Featuring Kojo Koram on his brilliant book Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of Empire. How neoliberalism reorganized colonial capitalist plunder to survive the Third Worldist challenge, and then boomeranged back into the British metropole—a history obscured by rendering “decolonization” into a symbolic culture war battle. Check out How to Sell a Poison: The Rise, Fall, and Toxic Return of DDT by Elena Conis hachettebookgroup.com/titles/elena-conis/how-to-sell-a-poison/9781645036753/ Su...
Aug 12, 2022•1 hr 54 min
Cale Brooks and Jen Pan discuss what is in the Inflation Reduction Act, the dregs of Biden’s Build Back Better plan that corporate Democrats felt they could sign onto, Matthew Cunningham-Cook outlines how the Biden admin has quietly expanded many of the policies from Trump’s Medicare privatization schemes, Rachel Cohen of Vox covers some positive developments in public housing at the state level, and Deepankar Basu tells us why we all need to learn a little more Marxist economics. The Jacobin Sh...
Aug 12, 2022•2 hr 1 min
This week, Grace speaks to Adrienne Buller, author of The Value of a Whale: On the Illusions of Green Capitalism . They discuss what "green capitalism" actually is, how it is being embedded in international law, whether or not it is an inherently anti-democratic movement, and how it is linked to issues today like the cost-of-living crisis. 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...
Aug 10, 2022•49 min
Doug speaks with Simon Kuper , Financial Times columnist and author of Chums , on the upper-class caste that’s been ruling Britain for a decade. Then, an interview with James Meadway , director of the Progressive Economy Forum , on the dispiriting economics of the leader of the Labour Party, the drab Kier Starmer. 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.l...
Aug 10, 2022•53 min
Many movies in the 1980s depicted American urban landscapes as lawless hellholes, but Paul Verhoeven's ROBOCOP (1987) was unique for locating the source of the problem in the corporate world. The Superdelegate patron tier has voted for us to watch one of the most beloved screen satires of all time, and we were happy to oblige. See cohost Will introduce a screening of Don't Let the Riverbeast Get You (2013) at Toronto's Fox Theatre on August 23 - https://www.foxtheatre.ca/movies/dont-let-the-rive...
Aug 09, 2022•37 min
This week, Grace speaks to Phil Burton-Cartledge, author of Falling Down: The Conservative Party and the Decline of Tory Britain , about the current leadership contest within the Conservative Party. They discuss why there's a dearth of Tory talent, why both candidates, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, are trying to model themselves on Margaret Thatcher, and whether they have any answers to long-term issues facing both the party itself and the UK as a whole. A World to Win is a podcast from Grace Blake...
Aug 05, 2022•33 min
This week on The Jacobin Show , Jen Pan and Cale Brooks discuss America's pitiful "industrial policy," Paul Prescod discusses the upcoming teamsters contract fight, Matt Huber talks about Joe Manchin and the climate bill, and Branko Marcetic tells us why the Democrats, despite their rhetoric, are failing to do anything about the Jan 6 assault on the capitol. The Jacobin Show is a weekly YouTube show offering socialist perspectives on class and capitalism in the twenty-first century, the failures...
Aug 04, 2022•1 hr 29 min
In 1984, Godzilla rose from Tokyo Bay for the first time in nine years for THE RETURN OF GODZILLA. In 1985, an American distributor dramatically recut the movie into GODZILLA 1985. We're joined at long last by Important Cinema Club co-host Justin Decloux to discuss the many structural and ideological changes that were imposed upon Godzilla's big comeback. Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage....
Aug 02, 2022•45 min
Doug interviews Paolo Gerbaudo on the failure of technocracy and the imminence of right-wing rule in Italy. Then Chris Bohner, author of a recent report called Labor's Fortress of Finance and a Jacobin article, "Now Is the Time for Unions to Go on the Offensive," discusses the huge stash unions have but aren't spending. 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:/...
Aug 01, 2022•53 min
Featuring Matt Christman on how American history brought us to this awful present. Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig
Jul 30, 2022•1 hr 35 min
Dina Khoury joins Long Reads for a two-part conversation about Iraq since the US occupation. Dina is a historian of the Middle East, and her books include Iraq in Wartime . Listen to part two here: https://shows.acast.com/jacobin-radio/episodes/long-reads-us-destruction-of-iraq-part-2 Read her piece for Catalyst , "Iraq After US Occupation," here: https://catalyst-journal.com/2021/09/iraq-after-us-occupation Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both ...
Jul 30, 2022•51 min
Suzi talks to Ukrainian expert Bohdan Krawchenko, just back from Kyiv, to get his perspective of the state of Russia’s war on Ukraine. The view from Ukraine, as Bohdan Krawchenko reports, is that Russia is losing this war, has wasted thousands of lives, and is running out of troops and war materiel. Despite their huge costs and losses, Moscow is getting more aggressive and brutal. Many Ukrainians in the occupied territories of the Donbas region have been forcibly deported to Russia or sent to "f...
Jul 29, 2022•56 min
This week's episode of The Jacobin Show tackles Du Bois's legacy as an analyst of class domination in America, whether the Democratic Party is hurtling toward doom as continues to fail working-class voters, and why the recent wave of union campaigns must move from spontaneity to sustained "structure-based" organizing. Jeff Goodwin on Du Bois: https://catalyst-journal.com/2022/06/black-reconstruction-as-class-war Sam Gindin on structure-based union organizing: https://jacobin.com/2022/07/amazon-s...
Jul 29, 2022•1 hr 36 min
Jennifer Berkshire discusses Pete Hegseth, Christopher Rufo, and the right’s latest fronts in their war on public education . Then, Peter Korotaev looks at the political economy of Ukraine, before, during, and after the war. 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...
Jul 26, 2022•53 min
Alexandra Pelosi strikes again! In her documentary SAN FRANCISCO 2.0 (2015), the political scion turns her attention to her home city, gazing with awe upon the tech industry's sudden takeover while registering some tepid notes of ambivalence about the gentrification that has priced many longtime residents out. We discuss why, despite being Nancy Pelosi's daughter who regularly makes films for HBO, nobody seems to know about Alexandra Pelosi. Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and...
Jul 25, 2022•45 min
Cale, filling in for Jen, speaks with Ben Burgis about how the left should navigate periods of defeat. Benjamin Fogel interviews René Rojas, author of a recent piece for Catalyst , "Chile's Resurgent Left," about social-democratic politics in Chile in the post-Pinochet period and especially since the 2019 uprising. The Jacobin Show is a weekly YouTube show offering socialist perspectives on class and capitalism in the twenty-first century, the failures of liberalism, and the prospects of rebuild...
Jul 21, 2022•1 hr 41 min
This week, Grace speaks to Mike Savage, author of The Return of Inequality: Social Change and the Weight of the Past . They discuss the renewed focus on inequality in social science and politics more generally, different forms of inequality and how they’re linked, and different theoretical approaches to understanding inequality and social class, from Marx to Bourdieu. A World to Win is a podcast from Grace Blakeley and Tribune bringing you a weekly dose of socialist news, theory, and action with...
Jul 21, 2022•47 min
Featuring Nancy Fraser on why a total analysis of capitalism requires taking Marxism beyond a narrowly economistic view: what everyday labor exploitation requires from politics, care work, war-making, borders, appropriation of nature, sexism, racism, and more. Dan's 2018 interview from the archives. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Jul 18, 2022•1 hr 19 min
Erik Baker , author of a recent article for Bias magazine, joins Doug for another look at the latest Behind the News obsession: post-leftism. Then, José Sanchez , author of a critique in Jacobin about Afropessimism , examines the school of thought and its contradictions. 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...
Jul 18, 2022•53 min
Adrienne Buller joins Long Reads for a discussion about "asset-manager capitalism" and the climate crisis. Adrienne is senior research fellow at Common Wealth, a progressive think tank, and co-author of the forthcoming book Owning the Future . Read Adrienne's review of Trillions here: https://jacobin.com/2022/03/index-funds-blackrock-vanguard-stocks-ownership-democracy-concentration/ And her report for Common Wealth here: https://www.common-wealth.co.uk/reports/asset-manager-capitalism-where-nex...
Jul 16, 2022•43 min
Paul Prescod explains how the rise and fall of the black middle class was set to the fortunes of the auto sector—and why the Democratic Party keeps writing off the working class. Jen Pan covers the GOP's bogus war on woke capitalism. And Aziz Rana outlines what a real, robust left internationalism should look like and how it can be tied to domestic fights for social democracy. The Jacobin Show is a weekly YouTube show offering socialist perspectives on class and capitalism in the twenty-first ce...
Jul 15, 2022•1 hr 36 min
Doug speaks with Jenny Brown of National Women’s Liberation (and author of Without Apology and Birth Strike ) on the early struggle for abortion rights that led to Roe and what we can learn from it for today. Then David De Jong , author of Nazi Billionaires , discusses how respectable German businessmen became loyal Nazis. 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: http...
Jul 14, 2022•53 min
This week, Grace speaks to Vicky Spratt, author of the book Tenants: The People on the Frontline of Britain’s Housing Emergency . They discuss the multiple problems that tenants face in accessing and maintaining secure housing and the strategies renters in the UK are using to resist the exploitative and extractive practices of landlords. 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. ...
Jul 13, 2022•33 min
Before he was an archconservative, David Mamet wrote a great play and movie about a group of salesmen grinding in a system where morality does not exist. Our Superdelegate patron tier has voted for us to discuss GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS (1992). Fuck you - THAT'S our name. PLUS: We say goodbye to Boris. Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.
Jul 12, 2022•46 min
Suzi talks to Dean of Berkeley School of Law Erwin Chemerinsky about the just completed Supreme Court term, handing down decisions that overturned vast areas of law. The Court’s decisions ignored settled law and took away a Constitutional right in the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v Wade . Chemerinsky argues that this court did not follow a judicial methodology, legal principles, or precedents: instead, a conservative majority on the court is making the Republican Party platform Constitutional ...
Jul 11, 2022•1 hr 5 min
Featuring Evgeny Morozov on his essay "Critique of Techno-Feudal Reason." Thinkers from the Marxist left all the way to the neoliberal and even neo-reactionary right are convinced that we’ve exited capitalism entirely and entered neo-feudalism. Morozov argues that our bleak moment is in fact still a thoroughly capitalist one. Evgeny's essay: newleftreview.org/issues/ii133/articles/evgeny-morozov-critique-of-techno-feudal-reason Evgeny's website: evgenymorozov.com The Syllabus: the-syllabus.com R...
Jul 08, 2022•2 hr 33 min
It's an extremely discouraging political moment for our neighbors in the United States, so we decided the time was right to finally examine one of the quintessential cinematic articulations of American exceptionalism, FORREST GUMP (1994). Is life, in fact, like a box of chocolates? We investigate. "The Man Who Loved Presidents: On John Meacham" by Thomas Frank - https://harpers.org/archive/2021/07/jon-meacham-thomas-frank-soul-of-america/ "Tom Hanks Explains It All" by David Marchese - https://w...
Jul 06, 2022•59 min
Doug speaks with Geo Maher , author of A World Without Police , on the movement to defund and eventually abolish the cops. Then, an interview with Tariq Fancy, author of a series of articles about "sustainable investing," about the (severe) limits to using finance to fix the climate. 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.h...
Jul 05, 2022•53 min
This week, Grace speaks to Eddie Dempsey, Senior Assistant General Secretary of the RMT, about the strike action being taken by the rail union up and down the UK. They discuss the background to the strikes, how the government constructed a railway network that funnels money away from workers towards executives, and the union’s "militant, rank-and-file culture of democracy." A World to Win is a podcast from Grace Blakeley and Tribune bringing you a weekly dose of socialist news, theory, and actio...
Jul 03, 2022•36 min
The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us how badly we need to understand the links between science, politics, and commercial interests. For Marxists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these were some of the most important questions to be addressed in their work. The cross-fertilization between Marxism and science had major implications for the development of both. Helena Sheehan, emeritus professor at Dublin City University and the author of Marxism and the Philosophy of Science ...
Jul 02, 2022•40 min
