.org/soviet-anti-zionism-and-contemporary-left-antisemitism Workers' Liberty - “The Slansky Trial: Stalinism, antisemitism and conspiracy theories” https://www.workersliberty.org/slansky-trial-stalinism-anti-semitism-and-conspiracy-theories-workers-liberty-336 Dale Street - “Three decades of Socialist Worker on antisemitism” https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2020-01-27/three-decades-socialist-worker-antisemitism John O'Mahony - “The 1980s left and antisemitism” https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2018-06-01/1980s-and-left-antisemitism Satnam Virdee - “Socialist antisemitism and its discontents in England, 1884-98” https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0031322X.2017.1335029 Brendan McGeever – Antisemitism and the Russian Revolution https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/antisemitism-and-the-russian-revolution/AF5AE3BB29CB5A7909C75036694CDADE April Rosenblum - The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere https://www.aprilrosenblum.com/thepast Spencer Sunshine - “Looking At Left Antisemitism” http://transformativestudies.org/wp-content/uploads/Spencer-Sunshine.pdf

In this episode of the Armchair Scholars Podcast, Brendan and Nic sit down with Dr. Jeremy Cloward, PhD. Jeremy Cloward, PhD is a political science professor and author living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has taught at the junior college and university level for the past 14 years and is the author of three books and multiple articles that have been published in the Oakland Post, the Hampton Institute, Socialist Worker, Project Censored, and the East Bay Times. Some of the topics we discuss the potential strategies for reappropriating funds in the federal budget, some of the issues with the current political landscape, and he shares his opinion on how it could be improved. If you'd like to know more about Jeremy Cloward, PhD, check out his website! https://www.jeremycloward.org/ Stop by "Office Hours" to hear Brendan and Nic dive deeper into topics discussed on today's episode that they want to know more about, which will be posted 1 week following the upload of this video. Be sure to check us out on all social media platforms @armchairscholars for future episodes and more!

In this week's episode of The A-Z, we explore what we can learn from fitness guru, fashion icon, fearless activist and fighter for justice, Jane Fonda.Sources:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-39151842 https://decider.com/2018/10/11/jane-fonda-mystery-sister-frances-de-villers-brokaw/ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/atlanta-jews-reject-vilif_b_285755?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABij_KhAg1tO5GxTCyy_P8oUNPzQVuVUBlg303jC3Tq0zzwPdPcIx0_eZhEeNhOpS577ucGBhlqhYPCEe1cyf805w3KIcX7INcaKyccQjbAAd6nK9t4gFTeib2ryhwopvF1ltjLG_k_Nn_V7KOwn7mOuxK2K3CzkVJq4dn6l5SA- https://www.janefonda.com/2011/07/the-truth-about-my-trip-to-hanoi/ https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/05/09/queen-jane-approximately https://people.com/movies/jane-fonda-reveals-she-was-raped-and-sexually-abused-as-a-child-i-always-thought-it-was-my-fault/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/12/jane-fonda-slams-justin-trudeau-dont-fooled-good-looking-liberals/ The Black Panthers". Socialist Worker. London, UK. January 6, 2007. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/jun/03/features https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/apr/15/jane-fonda-hillary-clinton-tribeca-film-festival https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Fonda https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Strasberg 

Justice4Jerry2020, Confederate Monuments + Repression During The Movement for Black Lives photo by Ben Harper This episode has three portions following a segment by anarchist prisoner, Sean Swain, about confederate monuments. [00:02:31 - 00:09:32] This episode warrants a general content warning for the mentioning of the murder by shooting of a Black man at the hands of the police. Justice4Jerry 2020 [00:09:32 - 00:29:36] First up we got the chance to sit down with Najiyyah Avery Williams, who is a community member, organizer, and mother of Jai Lateef Solveig Williams, also known as Lil Jerry. Jerry, who was a children's book author, artist, musician, and a 35 year old father was brutally killed by the Asheville Police Department on July 2nd 2016 by Sgt Tyler Radford. This interview happened outdoors in front of the courthouse and police station in downtown Asheville, where the city was powerwashing a DEFUND THE POLICE street mural which was done autonomously the previous day to honor the life of Jerry Williams, and to call attention to the culture of violence and silence that the police hide behind when they murder Black people. Visit our social media for pictures of this mural before it was taken down! In this segment we talk about Lil Jerry's life, his work, the circumstances surrounding his passing, racist violence and harrassment his family has received in the aftermath, and projects his mother is working on and would like to see for the future. An article by Socialist Worker detailing the initial murder and how contradictions were evidenced at the get go. To help support Justice for Jerry, which is trying to get his unfinished books published and will go to supporting his family, you can venmo to the handle @J4J2020, or follow them on social media platforms by searching Justice 4 Jerry 2020. Rural Protest Against Racist Legacy [00:29:36 - 00:39:10] After Najiah, we're happy to share a voice message we received from Gabriel from Tyrrell County, North Carolina, about a protest that happened on the 26th in Columbia, the county seat. Gabriel shares his experience of the protest in this tiny town, giving an insight into some rural experience of confronting confederate monuments and their legacy. Michael Loadenthal on Repression During 2020 Uprising [00:39:11 - 02:10:16] In the third portion of this episode, you'll hear Michael Loadenthal of The Prosecution Project, which maps how politics impacts the weight of criminal charges attached in the U.S. Michael talks about the scale of repression brought by local, state and federal law enforcement and ideas of resisting it during the uprising against police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others, the destruction of racist statues known variously as the rebirth of the Movement for Black Lives, or the #ACABSpring. For a great article on the subject, check out Mapping the State's Strategy of Repression Against the Rebellion on IGD. Michael talks about the construction of federal felony charges for what would normally be smaller local charges, the use of grand juries to map social networks. He also shares thoughts about safer practices with social media, shifting dialogue around the role of police in society, the role of open source intelligence as well as surveillance technologies like drones and facial recognition. Some points to follow up on from Michael's chat: Michael Loadenthal's Academia.Edu page: gmu.Academia.edu/MichaelLoadenthal Michael's twitter account is @mloadenthal TPP: https://theprosecutionproject.org Buzzfeed article on police departments ability to digitally surveil individuals in crowds: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolinehaskins1/police-software-briefcam This World Of Ours, James Mickens, 2014 https://ssd.eff.org The Final Straw episodes touching on Grand Jury Resistance: https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/category/grand-jury/ The Tuscon 12 arrested after a protest at a jail, followed from protest by drone The evidence trail cited by prosecutors to Lore-Elizabeth Blumenthal The Tilted Scales Collective: https://tiltedscalescollective.org/ National Lawyers Guild: https://www.nlg.org/our-work/ Protest Law Tracker: https://www.icnl.org/usprotestlawtracker/ A great presentation by a lawyer, James Duane, on why not to talk to police: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE

Solidarity 534, part 2 of 3, pages 7-12. Articles include: Liverpool Mayor says he'll refuse cuts Protest hits new Ukraine labour law Coronavirus and climate change The potentialities of Acorn Stop West Bank annexations! Three decades of Socialist Worker on antisemitism Online: https://workersliberty.org/publications/solidarity/solidarity-534-12-february-2020

From Alice's website: "I was born in 1963 in the Edinburgh Infirmary. Six weeks later, just after my mum had successfully taken her law exams, my parents Jim and Fredi  boarded a ship and sailed to Africa. For the first 8 years of my life, I got to run free in the African Bush, roaming around the foothills of the Mountains of the Moon in Uganda, hunting tadpoles and running away from snakes.At the age of 11, by now the family was living in Ghana, it was back to Scotland to St Denis and Cranley Academy for Young Ladies, where I had to wear two sets of knickers – under and over – and a velour hat to church. NO idea why the two sets of knickers but they did help keep the nethers warm in the freezing winters of an unheated school in Edinburgh!At Edinburgh University, I studied Arabic and Turkish and discovered the joys of the Poetry Society and the Socialist Worker’s club – both joined because I fancied the guy that ran them. Six memorable months were spent living in Damascus with my lifelong (now!) friend and fellow Arabist Martin, where we faced down the secret police and survived on a diet of bread, condensed milk and jam because I was a terrible cook.After university I spent two years teaching English in Cairo and exploring the country. Hitchhiking on military trucks across the Western Desert and spending afternoons sleeping with the stray dogs in the shade of the Pharaonic temples of the Luxor.Moving to London, I pursued a career in journalism which had started in Dubai at “What’s On in Dubai”. My first job was with Technical Review Middle East (there is nothing she doesn’t know about concrete decay). From there to Middle East Broadcasting, the original Arabic Satellite News Station, with my first assignment being to produce coverage in the USA for the Clinton Election.  My next step was to BBC News with jobs on BBC World TV and then BBC Arabic TV.  I rose quickly (ish) through the ranks in BBC News and was recruited to help launch the BBC News Channel where I went on to become co-Editor of the daytime hours which meant I was in charge of all the BBC News Channel output between 10 am and 8 pm. I was one of only three female news editors in the corporation at the time. My speciality was managing the complexities of live, breaking stories in the news gallery, and one of my abiding memories is causing higher ups to almost have cardiac arrests when I threw live to the George Michael arrest press conference in the USA when the details of his cottaging were revealed – apparently that was not what the British news-watching public wanted to watch at teatime with the kids.For the new millennium I moved North to Manchester and onto the internet www.supanet.com  where we built the ISP’s content from six pages to one million pages in two years; oversaw content deals with all the major players and attracted six million users. Happy days! I also started to break out into mini adventures squeezed into the holidays: the Snowdon Challenge, crossing Costa Rica coast to coast, Kilimanjaro, ice climbing in the Andes, climbing the Ruwenzoris….In 2002, I plunged into public service when I was appointed  as CEO of Vision+Media, a quango dedicated to growing the creative industries in the Northwest and remained there for nine years. I am proud that I managed – with my Board and my Team – to build the company from a modest start of £830k funding annually to £10 million, move it into brand new premises in Salford’s media city, work closely with the BBC Move North team and delivered 10x value to funders. However, following Tory government cuts in 2011 we were no longer viable, so I merged the company into Creative England and cast off my pinstripes for lycra."

In this episode, Eric talks to Anand Gopal about what’s behind the Trump administration’s plans — which have since been partially walked back — to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan. Anand explains how Trump’s “America First” priorities in the Middle East and Central Asia are in reality part of a longer process of extricating the U.S. from the disaster of its post-9/11 adventures under George W. Bush and Barack Obama — and have just as little regard for the people of the region. Anand is an award-winning author and journalist who has traveled to Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan multiple times as an un-embedded journalist. His book No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes won the Ridenhour Prize and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. His journalism includes “Syria’s Last Bastion of Freedom”, an account in the New Yorker about the town of Saraqib in Idlib province and “The Uncounted”, an investigative report in the New York Times about the underreported civilian casualties of U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria (http://bit.ly/Uncounted). For our opener, we first talked to Víctor Fernández and Héctor Rivera about how one of the key elements of the successful Los Angeles teachers’ strike was the support from the city’s Latinx community. Víctor and Héctor talked about how the school district and its billionaire backers tried to pit the community against educators as part of their privatizing agendas, and how socialist-initiated solidarity efforts like “Tacos for Teachers” (which Victor helped to organize) played a role in countering those efforts. Then we spoke with Nick Estes of The Red Nation about the infamous viral video of MAGA-hat wearing high-school boys harassing Indigenous activist Nathan Phillips. Actually, Nick mostly talked to us about all the things obscured by that video — most notably the historic nature of the Indigenous People’s March that brought Phillips and thousands of others to Washington DC that day — and the issues like Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls that the march was meant to highlight. Links for our interview with Anand Gopal • Anand’s book No Good Men Among the Living (http://bit.ly/NoGoodMen) • Anand’s New Yorker article “Syria’s Last Bastion of Freedom” (http://bit.ly/SyriaLastFreedom) • Anand’s New York Times piece “The Uncounted” (http://bit.ly/Uncounted). Links for our interview with Víctor and Héctor • Socialist Worker’s account of the Tacos for Teachers initiative (http://bit.ly/TacosRoses) • Strike leader Gillian Russom’s take on the significance of the UTLA victory (http://bit.ly/UTLAvictory) • Héctor’s Socialist Worker article from October about a community forum in East LA to support the union (http://bit.ly/EastLAforUTLA) Links for our interview with Nick Estes • Nick’s article for the Intercept, “Portraying the MAGA Teens as Victims Is an Extension of Native American Erasure” (http://bit.ly/NativeErasure) • The Urban Indian Health Institute report, “Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls” (http://bit.ly/MurderedMissing) • Brian Ward’s Socialist Worker article, “The Ugly Facts about the MAGA hat kids” (http://bit.ly/UglyMAGAhat) Music The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes”(Dead Sea Captains Remix) Rage Against The Machine, “Killing In The Name” Nataanii Means, “God Bless Amerikkka” Shkoon, “Build Your Castles” MC Abod, “Forget Your Difficulties”

In this episode, we talk to Helen Scott about the life and legacy of Rosa Luxemburg on the 100th anniversary of Luxemburg’s murder. We discuss her most essential works, The Mass Strike and Reform or Revolution, and talk about the historical context of Luxemburg’s political ideas as well as their relevance for today’s new socialist left. In our opening segment, we talk to LA teacher and strike leader Gillian Russom. This episode was recorded prior to the enormous victory won by the teachers, but it remains invaluable in its description of what a win would be, how they organized themselves and the community, and what the fight will look like after the strike ends. Helen Scott is the editor of The Essential Rosa Luxemburg: Reform or Revolution and the Mass Strike (Haymarket Books, 2008) and co-editor, with Paul LeBlanc, of an anthology of Luxemburg’s writings, Socialism or Barbarism (Pluto Press, 2010). She is Associate Professor of English at the University of Vermont and a member of United Academics: AFT/AAUP. She has published articles on Rosa Luxemburg in International Socialist Review, Socialist Studies, and New Formations and is on the editorial board of the Verso Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg, for which she will be co-editing Volume 5 with Paul Le Blanc. Gillian Russom has been a rank-and-file teacher activist in UTLA for 18 years. She is part of the Union Power caucus and has been a leader in the fight to transform her union into a social-justice union capable of waging a fight against the forces of public education reform. Links for our opener on the LA teachers’ strike: *Gillian Russom at Socialist Worker on the strike victory (https://socialistworker.org/2019/01/23/we-won-a-historic-victory-for-la-schools) *Diana Macasa and Alex Schmaus on the inspiration behind Tacos for Teachers (https://socialistworker.org/2019/01/18/give-us-tacos-and-roses) *Danny Katch gives 10 reasons to support the LA teachers (https://socialistworker.org/2019/01/14/ten-reasons-to-support-the-la-teachers) *Melissa Rakestraw and Elizabeth Lalasz reporting from the picket lines on “Five days that stunned LA’s billionaires” (https://socialistworker.org/2019/01/22/five-days-that-stunned-las-billionaires) *Video of a strike solidarity meeting featuring Gillian Russom and teachers from Chicago and Oakland (http://bit.ly/LASolidarity) Links for our interview with Helen Scott: *Helen Scott’s edition of The Essential Rosa Luxemburg (https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/835-the-essential-rosa-luxemburg) *Paul LeBlanc on Rosa Luxemburg’s revolutionary socialism (http://socialistworker.org/2019/01/15/rosa-luxemburgs-revolutionary-socialism) *Paul LeBlanc on Rosa Luxemburg and the pathway to socialism (http://socialistworker.org/2014/06/05/luxemburg-and-the-path-to-socialism) *Danny Katch explores modern takes on the historic debates around reform, revolution and the road to power (http://socialistworker.org/2014/06/05/luxemburg-and-the-path-to-socialism) Music and audio clips in this episode Excerpt of a speech by Alex Caputo-Pearl, the president of the United Teachers of Los Angeles, addressing a massive rally of LA teachers five days into the strike Aryana Fields (5th grade student in LA public school), "This is a Strike Song” ScHoolboy Q, “X” (with 2 Chainz and Saudi) from the Black Panther soundtrack Pedro Pastor, “La Rosa de Luxemburgo” with Eva Sierra The Laggan, “Rosa Luxembourg” Purge, “Rosa Luxemburg”

In this episode, we talk to Holly Lewis about her book the The Politics of Everybody: Feminism, Queer Theory and Marxism at the Intersection (http://bit.ly/LewisEverybody). We talk about what Holly means when she argues that “the politics of the fragment should be replaced by an inclusive politics of everybody.” In our interview, we explore some of the debates and discussions around homonormativity, how to build a trans-inclusive feminism, and queer theory. We revisit social reproduction theory and talk about its implications for gender politics and trans liberation. Holly gives a clear overview about the different theoretical approaches to gender politics in Marxism, queer theory and feminist theory and explores the connections between them. Before that, we talk to LA teacher and strike leader Gillian Russom about the LA teachers’ strike. And in our intro, we talk about the controversy surrounding this year’s Women’s March. Most of our discussions barely scratched the surface, so we’ve got lots and lots of links for this episode. Holly Lewis and The Politics of Everybody — Buy Holly’s book: The Politics of Everybody: Feminism, Queer Theory and Marxism at the Intersection (http://bit.ly/LewisEverybody) — We talk a lot about social reproduction theory. For an accessible introduction, you can check out this article by Tithi Bhattacharya in Socialist Worker (http://bit.ly/TithiSW). If you would like to go deeper, Lise Vogel’s book, Marxism and the Oppression of Women: Towards a Unitary Theory, developed this theory and has been re-published by Haymarket Books (http://bit.ly/VogelHaymarket). Tithi Bhattacharya has also edited a collection of essays exploring this topic: Social Reproduction Theory: Remapping Class, Recentering Oppression (http://bit.ly/TithiBook). — Heather Brown’s Marx on Gender and the Family delves more deeply into Marx’s approach to gender and is available from Haymarket Books (http://bit.ly/BrownHaymarket) — Jules Gleeson has written an article on Transition and Abolition: Notes on Marxism and Trans Politics for Viewpoint Magazine (http://bit.ly/GleesonViewpoint). The LA Teachers’ Strike — Socialist Worker is providing ongoing coverage throughout the strike (http://bit.ly/SWLAStrike) — Gillian Russom recently spoke at a solidarity panel in NYC along with an Acero Charter School striker from Chicago and a wildcat striker from Oakland (http://bit.ly/LASolidarity) The Women’s March —Elizabeth Schulte wrote an article for Socialist Worker about the prospects for a new women’s movement as we approach the third annual women’s marches (http://bit.ly/SchulteSW) — Rosalind Petchesky has written a defense of Linda Sarsour and the Women’s March organizers against smears of anti-semitism (http://bit.ly/PetcheskyBOR) Music The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) LUTHI, “Every Body" Roy Ayers Ubiquity, “Everybody Loves The Sunshine” R.E.M., “Everybody Hurts” Dean Martin, “Everybody Loves Somebody” Chance the Rapper, “Everybody’s Something” (feat. Saba and BJ The Chicago Kid) Tears For Fears, “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”

Great show this week! We talk with Melanie Yazzie and Nick Estes of The Red Nation, an important new revolutionary organization fighting for Indigenous liberation. Melanie is a Diné scholar and activist who is the 2018-2019 Chair of the Central Governing Council for The Red Nation. She’s also a co-author with Nick of a forthcoming book about border town violence and Indigenous resistance and next year will join the faculty at the University of New Mexico as an Assistant Professor of Native American Studies and American Studies. Nick is Kul Wicasa from the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, a co-founder of The Red Nation, an Assistant Professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico, and the author of two forthcoming books: Our History is the Future: Standing Rock versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance and Standing with Standing Rock: Voices from the #NoDAPL Movement. To do this interview, we invited our fellow ISO members Ragina Johnson and Brian Ward, who have worked with The Red Nation over the past few years, to take over the pod, and we think you’ll agree it was a great decision. Melanie, Nick, Ragina and Brian got into a deep discussion about a range of topics, including the creation and development of The Red Nation, how Indigenous and colonized people can and should use the tools of Marxism, the concept of settler colonialism and how it continues today, the necessity of solidarity between Indigenous people and other working-class people and the need for Indigenous land claims to be at the center of those fights. In our opener, Jen, Danny and Eric talk about the “gilets jaunes” (yellow vest) movement in France, which began as rowdy protests against a proposed fuel tax and have evolved to encompass a broad cry of anger at the growing inequality of French society. We also talk about how the protests have confused and divided some in the environmental movement and why we urgently need climate change demands that start from a working-class perspective. Links for our interview • The Red Nation (TRN) website (http://bit.ly/TheRedNation) • Read TRN’s recent newsletter including a report on their “No Thanks, No Giving” teach-in (http://bit.ly/RedNation3) • Nick’s forthcoming book Our History is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance (http://bit.ly/OurHistoryFuture) Links for intro • On the dynamic nature and changing consciousness of the Yellow Vest protests, check out French novelist Édouard Louis’ moving piece in Jacobin, “Can the Yellow Vests Speak?” (http://bit.ly/YellowVestsSpeak) and longtime French socialist Léon Crémieux’s more recent analysis in Socialist Worker of the shifting dynamics (http://bit.ly/CremieuxSW) • For more on the need for working-class environmental policies as opposed to fuel taxes, check out Jonathan Neale’s “Why Carbon Taxes Burn Workers” (http://bit.ly/CarbonTaxes) and Zachary Alexis’s piece about the importance of the growing support for a Green New Deal (http://bit.ly/GreenNewDealSW) Music and audio The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) A Tribe Called Red, “We Are The Halluci Nation” Ft. John Trudell & Northern Voice Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, “Under Your Always Light” Excerpt of speech by Radmilla Cody at the Red Nation's Indigenous Peoples Day March and Rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2015 Ryan Dennison, “HT” Son Of Hwéeldi, “Me & The 99”

This week we talk to British socialist David Renton about the history of Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League. RaR and the ANL were a cultural and protest movement against the rise of the National Front in Britain in the 1970’s. Renton contends that these movements played a decisive role in preventing the rise of fascism in Britain, while similar movements took root in France. David Renton is a British historian and activist, a member of the socialist group RS21 and author of the book, Never Again: Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League 1976-1982 (http://bit.ly/RentonANL). We talk to him about the importance of the contestation for culture, particularly around punk music, and the role that RaR played in that. He describes some of the key turning points of anti-fascist mobilization and the creation of the ANL. We discuss what lessons we can draw for the movement against a resurgent right today. In our opener, we talk about socialists Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as they prepare to take office. We discuss the ways in which they are challenging politics as usual, raising expectations and opening up possibilities, while also exploring the constraints imposed by the Democratic Party and how socialists can take advantage of this moment. Links for our interview: *You can buy David’s book here (http://bit.ly/RentonANL) *David also blogs at his website lives;running where he frequently discusses politics and especially the new movements against the right in Britain (http://bit.ly/LivesRunning) *In this piece re-published at Socialist Worker, David makes the case for a militant movement that directly confronts the fascists and examines different trajectories within the movement in Britain *Today’s episode is being released on December 10 as part of a contribution to the call for a day of action against fascism and racism (http://bit.ly/Dec10Action) Links for our intro: *You can listen to our assessment of AOC’s election victory in episode 17 of this podcast (http://bit.ly/BOREp17) *You can read analysis of the November elections at Socialist Worker by Todd Chretien (http://bit.ly/ChretienElections), Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (http://bit.ly/KeeangaElections), Alan Maass (http://bit.ly/MaassElections) and the editorial staff (http://bit.ly/EditorialElections) *In episode 34 (http://bit.ly/LanceSelfa), we interviewed Lance Selfa about the midterm elections. Lance is the author of The Democrats: A Critical History, which is available from Haymarket Books (http://bit.ly/LanceHaymarket). Music for this episode The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) Gang Of Four, “Why Theory?” Sham 69, “If The Kids Are United” The Specials, “Ghost Town” Steel Pulse, “Jah Pickney (R.A.R.)” The Selecter, “On My Radio” Elvis Costello, “Less Than Zero”

We have an especially powerful episode this week about the increasingly desperate situation facing the migrant and refugee caravan that is now spread all the way from Mexico City to Tijuana. First, we’re joined by three activists who have been building solidarity on both sides of the border. FERMIN VALLE is a queer Mexican-American activist and a member of the International Socialist Organization (ISO) in Western Massachusetts who recently traveled to Mexico City and met with members of the caravan staying in a local church. JO MORALES is an anti-border activist and writer who has worked for the last three years in solidarity with refugees and Syrian revolutionaries in Greece and the Mediterranean. She is now in Tijuana, where she is documenting the Migrant Exodus. CLAIRE DOUGLAS is a teacher and member of the ISO in San Diego, where she helped organize a solidarity protest at the border as part of the Migrant and Refugee Solidarity Coalition. Fermin, Jo and Claire join us for an intense conversation about the horrible choices that caravanistas are facing as they experience deteriorating physical and political conditions — and their urgent hope for an increase in the support that U.S. activists are starting to build. Then historian and activist Justin Akers Chacón joins us to talk about the Socialist Worker article he recently wrote in response to Angela Nagle’s “The left case against open borders.” Justin is a San Diego-based professor of U.S. History and Chicano Studies. In addition to Radicals in the Barrio, he’s the author of No One is Illegal: Fighting Racism and State Violence on the U.S.-Mexico Border. In the context of going through what’s wrong (and there’s a lot) with Nagle’s pseudo-left approach, Justin makes the case for why supporting migrants and refugees isn’t just the morally right thing to do, but is also in the interest of working-class people in the U.S. and across the world. Links for this episode: • Fermin’s Socialist Worker report from Mexico City: “What migrants in the caravan want the world to hear” (http://bit.ly/Vallemigrants) • Alex Wells report on the San Diego border protest (http://bit.ly/bringingsolidarity) • Justin’s response to Angela Nagle: “The case against ‘the case against open borders’” (http://bit.ly/caseagainstnagle) • Also check out Justin’s new books Radicals in the Barrio: Magonistas, Socialists, Wobblies, and Communists in the Mexican-American Working Class (http://bit.ly/RadicalsBarrio) and No One is Illegal: Fighting Racism and State Violence on the U.S.-Mexico Border (http://bit.ly/NoOneIllegal) Here are some of the organizations and groups organizing support and solidarity for the migrant and refugee caravan: • Pueblo Sin Fronteras (http://bit.ly/PuebloSF) • Al Otro Lado (http://bit.ly/aOLado) • Border Angels (http://bit.ly/BorderAngels) • International Socialist Organization (http://bit.ly/IntlSocOrg) • San Diego Migrant and Refugee Solidarity Coalition (http://bit.ly/SDsolidarity) • Sanctuary Caravan (http://bit.ly/SancCaravan) and labor solidarity call (http://bit.ly/SanctuaryLabor) Music The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) Residente, “La Cátedra” Shakira, “Me Enamoré” Chicano Batman, “This Land Is Your Land” Sam Cooke, “(What A) Wonderful World” Ozomatli, “Don’t Mess With The Dragon”

This month marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the German Revolution. Never heard of it? Don’t worry, most people haven’t, even though the revolution—or rather its failure—is arguably one of the most significant events of the 20th century, with consequences ranging from the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany to the triumph of Stalinism over the Russian Revolution. But there’s more to learn about the German Revolution beyond the fact of its ultimate failure. It’s also the closest socialism has gotten to winning in an advanced industrialized capitalist country, and it’s full of rich lessons even a century later. This week we have a conversation with Sean Larson, a PhD student in German Studies at NYU who is currently working on a dissertation on the German revolution. Sean recently wrote an excellent article in Jacobin about the first year of the revolution, and if all this information is new to you, read his article (see the link below) after you listen to the interview. For our opener, Eric joined Jen and Danny to talk about the return of anti-Semitism as a force in mainstream American politics. We discuss how the return of this racist ideology is rooted in the rise of far-right white supremacist groups as well as the urgent need to rebuild a fight against anti-Semitism. Links about the German Revolution Sean’s excellent piece in Jacobin about the first year of the German revolution (http://bit.ly/RedGermany). Alex Fair-Schulz also has this excellent piece in Socialist Worker on the same subject (http://bit.ly/GermanyRev). For longer works on the history of the German Revolution, Haymarket Books has published/republished a number of invaluable books, including: Chris Harman’s The Lost Revolution (http://bit.ly/HarmanGermany) Eyewitness to the German Revolution (http://bit.ly/SergeGermany) by the Russian-born revolutionary Victor Serge who himself was a participant in the German revolution Ralf Hoffrogge’s study of the revolutionary shop stewards movement (http://bit.ly/HoffroggeGermany) and Pierre Broué’s masterpiece The German Revolution 1917-1923 (http://bit.ly/BroueGermany) Links for our opener Our producer, Eric Ruder, has written an extensive article for Socialist Worker in which he examines the rise and fall and rise of anti-Semitism in the United States (http://bit.ly/RuderAntiSemitism) This statement by the International Socialist Organization (ISO) calls for a broad-based, urgent, united response to the far right (http://bit.ly/FightRightISO) Haymarket Books has published a collection of essays by Jewish Voice for Peace about the uses and abuses of anti-semitism (http://bit.ly/HaymarketJVP) Music in this episode The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) FKJ Live at La Fée Electricité in Paris Sevdaliza, “Shahraman” L’indécis, “Soulful" Anohni, "Manta Ray"

We’re taking a partial break this week for the holiday, but that doesn’t mean we’re leaving you hanging. Sumaya A., who joined us in Episode 8 to discuss anti-imperialism and Palestine, gave a brilliant speech at the closing plenary of last week’s Marxism conference in New York City. So we’re sharing it with you to help recharge your batteries over the holiday weekend. And for our opener, Eric joined Jen and Danny to talk about the swirl of personal and political questions that Thanksgiving poses for radicals. We discuss the ugly history behind the holiday’s myth, what we think about Black Friday, and our approaches to the inevitable political arguments around the Thanksgiving dinner table. Link for the New York City Marxism conference (http://bit.ly/NYCmarxism). Links about our opener on Thanksgiving: • “Why the movement shouldn’t #OccupyXmas,” Eric’s argument against ultra left anti-consumerist politics in the midst of the Occupy movement (http://bit.ly/XmasOccupy). • Socialist Worker articles on the real history of Thanksgiving by Caroline Gonzales and Brian Ward (http://bit.ly/RealTnksgvg) and Paul D’Amato (http://bit.ly/DamatoTksgvg). • Check out The Red Nation, a revolutionary Native organization based in New Mexico (http://bit.ly/TheRedNation). Music for this episode: The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) Gil Scott-Heron, “Home is Where the Hatred Is” Vince Guaraldi Trio, “Thanksgiving Theme” Mos Def, “New World Water” Seal, “A Change is Gonna Come”

Lance Selfa comes on the pod this week to discuss what midterms tell us about the state of U.S. politics. In addition to being an associate editor of the International Socialist Review and a frequent contributor to Socialist Worker, Lance is the author of The Democrats: A Critical History, published by Haymarket Books. Before our conversation with Lance, Eric joins Jen and Danny to respond to a listener’s question about whether socialism can be compatible with religion. We cover lots of ground, including Marx’s famous (and misunderstood) quote about the opium of the masses, the hypocrisy and chauvinism of the so-called “new atheism,” and Danny’s deep discomfort with his mortality. Links for our interview with Lance Selfa: • “The Trumpification of American politics”: Lance’s recent article in Socialist Worker (http://bit.ly/Trumpification). • Alan Maass’s “Six socialist takeaways from Election 2018” (http://bit.ly/6socialisttakes). • Todd Chretien’s look at discussions among different socialists about the way forward after the midterms (http://bit.ly/aftermidterms). • Sam Farber’s piece in Jacobin about Donald Trump as a “lumpen capitalist” (http://bit.ly/lumpenTrumpen). • Lance’s book, The Democrats: A Critical History (http://bit.ly/Selfa). Links for our opener on religion: • The Meek and the Militant, Paul Siegel’s classic Marxist analysis of how religion can play both a reactionary and radical political role (bit.ly/MeekMilitant). • Mike Marqusee’s sharp criticism of neoliberal secularism, “Contending for the living” (http://bit.ly/Marqusee). • FYI, Danny’s got a chapter called “Is Socialism a Religion” in his book Socialism…Seriously (http://bit.ly/SocSersly) Music for this episode: The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix)Frank Ocean, “Bad Religion” Stevie Wonder, “Have A Talk With God” The Shazam, “Super Tuesday” Rihanna, “American Oxygen” Stealers Wheel, “Stuck In The Middle With You” Death Cab For Cutie, “Good Help (Is Hard To Find)"

33: Solidarity with the caravan; Leandros Fischer on Die Linke’s strategy This week, we talk to Leandros Fischer of Germany’s Die Linke (The Left Party). In the wake of a wave of refugee migration in 2015, the far right in Germany has made terrifying advances. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has gained seats in the German Parliament and openly fascist forces have rallied in the streets of Chemnitz. But in the last month we also saw a spectacular demonstration of anti-fascist forces a quarter of a million strong in Berlin. Leandros explains how Germany’s position as the leader of the European Union, the weakening of labor protections, and the creation of a two-tier, contract-based workforce have all set the stage for a deepening polarization in German politics. He discusses the history of Die Linke, one of the earliest broad-left party projects in Europe, and its current situation and debates. He helps us untangle the debates on the left about the controversial positions taken by Sahra Wagenknecht. He discusses the rise of the right and lays out a strategic vision for how the left can grow in this moment. In our opener, we are joined by Hector Rivera and Rory Fanning to discuss Trump’s racist hysteria about the migrant caravan and the politics of the border. Hector is a socialist and immigrant rights activist based in Los Angeles and is involved in cross-border solidarity efforts. Rory is a military veteran who recently wrote an essay calling on troops to refuse to obey Trump’s orders to deploy to the border. Links for our interview with Leandros Fischer: *Leandros has written frequently for Jacobin about the political debates inside the German left. Here he talks about the rise of the right and how to understand it (http://bit.ly/LeandrosRight). In this article, he discusses the questions surrounding Sahra Wagenknecht (http://bit.ly/LeandrosWagenknecht). *Socialist Worker recently carried two articles about the advance of the far-right in Germany and the anti-fascist response. In this article, Kathleen Brown describes the street marches of open Nazis in Chemnitz (http://socialistworker.org/2018/09/10/how-can-nazis-be-on-the-march-in-germany). And here, Axel Fair-Schulz discusses how the left should confront the rise of the far right (http://bit.ly/AxelFightRight). Links for our opener: *In Socialist Worker, Danny Katch and Khury Petersen-Smith discuss the politics surrounding the migrant caravan and how we can build solidarity (http://bit.ly/SWCaravan) *In an article for In These Times, Khury Petersen-Smith recounts the history of Germany’s welcoming movement during the refugee crisis of 2015 and talks about how we can apply those lessons to building solidarity with the migrant caravan today. *Rory Fanning and Spenser Rapone are military veterans who have called on soldiers to defy orders if they are called to the US-Mexico border (http://bit.ly/RorySW) Music for this episode: The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) Lucius, "Two Of Us On The Run” Spoon, “Tear It Down” Egotronic, “Raven gegen Deutschland” Atari Teenage Riot, “Start The Riot” Die Ärzte, “Schrei Nach Liebe” Gastone, “Weihnachtsgans”

32: Right turn in US politics, Aldo Cordeiro Sauda on Bolsonaro’s Brazil In this week’s episode, we discuss Brazil’s President-elect Jair Bolsonaro with Brazilian socialist Aldo Cordeiro Sauda and U.S.-based socialist Todd Chretien. This weekend, in a terrifying development in international politics, Brazil’s neo-fascist Bolsonaro won the presidential elections. Since that time, the military has paraded openly through the streets, raided universities and raised the prospect of attacks on Brazil’s social movements and oppressed populations. Recorded just days before the October 28 election, we talk to Aldo and Todd about the background to Bolsonaro’s rise after 14 years of rule by the Workers Party (PT). Aldo identifies the constitutional coup against former President Dilma Rousseff as a turning point in the advance of the far right. We talk about why the ruling class has swung behind Bolsonaro and what the rise to power of a neo-fascist means for the left specifically. We end by talking about the labor and social movements, which still have real organization and power in Brazil, and how to build international solidarity with their struggles. Aldo Cordeiro Sauda is a journalist and activist in Brazil’s Party of Socialism and Liberation (PSOL). He also covered the Arab Spring for Estado de São Paulo and Folha de São Paulo and is currently a masters candidate in political science at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP). In our opener, we talk about the hard right turn in U.S. politics since the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. This episode was recorded before the horrific massacre of at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, but the trends we identify make clear why such attacks are an inevitable product of this moment. We review the right-wing offensive — from Trump’s transphobic memo to the racist hysteria about the migrant caravan — and discuss how this can co-exist with a potential advance of the Democrats in the midterm elections, but also why that advance will not eliminate the basis for Trumpism. Links for this episode’s interview on Brazil: *Valério Arcary, a leading member of Resistência, a revolutionary socialist current inside the Party for Socialism and Freedom (PSOL), discusses the factors underlying an assessment of Bolsonaro as a neo-fascist in an article re-published at Socialist Worker (http://bit.ly/ArcarySW) *Aldo, along with Benjamin Fogel, discusses the role of the military in providing a base of support for Bolsonaro in an article for Jacobin (http://bit.ly/AldoJacobin) *Socialist Worker reprinted a statement of Resistência following the first round of Brazilian elections that analyzes the threats posed by Bolsonaro and charts a way forward for the left, labor and social movements (http://bit.ly/ResistenciaSW) *The Intercept has written on the reasons Wall Street is happy about a Bolsonaro victory (http://bit.ly/BrazilWallStreet) and has put together a piece explaining who Bolsonaro is using his own words (http://bit.ly/InterceptBolsonaro) Links for this episode’s opener on the right turn in US politics: *Nicole Colson discusses how Trump’s hate has unleashed the violence that has targeted Jews, Blacks and migrants in the last week and points to lessons of the anti-fascist movements of the past in an article for Socialist Worker (http://bit.ly/ColsonTrumpHateSW) *Our co-host Danny wrote a piece for Socialist Worker that assesses the phases of the Trump regime and what the sharpening backlash means for socialists (http://bit.ly/DannyTrumpEra) *Lance Selfa talks about the Trumpification of American politics and why a blue wave won’t erase the Trump stain in this article for Socialist Worker (http://bit.ly/TrumpificationSW) Music The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) Gil Scott-Heron, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” Chico Buarque, "Apesar de Você” Caetano Veloso, "Um Comunista” Elis Regina, "O Bêbado e a Equilibrista” Jorge Ben Jor, “Zumbi"

In the opener to episode 26 we discussed the political impact of the Great Recession and promised to soon have a guest to help explain the economic side of the story. We take our promises very seriously, so this week we bring in Hadas Thier, a regular contributor to the International Socialist Review and the author of the forthcoming book A People’s Guide to Capitalism: An Introduction to Marxist Economics. Hadas breaks down the events that led 10 years ago to the global economic crisis, from the casino capitalist shenanigans on Wall Street to the underlying problems of global overproduction that led so many investors to pour their money (and our pensions) into those Ponzi schemes in the first place. Hadas also talks to us about why mainstream economists are more interested in promoting capitalism than explaining how it works (and why it doesn’t) and how she decided after years of activism to teach herself economics in the face of the conventional wisdom that it’s too complicated for non-academics—especially non-academic women. Jen had to miss this episode so for our opener, Eric joined Danny to discuss why the Republicans have been dead set on sticking with Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court despite the mounting number of sexual assault allegations against him (and we also snuck in some sound and a short interview with Kaylin Kaupish from National Women’s Liberation during the New York City protest on October 1 outside the Yale Club). They then moved on to briefly talk about the death of notorious Chicago police torturer John Burge, and the possibility of a major Los Angeles teachers strike in the coming months. Links for this episode: · International Socialist Review roundtable on “Where is Capitalism Heading?” featuring Hadas and other writers (http://bit.ly/ISRroundtable) · Hadas’s article celebrating the 150th anniversary of the publication of Karl Marx’s Capital (http://bit.ly/Capital150years) · “She speaks for us and we’ll stand with her”: Socialist Worker editorial calling for nationwide protests to stop Kavanaugh’s nomination (http://bit.ly/ProtestKavanaugh) Music and audio for this episode: Kaylin Kaupish, National Women’s Liberation, at Stop Kavanaugh march in NYC on October 1 Vic Mensa, “16 Shots” Sonic Youth, “Youth Against Fascism” Angelique Kidjo's new cover of The Talking Heads’ "Once in a Lifetime” Wu-Tang Clan, “C.R.E.A.M.” Prince, “Act of God”

This week we talk to Ashley Dawson about capitalism and climate change. In our intro, we talk about the unfolding and cascading allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh — and what this says about the power of #MeToo. Ashley Dawson is a professor at the City University of New York and the author of many books, including Extinction: A Radical History and most recently Extreme Cities: The Peril and Promise of Urban Life in the Age of Climate Change. He is working on a new book about energy transition and energy democracy, and he's the founder of the Climate Action Lab. On the first anniversary of Hurricane Maria, we talked to Ashley about why storms are increasing in frequency and intensity as a result of climate change. We also discuss “climate apartheid” and how race, class and global inequalities shape how the effects of climate change are experienced. We talk about how Trump’s economic nationalism is fueling right-wing climate change denial — and why liberal, market-oriented solutions do not offer an alternative. Instead, Ashley points to the power of social movements, both in the global South and here in the U.S., to demand real reforms. Ultimately, however, saving the climate will require going beyond capitalism and linking the struggle for the environment to the fight for a socialist society organized on an entirely different basis. Links for this week’s interview: • Ashley Dawson’s book, Extreme Cities, discusses why cities are ground zero for climate change and is available from Verso Books (http://bit.ly/ExtremeCities). • In this Socialist Worker interview, Danny talked to Ashley about his book Extreme Cities and the impacts of flooding and hurricanes in urban areas (http://bit.ly/DawsonSW). • Socialist Worker had recent coverage of Hurricane Florence’s impact on North Carolina’s poor (http://bit.ly/FlorenceSW) as well as a piece on the recovery and resistance in Puerto Rico a year after Maria (http://bit.ly/PuertoRicoRecoverySW). Links for this week’s intro: • Socialist Worker editorial on what the fight against Kavanaugh’s nomination represents (http://bit.ly/KavanaughEditorialSW). • Nicole Colson on #MeToo vs the Senate (http://bit.ly/MeToovsSenate). Music and audio for this episode: The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) Radiohead, “Creep” Lana del Rey, “Ultraviolence” Beastie Boys, “Time To Build” The Pixies, “Monkey Gone To Heaven” Marvin Gaye, “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” Talking Heads, “(Nothing But) Flowers”

This week we bring out a bonus conversation with author and immigrant justice activist Justin Akers Chacón (who talked with us about border politics in episode 18) about his new book Radicals in the Barrio: Magonistas, Socialists, Wobblies, and Communists in the Mexican-American Working Class, published by Haymarket Books. Justin is a San Diego-based professor of U.S. History and Chicano Studies. In addition to Radicals in the Barrio, he’s the author of No One is Illegal: Fighting Racism and State Violence on the U.S.-Mexico Border, which he has recently updated and republished with Haymarket. Jen was out of town for this conversation, so Lupita Romero (our Episode 4 guest) joined Danny to talk with Justin about the under-appreciated legacy of Mexican and Mexican-American socialists and anarchists in the formation of the U.S. left. Justin talked about the legacy of the Mexican Revolution on both sides of the border, and some of the inspiring victories and devastating defeats of farmworkers, miners and factory workers in the first half of the 20th century, who faced the threat not only of mass firings and police violence but also deportation. In our opener, we talk about the smear campaign and attacks on Jeremy Corbyn in Britain. Corbyn is the enormously popular leader of the Labour Party and has been responsible for bringing hundreds of thousands of young activists into Labour and helping to revitalize the left. But he is hated and feared by the British establishment and has come under sustained attack. Zionists have attacked him over accusations of anti-Semitism. This week we discuss a turning point in this campaign, one that represents a threat to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in solidarity with Palestine. Links for this week’s interview: • Justin’s new book: Radicals in the Barrio: Magonistas, Socialists, Wobblies, and Communists in the Mexican-American Working Class (http://bit.ly/RadicalsBarrio) • Justin’s updated version of No One is Illegal: Fighting Racism and State Violence on the U.S.-Mexico Border (http://bit.ly/NoOneIllegal) Links for this week’s opener: • Socialist Worker interview with Scottish socialist Neil Davidson about Confronting the lies about Jeremy Corbyn (http://bit.ly/SWDavidson) Music and Audio for this episode The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) Narcicyst ft. Shadia Mansour, “Hamdulilah” (Gaza Remix) Omar Al-Abdallat, “We Shall Not Be Moved” El Teatro Campesino, "El picket sign" (Luis Valdéz) El Poder del Norte, “Carabina 30/30” La Rondalla Amerindia de Aztlan, "No nos moverán” ("We Shall Not Be Moved") Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, “Matador"

In a wide-ranging conversation, we talk to Pranav Jani about Marxism and colonialism. Pranav is an associate professor of English at Ohio State University and a long-time activist and organizer with the International Socialist Organization (ISO). Pranav describes his evolution from an apolitical college student to his first encounters with the writings of Marx on India—and how he went beyond a few selected excerpts to a deeper engagement with Marx’s thought and its evolution. We also talk about postcolonial theory, and Pranav explains what insights he gained from that field of study as well as the limitations he ran up against working within it. Another theme running throughout our interview is the importance of combining activism and theory for Pranav’s understanding of and commitment to socialism. He talks about how it was the anti-colonial revolt against the British that began to shift Marx’s own ideas about India. In Pranav’s own life and political outlook, the importance of struggle is paramount. We talk about his experience as an Indian revolutionary moving from the East Coast to Columbus, Ohio, and what he learned from helping to build a strong presence for the ISO in Ohio. One of the themes of our discussion about his work in Ohio is a critical examination of some of the punditry about “red-state America” and the 2016 elections. Pranav describes the political picture in central Ohio and the importance of a more nuanced understanding of the working class as well as the socialist commitment to fighting both exploitation and oppression. In our opener, we talk about a major opus on climate change published recently in the New York Times Magazine, titled "Losing Earth," whose conclusions we deem essentially reactionary. The author, Nathaniel Rich, has compiled a dense history of a decade of climate summits, high-level boardroom meetings and political hearings, but somehow concludes that human nature—and our failure to sacrifice for long-term needs—is to blame for the failure to act to prevent climate catastrophe. We reach a different conclusion: that capitalism is to blame. Links for our interview with Pranav Jani: *Pranav developed his ideas on Marxism, revolution and colonialism more deeply for a talk he presented at Socialism 2018. You can listen to the audio at We Are Many: http://bit.ly/PranavS18 *Pranav also wrote a feature article for Socialist Worker describing in more detail “What the Indian rebels taught Marx” (http://bit.ly/MarxIndiaSW) *The International Socialist Review (ISR) review of Vivek Chibber’s book on postcolonialism can be found here: (http://bit.ly/PranavISR) Links for our intro on climate catastrophe: *The NYT Magazine piece on Losing Earth (http://bit.ly/LosingEarth) *Naomi Klein had a good rejoinder to this article in the Intercept (http://bit.ly/KleinLosingEarth), and we engage with her material in this episode as well. We also recommend listening to our interview with Klein in episode 14 of this podcast (http://bit.ly/Ep14Klein). Music in this episode The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) Radiohead, "Idioteque" Beck, "Gamma Ray" Junoon, “Meri Awaz Suno" MIA, "Paper Planes" Karmacy, “Blood Brothers”

Jen is off this week so our producer Eric Ruder joins Danny to speak with Héctor Rivera about the momentous election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (known as AMLO) as the new president of Mexico. Héctor is a California-based socialist who writes for Socialist Worker about protests and politics inside Mexico, and this election gave us a lot to talk about. Not only did AMLO’s MORENA party destroy the country’s three main parties en route to winning power at the federal and local level, but his election is a historic victory for the longstanding democracy movement that has fought against one-party rule and rigged elections in Mexico. Héctor talks to us about the factors that led to this historic election, especially the devastating policies of privatization and “free” trade that enriched the Mexican elite while impoverishing millions, and then the catastrophic drug war, both of which have greatly accelerated longstanding patterns of Mexican migration to the U.S. We also talked about the contradictions in AMLO’s plans to take on what he calls the “Mafia of Power” and the important tasks facing Mexican socialists and activists. Héctor tells us about some of the social movements not often covered by the U.S. media, including a feminist movement that has touched all corners of Mexican society and that formed an important part of AMLO’s campaign, even as he partnered with reactionary evangelical forces. In our opener, we continue a conversation started last week about how socialists should understand and counter the growth of the far right. This week we take a step back to look at the role that Trump’s MAGA nationalism has played in giving fascists a toxic sea in which to swim. We look at how tariffs and protectionism, which many in the labor and progressive movements wrongly favor, are a disastrous strategy for U.S. workers that undermine international solidarity and cede ground to xenophobes and far-right nationalists. And we make the case for why our approach to stopping fascism has to combine direct confrontation with the building of socialist and labor movements that can show the angry and alienated a different model of collective power. Links for this episode: • Listen to the presentation given at Socialism 2018 by Héctor, Luis Rangel and Josie Chávez (http://bit.ly/MexicoSocialists) • Héctor’s Socialist Worker article about AMLO’s election (http://bit.ly/AMLOelection) • Héctor’s two-part interview with Mexican socialist Edgard Sánchez Ramírez: “The making of neoliberal Mexico” Part 1 (http://bit.ly/NeolibMexico1) and Part 2 (http://bit.ly/NeolibMexico2) Links for our opener on right-wing nationalism: • Fortune article on how many Americans make less than $15 an hour (http://bit.ly/Fortune15) • Kim Moody’s book On New Terrain, which argues why globalization isn’t the main source of working class decline (http://bit.ly/OnNewTerrain) • Ahmed Shawki’s classic 1983 article against protectionism, “Don’t Buy ‘Buy American’” (http://bit.ly/DontBuyBA) Music The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) Run The Jewels, “Hey Kids (Bumaye)” Stevie Wonder, “Pastime Paradise” Control Machete, “Sí Señor” Calle 13, “Latinoamérica” Control Machete, “Cumbia Sobre El Río” Lila Downs, “Urge”

This week we turn the tables on one of our co-hosts and interview Danny about his latest book, Why Bad Governments Happen to Good People, published by Haymarket Books. Danny talks about how Trump’s election shows the way U.S. democracy tilts rightward, blocking the moderate social democratic platform of Bernie Sanders while allowing an erratic racist who flirts with fascists to assume the most world’s most powerful position. From there we get into the larger contradictions of democracy and capitalism, and how in many ways democracy under capitalism is less about empowering the people than winning our consent to the way things are going to be. We then move on to the exciting success of socialist candidates since Bernie’s campaign, most notably Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s primary victory in New York City. Danny talks about the way some of these campaigns have helped to popularize demands of Medicare for all and Abolish ICE, but also about the historic dangers socialists face when they start building their project inside a Democratic Party that is ultimately hostile to our interests. In our opener, we talk with Bay Area socialist Ragina Johnson about the horrific murder of Nia Wilson in Oakland and why so many people in the Bay are connecting her death with the growth of white supremacy in Trump’s America. She describes protest that took place on one day’s notice in response to the murder—which linked up with another protest against a plan by the far-right Proud Boys to meet up in a downtown Oakland bar. Ragina put Nia’s death and the rise of the far right in the context of continued police murders, relentless gentrification and the overall state of rising inequality and scapegoating—and stressed the importance of building the largest possible protest against the far right’s “No to Marxism” rally on August 5 in Berkeley. We encourage Better Off Red listeners to come out against the fascists that day—and those on the East Coast to join the mobilization against the disgusting “White Civil Rights” rally being held in Washington D.C. on August 12—the anniversary of last year’s horror in Charlottesville. See the links below for more information. Links for this episode: • Get a copy of Danny’s book Why Bad Governments Happen to Good People (http://bit.ly/WhyBadGovernments) • Danny’s Socialist Worker article on the potentials and pitfalls of electoral strategies for socialists (http://bit.ly/ElectoralIdeology) Links for our intro on Nia Wilson and fighting the right: • Nicole Colson’s article on Nia’s murder and the subsequent protests (http://bit.ly/NiaWilsonMuder) • Alpana Mehta on why we need to fight the right (http://bit.ly/WhyFighttheRight) • Information on how to join with socialists in Berkeley protesting the far right on August 5 (http://bit.ly/AntiFascistBerkeley) • Information on how to join with socialists in Washington D.C. protesting the far right on August 12 (http://bit.ly/AntiNaziDC) Music and Audio for this episode The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) Alicia Wilson, mother of Nia Wilson Billie Holiday, “Strange Fruit” Josh White, “Freedom Road” (https://folkways.si.edu/anti-fascism-and-racial-struggle-in-song/music/playlist/smithsonian) Rapsody, “Power” ft. Kendrick Lamar Street Dogs, "Working Class Heroes"

19: SCOTUS vs Roe; Sharon Smith on intersectionality This week, Sharon Smith joins us to talk about a Marxist approach to intersectionality, why socialists should embrace the concept, and what Marxism has to offer activists who want to fight all forms of oppression and exploitation. Sharon is the author of Women and Socialism: Class, Race and Capital (http://bit.ly/WomenandSocialism) and Subterranean Fire: A History of Working Class Radicalism in the United States (http://bit.ly/SubteranneanFire). Sharon begins her discussion with us by rooting the concept of intersectionality in the long history of Black feminism -- going back to Sojourner Truth -- and tracing its evolution through the Combahee River Collective. We go on to discuss the different theories that have deployed the concept of intersectionality -- contrasting postmodern politics of difference with the emerging politics of solidarity today. We then talk about why Marxism is important for understanding where the power lies to challenge exploitation and oppression. Sharon also talks about how many working class struggles in recent years have directly addressed issues of oppression. She talks about how this new instinct towards solidarity is creating a potential for a much stronger working class and socialist movement. In our intro, we talk about the announcement by Justice Kennedy that he will be retiring from the Supreme Court and the threat that a new Trump appointment poses for Roe v. Wade and the fight for abortion rights. We talk about Trump’s top pick, Brett Kavanaugh, and how he has been endorsed by the Federalist Society. We talk about why it’s important to wage an all-out fight against any Trump nominee, but also why we need to rebuild a militant abortion rights movement regardless of who is on the Supreme Court. Finally, we discuss the history of how Roe was won in the first place -- under Nixon and with a Republican-dominated Supreme Court. Links for this episode: Sharon’s article in Socialist Worker on the Marxist case for intersectionality (http://bit.ly/SharonSW) Sharon’s talk at Socialism 2015 on Marxism and intersectionality (http://bit.ly/SharonSocialism) Video of a panel at Socialism 2017 on the 40th anniversary of the Combahee River Collective, featuring Demita Frazier, Barbara Ransby, Barbara Smith, Sharon Smith and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (http://bit.ly/CombaheeS17) How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective (Haymarket Books), edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (http://bit.ly/HaymarketCombahee) Links for our intro on the Supreme Court and Roe: Socialist Worker article, Without struggle, there is no Roe by Michelle Farber and Elizabeth Schulte (http://bit.ly/RoeSW) Report on plans for a protest to pressure Susan Collins to vote no on Kavanaugh (http://bit.ly/CollinsProtest) Episode 13 of this podcast, on abortion without apology (http://bit.ly/AbortionNoApology) Music for this episode: The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) Cat Power, “Nude As The News” Digable Planets, “La Femme Fetal” Beyoncé, “Freedom” (International Day of the Girl) Sam Dew, “Victor” Queen Latifah, “U.N.I.T.Y.”

18: Justin Akers Chacón on the violence of borders With Jen out of town, Episode 3 guest Lupita Romero steps in to join Danny in a conversation with Justin Akers Chacón, a San Diego-based professor of U.S. History and Chicano Studies, and author of two new books: Radicals in the Barrio, about the history of Mexican and Mexican American working class revolutionaries; and an updated version of No One is Illegal, Justin’s important 2006 book with Mike Davis about fighting oppression in the American Southwest. On top of all that, Justin is a longtime organizer of cross-border solidarity efforts for workers in both Mexico and the U.S., so we ended up having not one but two conversations. We’ll release our discussion of Radicals in the Barrio in the coming weeks. This week, you’ll hear our conversation about the U.S.-Mexico border, which Justin describes to us as both “political theater” and an increasingly deadly reality. We also talk about immigration politics, and how the enforcement-heavy debates in Washington have generally taken place several steps to the right of where public sentiment actually stands—except in those moments like the enormous marches in 2006, when immigrants and their supporters forced themselves onto the public stage. Justin argues that today we might be seeing the rise of another such moment with the rapid spread of calls to abolish ICE and move past the dead-end negotiations for bipartisan “immigration reform.” In our opening segment, our producer Eric joins Lupita and Danny for a conversation about socialism: the concept and the conference. Since the primary victory of democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (which Jen and Eric discussed in Episode 17), a surge of people have gone online to look up definitions of socialism. We discuss what’s wrong with the definition they find in the dictionary, and how the recent Socialism 2018 conference showed signs of a U.S. left that’s taking steps toward becoming a force than help a new generation give socialism a better name. Links for this episode: • Justin’s new book: Radicals in the Barrio: Magonistas, Socialists, Wobblies, and Communists in the Mexican-American Working Class (http://bit.ly/RadicalsBarrio) • Justin’s updated version of No One is Illegal: Fighting Racism and State Violence on the U.S.-Mexico Border (http://bit.ly/NoOneIllegal) • Justin’s article written at the beginning of the Trump campaign, “Capitalism and the new brown scare” (http://bit.ly/NewBrownScare) • “Life and death on the border” (http://bit.ly/LifeDeathBorder), a series of Socialist Worker articles written in 2011 by Justin, our producer Eric Ruder and Nohelia Ramos as they travelled the border from California to Texas. • “The new abolitionism” (http://bit.ly/AbolichICEDemand), Danny’s article on the importance of demand to abolish ICE. From our opening segment, here are a few audio and video links to sessions from the Socialism 2018 conference: • Video from the evening plenary, “Workers Strike Back: Lessons of the Teachers’ Rebellion” (http://bit.ly/TeachersStrikePlenary) • Audio from “Future of the Socialist Left”, a discussion between Jen and Ella Mahony of DSA, moderated by Jason Farbman (http://bit.ly/FutureSocialistLeft) • Audio from Eva Maria’s talk: “Did Socialism Fail in Venezuela?” (http://bit.ly/SocialismVenezuela) Music and Audio for this episode The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) Las Cafeteras, "Trabajador Trabajadora" La Santa Cecilia, “El Hielo (ICE)” Woody Guthrie, “This Land Is Your Land” Los Jornaleros Del Norte, "Serenata A Un Indocumentado" Los Tigres Del Norte, "Tres Veces Mojado"

In our intro, we talk about DSA member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ stunning defeat of Democratic incumbent and party boss Joseph Crowley in the June 26 NY primaries. We discuss how Cortez’ victory shows the desire for an alternative to the establishment Democrats as well as a tide of enthusiasm for socialism. We also talk about the challenges she’ll face as a socialist trying to navigate the shark-infested waters of the Democratic Party. We touch on some of the debates amongst socialists about how to approach the Democratic Party and how and whether we need to create our own party. Our intro ran longer than usual this week, but we hope that this will be the start to an ongoing discussion around the elections in the coming months. In our interview, we talk to Alex Vitale about his book, The End of Policing (Verso Books) (http://bit.ly/VitaleBook). Vitale is a professor of sociology and coordinator of the policing and social justice project at Brooklyn College. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, NY Daily News, USA Today, the Nation and Vice News. For more information about his writings as well as his public appearances and other news, check out his website (http://bit.ly/VitaleWeb). The rise of the Black Lives Matter movement has produced widespread recognition of police abuse and prompted demands for reform. At the same time, groups like the Black Youth Project http://bit.ly/BYPBOR) and the Movement for Black Lives (http://bit.ly/MBLBOR) have questioned the relationship between intensive policing, structural racism and deeper patterns of inequality. Vitale argues that we should question the very nature and purpose of the police as an instrument for social control. He suggests that the answer is not better policing, but an end to policing itself. In our discussion, we talk about why the various reforms being proposed do not address the problems with policing. Vitale recounts the origins of the modern police as part of England’s colonial subjugation of Northern Ireland and the need to monitor the free movement of urban slaves in Charleston, South Carolina. We also talk about why policing has become even more intensive and violent in the last few decades as part of a bipartisan political project and in response to heightened levels of inequality. Vitale argues that if we want to address the real issues that policing purports to address, then we need large-scale structural reforms to address inequality and racism. In the last part of our discussion, we get into the strategic questions about how to build a movement against the criminal injustice system, how calls for prison abolition fit into that, and the work and demands that some of the organizations leading around this issue are raising. For additional reading related to our interview, check out: *Alex Vitale in the NYT talking about the new super-predator myth (http://bit.ly/VitaleNYT) *Alex Vitale in Jacobin on why body cameras and more training aren’t enough (http://bit.ly/VitaleJacobin) *Episode 6 of this podcast, in which we talk about the intersection of mental health and policing *The Movement for Black Lives Platform (http://bit.ly/MBLPlatform) For additional related to our intro on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, check out: *Socialist Worker article on How far can the left go in the Democratic Party? (http://bit.ly/AOCSW) *Jacobin article on why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won (http://bit.ly/JacobinAOC) *Lance Selfa’s The Democrats: A Critical History (Haymarket Books) (http://bit.ly/Selfa) Music in this episode: The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) Cardi B, “I Like It Like That” Solange, “Mad” ft. Lil Wayne KRS-One, “Sound Of Da Police” Vic Mensa, “16 Shots” Bruce Springsteen, “American Skin (41 Shots)” N.W.A., “Fuck Tha Police”

After Trump’s election, Berkeley became the epicenter of far-right organizing and resistance to it. Mukund talks to us about that experience, the strategic debates and lessons learned. In our intro, we talk about why we can’t succumb to helplessness in the face of the Trump nightmare - and some ideas about how we build an alternative. Mukund Rathi is a law student at UC Berkeley and an active socialist in the Bay Area. He has written for Socialist Worker, In These Times and the Daily Californian. In February 2017, Milo Yiannopoulos attempted to speak at Berkeley and was shut down by thousands of protesters. Mukund points out that nearly all the media coverage, including on the left, focused on a small core of antifa activists and ignored the 2,000 students who showed up to protest. Mukund talks to us about the development of the fight against the right in Berkeley and nationally. He discusses the different strategic debates and argues both against a position of shutting the right down by any means necessary and against the argument to simply ignore the right. Instead, he argues, it has been mass mobilizations and coordinated organization and solidarity that have pushed back the right - in Charlottesville, Boston and in a later round of struggle in Berkeley. We talk about how the protests in Charlottesville, and the murder of Heather Heyer, were a turning point in galvanizing mass opposition. However, Mukund also points out that the far-right is still organizing. They have continued to harass and threaten student and community activists in the Bay Area. This has had a chilling effect on protest. The liberal establishment in the Bay Area has refused to take this threat seriously and failed to protect activists while bending over to protect the “free speech” of the far-right. It will be up to activists to build solidarity and learn the lessons from last year’s battles. Resources and links for this episode: Mukund wrote an article for Socialist Worker on the protests that shut down Milo (http://bit.ly/MiloSW). And in this article he reflected on the lessons of the fight against the right (http://bit.ly/MukundLessonsSW). Here, the Bay Area International Socialist Organization describes the attempt by the far-right to disrupt its meeting (http://bit.ly/BayISOStatement). Eric Ruder and Francois Huges describes the “free speech week” fiasco, in which Berkeley spent a million dollars to defend Milo’s fantasy carnival of far-right speakers (which never materialized) while doing nothing to defend the rights of students. (http://bit.ly/FreeSpeechFiasco). Mukund participated in a roundtable debate hosted by In These Times in which he defended the shutting down of Milo while arguing for a strategy of mass confrontation. In this article for the International Socialist Review, Monique Dols discusses the debates around free speech and fighting the right on campus (http://bit.ly/ISRFightRight). Music in This Episode: A Tribe Called Quest - We the People Patti Smith - People Have The Power Death - Where Do We Go From Here? The Clash - Know Your Rights Elvis Costello - Night Rally Sunflower Bean - Crisis Fest Milva - Bella Ciao

The author of The Shock Doctrine, No is Not Enough, and This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate sits down with us to discuss her new book The Battle for Paradise: Puerto Rico Takes on the Disaster Capitalists (http://bit.ly/BattleParaidise). Naomi talks about Wall Street investors’ view of post-hurricane Puerto Rico as a potential “blank canvas” to host their various schemes, and puts this in the context of a long colonial history of U.S. attempts to depopulate the island—including through mass sterilization—in order to overcome the impressive resistance of Puerto Ricans. She also spoke with us about the daily shocks of life under Trump, and the urgent need for political education for people to understand where these attacks are coming from and overcome the prevailing sense of disorientation. In our opener, Jen and Danny talked about the debunking of the famous “Marshmallow Study” that many claimed could predict your future based on whether you can wait 15 minutes for a treat as a 4-year-old (http://bit.ly/MarshmallowStudy). And we gushed for a bit about the terrific new website for Socialist Worker (http://bit.ly/NewSocialistWorker). Links Get a copy of The Battle for Paradise in English (http://bit.ly/BattleParaidise) or Spanish (http://bit.ly/SpanishPR). All royalties go directly to JunteGente (http://bit.ly/JunteGente), a gathering of Puerto Rican organizations resisting disaster capitalism and advancing a fair and healthy recovery for their island. Learn more about the campaign to audit Puerto Rico’s debt (http://bit.ly/auditPRdebt). Check out the video of Naomi’s recent event in New York City with a number of Puerto Rican activists (http://bit.ly/CooperUnionevent). Also check out No is Not Enough: Resisting Trump's Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need (http://bit.ly/NKNoNotEnough). Follow Naomi Klein at her website (http://bit.ly/NaomiKleinsite) and at The Intercept (http://bit.ly/NKIntercept). And check out the video of Naomi speaking with a number of other activists at last year’s Anti-Inauguration (http://bit.ly/AntiInauguration). Finally check out some of Socialist Worker’s coverage of Puerto Rico’s: • resistance to colonialism (http://bit.ly/PRcolony) • debt crisis (http://bit.ly/DebtBeforeStorm) • teachers union (http://bit.ly/MercedezMartinez) • May Day protest (http://bit.ly/PRMayDay) Music in this episode The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) Ella Fitzgerald and Bing Crosby, “Marshmallow World” Calle 13, “Baile De Los Pobres” Hector Lavoe, “Juanito Alimaña” Andrés Jiménez, “Despierta Boricua” Tito Puente, “Five Beat Mambo”

We talk to abortion rights activists Megan Dey Lessard of NYC for Abortion Rights and Michelle Farber of Seattle Clinic Defense about the fight to defend the clinics - and for abortion without apology. In our intro, we discuss the latest stage in the war on immigrants - Trump’s new “zero tolerance” policy that is separating children from their parents at the border. Our co-producer, Maria Silvestri, joined Jen for our interview with Megan and Michelle. Michelle and Megan countered many of the arguments made by the mainstream pro-choice groups against clinic defense and explained why this kind of activism is needed right now. They argued that the strategy of relying on an electoral strategy or lobbying efforts has failed us as restrictions on abortion proliferate and we lose ground to the right. They also make an important case for building solidarity and struggle as the way to push back against the right and to begin to re-win an unapologetic argument for abortion as a fundamental right. We talk about the lessons of the Irish referendum to repeal the ban on abortion and why that should be a model for us here. Here are links to some of the articles we cite and for further reading: Jen wrote an article for Socialist Worker about the lessons of organizing the first counter-protest that was NYC for Abortion Rights’ first action (bit.ly/JenCounterProtests). At that protest, Jen debated an anti-choice activist in a NY Times FB live video (bit.ly/JenTimes). Julia Mead wrote a piece for The Nation (bit.ly/NationClinicDefense) about why activists decided to counter-protest despite Planned Parenthood’s call to stay home. And Elizabeth Schulte covered the counter-protests across the country in Socialist Worker (bit.ly/SWConfrontBigots) Becca Bor, an Irish pro-choice campaigner, wrote a piece about the lessons of the repeal movement in Ireland and and how they won (bit.ly/SWRepeal) In our episode, Michelle describes the impact of clinic defense on providers and patients inside the clinic. She wrote a very moving account of this in an article for SW (bit.ly/MichelleClinics) We also talk about Nancy Pelosi saying that the issue of abortion shouldn’t be a litmus test for Democrats. Lichi D’Amelio wrote a piece for Jacobin (bit.ly/LichiJacobin) about why the mainstream abortion rights movement is losing the war on abortion by tailing these Democrats and why we need to make abortion a central issue for the left. In our opener, Jen is joined by guest hosts Lea Ramirez and Lider Restrepo for a discussion of the crisis at the border. We talk about the impact of Trump’s new “zero tolerance” policy, which criminalizes all migrants crossing the border - even those with credible asylum claims. This has led to mass trials of immigrants and the separation of children from their parents. Trump’s rhetoric and policies have given a green light to racist border control and ICE agents and have created a reign of terror in immigrant communities. But they are also a continuation of policies enacted under the Obama administration. We talk about why the abuse being exposed is built into the logic of border militarization and the push to deter refugees from fleeing the economic and political violence wrought by US policy. Here are some links for further reading: ACLU report on the abuse of migrant children under the Obama administration (bit.ly/ACLUReportChildren) and press release about policy under Obama and Trump (bit.ly/ACLUObamaTrump) Intercept report on mass trials of immigrants in Texas and family separations (bit.ly/InterceptBorder) Socialist Worker interview with Karina Alvarez of the Laredo Immigration Alliance about the violence at the border and an article about the murder of Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzalez by border patrol agents (bit.ly/SWClaudia). You can read more of SW’s ongoing coverage of immigrant rights gathered as a topic list on its new site (bit.ly/SWImmigrantRights)

We talk to Anand Gopal and Yasser Munif about the revolution and counter-revolution in Syria. Anand has travelled to Syria multiple times as an unembedded journalist starting in 2011 and returning from his most recent visit in May. This gives him an almost unparalleled ability to untangle the lies and hypocrisy of both Assad’s regime and the US. Yasser is a Syrian-American activist who was in Syria at the beginning of the revolution and is studying the Arab revolutions. He is writing a book about how the Syrian resistance is building an underground society to survive the brutality of the regime. Yasser and Anand answer all our questions, and probably yours, about Syria. They describe the Syrian uprising of 2011 and its links to the Arab Spring. Many left-wing and pro-Palestine activists, including journalists who have embedded with Syrian regime forces and traveled on regime-sponsored tours, ignore this history and argue that the resistance forces are simply tools of US imperialism and regime change. Yasser and Anand refute these charges and offer a dynamic analysis of US imperial goals in Syria. Anand outlines the three stages of US intervention - the first being the US military and diplomatic efforts to prevent the Syrian revolutionaries from obtaining weapons to defend themselves against a murderous regime. They argue that the US is not interested in “regime change”, but would like to see Assadism without Assad. They describe two streams of counter-revolution - the regime and reactionary Islamist forces. Both are backed by competing imperialist and sub-imperialist powers. They argue that anti-imperialists need to stand in solidarity with the popular forces that are opposed to both of these forces. Most importantly, Yasser and Anand point to sources of hope. They argue that the democratic forces in Syria are small and embattled, but still exist. Many of the 5.5 million Syrian refugees are revolutionaries and are a radicalizing and destabilizing presence throughout the Middle East. They link the Syrian revolution to the wider developments in the Middle East, including the current uprising in Palestine, and the process of rebuilding a new left throughout the region. In our opener, we talk about the case of Kevin Cooper, an innocent man facing execution on California’s death row. Nicholas Kristof has written a major piece for the NY Times (bit.ly/SaveCooper) detailing the mountain of evidence that Cooper is innocent and was framed by police who planted evidence. Cooper came within hours of being executed in 2004. A massive campaign by the Free Kevin Cooper Campaign (bit.ly/CooperCampaign), the Campaign to End the Death Penalty (bit.ly/NoDeathPenalty) and other activists. Once again, he is facing execution and activists are calling on Democratic Governor Jerry Brown to grant clemency so that new evidence in Cooper’s case can be investigated. Listeners are encouraged to sign the petition (bit.ly/CooperPetition). Writings and Interviews by Anand Gopal: Interview in Socialist Worker (http://bit.ly/AnandRuderSW) about his major investigative piece for the NY Times, The Uncounted (bit.ly/Uncounted), about the underreported civilian casualties of US airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. Democracy Now! (bit.ly/AnandDN) interview Interview with International Socialist Review about the roots of ISIS (bit.ly/AnandISR). Interview with Ashley Smith for Socialist Worker on whether the US wants regime change (bit.ly/AnandSW). Writings and Interviews with Yasser Munif: Review of Burning Country, about the Syrian revolution and civil war, for the International Socialist Review (bit.ly/YasserISR). Interview with Yusef Khalil for Jacobin about the question of Syria and the Left (bit.ly/YasserJacobin). Democracy Now! Interviews during siege of Aleppo (bit.ly/YasserDNFall) and about the Syrian activists working to continue the Arab Spring (bit.ly/YasserDNSpring).

11: Trump to Iran: “This is America,” with Frieda Afary and Ashley Smith Donald Trump has ended the Iran nuclear deal. Our guests explain both the method and the madness behind the decision, which has already emboldened U.S. allies like Israel and Saudi Arabia to step up their repression in Palestine and Yemen. We also discuss the view from Iran, where there have been major protests in recent months for both workers’ and women’s rights. This interview is a continuation of our ongoing discussions about the importance of building democratic anti-imperialist politics that stand not only in opposition to the U.S. repression, but also in solidarity with people fighting for their rights, whether or not their government is allied with Washington. Frieda Afary is an Iranian-American librarian, writer, translator, activist and producer of Iranian Progressives in Translation. She’s also a founding member of the Alliance of Middle Eastern Socialists, which is an international collective of Syrian, Iranian, Kurdish, Palestinian, Turkish, Lebanese, Iraqi and Egyptian members. It is opposed to capitalism, militarism, authoritarianism, imperialism, religious fundamentalism, patriarchy/sexism/heterosexism, racism, ethnic and religious prejudice. It stands for socialism as a concept of human emancipation and an affirmative vision distinguished from the authoritarian regimes that called themselves “Communist.” Its main goals are: 1. Developing connections and active forms of solidarity between labor, feminist, anti-racist, LGBT, student and environmental struggles in the Middle East region and internationally. 2. Tackling the deep and historical problems of Middle Eastern socialism. 3. Developing an affirmative vision of a humanist alternative to capitalism. Learn more here (http://bit.ly/AlliancePrinciples) about the Alliance of Middle Eastern Socialists and its current campaign in solidarity with Middle Eastern political prisoners and activities in solidarity with Syrian Kurdish and Arab revolutionaries, Palestinians as well as Iranian labor and feminist activists in the current popular uprising in Iran. You can read Frieda’s writing on the protests in Iran (http://bit.ly/IranStrikes) and the need for solidarity with all of those suffering military attacks in Syria (http://bit.ly/SolidarityAfrin). Ashley Smith is on the editorial board of the International Socialist Review. His new article “Illiberal Hegemony: Trump’s Imperial Strategy” isn’t yet online, which is all the more reason to subscribe to the magazine here (http://bit.ly/ISRsubscribe). Ashley is also a frequent contributor to Socialist Worker on issues of U.S. wars and imperial rivalries. Check out his recent articles “The return of the regime change haws” (http://bit.ly/RegimeChangeReturn) and “Why the left has to stand with Iran’s uprising” (http://bit.ly/StandWithIan). Finally, the best English language reporting on the recent strikes in Iran might be in the Wall Street Journal (http://bit.ly/WSJonIran), which would never provide such sympathetic coverage in a country backed by the U.S. For our opener, we invited socialists and Movement for Black Lives activists Akua Ofori and Khury Peterson-Smith to discuss the wild and disturbing video for Childish Gambino’s “This is America.” Akua’s powerful Socialist Worker obituary for Erica Garner (http://bit.ly/EricaGarnerObit) touched on some of the themes she discusses about the casualties taken in recent fights against racism. Meanwhile, Khury’s review of Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” (http://bit.ly/KPSonLemonade) shows where his artistic sympathies lie. Music in this episode The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) Childish Gambino, “This Is America” Fela Kuti, “Zombie” Kendrick Lamar, “Alright” Mohammad Reza Shajarian, “Az Eshgh (Love Song),” NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert Niyaz, “Sabza Ba Naz (The Triumph of Love)” Sima Bina, اواز کردی کرمانجی و سیزه گل یار Pallett, “Vagabond”

This week we talked to socialist journalist Sarah Jaffe about the U.S. working class—real and perceived. Sarah is the author of Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt (http://bit.ly/Jaffebook) and the co-host of the Belabored Podcast (http://bit.ly/BelaboredPod). She’s a regular contributor to The New Republic, The Nation and many other progressive publications and her work is increasingly in shmancy places like the New York Times. She’s a hardworking uncompromising radical who’s paid her dues and is finding a wider audience. Sarah has smart things to say about issues like gender as well as class, and how they in fact can’t be separated. So we did something different for our tenth episode and invited our interview guest to join us for our opening discussion about the latest devastating revelations of sexual assaults from high profile figures, and the ways that the #MeToo moment continues to pose challenges both the powerful and new questions for those trying to build collective movements against their power. Sarah’s website (/http://bit.ly/Jaffesite) has info about her book, articles, podcast and upcoming appearances. To follow up on our discussion of #MeToo, check out Sarah’s Dissent article “The Collective Power of #MeToo” (http://bit.ly/CollectiveMeToo), Ronan Farrow and Jane Meyer’s New Yorker detailed story about the allegations of abuse against New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (http://bit.ly/Schneidermanabuse), and Alianza Nacional de Campesinas statement (http://bit.ly/AlianzaCampesinas) issued in solidarity with Hollywood actresses from farmworkers that Sarah credits with helping to transform #MeToo into an actual movement. For more on the accounts of author Junot Díaz’s abuse and abusive behavior, check out Díaz’s “The Silence: The Legacy of Childhood Trauma” (http://bit.ly/Diazstory) and Aya de Leon’s “Reconciling Rage and Compassion: The Unfolding #MeTooMoment and Junot Díaz” (http://bit.ly/AyadeLeon). Finally, you really should check out Gina Haspel Shatters the Glass Ceiling! (http://bit.ly/PiaGuerra), the Pia Guerra cartoon in The Nib that Sarah referenced about the war criminal being nominated for CIA director. In our conversation about the working class we referenced these articles: At the top of the discussion, we talked about Sarah’s New Republic “The Struggle to Stay Middle Class” (http://bit.ly/StruggleMiddleClass) about the teacher strikes and class consciousness since the Great Recession. Some of Sarah’s other articles that relate to our discussion are her Guardian piece about home care workers (http://bit.ly/homecareworkers) who will lose their jobs if Medicaid cuts go through and her New Republic piece about how “welfare” is a racist buzzword deployed to justify cutting any number of social programs (http://bit.ly/Jaffewelfare). For more on Sarah’s comment on Democrats like Andrew Cuomo having Republican policies toward public sector workers, check out Danny’s Socialist Worker article criticizing the United Federation of Teachers’ endorsement of Cuomo (http://bit.ly/CuomoBlues). Finally, we talked about the Socialism 2018 conference (bit.ly/Socialism2018), where Sarah will be interviewing Francis Fox Piven, author of the classic Poor People’s Movements: Why The Succeed, How They Fail (http://bit.ly/PoorPeoplesMovements). At the Socialism conference you can also see Jen talking about “From Apathy to Rebellion: What Makes Workers Fight?”, Eric on “Marxists, Elections and the State”, and Danny on gun violence and gun control. The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) Jamila Woods, “Blk Girl Soldier” X Ray Spex, “Oh Bondage, Up Yours!” Bikini Kill, “Liar” Dolly Parton, “9 to 5” Alan Jackson, “A Hard Hat and a Hammer” Sarah Jones, “Your Revolution” Janelle Monae, “American” Audio of Tarana Burke (founder of the “Me Too” movement) and Mily Treviño-Sauceda (National Alliance of Women Farmworkers) interviewed on Democracy Now!

*Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts (bit.ly/BetterOffRediTunes) and share with friends. If you like Better Off Red, consider donating on Patreon. (bit.ly/PatreonRedPod)* This week we talk to Lee Wengraf about her book, Extracting Profit: Imperialism, Neoliberalism and the New Scramble for Africa (bit.ly/ExtractingProfit). Lee’s book challenges the prevailing myths that shape how most people understand the persistence of war and poverty in Africa. These come not only in outright racist forms, but also as paternalistic, liberal tropes. We discuss the Guyanese Marxist Walter Rodney’s groundbreaking work How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Lee describes how economic and social development was reversed in Africa history as a result of colonial intervention. She argues that this is not only in the colonial past, but that imperialism and neoliberalism have continued to shape the development of Africa. Lee extends Rodney’s analysis to discuss the role of the IMF, the World Bank and neoliberal economic policy since the establishment of national independence throughout most of Africa. Today there is a new scramble for Africa, with the US and China competing for access to oil and mineral assets. Extractive industries have threatened the ecological sustainability of the continent and are displacing local communities. But they are also creating a powerful working-class. Lee talks about her recent trip to attend a conference of left-wing activists in Tanzania and then to South Africa, where she was able to witness a one-day national strike. She talks about how the debates that African socialists have wrestled with for many decades, and which are discussed in her book, have taken on a pressing urgency today. In our opener, we wish Karl Marx’s a happy 200th birthday (which was on May 5th). We discuss the centrality of struggle from below, the concept of self-emancipation and why Marxism is not just a narrow economic struggle but a strategy for full human liberation. We point to the teachers’ strikes as a vindication of Marx’s project of working-class self-emancipation and end our opening segment with interviews with Arizona teachers on strike. For more resources on materials covered in this episode, explore: You can purchase Lee’s book at Haymarket Books (bit.ly/ExtractingProfit). If you want to learn more about Walter Rodney, you can see the video of Lee’s presentation for the Socialism Conference (bit.ly/Socialism2018) at our YouTube channel (bit.ly/RodneyVideo). For more about class struggles in South Africa after independence, two excellent talks are available at We Are Many (bit.ly/WeareMany): Pranav Jani on After Independence (bit.ly/AfterIndependenceJani); and, Aaron Amaral on Class Struggle in South Africa Today (bit.ly/SouthAfricaAmaral). If you liked what we had to say about Karl Marx’ relevance today, read Todd Chretien on How Marx Became a Marxist (bit.ly/SWMarxist) for Socialist Worker’s 200th birthday feature. To find out more about socialism and ways to get involved, check out Socialism 2018 , held in Chicago, July 5-8 (bit.ly/Socialism2018). The NYC ISO, DSA and Jacobin are hosting a meeting on the Lessons of the Teachers’ Revolt (bit.ly/LessonsTeachers) May 9th at Verso in NYC - you can watch the livestream at Jacobin's facebook page (bit.ly/JacobinFB). Music The Boy & Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix) DJ Mujava, “Township Funk,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBNYjAhEsx4 Amandla, “Sasol,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fu9N1U9fFY Band Aid 1984, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjQzJAKxTrE Seun Kuti, “IMF,” ft. M1 (from Dead Prez), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fGcf3GODKE Y'en a Marre, “Dox ak sa Gox,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74YyD_SB33U Fela Kuti, “International Thief Thief (I.T.T.),” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jptR_YwCs3o

08: Anti-imperialism, Internationalism, and Palestine with Sumaya Awad In this week’s episode, we speak with Sumaya Awad, a Palestinian activist who has been active in Students for Justice and Palestine and co-founded a project to counter the Canary Mission, an odious blacklist of campus Palestine solidarity activists. Sumaya talked to us about the incredible bravery currently taking place at the Gaza-Israel border, where thousands are enduring violent and often sadistic Israeli repression in a nonviolent protest to assert their right to return to their historic homes. She put the current protests in the historic context of the first and second intifadas, and the endless “peace process” that has been cynically used to defuse Palestinian resistance without ever touching the fundamental questions that the marches to the border have put back on the agenda. And we discussed the importance of the international Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) solidarity movement, and her work in helping to start Against Canary Mission to defend BDS activists. In opening discussion, Jen, Danny and Eric discuss the meaning of anti-imperialism, an important concept in the socialist tradition that some have distorted to mean supporting any regime (no matter how repressive or reactionary) that opposes the U.S. government. We talk about what it means for leftists to recognize that “the main enemy is at home”—especially when their home is the world’s biggest imperial power—while also being internationalists who instinctively support struggles for justice by people anywhere in the world regardless of whether their governments are allied or opposed to Washington. Here are some links if you want to pursue any of these topics further: You can read Sumaya’s writings in Socialist Worker about the Great Return March in Gaza [https://socialistworker.org/2018/04/04/israel-responds-to-land-protests-with-a-massacre] and her solidarity visit to Standing Rock [https://socialistworker.org/2016/12/05/how-the-standing-rock-protectors-won], and visit Against Canary Mission [http://againstcanarymission.org/] to learn more about this important effort to defend the free speech rights of Palestine solidarity activists. For further reading about the state of Israel and the Palestinian struggle, there are many useful pieces in the International Socialist Review, including Phil Gasper’s Israel: Colonial Settler State [http://www.isreview.org/issues/15/israel_colonial.shtml] in the International Socialist Review, Naseer Aruri’s 2001 interview about Israel’s cynical abuse of the peace process [http://www.isreview.org/issues/15/Aruri_interview.shtml], and Sherry Wolf’s piece on the rise of the BDS movement [https://isreview.org/issue/93/whats-behind-rise-bds]. In addition, Haymarket Books is having a 70% sale [https://www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/71-70-off-haymarket-books-on-palestine] this month on all of its books about Palestine. For further reading about our discussion of anti-imperialism, check out Anti-Imperialism and the Syrian Revolution [https://socialistworker.org/2016/08/25/anti-imperialism-and-the-syrian-revolution] by Ashley Smith and the solidarity statement with the protests in Iran that Jen referred to from the Alliance of Middle Eastern Socialists [https://www.allianceofmesocialists.org/solidarity-popular-protests-iran-statement-alliance-middle-eastern-socialists/]. Music and audio from this episode The Boy Sister Alma, “Lizard Eyes” (Dead Sea Captains Remix)

05: Teachers’ Rebellion-Strike Wave Edition ***Please subscribe to us on iTunes (bit.ly/BetterOffRediTunes) and leave us a rating and review. It helps us reach a wider audience with these ideas.*** “West Virginia first, Oklahoma next”. That’s what teachers started chanting when they won their strike in West Virginia. And now the teachers’ rebellion really has spread like a wildfire, with the Oklahoma teachers’ strike entering its second week and teachers talking action in Kentucky and Arizona. This episode is entirely about the teachers’ rebellion. Danny, Jen and Eric discuss some of the lessons of these strikes before bringing you a series of great interviews from the front lines. We bring you clips from an onsite interview with Oklahoma teacher Jessica Lightle. Then we are joined by Eric Blanc, a journalist who has been covering the strike wave for Jacobin magazine. Eric has been on the ground in both West Virginia and Oklahoma and shares his analysis and insights with us. And finally, we talk to a teacher organizer and striker from West Virginia, Nicole McCormick. She is joined by Dana Blanchard, a veteran teacher who travelled to West Virginia to cover the strike for Socialist Worker. There’s a lot packed in this episode and we’re pretty sure you’ll want to hear more. Here are some resources mentioned in the show as well as links for further reading: Socialist Worker ran an article featuring the voices of Oklahoma teachers (bit.ly/OklahomaSW), including more from the interview we excerpted with Jessica Lightle. You can also go to the full site of SW to read extensive coverage of West Virginia, Kentucky and Oklahoma as well as more on why these strikes are spreading. Eric Blanc’s has been covering the strikes for Jacobin and his most recent article is on Oklahoma’s turn to strike (bit.ly/OklahomaJacobin). You can also go to the full site at Jacobin for more coverage of the strikes. We’re including a link to the full video of the solidarity rally held in NYC (bit.ly/SolidarityNYC) just after the victory of the strike in West Virginia. There was also a solidarity rally held in Seattle (bit.ly/SolidaritySeattle) a few weeks later, which featured Seattle educator Jesse Hagopian in conversation with Nicole McCormick (featured in this episode) and Oklahoma strike leader Larry Cagle.

04: Undocumented and Unafraid with Lupita Romero In this bonus episode, we talk to immigrant rights activist Lupita Romero about her experiences growing up as an undocumented immigrant and as a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Lupita describes the tension that many DREAMers feel between fighting to preserve DACA and rejecting the narrative that they are somehow uniquely “good” immigrants who alone deserve protection and equality. Lupita is a socialist and long-time immigrant justice organizer in New York City. She’s written a number of articles for Socialist Worker, including “The ugly business of immigrant detention” at bit.ly/uglybusiness. If you want to further explore any of the themes in this episode, check out some of the following links: You can read Lupita’s interview (bit.ly/DACAclock) about the mood among DREAM activists as DACA neared expiration. Learn more about about the 4,000 DACA applications mysteriously delayed in the mail, from this report in Vox (bit.ly/delayedapplications). And here’s an important resolution passed by a union (bit.ly/unionresolution) representing legal workers to affirm its commitment to support members who are in the DACA and Temporary Refugee Status programs now under threat from the Trump administration.

The Public Sphere is a podcast from Contrivers Review. Please consider supporting The Public Sphere and Contrivers' Review on Patreon. Today we're talking to Wesley Bishop, a PhD candidate in History at Purdue University. His writings have appeared at Jacobin, The Socialist Worker, and TERSE, where he is the assistant editor. He is also a campus organizer with the Purdue Social Justice Coalition. In late April of 2017, Purdue University in West Lafeyette, Indiana, announced plans to acquire Kaplan University—an online, for profit school—its 15 campuses and learning centers, and its 32,000 students and 3,000 employees. The ostensible was to expand their presence in online education. They plan to continue running Kaplan online as a private company with a different name.  This is a unique situation for a lot of reasons which we get into during our discussion. We also discuss the West Virginia teachers' strike and revisit the essay Wes wrote for Contrivers' Review last fall. Visit www.contrivers.org to read great essays and interviews. You can also sign up for our newsletter, follow us on Twitter, or like our Facebook page. If you have a suggestion for the podcast, or an essay or review you'd like to pitch, get in touch with us through social media or email. The Public Sphere is on iTunes where you can rate and review us. Thanks for listening.

Resources and links mentioned in this episode: We start this episode with a clip from Edna Chavez at the March for Our Lives, but the whole video is a must watch. Danny talks about “Taking on Gun Fundamentalism” [https://socialistworker.org/2018/02/27/how-do-socialists-take-on-gun-fundamentalism] in Socialist Worker, while Chicago activists Alex Vega-Byrnes and Todd St Hill talk about how Chicago high school students are Making the connections to stop gun violence. We quoted LA teacher, Gillian Russom, about the criminalizing and alienating impact of more cops in our schools. You can read her full article here. We talked about how important it is to bring the demands of #BlackLivesMatter into the debate on gun violence, particularly in the wake of the police murder of Stephon Clark. You can read Jesse Hagopian, one of the initiators of the Black Lives Matter in Schools week of action, discuss this and highlight the demands raised by students in Chicago, on his blog. We ended our intro segment with a tribute to Draylen Mason, a Black 17-year old high school student murdered by a package bomb in Austin, Texas. Draylen was a gifted musician who would have learned this week that he had been accepted into the highly selective conservatory at Oberlin. We ended with a clip of him playing bass in a performance of Vanhal’s Concerto and provide the link to the full video here. In our segment with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, we talk about the West Virginia teachers strike, and you won’t want to miss this inspiring solidarity meeting in New York City about the West Virginia teachers strike. You can read more coverage of the strike at Socialist Worker, including Khury Petersen-Smith on How West Virginia Put Class Struggle Back on the Map. In this interview we talk about race, class and Trump in West Virginia—a theme Pranav Jani discusses in more detail in an article about talking socialism in Trump country. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor also weighed in on the new movement against gun violence—and especially the many potential linkages with the Movement for Black Lives. This is a theme she took up in a piece on anti-racism and the uprising against guns. If you enjoyed listening to Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, you can hear her speak at this year’s Socialism 2018 conference, a gathering of nearly 2,000 radicals and activists, featuring more than 100 meetings on topics like those we take up. You can also order both of her books at Haymarket Books. Thank you so much for checking out our first episode. If you liked what you heard, please leave us a review and rating at iTunes, share with your friends and consider subscribing so that you don’t miss any future episodes.

In this bonus episode, we talk to Brian Jones about how public schools have historically been a place where ruling-class goals of instilling conformity have clashed with working-class goals of securing a better future, and how those conflicts are playing out today from the walkouts against gun violence to the protests to stop school closures and opt out of high-stakes standardized tests. Brian Jones is an educator and activist in New York City and a scholar in residence at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Brian contributed to Education and Capitalism: Struggles for Learning and Liberation and is the narrator of The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman, a documentary about the creeping privatization of public schools in New York City. If you want to explore any of the themes in this episode further, you can check out some of the following links: • Danny’s article in Socialist Worker about the Black Lives Matter at School week of action. [https://socialistworker.org/2018/02/09/a-lesson-in-how-to-fight-for-black-lives] • The article Brian cited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor about the relationship between the Parkland student protests and the Movement for Black Lives. [https://socialistworker.org/2018/02/26/anti-racism-and-the-uprising-against-guns] • Danny’s article about the UPS worker walkout over inhumane conditions, including harassing a driver who had just come back from a severe workplace injury. [http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/23271-a-walkout-at-ups-and-labors-old-school-future]

Spain's Left Vote: Dick Nichols goes through the vote for Sanchez back to top job in centralist Socialist Worker's Party (PSOE) after the establishment denied influence of Podemos http://links.org.au/catalonia-versus-spanish-state-battleground-independence-referendum.National Wages Case: Don Sutherland talks about the significance and role of the National Wages Case. He asks the question is the system broke?Vic Govt Public Housing Raid: the Victoria Minister in charge of Public Housing Martin Foley sells off public housing estates in a Developer win fall. We talk to Steve Jolly about a fight back.

We’re In The Midst Of A Political Realignment by MFlowers Decades of lesser evil voting and the failed policies that have been the result are creating a political realignment in the United States. Such a realignment has been going on in other countries recently such as Spain, Venezuela, Greece and Iceland. The two major parties in the US, the Democrats and Republicans, are shrinking and more people are joining third parties or switching to be unaffiliated. We’ll discuss this political realignment and what it means with Darcy Richardson and Ashley Smith. Relevant articles and websites: Donald Trump Frees Us to Vote as We Wish by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers Will the Democrats Put Out the Bern? by Ashley Smith The Sanders Campaign and the Left by Ashley Smith and Lance Selfa International Socialist Organization Uncovered Politics   Guests: Darcy Richardson is the author of more than a dozen books covering American political history.  Richardson’s books on American history and politics — one of which earned an Outstanding Academic Title (OAT) from scholarly Choicemagazine in 2005 — were cited in Newsweek’s “What You Need to Read” section in July 2010. His most recent book, Bernie: A Lifelong Crusade Against Wall Street & Wealth, was published by Sevierville Publishing in December 2015. Long active in third-party politics, Richardson has rubbed shoulders with some of the best-known political figures of the past three decades.  In addition to managing one of the late Minnesota Senator Eugene J. McCarthy’s campaigns and serving as a senior advisor in another, Richardson ran for Pennsylvania Auditor General in 1980 and for the U.S. Senate eight years later on the Philadelphia-based Consumer Party ticket.  In 2012, he offered himself as a protest candidate in several Democratic presidential primaries, briefly challenging Wall Street’s increasingly corrupt influence on the Democratic Party and the nation’s body politic. A resident of Jacksonville, Richardson has been quoted in major publications such as the Wall Street Journal, theWashington Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer, and has written numerous articles for a wide range of publications.  He has also been a guest on several nationally-syndicated radio talk shows, ranging from the progressive “Thom Hartmann Show” to Joseph Farah’s conservative “WorldNetDaily Radioactive” program. Darcy can be reached via email at darcy@uncoveredpolitics.com Ashley Smith is on the editorial board of the International Socialist Review (ISR) and on the Steering Committee of the International Socialist Organization. He has written on various subjects for the ISR as well as Socialist Worker, New Politics, ZNet, and Jacobin. He lives in Burlington, Vermont.

In this interview we hear from Socialist Worker's Party member & Lexit Campaign Spokesperson Joseph Choonara. We spoke about the movement on the radical Left that pushed successfully for Britain to leave the European Union. We also spoke about the larger split between the movements on Left, the abandonment of the working class by Labour, the anti-immigrant nature of the EU, and how we can start to work more effectively across class divides to build a stronger, more viable Left. 

In this interview we hear from Socialist Worker's Party member & Lexit Campaign Spokesperson Joseph Choonara. We spoke about the movement on the radical Left that pushed successfully for Britain to leave the European Union. We also spoke about the larger split between the movements on Left, the abandonment of the working class by Labour, the anti-immigrant nature of the EU, and how we can start to work more effectively across class divides to build a stronger, more viable Left. 

In GBA 227 we get better acquainted with Charlie. Over coffee and cake he talks about commissioning documentaries for The Guardian, being arrested for protesting tax avoidance, what he looks for in documentaries, activism, being a vegan, working at Sheffield Doc Fest, Jewishness, solidarity and more. Charlie plugs: Guardian Documentaries: http://www.theguardian.com/news/series/the-guardian-documentary and giving him feedback on the Guardian Docs: Charlie.Philips@guardian.com I plug: Stand Up Tragedy presents.... http://www.facebook.com/events/461679520679231/ #ManSurvey: http://www.mansplainingmasculinity.co.uk We mention: Sonjas episode: https://soundcloud.com/gettingbetteracquainted/gba-164-sonja Spark London: http://www.stories.co.uk Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/ Auto Trader: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/ Alan Rusbridger: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Rusbridger Owen Jones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Jones_(writer) Polly Toynbee: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Toynbee Jonathan Freedland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Freedland Vlogging: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_blog Sheffield Doc/Fest: https://sheffdocfest.com/ 291 Gallary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/291_(art_gallery) Channel 4: http://www.channel4.com/ Andrew Kötting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_K%C3%B6tting Pan's Labyrinth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan%27s_Labyrinth Guillermo del Toro: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_del_Toro Super 8: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_8_film Structuralist Filmakers of the 60's and 70's: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_film Hasidic Judaism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasidic_Judaism Radical Jewish Identity of the late 19th and early 20th Century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_left Trash: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trash_(nightclub) Betty and the Werewolves: http://damagedgoods.co.uk/bands/betty-and-the-werewolves C86: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C86_(album) Paper Thin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2A2XBrI_T0 Damaged Goods: http://damagedgoods.co.uk/ Mumblecore: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumblecore Lena Dunham: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_Dunham Appropriate Behaviour: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriate_Behaviour SXSW: http://www.sxsw.com/ 20,000 Days on Earth: http://nickcave.com/news/nick-cave-20000-days-on-earth/ Jeremy Deller: http://www.jeremydeller.org/ Joe Sacco: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Sacco Maus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maus Ariel Shrag: http://www.arielschrag.com/ Persepolis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_(comics) Tiny Furniture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_Furniture Ira Glass: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Glass Radiolab: http://www.radiolab.org/ Door Into The Dark: http://doorintothedark.com/ Socialist Worker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Workers_Party_(UK) Tony Benn: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Benn Climate Rush: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_Rush Climate Camp: https://twitter.com/climatecamp UK Uncut: http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/ Jewdas: http://jewdas.org/ EDL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Defence_League Britain First: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britain_First Horse Meat: http://www.theguardian.com/uk/horsemeat-scandal Follow @GBApodcast on Twitter. Like Getting Better Acquainted on facebook. Tell your friends. Spread the word!