This week’s episode of Long Reads is the second part of a two-part interview about the history of Western Sahara. Our last episode covered events leading up to Morocco’s invasion of the country. This episode examines the fifty years of occupation and the recent push by the Trump administration to legitimize Moroccan rule. Our guest Jacob Mundy is a professor of peace and conflict studies at Colgate University. He’s the co-author of Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution . Re...
Jan 15, 2026•49 min
Alejandro Velasco analyzes the situation in Venezuela. Eric Blanc defends Victor Berger, Milwaukee’s sewer socialist, against charges of racism. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.
Jan 14, 2026•53 min
The kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro on January 3rd was a shocking escalation in the United States’s ongoing strangulation of Venezuela. This has immediately provoked questions about the domestic Venezuelan power struggle and the demise of the Bolivarian Revolution. In this episode of Confronting Capitalism , Vivek Chibber is joined by Gabriel Hetland, author of the Catalyst essay titled “From Chávez to Maduro.” Together, they analyze the US’s imperial meddling, Delcy Rodríguez’s shaky interim leade...
Jan 14, 2026•36 min
Trump’s January 3rd military assault on Venezuela and abduction of President Nicolas Maduro marks a turning point in global politics. Trump made no humanitarian or democratic claims — only a blunt assertion of power, resources, and control. Suzi talks to Brazilian political economist Pedro Paulo Zahluth Bastos who says this new “Donroe Doctrine” is openly transactional, unapologetically imperial, and signals weakness: a declining hegemon turns to force to secure oil, minerals, and supply chains....
Jan 13, 2026•1 hr 2 min
Featuring Alejandro Velasco, Gabriel Hetland, and Yoletty Bracho on the US attack on Venezuela and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro. An expansive conversation analyzing Trump’s imperialist project and assessing Chavismo and its oppositions from Chávez through Maduro. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out equator.org for longform articles, public events, and reading groups Buy Middle Class New Deal at UCPress.com The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and...
Jan 08, 2026•1 hr 39 min
Over the past year, Democrats have learned to embrace economic abundance thanks to Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s bestselling book. But is this the same kind of abundance the Left has traditionally argued for? In this episode of Confronting Capitalism , Vivek Chibber is joined by Matt Huber, co-author alongside Fred Stafford and Leigh Phillips of a new Catalyst essay titled “The Left Has Always Fought for Abundance.” Together, they discuss the need for an energy infrastructure build out, the hi...
Jan 07, 2026•46 min
Emile Torres on the transhumanists. Quinn Slobodian on eugenics and neoliberalism. Femi Taiwo on DEI and the war on it. Kristin Du Mez on white Christian nationalism. Anatol Lieven on the Trumpian worldview. Laleh Khalili on the relationship between the Pentagon and US capitalism. And Susannah Glickman on similar. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.
Jan 02, 2026•58 min
Featuring Andrew Epstein on the Zohran campaign’s savvy, funny, sharp, disciplined, and moving comms operation. As one hundred thousand volunteers knocked three million doors, Andrew and a team of strategists, speechwriters, designers, and filmmakers wrote a giant love letter to New York City and inoculated voters against a lavishly-funded fusillade of smears and attacks. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy After Savagery at Haymarketbooks.org Buy From Apartheid to Democracy at UCPress.com...
Dec 29, 2025•1 hr 53 min
Chile has just elected its most extreme far-right president since the Pinochet dictatorship. José Antonio Kast won the December 14 runoff by a commanding margin — a stunning reversal in a country that in 2019 experienced a massive social uprising over the unaffordability of life and extreme inequality. The social revolt ended with the pandemic lockdown, but the following year a broad leftist coalition swept into power, electing the 34-year-old former radical student leader Gabriel Boric, whose g...
Dec 25, 2025•1 hr 8 min
After World War II, political parties championing redistribution, full employment, and egalitarianism gained power across the globe, especially in Western Europe. But why did these social democrats give up the ambition to transition to socialism? In this episode of Confronting Capitalism , Vivek Chibber explains why the golden age of capitalism was a rare period of triumph for the Left, even though the movement faced serious challenges from class enemies, state structures, and tensions within it...
Dec 24, 2025•57 min
Thea Riofrancos, author of Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism , looks at the complications of using lithium batteries to green our future. Alyssa Battistoni, author of Free Gifts , examines the weird relationship between capitalism and nature. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global....
Dec 23, 2025•53 min
Featuring Sumaya Awad, Sumathy Kumar, and Nathan Gusdorf on building power on the ground as our allies exercise it from above in the service of a larger hegemonic project to transform the United States. As Zohran Mamdani takes office on January 1, it’s time for governance—and all of the opportunities, constraints, and contradictions that entails. A recording of last week’s live Dig in Brooklyn. Support The Dig (and check out our cool new merch) at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy After Savagery at Haymark...
Dec 21, 2025•1 hr 37 min
The occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco has now lasted for half a century. The anniversary of the invasion passed at the beginning of November. It came just as the Trump administration was working at the United Nations to legitimize permanent Moroccan rule over the land and its people, including the indigenous Sahrawis. Today’s episode is the first part of a two-part interview on the history of Western Sahara. Part one is going to cover the experience of Spanish colonial rule and the emergen...
Dec 18, 2025•48 min
Suzi talks to Oleksandr Kyselov and Alyssa Oursler about what’s being sold to the world as “peace” in Ukraine, and what it looks like from the standpoint of Ukrainians who are actually living through the war. Trump’s 28-point plan for Ukraine — drafted behind closed doors by his real estate ally Steve Witkoff and a Russian sovereign wealth fund chief — reads less like diplomacy and more like a property deal: Russia gets the land, the US takes its cut, Europe foots the bill, and Ukraine is told t...
Dec 16, 2025•1 hr 18 min
Anatol Lieven of the Quincy Institute analyzes Trump’s official national security strategy. Susannah Glickman, recently interviewed by the New York Review of Books , looks at the transformation of the US government into a private equity firm. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global....
Dec 15, 2025•53 min
Featuring Eric Blanc, Leah Greenberg, and Waleed Shahid on the liberal resistance’s sharp left turn since Trump returned to the White House. Libs are voting Zohran at the ballot box, fighting ICE in the streets, and just generally looking favorably upon socialism. This discussion puts the moment in historic context and plots out the strategic exigencies and opportunities ahead. Rest in power Asad Haider. Check out our 2018 interview with Asad on his book Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the ...
Dec 13, 2025•2 hr 5 min
Social-democratic politics have been part of the socialist movement for over a century. Some features, like the commitment to pursuing economic rights for the working class via the state, have remained consistent over time. But when did social-democratic ambitions to overthrow capitalism turn into efforts to reform the system? In this episode of Confronting Capitalism , Vivek Chibber takes a broad look at the early agenda of social-democratic parties. Through an examination of their views on the...
Dec 10, 2025•52 min
David Adler and Matt Kirkegaard of the Progressive International debrief the Honduran elections. Elfadil Ibrahim examines the Sudanese civil war. And finally Eric Blanc , drawing from Milwaukee’s decades of “sewer socialism,” offers lessons for Mamdani and Wilson. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global....
Dec 09, 2025•53 min
Featuring Tascha Van Auken on how Zohran’s campaign mobilized an army of 100,000 volunteers to knock three million doors. Van Auken has been an architect of NYC-DSA’s field operation and its general electoral strategy since the beginning. Organizers everywhere have a lot to learn. Guest hosted by Micah Uetricht. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Live Dig episode in Brooklyn on December 10: Zohran and the Return of Municipal Socialism. Navigating opportunities and contradictions of governance...
Dec 06, 2025•1 hr 45 min
Featuring Malcolm Harris on What’s Left: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis . An open-minded and anti-sectarian discussion about an ecumenical book that plots out three paths forward for the Left — arguing we must embrace all three simultaneously. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Live episode of The Dig in Brooklyn on December 10: “Zohran and the Return of Municipal Socialism.” Navigating opportunities and contradictions of governance with NYC-DSA leaders Sumathy Kumar and Sumaya Awad...
Nov 29, 2025•1 hr 55 min
Since Donald Trump announced a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, Israeli forces have killed more than 300 Palestinians. They also continue to occupy large parts of Gaza and have vowed not to withdraw. Despite the ongoing violence in Gaza and the West Bank alike, Western states clearly want to move on as if the atrocities of the past two years had never happened. Yet Israel is still facing efforts to hold it accountable under international law. South Africa has brought a case before the In...
Nov 27, 2025•1 hr 6 min
Suzi talks with historian Eric Blanc about a timely chapter in American socialist history: the rise — and limits — of Milwaukee’s “sewer socialists.” His article , “Socialists in City Hall? A New Look at Sewer Socialism in Wisconsin,” reexamines this often-disparaged experiment in municipal socialism at a moment when New York prepares for Zohran Mamdani’s administration. Mamdani’s victory — built on years of organizing in immigrant and working-class neighborhoods — reopens the question of whethe...
Nov 26, 2025•58 min
Mosaab Baba, who wrote an article about Sudan for Black Agenda Report , looks at what’s behind the horrendous civil war. Jake Adelstein , an American journalist who’s been living in Japan for almost 40 years, discusses that country’s reactionary new prime minister. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global....
Nov 23, 2025•53 min
Featuring Brace Belden, Liz Franczak, Gabriel Winant, Aziz Rana, Sumaya Awad, Thea Riofrancos, and Alex Lewis. Toasts and roasts celebrating 500 episodes of The Dig . Plus a short speech from Dan. Live at Brooklyn’s Littlefield. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig On December 10th in Brooklyn, join us for a live-recorded Dig episode: “Zohran and the Return of Municipal Socialism.” Navigating opportunities and contradictions of governance with NYC-DSA leaders Sumathy Kumar and Sumaya Awad along...
Nov 20, 2025•41 min
While Democrats recently scored some much-needed electoral wins, the party remains in crisis. Recent reports like Welcome PAC’s “Deciding to Win” argue that the Democrats must drop unpopular cultural positions and recenter economic demands. Can a populist economic agenda shorn of unpopular identity politics get the party back on track? On this episode of Confronting Capitlism , Vivek Chibber evaluates these reports and examines the pros and cons of this approach. Based on recent polling data, wo...
Nov 19, 2025•37 min
Zohran Mamdani’s decisive mayoral victory was powered by a coalition of tenants, immigrants, and workers. Suzi talks to Alina Shen, organizing director of CAAAV Voice , Jagpreet Singh, political director of DRUM Beats (Desis Rising Up and Moving), and Alicé Nascimento, political director of NYCC (New York Communities for Change) — representatives of three organizations that, along with the New York City branch of the Democratic Socialists of America, helped make this victory possible. They discu...
Nov 18, 2025•1 hr 2 min
Featuring Thea Riofrancos on Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism . The green energy transition requires a vast array of inputs: copper, cobalt, rare earth elements, and the focus of this discussion, lithium — all of which must be mined from the earth. This is a wide-ranging discussion stretching from Chile to Nevada, and from the dawn of colonialism to the geoeconomic conflict between the US and China — and a lot more. In New York City? See Thea discuss Extraction with David Wallace-We...
Nov 14, 2025•2 hr 34 min
Suzi speaks with Jacobin writers Alex Press and Luke Savage about Zohran Mamdani’s insurgent — and successful — New York City mayoral campaign. Alex Press takes us out after dark in Queens with the democratic socialist mayor-elect, meeting taxi drivers at LaGuardia, nurses and residents at Elmhurst Hospital, delivery workers on the night shift — the people who keep New York running while the city sleeps. Luke Savage analyzes the bipartisan meltdown that Mamdani’s campaign provoked among billiona...
Nov 12, 2025•57 min
Gabriel Hetland, author of a recent article for Jacobin, looks to Venezuela for a model of municipal socialism. Lea Ypi, author of Indignity , looks into her grandmother’s story and unfolds a rich history of Albania and its environment. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global....
Nov 10, 2025•53 min
Featuring Fernando Haddad on Brazilian political economy and where Brazil fits into a world capitalist system structured by relationships of domination and unequal exchange. Haddad is Finance Minister of Brazil. He served as mayor of São Paulo and in 2018 was the Workers’ Party (PT) presidential candidate. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy From Apartheid to Democracy at UCPress.com Read the latest issue from The Nation ‘s Books & the Arts section TheNation.com/books-and-the-arts The ...
Nov 06, 2025•1 hr
