Dinesh D'Souza believes he has uncovered shocking proof that the Democratic Party stole the 2020 election in 2000 MULES (2022), a documentary so shoddy that even right-wing media is hesitant to publicize it. We follow the trail of Dinesh's conspiracy theory to its inevitable endpoint: a contempt for democracy itself. PLUS: we discuss the billionaire whose name is on everyone's lips, Elon Musk. Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luk...
May 21, 2022•41 min
As the London mayor plans to conduct a review on cannabis legalization, Grace speaks with Kojo Koram, lecturer in law at Birkbeck and author of several books, including The War on Drugs and the Global Colour Line , about drug policy and history. They discuss the roots of drugs criminalization, the neoliberal roots of the war on drugs in the UK and US, and prospects for reform. A World to Win is a podcast from Grace Blakeley and Tribune bringing you a weekly dose of socialist news, theory, and ac...
May 19, 2022•38 min
Matthew Huber , author of Climate Change as Class War , explains why the environmental movement needs to take class and production more seriously. Next up, Adam Kotsko explores why evangelicals are so obsessed with abortion 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.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html...
May 17, 2022•53 min
The documentary WHITE NOISE (2020) follows three very prominent members of the alt-right (you'll be familiar with all of them, folks) as their fortunes rise and fall during the Trump era. We discuss the ethics of interviewing/"platforming" ideological enemies, the differing aesthetic styles of various alt-right personalities, and what happens to political "scenes" during periods of eclipse. PLUS: Luke takes stock of the Canadian Conservative leadership race, and Liam Neeson makes a movie about t...
May 15, 2022•59 min
Tom Mills, lecturer in sociology at Aston University and the author of The BBC: Myth of a Public Service , joins Long Reads for a discussion about the history of the BBC, its ideological and soft-power functions, and the future of public broadcasting. Read Tom's article "The Left Should Stand for a Democratically Run BBC" here: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2022/02/defend-bbc-funding-public-broadcasting-license-fees-conservative-tories Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political t...
May 14, 2022•1 hr 7 min
Live from New York: Dan interviews Amazon Labor Union president Chris Smalls, Jaz Brisack of Starbucks Workers United, SEIU Local 1199NE president Rob Baril, Jacobin writer Alex Press, and Labor Notes writer Luis Feliz Leon on the return of labor militancy that we see sweeping Amazon, Starbucks, and workplaces all around the US. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
May 13, 2022•1 hr 43 min
This week, Grace talks to John Bellamy Foster, professor of sociology at the University of Oregon and editor of Monthly Review . They discuss Marx’s metabolic theory of nature and the "metabolic rift" that shapes the relationship between humanity and nature under capitalism, as well as the ongoing relevance of the theory of monopoly capital put forward by Monthly Review founders Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy. A World to Win is a podcast from Grace Blakeley and Tribune bringing you a weekly dose of ...
May 13, 2022•55 min
This week on The Jacobin Show , Natalie Shure explains why she doesn't think the SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will turn out Dem voters in the midterms, Jen Pan pours some cold water on liberal excitement over corporations' sudden and newfound interest in reproductive rights, and Matt Huber discusses his new book Climate Change as Class War out this month from Verso, and why we have to put class struggle front in center in the fight against climate change. Subscribe to Jacobin for just...
May 12, 2022•1 hr 7 min
THE TRUMAN SHOW (1998) is widely remembered as a prescient film that anticipates the rise of social media and reality TV. But how accurate was its forecast, really? And what, exactly, was it saying? And hey—did the audience watch Truman go to the bathroom? We investigate. "The Audience is Us" by Jonathan Rosenbaum: https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2021/07/the-audience-is-us/ Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage....
May 09, 2022•54 min
A timely interview from the archives: legal scholars Aziz Rana and Amna Akbar, and Movement for Black Lives lawyer Marbre Stahly-Butts, on SCOTUS, liberal court veneration, and other big questions on the law and politics facing the left. Find Eslanda at haymarketbooks.org/books/1769-eslanda Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
May 07, 2022•1 hr 45 min
Jen Pan speaks with Ben Burgis about why the left should continue focusing on concrete organizing and policy and not the culture wars. She also speaks with Clay Aldern, co-author of the new book Homelessness is a Housing Problem , about how to solve the housing crisis in the US. Also on the show: a look at how private universities are making a killing while paying no taxes. Jacobin May Day sale: https://jacobinmag.com/subscribe/?code=MAYDAY2022 Music provided by Zonkey: https://linktr.ee/zonkey ...
May 06, 2022•1 hr 17 min
This week, Grace talks to brilliant young climate campaigner Mikaela Loach about her work trying to shut down oil production in the North Sea, taking the UK government to court over fossil fuel subsidies, and the best ways to organize among Gen Z! Mikaela has been involved with campaigns such as Stop Cambo , Stop Jackdaw , and Paid to Pollute . 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 ...
May 05, 2022•55 min
The Monkees were a prefabricated pop band who didn't play their own instruments and didn't get much respect. But in 1968, they teamed with director Bob Rafelson and a young writer named Jack Nicholson to take charge of their image with HEAD (1968), a corrosive satire that asks: what do the Monkees have in common with the Vietnam War? Donate to an abortion fund: https://www.thecut.com/article/donate-abortion-fund-roe-v-wade-how-to-help.html Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and o...
May 04, 2022•40 min
Doug speaks with David Adler of the Progressive International on an impending debt crisis, with an emphasis on the role of the IMF. Plus: Sudip Bhattacharya on the Asian American population: its diversity, its unity, its politics. David's Guardian article about the IMF: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/18/will-biden-ever-stand-up-to-the-imfs-abuses-of-power Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from...
May 02, 2022•53 min
Ayşe Zarakol on her book Before the West: The Rise and Fall of Eastern World Orders. How centuries of Asian empires from Genghis Khan to Timur and the early Ming Dynasty through the Ottomans and Mughals built dominant world orders and, ultimately, shaped the rise of Europe—and how that all might shape how we think about the crisis in the world order today. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out phenomenalworld.org...
Apr 28, 2022•2 hr 4 min
This week, Grace is joined by Barnaby Raine, co-author of a recent essay for Salvage magazine analyzing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine through the lens of rising nationalism, a feature of global politics especially since the 2008 financial crisis. They discuss this world-historic crisis of capitalism, how it is fueling the growth of nationalist and neo-fascist movements around the world, what that means for world politics, and how the left should respond. A World to Win is a podcast from Grace Bla...
Apr 28, 2022•40 min
Jen Pan speaks with Matt Bruenig on the terrible influence of corporate think tanks on our politics and David Dayen about how decades of pro-corporate policies have ruined our supply chains. Jen’s weekly segment focuses on why Joe Biden’s approval rating is lower among Latinos than any other group, and why so many mainstream explanations of this fact are off the mark. See coverage of supply chain issues in the American Prospect : https://prospect.org/supply-chain Subscribe to Jacobin for just $1...
Apr 28, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Australian land and British institutions mix uncomfortably in Peter Weir's PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (1975). We speculate from our Canadian vantage points why this story has become one of the iconic documents of Australia's national identity. PLUS: the boys cannot stop talking about Bob Dylan! "Picnic at Hanging Rock: What We See and What We Seem" by Megan Abbott - https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3202-picnic-at-hanging-rock-what-we-see-and-what-we-seem Michael and Us is a podcast about poli...
Apr 27, 2022•42 min
Suzi talks to Alan Minsky and Harvey Kaye about the 21st Century Economic Bill of Rights , which they see as both a campaign platform and governing program to rescue and renew American democracy. This is more than a to-do or must-do list for progressives, but in their words, a compelling and transformative unifying project, a manifesto to advance democracy. We ask whether they think this program is feasible and realizable given the configuration of our political winner take all system? We then t...
Apr 27, 2022•1 hr 6 min
Doug interviews Donna Murch , author of Assata Taught Me , on Black radical politics from the Panthers to the Movement for Black Lives. Plus: Kyle Shybunko, author of a recent article on the New Left Review blog , discusses Hungary’s leader Viktor Orbán, a hero to many on the American right. 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.leftbusinessobserver.com...
Apr 26, 2022•53 min
Gilbert Achcar joins Long Reads for a conversation about the second wave of Arab uprisings—and the possibility of a third. Gilbert is professor of development studies at SOAS in London. The second edition of his book The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising has just been published. Read a 2020 interview with Gilbert in Catalyst , "The Arab Spring, a Decade Later" here: https://catalyst-journal.com/2020/12/the-arab-spring-a-decade-later And his 2019 article "The Sudanese Revolu...
Apr 23, 2022•54 min
Destin Jenkins on his book The Bonds of Inequality: Debt and the Making of the American City, which makes a powerful argument about how the ubiquitous and in many ways invisible dependence of American cities on municipal debt to fund basic infrastructure has devastating consequences for democracy and entrenches spatial, racial, and wealth disparities. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Tickets for live NYC show on The Return of Labor Militancy: eventbrite.com/e/the-return-of-labor-militancy-w...
Apr 21, 2022•1 hr 43 min
Jen Pan discusses why “cannabis equity” programs, which were designed to provide opportunities for victims of America’s decades-long drug war, have been a complete failure. Paul Prescod talks about the importance of forging electoral campaigns deeply rooted in the labor movement. And finally, Lily Geismer gives a history of the New Democrats' assault on labor and social programs. Her new book is Left Behind: The Democrats’ Failed Attempt to Solve Inequality . Subscribe to Jacobin for just $10: h...
Apr 21, 2022•1 hr 7 min
This week, Grace talks to Sam Moore, co-author with Alex Roberts of The Rise of Ecofascism: Climate Change and the Far Right . Sam and Alex host their own podcast, 12 Rules for WHAT , which focuses on the rise of the far right. They discuss how far-right politicians are weaponizing the climate crisis to build support for an extremist, exclusionary politics based on "batteries, bombs, and borders," how this links to a longer history of right-wing environmentalism, and how the left should respond....
Apr 20, 2022•42 min
The 1969 documentary WHAT'S LEFT? captures the Canadian left (and more specifically, Canada's New Democratic Party) being pulled in two directions: by an emerging, student-led generation of radical activists, and an older political class that has either grown pragmatic or complacent depending on who you ask. We discuss the history of the Canadian left, and what has both changed and remained the same in the 50+ years since the film. PLUS: We catch an acute case of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Fi...
Apr 18, 2022•48 min
Doug speaks with Wanda Bertram of the Prison Policy Initiative about the demographics of the million people in state prisons and the fight around cash bail in New York. Plus, Doug talks to historian James Chappel about his recent article " Inside the Postliberal Mind " which reviews a new book by reactionary Catholic law professor Adrian Vermeule . Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Fi...
Apr 15, 2022•53 min
Mariame Kaba and Geo Maher discuss police, the politics of policing, abolition, reform—and more. Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig
Apr 15, 2022•1 hr 36 min
Jen Pan takes a look at the politics of the pentagon budget and Daniel Zamora discusses how American-style identity politics somehow found a way of suffusing the ideological debates around the French election. Then, Jen sits down with Cedric Johnson to discuss why the defund movement failed, and why the Left should prioritize a politics of increased social spending to eliminate the very basis of what Johnson terms "stress policing" of working-class communities. Subscribe to Jacobin for just $10:...
Apr 14, 2022•1 hr 10 min
Grace talks to Kojo Koram, who teaches in the School of Law at Birkbeck College and is the author of Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of Empire , about why the government is trying to change the curriculum to include a more 'balanced' perspective on Britain's empire. We ask who actually benefited from the days of formal empire, how imperialism continues to this day, and why the right are so keen to keep the culture wars alive. A World to Win is a podcast from Grace Blakeley and Tribune...
Apr 14, 2022•42 min
Jacobin Radio features the recent UCLA colloquium, “The Political Economy of Russia’s War in Ukraine,” organized and moderated by the Center for Social Theory and Comparative History’s Robert Brenner . The panelists are Boris Kagarlitsky , Ilya Budraitskis , Ilya Matveev , and Suzi Weissman, followed by a lively Q and A. The Russian decision to invade Ukraine was seen as an inevitability to some observers, but a surprise to many others. While the precise motivations are still subject to much deb...
Apr 13, 2022•1 hr 30 min
