If anyone thinks about medieval Flanders today, it’s most likely because they have an interest in the art of painters like Bruegel and Rubens. But Flanders also pioneered the art of class warfare. There was nowhere else in Europe during the Middle Ages where the popular classes posed such an effective challenge to aristocratic power. At its high point during the early fourteenth century, this wave of popular mobilization defeated some of Europe’s most powerful armies. Jan Dumolyn, professor of h...
Dec 21, 2023•33 min
Joel Schalit, editor of The Battleground , discusses what it is in Israeli politics and society that’s behind the carnage in Gaza. Amy Schiller, author of The Price of Humanity , looks at what’s wrong with philanthropy and how to fix it. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online ....
Dec 19, 2023•53 min
The French Revolution and the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte have inspired a lot of takes... so, of course, you can depend on Ridley Scott to find the least imaginative one. We discuss his lugubrious NAPOLEON (2023). PLUS: An update on Canadian politics, and some thoughts on the man who may be Prime Minsiter, Pierre Poilievre. Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.
Dec 18, 2023•57 min
Featuring Shaul Magid on post-1948 Jewish Zionism and Jewish anti-Zionism—including today's new generation of young, militant, left-wing, anti-Zionist American Jews and the Jewish establishment's quixotic efforts to deny and disavow them. PART TWO of a two-part interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Join Jewish Voice for Peace jewishvoiceforpeace.org/join-us Buy The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation at Versobooks.com Buy Let Them Eat Crypto at plutobooks.com...
Dec 15, 2023•1 hr 52 min
In the lead-up to the 2003 Iraq War, HBO made a movie about the lead-up to the first Gulf War, from the perspective of its most important factor: CNN. In LIVE FROM BAGHDAD (2002), Michael Keaton and his team of CNN reporters are Davids against the Goliaths that are establishment media... and the Iraqi security state. We discuss a mind-bogglingly awful piece of American propaganda from the Bush era. Richard Seymour on CNN and Iraq - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELrGcK6XInE&ab_channel=T...
Dec 12, 2023•46 min
Trita Parsi discusses the global context of the Gaza war. James Bamford, author of a recent article for The Nation , investigates how Israel spies on US campuses. And Alberto Toscano , author of Late Fascism , talks about the latest iteration of the rough beast. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online ....
Dec 11, 2023•53 min
Alan Minsky , Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America, spoke with Israeli historian and Genocide Studies scholar Omer Bartov at a public forum this week about the Israel/Gaza crisis. Bartov published two widely read pieces in November: "What I Believe as a Historian of Genocide," New York Times , November 10, and "A political stalemate led to the bloodshed in the Middle East. Only a political settlement can truly end it," published in the Guardian November 29. Their conversation f...
Dec 08, 2023•53 min
Featuring Shaul Magid on the long history of Jewish Zionism and its antagonist, Jewish anti-Zionism. Defenders of Israel defame anti-Zionists as antisemites. In fact, today's growing ranks of anti-Zionist Jews draw on a powerful and diverse tradition. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Ireland, Colonialism, and the Unfinished Revolution at haymarketbooks.org/books/2111-ireland-colonialism-and-the-unfinished-revolution Use code DIG2023 for 50% off a subscription to Jewish Currents at secur...
Dec 08, 2023•1 hr 52 min
The estimated number of Palestinians killed or missing in the occupied territories since this war began is now 24,000 people — twenty times as many Israelis as were killed on October 7th. US government officials claim to have privately told Israel that it “must do more to limit civilian casualties” as the focus of the operation moves south. However, there is no evidence of any change in Israel's approach as the focus shifts from northern to southern Gaza and the relentless bombardment of civilia...
Dec 07, 2023•46 min
Ed Harris is a senator with presidential ambitions. Diane Keaton is the love of his life, but uncomfortable in politics. And with the White House in his grasp, his campaign is about to be rattled by a very, very stupid revelation from her past. We discuss Michael Lindsay-Hogg's RUNNING MATES (1992), a movie that emerged straight from the primordial ooze of the 1992 election cycle. Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage....
Dec 05, 2023•49 min
Leigh Claire La Berge , author of Marx for Cats , talks about political economy and the human–feline relationship. Then an interview with Michael Zweig , author of Class, Race, and Gender , on understanding capitalism in order to transform it. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online ....
Dec 01, 2023•53 min
The old saying goes that "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." But it helps if the men are very, very stupid. We discuss Martin Scorsese's KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, in which the architect of a Native American genocide finds an easy pawn in one of the lowest-IQ protagonists in movie history. Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.
Nov 28, 2023•58 min
Featuring Mohammed el-Kurd on Palestine. A short but expansive interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletters and vast archives at thedigradio.com Shop Haymarket's ALL 40% off Holiday sale at haymarketbooks.org Take the Bookmatch quiz nplusonemag.com...
Nov 27, 2023•1 hr 2 min
Featuring Richard Seymour on the global politics of the Palestinian struggle and Israel’s war on Gaza. The *second* of a two-part interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy Going for Broke haymarketbooks.org/books/2097-going-for-broke Take the Bookmatch quiz nplusonemag.com...
Nov 21, 2023•1 hr 55 min
Christopher Ketcham , author of this  Harper's  article , gives us a look inside the mind of an “ecoterrorist”. Neve Gordon discusses what dynamics in Israeli society have led to the acceptance of bombing hospitals. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive here ....
Nov 20, 2023•53 min
For centuries, the English Peasants’ Revolt in 1381 only appeared in the historical record through bitterly hostile sources. Medieval chroniclers like Froissart presented it as a terrifying eruption of savagery from the lower classes. But the rise of modern social movements organizing workers and farmers encouraged historians to take a fresh look at this early challenge to aristocratic power. Dominic Alexander, historian and the author of Saints and Animals in the Middle Ages , joins Long Reads ...
Nov 16, 2023•1 hr 2 min
Featuring Richard Seymour on the global politics of the Palestinian struggle and Israel's war on Gaza. The first of a two-part interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Ireland, Colonialism, and the Unfinished Revolution at haymarketbooks.org/books/2111-ireland-colonialism-and-the-unfinished-revolution Buy Care: The Highest Stage of Capitalism at haymarketbooks.org/books/2098-care...
Nov 15, 2023•1 hr 21 min
Anatol Lieven discusses the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and the global standing of United States power. Ilyana Kuziemko and Suresh Naidu , co-authors of a recent paper on "economic policy and partisan realignment" in the US, talk about class differences in economic policy preferences ("predistributionist" vs. redistributionist). Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online ...
Nov 13, 2023•53 min
Labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein returns to Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman to talk about the Tentative Agreements (TAs) the United Auto Workers (UAW) reached—still to be ratified—with the Big Three auto companies after six weeks on strike. It was the first time the UAW hit the Detroit Three at once. As Nelson wrote in his recent Jacobin piece , the UAW strike victory is historic and transformative, ending a forty-three-year era of concession bargaining and labor movement defeat. “With its s...
Nov 09, 2023•53 min
What if Britain's notorious right-wing GB News channel gave fading comedy hero and current "anti-woke" nuisance John Cleese a weekly show to do whatever he wants? Folks... the results may surprise you. We discuss the first few episodes THE DINOSAUR HOUR, the Monty Python legend's baffling new show. PLUS: Checking in on the Doug Burgum and Chris Christie campaign juggernauts. Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage....
Nov 08, 2023•56 min
Featuring Beverly Gage on her masterful biography G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century . Guest hosted by Micah Uetricht. The Dig is an essential political education project. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig . Subscribe to Jacobin bit.ly/digjacobin Buy War Made Invisible thenewpress.com/books/war-made-invisible...
Nov 07, 2023•1 hr 44 min
Amjad Iraqi talks about what it’s like to be a Palestinian citizen of Israel—and what the Israeli state has in mind for Gaza. Georgi Derluguian , author of a recent guest essay in the Times , analyzes how the expulsion of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh exemplifies a new world disorder. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online ....
Nov 06, 2023•53 min
For the week of Halloween, we offer a fond nod of the hat to our old, old friend Count Dracula by discussing NOSFERATU, PHANTOM DER NACHT (1979). And because we've both just read Werner Herzog's new autobiography, we discuss how its depiction of science versus the unknown fits squarely into the larger Herzog project. PLUS: More reflections on the crisis in Gaza. This podcast was originally broadcast October 31st. Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted b...
Nov 02, 2023•56 min
This is another special episode of Long Reads about Israel’s war on Gaza. Dan spoke to Rashid Khalidi, one of the leading historians of modern Palestine, on Monday, October 30th. Last week, Joe Biden used a press conference at the White House to cast doubt on the casualty figures from Gaza. Neither Biden nor the White House offered any evidence to justify their alleged skepticism. An article in the Huffington Post showed that the State Department had been perfectly willing to rely on casualty fi...
Nov 01, 2023•45 min
Rami Khouri , a Palestinian American journalist and scholar, analyzes the war in Gaza. Evelyn McDonnell , author of The World According to Joan Didion , talks about the life and work of a groundbreaking writer. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online ....
Oct 30, 2023•53 min
Featuring Tareq Baconi on the history of Hamas. This is the context we need. And it is precisely what mainstream discourse mystifies, denies, and disavows. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Contribute to Palestinian relief: pcrf.net map.org.uk anera.org Buy Light in Gaza at haymarketbooks.org/books/1885-light-in-gaza Buy Palestine: A Socialist Introduction at haymarketbooks.org/books/1558-palestine-a-socialist-introduction...
Oct 27, 2023•2 hr
Stephanie Ross outlines the UAW’s innovative strike strategy against the Big Three automakers. Christopher Morten and Amy Kapczynski discuss how corporate America profits off publicly funded research and how to stop them from doing that. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online ....
Oct 23, 2023•53 min
This episode is The Dig's Palestine Teach-In. The most informative clips from our archives on Palestine and Israel. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our excellent newsletters—sent to you by email if you support us on Patreon thedigradio.com/newsletter Donate now to support Gaza relief pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/forms/gaza-relief Buy Ten Myths About Israel at https://www.versobooks.com/products/370-ten-myths-about-israel Buy An Enemy Such As This at www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2106-an-...
Oct 20, 2023•1 hr 58 min
With the crisis in Gaza on our minds, we spend a little time with one of the most acclaimed Palestinian filmmakers, Elia Suleiman, and his lovely film IT MUST BE HEAVEN (2019). "We Cannot Cross Until We Carry Each Other" by Arielle Angel - https://jewishcurrents.org/we-cannot-cross-until-we-carry-each-other Order Luke's new book Seeking Social Democracy: Seven Decades in the Fight for Equality coauthored with Ed Broadbent - https://ecwpress.com/products/seeking-social-democracy-ed-broadbent TORO...
Oct 19, 2023•33 min
Featuring Noura Erakat and Arielle Angel on the apartheid system and the violence it drives in Palestine. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our excellent newsletters—sent to you by email if you support us on Patreon thedigradio.com/newsletter Donate now to support Gaza relief pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/forms/gaza-relief Buy On Edward Said haymarketbooks.org/books/1556-on-edward-said Buy Palestine: A Socialist Introduction haymarketbooks.org/books/1558-palestine-a-socialist-introduction...
Oct 19, 2023•1 hr 7 min
