This week, Grace talks to Max Lawson, Head of Inequality Policy at Oxfam, about their new report Inequality Kills, which you can read here: https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/inequality-kills . They discuss why inequality has increased so much over the course of the pandemic, how this increase in inequality is affecting our democracies and our ability to tackle issues like the pandemic and climate breakdown, and what we need to do about it. A World to Win is a podcast from Grace Blakeley and Trib...
Mar 03, 2022•44 min
Doug interviews Christopher Leonard, author of The Lords of Easy Money , on the damage done by over a decade of hyper-easy monetary policy from the Fed. Then Lea Ypi , a political philsopher and author of Free , discusses growing up in the last days of Communist Albania and the early days of its neoliberal successor. 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: https://www...
Mar 01, 2022•53 min
Tony Wood returns to The Dig to discuss Russia’s invasion, what it reflects about Russian politics and geopolitics today and historically, and how the Left should be thinking about it all. Tony's LRB essay: lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n04/tony-wood2/why-didn-t-they-stop-it Listen to past Dig eps for context on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: Tony Wood on Russia and Putin: thedigradio.com/podcast/russia-beyond-putin-with-tony-wood Volodymyr Ishchenko on Ukraine: thedigradio.com/podcast/ukraine-w-volody...
Mar 01, 2022•1 hr 6 min
Eldon Hoke—better known to the world as "El Duce"—was one of the most notorious of the so-called "shock rockers" who frightened moralists during the George H.W. Bush years. His purposely rock-bottom art is explored in THE EL DUCE TAPES (2019), a culture war documentary in which the culture war is fought between different styles of reactionaries. PLUS: thoughts on draconian new Republican policies in Florida and Texas. Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hos...
Feb 28, 2022•38 min
Suzi talks to Bohdan Krawchenko and Mick Cox on Russia's catastrophic war on Ukraine, the resistance, and global consequences it has sparked. Bohdan Krawchenko looks at the situation inside Ukraine. We also talk about the widespread anti-war actions from within Russia, and the level of support for Ukraine, increasingly isolating Putin. Mick Cox says that Putin’s war is about regime change in Ukraine, to make Ukraine more like Russia, which will consolidate Putin's kleptocratic control at home. I...
Feb 28, 2022•1 hr 6 min
Dan interviews historian Kim Phillips-Fein on Invisible Hands: The Making of the Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan. Listen to Kim's Dig interview on Fear City: New York’s Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics thedigradio.com/podcast/fear-city-with-kim-phillips-fein/ Listen to past Dig eps for context on Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Tony Wood on Russia and Putin: thedigradio.com/podcast/russia-beyond-putin-with-tony-wood Volodymyr Ishchenko on Ukraine: thedigradio.com/...
Feb 26, 2022•2 hr 18 min
David Edgerton joins Long Reads for a discussion about the making of the modern British nation. David is a professor at King’s College London, where his work concentrates on twentieth-century history, global science, and technology. His most recent work is The Rise and Fall of the British Nation , one of the most ambitious reinterpretations of modern Britain for many years. Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with t...
Feb 26, 2022•1 hr 7 min
Economist Ramaa Vasudevan explains the causes and consequences of inflation from a socialist perspective. Natalie Shure looks at the growing discontent with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the left. Jen Pan discusses the recent San Francisco school board recall and what it says about the Democrats’ abandonment of Asian voters. The Jacobin Show, hosted by Jen Pan, offers socialist perspectives on class and capitalism in the twenty-first century, the failures of liberalism, and the pros...
Feb 25, 2022•58 min
Doug speaks with Toronto-based activist and organizer John Clarke on the politics and personnel behind the Ottawa convoy. Plus: Dave Zirin on racism in the NFL (and Brian Flores’s lawsuit over it) and Justine Medina on working at Amazon and trying to unionize it. This is the show from February 17, 2022. 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: https://www.leftbusinesso...
Feb 24, 2022•53 min
In another Superdelegate-selected episode, we discuss THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT (1996), the hagiographic biopic of the Hustler Magazine publisher and First Amendment warrior. We discuss Flynt's politics and the implications of his brand of civil libertarianism. PLUS: would you like to live in a town run by Disney? "Announcing Storyliving by Disney": www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CVucnt46ww Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage...
Feb 23, 2022•42 min
Suzi talks to Canadian Labor historian Bryan Palmer about the so-called " Freedom Convoy " of truckers that held Ottawa hostage for three weeks, clogging the streets of the city as well as the US-Canadian border crossings from New Brunswick to British Columbia. Bryan calls this "Canada’s alt-right freedom rage," and while protesters said they were opposing state mandates related to the pandemic, their target is the liberal government of Justin Trudeau. They are a well-funded movement with parall...
Feb 22, 2022•52 min
Feminist political theorist and organizer Verónica Gago on Argentina’s massive feminist movement and strike, the ties that bind domestic labor and financial exploitation, neoliberalism from below, and more. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out Coup: A Story of Violence and Resistance in Bolivia haymarketbooks.org/books/1745-coup
Feb 19, 2022•1 hr 35 min
Doug speaks with Wanda Bertram of the Prison Policy Initiative on how prison sickens and kills people. Then Terry Kupers , from a 2013 interview, on the effects of solitary confinement on mental health. Refinery worker and union VP BK White talks about worker safety and health at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, California. 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: htt...
Feb 19, 2022•53 min
Ariella Thornhill speaks with John Nichols about his new book, Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers . Nichols argues that the massive number of deaths in the US were caused not by the vicissitudes of nature but by the callous and opportunistic decisions of powerful people and the ruthless profit orientation of capitalist society. Thornhill also speaks with Sean Petty, a pediatric emergency room nurse at a public hospital in the Bronx. Petty provides a picture of how nurses and healthcar...
Feb 18, 2022•1 hr 23 min
Suzi talks to Nick Bowlin about his important new piece, " Joke’s on Them: The Democratic Party Meets Rural America " in The Drift. Nick looks at America’s rural class structure, the political attitudes of rural residents, and the Democratic Party's inability to appeal to them. It’s a crucial issue that is poorly understood—and in most accounts treated all too superficially. Both parties put on cowboy hats and wear the equivalent of flannel shirts when campaigning in rural America, as if posturi...
Feb 15, 2022•45 min
Grace speaks with Laurie Penny about their new book, Sexual Revolution: Modern Fascism and the Feminist Fightback . They discuss the roots of the resurgence of violence against women, what it means to build a culture of consent, and how women can organize to resist their oppression and exploitation. A World to Win is a podcast from Grace Blakeley and Tribune bringing you a weekly dose of socialist news, theory and action with guests from around the world....
Feb 15, 2022•45 min
What happens when the UK's Minister for International Development accidentally calls an inevitable war "unforeseeable"? We discuss Armando Iannucci's beloved political satire IN THE LOOP (2009) and what it says about the culture of spin in U.K. politics. PLUS: further developments in the Canadian trucker protest, and thoughts on that most important institution of all: the Oscars. Mayor Ed Koch's movie review show - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl1C-jPg7L4nsHg6EVgAXvQ Michael and Us is a podc...
Feb 14, 2022•58 min
John Foot joins Long Reads for a discussion about Italy from the era of partisan resistance to the current predicament of "post-democracy"—and a resurgent right wing. John is professor of modern Italian history at the University of Bristol. His works include The Man Who Closed the Asylums: Franco Basaglia and the Revolution in Mental Health Care and The Archipelago: Italy Since 1945 . Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and histori...
Feb 12, 2022•1 hr 10 min
Industrial capitalism and colonialism are literally making us sick. Raj Patel and Rupa Marya on Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice . Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig
Feb 11, 2022•1 hr 56 min
Professor Vivek Chibber discusses his new book, The Class Matrix , and the role that culture plays (and doesn’t play) in keeping workers from overturning an exploitative capitalist system. Paul Prescod debunks a new "pro-worker" proposal from Republicans to create workplace alternatives to unions, and Jen Pan takes a look at the various causes of the Great Resignation. The Jacobin Show, hosted by Jen Pan, offers socialist perspectives on class and capitalism in the twenty-first century, the fail...
Feb 10, 2022•1 hr 9 min
Suzi talks to Arlene Inouye , UTLA Secretary and Bargaining Chair about the system-wide pressures facing teachers, support staff, students, and their families, all seeking safety and stability during the deadly and disruptive pandemic. A new NEA survey reveals anxiety, exhaustion, burnout, and an alarming number of educators leaving the profession they have loved. Arlene gives us a big picture of the crisis and the pre-existing problems made suddenly worse by COVID: teacher and staff shortages, ...
Feb 08, 2022•57 min
We discuss one of the least sentimental films about death and family, Ingmar Bergman's CRIES AND WHISPERS (1972), and provide a possible political reading of Sweden's most famous auteur. Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.
Feb 05, 2022•41 min
Olúfẹmi Táíwò guest hosts an interview with Daniela Gabor and Ndongo Samba Sylla on how financial power has shaped the global economic order from colonialism through Bretton Woods, the Washington Consensus, and today's Wall Street Consensus. Read Daniela's work: people.uwe.ac.uk/Person/DanielaGabor Read Ndongo's work: rosalux.de/en/profile/es_detail/N8SVHTS8SA/ndongo-samba-sylla?cHash=ccf0c8d371bde0fecbac8337bbc6f832 Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy The Border Crossed Us by Justin Akers...
Feb 04, 2022•2 hr
Jacobin contributor Leigh Phillips discusses how an NGO-dominated environmental movement ended up alienating unions, what constitutes a "just transition," and why organized labor must be at the center of any successful effort to fight climate change. Tony Wood assesses the escalating Russia-Ukraine conflict and liberals' conceptions of Putin. Jen Pan discusses how the pandemic led to yet more "socialism for the rich." The Jacobin Show, hosted by Jen Pan, offers socialist perspectives on class an...
Feb 04, 2022•1 hr 2 min
This week, Grace talks to Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò about his two new books, Reconsidering Reparations and Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (and Everything Else) . They discuss what "identity politics" actually means, why it's so often contrasted to "class politics," and what socialists need to do to create inclusive, sustainable social movements. A World to Win is a podcast from Grace Blakeley and Tribune bringing you a weekly dose of socialist news, theory and action with guest...
Feb 03, 2022•42 min
Suzi talks to professor Michael Cox about what is behind Putin’s bluster at the Ukrainian border and the hawkish, confrontational response from the US, UK, and NATO. Is the threat of war with Ukraine Putin’s way of pressing Russia’s case for revamping the post-Cold War order? What are the divisions within NATO and the European Union over how to deal with Russia, and to what extent does this current crisis reveal US weakness in terms of being in charge of European security? Hillel Ticktin also jo...
Feb 01, 2022•58 min
Oliver Gloag returns to Long Reads for a conversation about Jean-Paul Sartre and the philosopher's stance against colonialism. Oliver is a professor of French and Francophone studies at the University of North Carolina, Asheville and author of Albert Camus: A Very Short Introduction . Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by Features Editor Daniel Finn. Read Oliver's articl...
Jan 29, 2022•50 min
Jacobin’s Micah Uetricht sat down with Nina Turner to discuss the launch of her candidacy for Congress in Ohio’s 11th District. Turner speaks about the need to prioritize bread-and-butter issues like good jobs and affordable healthcare in places like Cleveland, the need to challenge members of the Democratic party who block legislation meant to improve the material conditions of the most vulnerable, and the need to go directly to the people to build pressure for progressive change. Subscribe to ...
Jan 28, 2022•32 min
An in-depth interview on the historical and political-economic context of the Ukraine crisis with Ukrainian sociologist Volodymyr Ishchenko. Read Volodymyr's work: truthout.org/articles/ukrainians-are-far-from-unified-on-nato-let-them-decide-for-themselves/ ponarseurasia.org/how-maidan-revolutions-reproduce-and-intensify-the-post-soviet-crisis-of-political-representation/ lefteast.org/ukraine-in-the-vicious-circle-of-the-post-soviet-crisis-of-hegemony/ lefteast.org/contradictions-post-soviet-ukr...
Jan 28, 2022•2 hr 11 min
Jacobin contributor Anton Jäger explains the rise of "hyper-politics" and why everything these days is "political" but collective struggle remains elusive. Luke Savage analyzes the Democrats' recent failure to pass voting rights legislation. Jen Pan argues that the debate over affirmative action at elite universities overlooks larger inequalities. The Jacobin Show, hosted by Jen Pan, offers socialist perspectives on class and capitalism in the twenty-first century, the failures of liberalism, an...
Jan 27, 2022•50 min
