2016 is an exciting -- and precarious -- time to be an entrepreneur, particularly when you’re queer women. Serafina Palandech and her wife Jennifer Johnson, the founders of organic food startup, Hip Chick Farms, had to deal with a lot when they wanted to start their business. Now they’ve been able to secure an investment from Whole Foods (and Johnson’s cooked at the White House). But it hasn’t been easy, more like a misogynist gauntlet, in fact. Also in this episode: a visit with Mansfield Frazi...
Nov 09, 2016•25 min•Ep. 75
At the Laura Flanders Show, we say we talk with “tomorrow’s heroes today.” One of those could well be forward-thinker Pramila Jayapa l, Washington State Senator, now running for Congress. If elected, Jayapal be the first south Asian woman in the House of Representatives. Jayapal describes herself as a “proud immigrant from India .” She founded Hate Free Zone (now OneAmerica) in response to hate and discrimination after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack and played a big role in the push for a $15 min...
Nov 04, 2016•23 min•Ep. 74
Are we stuck in a two-party gridlock, or is there still room for democracy? Ralph Nader, former presidential candidate and famed political maverick, joins us to discuss what really constitutes “people power” when it comes to this election. Known for his lifetime advocacy for electoral reform and corporate accountability, Nader talks about what the 2016 election’s taught us about the need for a government overhaul. For Nader, the choice between what he calls a “warmonger” and an “empty suit,” is ...
Nov 02, 2016•24 min•Ep. 73
It may seem at times like theres a thousand movements to be a part of, a thousand and one tragedies in the news. How do we keep ourselves accountable to the communities we truly care about? Is "diversity" enough? And how do we stop ourselves from panicking? Our guest this week, celebrated journalist and author Jeff Chang takes on some of these questions. According to Chang, hope isnt yet lost and really, were going to be alright -- if we work together. Connecting the dots between modern American...
Oct 20, 2016•25 min•Ep. 72
This week, we are joined by economist and professor Pavlina R. Tcherneva, who says the current practice of gender-blind and race-blind fiscal policy lacks visions and helps no one. Congress, according to Tcherneva is focusing on the wrong things. A self ascribed feminist economist, Tcherneva says feminist fiscal policy is real, not simply ideological, and should be a central part of the American economy. We'll encourage growth, she says, by creating employment -- not the opposite. And employment...
Oct 14, 2016•25 min•Ep. 71
Part 1 of our field reports from the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, or Seven Council Fires Community, at #StandingRock in Cannonball, North Dakota. Representatives from hundreds of nations have travelled to #StandingRock to defend their right to clean water, and more, to preserve their sovereignty against a state that has illegally decided to take this land. They are protectors, not protesters. Their historic effort is bringing attention to a long struggle against environmental racism, indiscriminate raids, a...
Oct 03, 2016•27 min•Ep. 70
Few words have had as little presence in the 2016 election as “socialism,” which was raised briefly in one of the earliest primary debates. Yet socialism could have a future in America, our guests this week argue, if we just think about it differently. Joining us this week are Bhaskar Sunkara and Sarah Leonard, co-editors of of a new essay collection titled “The Future We Want: Radical Ideas for the New Century.” Sunkara and Leonard say that people aren’t scared of socialism taking their money, ...
Sep 26, 2016•23 min•Ep. 69
The struggle for Black economic independence: Not a lot of people, particularly people of color, have had a chance to design a new community, to be different and equal, co-owned by its residents. In 1969, Shirley Sherrod co-founded a collective farm in Lee County, Georgia. At 6,000 acres, it was the largest tract of black-owned land in the United States. What happened to the New Communities land trust they planned? Let's just say they were way, way ahead of their time but their time just might b...
Aug 17, 2016•25 min•Ep. 68
What the mainstream media didn't show you. Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders-Executive Producer, Writer; Sabrina Artel-Supervising Producer; Jeremiah Cothren-Senior Producer; Veronica Delgado-Video Editor, Janet Hernandez-Communications Director; Jeannie Hopper-Audio Director, Podcast & Radio Producer, Audio Editor, Sound Design, Narrator; Sarah Miller-Development Director, Nat Needham-Editor, Graphic Design emeritus; David Neuman-Senior Video Editor, and Rory O’Conner-Senior C...
Aug 11, 2016•25 min•Ep. 67
A social justice group that invites white people to fight racism is spreading like wildfire in the US. From 12 to 150 chapters in two years. Clearly a whole lot of white people are interested in fighting systemic injustice. But how? This week's guests have dedicated their lives to grappling with that question, for the sake of making real change. They are both organizers, educators, and feminist anti-racist activists. Dara Silverman is the former Executive Director of Jews for Racial and Economic...
Aug 03, 2016•23 min•Ep. 66
In this special episode, the Laura Flanders is at the scene of the Republican National Convention -- but while the party is on inside Quicken Loans Arena, much of Cleveland is still grieving. The 2014 death of Tamir Rice still rests in the minds of many city residents, but it is not the only one. And death is a topic; at the RNC, the rhetoric is targeting those who fear the death of middle class chances and white-working class jobs. There's a reality to that too, in a city where the normal famil...
Jul 25, 2016•25 min•Ep. 65
Bernie's success as a mainstream, socialist presidential candidate has taken most commentators by surprise; even after he'd been mathematically counted out of the Democratic nomination race, support for Bernie Sanders kept coming in. One person who wasn't surprised though, is this week’s guest, Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant. Kshama is a teacher, activist, organizer, and a member of Socialist Alternative. She was a visible presence in the Occupy Movement, and an activist in her union,...
Jun 21, 2016•25 min•Ep. 64
Palak Shah discusses The Good Work Code, an attempt to bring comprehensive worker’s rights to Silicon Valley. And Yochai Benkler asks why the people who create all the content on Facebook - you and me - don’t own it. All that and a commentary from Laura on Apple's questionable borrowing practices. Palak Shah is Social Innovations Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. In addition to helping create The Good Work Code, she has worked in state government, for Massachusetts governor Dev...
Jun 15, 2016•26 min•Ep. 63
3.5 million Americans in Puerto Rico are in dire crisis. The island territory is mired in debt and facing imminent default. Media coverage has blamed the last twenty years - when tax breaks were rolled back and loans extended. But this week’s guests say the root of Puerto Rico's problems go deeper than that - to US colonial rule. If colonialism's at least in part the culprit here, it's pretty ironic that the solutions on offer from Congress seem so colonial as well. This week, journalist Ed Mora...
Jun 13, 2016•25 min•Ep. 62
One hundred years after the Easter Rising of 1916, the question of Irish sovereignty still looms large. New challenges face the Irish in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, and slashes to public spending in the North have ignited fresh waves of resistance. In this special report, Laura Flanders returns to Ireland, 30 years after first reporting on the so-called "Troubles". With photographer Paula Allen she takes a fresh look at Irish nationalism through the stories of socialists, anti-imperia...
Jun 06, 2016•25 min•Ep. 61
Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill talks about the secrets he’s learned about our government’s assassination programs, and how our military policies are leading to more oppression at home as well. Then, Laura visits Ireland for the anniversary of a one hundred year old rising against empire, and her commentary looks at the undeserved power of hedge fund managers. Jeremy Scahill is an award-winning investigative journalist and a founding editor of The Intercept . He is the author Blackwater:...
May 24, 2016•25 min•Ep. 60
A bank founded by a garment workers union, and a global ice cream company founded by a couple of hippies from Brooklyn. Keith Mestrich, President & CEO of Amalgamated Bank, talks about running a big bank with a social justice mission. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream talk about Bernie Sanders and progressive business principles - do they exist? Later in the show, Laura comments on the rise of automation - is it the end of human connection? Laura Flanders and Friend...
May 20, 2016•25 min•Ep. 59
Can the wealthy save the rest of us from themselves? Venture capitalist Nick Hanauer tells us what’s wrong with rich people, and former Goldman Sachs Vice President Raphaele Chappe tells us about her work to even the playing field between the 1% and the 99% with the Robin Hood Hedge Fund. Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders-Executive Producer, Writer; Sabrina Artel-Supervising Producer; Jeremiah Cothren-Senior Producer; Veronica Delgado-Video Editor, Janet Hernandez-Communications Di...
May 12, 2016•25 min•Ep. 58
On this special Mother’s day episode, guest host Alexis Pauline Gumbs explores revolutionary mothering with a panel of guests including China Martens, Mai’a Williams, Victoria Law, and Cynthia Dewi Oka. Self-described Queer Black troublemaker and Black feminist love evangelist Alexis Pauline Gumbs is the author of Spill: Fugitive Scenes, coming later this year from Duke University press. China Martens is the author of, among many other works, The Future Generation: The Zine-book for Subculture P...
May 04, 2016•25 min•Ep. 57
Author and professor Peter Linebaugh discusses his new book, The Incomplete, True, Authentic, and Wonderful History of May Day. Later in the show filmmaker Avi Lewis discusses worker-owned factories in Argentina, and Laura focuses on the intersectional feminism of 19th Century Anarchist Lucy Parsons. Peter Linebaugh is professor emeritus at the University of Toledo, and the author of many books, including the Magna Carta Manifesto; Stop Thief, The Commons, Enclosures and Resistance , and his new...
Apr 27, 2016•24 min•Ep. 56
This Week: Making sense of the election season with a historian. From Confederate monuments to election politics to utopian communities, Eric Foner discusses today’s politics through the legacy of the past, and Laura takes a new look at a hundred-year-old proclamation. Foner is DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University, is one of this country's most prominent historians, and the foremost expert and the civil war and reconstruction. He is the author of more than 20 books, includi...
Apr 19, 2016•24 min•Ep. 55
The Moral Mondays Movement in North Carolina is building a powerful, grassroots, struggle against the right wing. Laura talks with Reverend Dr. William J Barber II, the architect of that movement about Moral Mondays, Reconstruction, #BlackLivesMatter and morality and LGBT rights. Later in the show, we visit protesting workers from a Trump Casino in Las Vegas and Laura discusses bullies on TV, politics, and power. Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders-Executive Producer, Writer; Sabrina...
Apr 12, 2016•24 min•Ep. 54
Jesus “Chuy” Garcia is the progressive Chicago politician who forced conservative Democrat Rahm Emanuel into the first run-off in that city’s history. Dan Cantor is the cofounder and national director of the Working Families Party. Before co-launching the WFP, he was a union organizer in New Orleans and Detroit; a community organizer in Arkansas, Texas, and Missouri; and Labor Coordinator for Rev. Jesse Jackson’s 1998 presidential campaign. The two talk with Laura about how they see a path for p...
Apr 05, 2016•24 min•Ep. 53
Single Payer Health Care, Free College for all and an end to subsidies for fossil fuel - if Bernie Sanders’ agenda sounds more progressive than his opponents', why have so few Progressive Congress people endorsed him? Laura asks Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, why so few members of his caucus have supported Bernie Sanders. Also in the show, middle east expert Phyllis Bennis tells Laura why we need more discussion of war and peace in the race...
Mar 29, 2016•25 min•Ep. 52
Author, activist Sarah Schulman, cofounder of the Act-Up Oral History Project, is out with a new novel, The Cosmopolitans, in which a group of mid-century East Villagers pull together to survive gentrification and modern life. Meanwhile, musician Lupe Fiasco is starting a tech entrepreneur program in one of New York City’s poorest neighborhoods - we have an exclusive report. And with so much to spend public money on, asks Flanders in her weekly commentary, why are tax payers subsidising church? ...
Mar 22, 2016•25 min•Ep. 51
Author Craig WIllse and organizer Imani Henry discuss housing, homelessness and the role of nonprofits in change-making (or not). Plus, an exclusive report from an upstate New York farm that's feeding people while fighting the school-to-prison pipeline. All that and Laura, inspired by Chicago’s teachers, wonders when we’ll be ready for a grand national sick out. Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders-Executive Producer, Writer; Sabrina Artel-Supervising Producer; Jeremiah Cothren-Senior...
Mar 15, 2016•25 min•Ep. 50
Can residents determine how their cities change? They can certainly have an impact, say Aaron Bartley and John Washington of People United for Sustainable Housing (P.U.S.H.) in Buffalo, New York. PUSH Buffalo brings people together to create sustainable neighborhoods with quality affordable housing, green jobs and next generation infrastructure. Could their model apply where you live? Also in this show, Laura discusses the “great corporate buy-up” of our cities. Is that public plaza public, priv...
Mar 08, 2016•24 min•Ep. 49
From poisoning Flint to bankrupting Main Street, can residents regain a say in what happens in their communities? In this episode, Laura discusses race, gender, and banking with Gwendolyn Hallsmith, the author of Vermont Dollars, Vermont Sense, and she asks Michigan Congresswoman Brenda L. Lawrence who - and what - failed the people of Flint, MI. Plus an F Word from Laura on shedding light on dark money. What might media cover if they weren’t so obsessed with Donald Trump? Laura Flanders and Fri...
Mar 01, 2016•25 min•Ep. 48
Laura Flanders and guest host Pamela Brown learn from pirates, hustlers and hackers about how to build economic alternatives right here, right now. Alexa Clay is a co-author of The Misfit Economy: Lessons in Creativity From Pirates, Hackers, Gangsters, And Other Informal Entrepreneurs. Micky Metts is a hacker, activist and organizer, as well as a member of Agaric, a worker-owned cooperative of web developers. Janelle Orsi, co-founder and executive director of the Sustainable Economies Law Center...
Feb 23, 2016•25 min•Ep. 47
Trans South Asian art duo Darkmatter is comprised of Alok Vaid-Menon and Janani Balasubramanian. They are deeply engaged in the connection of art and social justice, and have been performing to sold-out crowds in New York and internationally. Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders-Executive Producer, Writer; Sabrina Artel-Supervising Producer; Jeremiah Cothren-Senior Producer; Veronica Delgado-Video Editor, Janet Hernandez-Communications Director; Jeannie Hopper-Audio Director, Podcast ...
Feb 16, 2016•25 min•Ep. 46
