Organizing in a Trump and Amazon World -- new concentrations of power are bringing forth new models of resistance. This week on the show, Cathy Albisa and Sabino Milian discuss the targeting of activists in immigration sweeps. Those ICE raids aren't that random they say. And as Amazon gets ever bigger, what happens to the workers behind your mouse-click? We’ll hear how low-wage warehouse workers are Raising the Floor from Sophie Zaman. Music comes by way of Eljuri from her album La Lucha. iTunes...
Jul 04, 2017•30 min•Ep. 105
The lines between politics and branding have been blurred, not just in recent years, but in a gradual effort by corporations to commodify media and politics. So says our guest this week, Naomi Klein, joining Laura to discuss her most recent book No Is Not Enough. How will the movements of resistance and creation challenge a “reality tv politics?,” and where is it already happening? Klein sets out the map. Plus, a short report on water protector Red Fawn Fallis, who faces an imprisonment for life...
Jun 27, 2017•27 min•Ep. 104
Money media keep telling us that Trump voters are sticking by him, but are they? And what do so-called swing voters really want? Working America, the community organizing affiliate of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., took to the streets of Ohio to find out. Matt Morrison, the deputy director of Working America, shares the findings of the Front Porch Focus Group, and we hear from some of the canvassers who knocked on all those doors. Plus, an F-word from Laura on why it’s business as usual for the Koch brother...
Jun 20, 2017•28 min•Ep. 103
A May Day Special Report from the Laura Flanders Show features the mass mobilization of the people on International Worker's Day 2017! May Day urges us to dream bigger, to set aside conservative notions of what is feasible and focus instead on what is just. This episode follows organizers as they present their visions of a better world - and what they're doing to build it. They raise the question: how can we work together to build the future available to everyone, meaning trans people, immigrant...
Jun 14, 2017•27 min•Ep. 102
This week, from the promises of Syriza in Greece to the demands of Brexit in the U.K: how two landmark events in Europe help to forecast the direction of its left. Helena Sheehan is the author of new book, "The Syriza Wave," chronicling what she calls the failure of Greece's radical left to deliver on its campaign. She's joined by Natalie, co founder of Matters of the Earth and organizer with Black Lives Matter UK. Ahead of the British general election, both guests gauge the temperature of a con...
Jun 07, 2017•28 min•Ep. 101
If, in the twenty-first century, credit is the new capital , what are the implications for our finances, but also our relationships? This week, Laura talks with Ivan Ascher, author of a new book on The Portfolio Society, and debt activist Pam Brown, about the implications of a society based on risk rather than labor. And we hear from Mandy Cabot, CEO of Dansko shoes who chose her workers over a corporate buyout. She's joined by Richard Eidlin, co-founder of the American Sustainable Business Coun...
Jun 01, 2017•28 min•Ep. 100
A new world based on community and collaboration is closer than you think. We can steward resources together, in fact, millions of people are doing just that. And not just in the history books. This week, from Kingston, NY, author and activist David Bollier, Co Founder of the Commons Strategy Group, explains what it means to Think Like A Commoner. Then, two activists engaged in Commons projects right now, talk about two very distinct but complementary Commons strategies -- one digital in Barcelo...
May 24, 2017•29 min•Ep. 99
Systematic problems don't limit themselves to just the countries we know and hear about; racism, occupation, profiteering, these are global problems and the solutions, too, must look to the world. In our first interview of this week, Cazembe Jackson, a transman and anti-racist socialist organizer from Atlanta, speaks to how the American South is typically erased from activist conversations -- despite having some of the most practice in radical organizing under conservative administrations. Plus,...
May 16, 2017•27 min•Ep. 98
How can we collaborate across skills, communities, and history to build new spaces? On this week's show, we talk to Pamela Shifman and Iris Bowen, two of the minds behind the Women's Building project, which is transforming a former New York women's prison into a space for activism, community, and reclamation. Plus, an interview with Yoav Litvin, author of 2Create, a book which documents the possibilities of creative collaboration for social and systemic change. Support media that supports you. B...
May 10, 2017•29 min•Ep. 97
A May Day Special Report from the Laura Flanders Show features the mass mobilization of the people on International Worker's Day! Before May Day 2017, we talk to organizers about what they imagine will come from this year's day of springtime resistance. People are rising up to call for transformative justice, and they are working towards it in new and creative ways. May Day urges us to dream bigger, to set aside conservative notions of what is feasible and focus instead on what is just. As alway...
May 05, 2017•26 min•Ep. 96
On this week's episode, a question of how we can use direct action to create and sustain long-range, inclusive and effective movements with guests L.A. Kauffman and Jesse Myerson and later in the show Looking for leadership towards a just transition? Community building tactics for survival resilience and peace? Don’t look up, Look Down for expertise, say two organizers and they’re upbeat! Esteban Kelly of the US Federation of Worker Owned Coops and Elizabeth Yampierre from UPROSE. Check out the ...
Apr 28, 2017•27 min•Ep. 95
With the news around Brexit, we revisit an episode filmed last year in Ireland and reflect upon 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 l...
Apr 21, 2017•28 min•Ep. 94
The chorus for radical action demands a versatile effort: it needs people power, initiative, and funding, but if we're caught between offense and defense, how do we take time to insure the well-being of our most vulnerable communities? The Laura Flanders show this week features Adaku Utah, founder of healing collective Harriet's Apothecary, and J Bob Alotta, executive director of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, which supports grassroots LGBTQ efforts across the globe. Utah and Alotta...
Apr 14, 2017•27 min•Ep. 93
This week, Angela Glover Blackwell, executive director of PolicyLink and former Obama advisor, has a long history of using policy for progressive, radical, change. Blackwell says this is a moment to protect and resist, certainly, but also a time to return to the roots that are our local neighborhoods, our cities, our suburbs and build something better with them. People must make demands of the system if the system is to change, says Blackwell. Music featured in this weeks show included “Power to...
Apr 06, 2017•25 min•Ep. 92
We’re living in a time of economic babble, where politicians and economists throw out words like “reform,” “privatize,” and “austerity” to prop up corrupt capitalist opportunists. So says our guest this week, economist Michael Hudson, author of J is for Junk Economics. Plus, a report from Diverse Filmmaker’s Alliance on the Yemeni bodega workers who went on strike in New York to protest the Muslim Ban. And be sure to subscribe to Laura’s F-Word on why Donald Trump’s new budget isn’t about cuts -...
Mar 31, 2017•25 min•Ep. 91
Laura is joined by celebrated academic, organizer, and advocate Professor Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, who is perhaps best known for coining the term intersectionality. And later in the show Laura is joined by Tarso Ramos of Political Research Associates, a human rights think tank that studies threats to democracy coming from various right wing sources, to discuss what all of us need to know about the women’s agenda of the Alt Right, and what sets the alt-right apart from other conservative facti...
Mar 24, 2017•26 min•Ep. 90
When feminism has come so far, how do modern day strikes, marches, and protest reflect the evolving and complex aspects of the movement, as well as its radical herstory? Featuring Jodeen Olguín-Tayler (Demos), Sarah Leonard (The Nation) + Cinzia Arruzza (Women's Strike, New School) + Nelini Stamp (Working Families' Party) Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders-Executive Producer, Writer; Sabrina Artel-Supervising Producer; Jeremiah Cothren-Senior Producer; Veronica Delgado-Video Editor,...
Mar 15, 2017•26 min•Ep. 89
Donald Trump's tweets and divisiveness on Capitol Hill tend to draw the money media in and hold them there, but if progressives and the Left focus only on the beltway and the binary party debate, we'll never escape. In this episode, Laura interviews organizers about going beyond Trumpism and Trump, with Color of Change director, Rashad Robinson; immigrant rights advocate Kica Thomas, and anti-war activist Medea Benjamin. Why not paper over our differences, if it will result in unity? What's happ...
Mar 09, 2017•26 min•Ep. 88
With the Trump administration embracing private prisons, and a crackdown on all crimes, how police departments operate will come under scrutiny. We treasure what we measure so why do police metrics count captures and kills but not conflicts resolved? Could a change in metrics change police practice? And is "progressive policing" an oxymoron with no place in a radical agenda? Laura sits down with Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman, and Professor Emerit...
Mar 02, 2017•26 min•Ep. 87
The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) is 25 years old, and yet, the shadow of a Trump administration looms over its vision to advance a progressive agenda. In this seemingly discouraging time, what does the CPC offer, and how does it stay progressive? In the ramp-up to the DNC Chair nomination, for which Keith Ellison (D-MN), chair of the CPC, has hotly campaigned, Laura travels to the 2017 Progressive Congress to speak to progressive leaders. Joining Laura this week are CPC First Vice Chai...
Feb 22, 2017•26 min•Ep. 86
Trump has been critiqued, among other things, as the troll-in-chief. His presidential win can be credited to the rise of alt-right internet 'trolls,' complex bots, and the online harassment of his opponents. Our guest this week, Thenmozhi Soundararajan, a Dalit organizer, filmmaker, and activist, says the spread of online attacks comes with vast offline risks for communities in danger. When Steve Bannon, an avowed white nationalist, serves on the National Security Council, with access to the la...
Feb 16, 2017•24 min•Ep. 85
Guest host Bhaskar Sunkara (editor of Jacobin Magazine) engages political voices Kate Aronoff and Jonah Birch in a conversation about the future of the Left: were the election results a testament to the decline of the Left, or is this a moment for a new left movement? When 13 million people in America cast a vote for a self described Democratic Socialist, is there hope to be found in a political movement propelled by the swamp in the White House? Our guests this week discuss how we got to Trump,...
Feb 01, 2017•25 min•Ep. 84
Under the Trump regime, we’ll certainly have to be on the defense to protect the communities most likely to be attacked -- but we’ll also have to build powerful, alternative models where POC, Muslim, undocumented, disabled, and queer folks have leadership. In this week’s episode, Laura speaks with Aaron Tanaka, founder and director of the Center for Economic Democracy about his longtime advocacy and visionary work for the next system of solidarity economics. Tanaka wants to know if Trump will ma...
Jan 26, 2017•26 min•Ep. 83
Capitalism looks different to those who were once commodities, and that has implications for how we build a future not based in domination. 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 Need...
Jan 12, 2017•26 min•Ep. 82
Supposedly, the far right have won. So what now? We ask our guests this week the same question, taking from a mixed pot of loss and success. Whether it's about the fight for reproductive justice in the South, or a movement for rural agency in progressive work, our guests offer some wisdom on what's happening now, and what's next as we head into the new administration. The Facing Race conference, coordinated by Race Forward this November in Atlanta, brought together some of the most noteworthy na...
Dec 29, 2016•27 min•Ep. 81
Supposedly, the far right have won. So what now? We ask our guests this week the same question, taking from a mixed pot of loss and success. Whether it's about the fight for reproductive justice in the South, or a movement for rural agency in progressive work, our guests offer some wisdom on what's happening now, and what's next as we head into the new administration. The Facing Race conference, coordinated by Race Forward this November in Atlanta, brought together some of the most noteworthy na...
Dec 22, 2016•26 min•Ep. 80
At the Laura Flanders Show, we want to find the common ground that unites Americans, stories of progress, equity, and resilience -- to discover that there is more evidence of congress, than of division. Our guest this weeks speaks to some ways he has built a career on these very philosophies of equity and unity. Joining us for last new show of the 2016 year, is Anthony Flaccavento, founder of SCALE (Sequestering Carbon, Accelerating Local Economies) and author of "Building A Healthy Economy from...
Dec 16, 2016•21 min•Ep. 79
The Facing Race conference, coordinated by Race Forward this November in Atlanta, brought together some of the most noteworthy names in progressive organizing right now. This week on the show, we have a special compilation of interviews from the conference with a couple of these very activists. On today's show we have Stephanie Guilloud from Project South and Suzanne Pharr, who founded the Woman's Project in 1981 in Arkansas. For more on these organizations, check out our website at www.laurafla...
Dec 08, 2016•26 min•Ep. 78
In the aftermath of the election, much has been said about what liberal government, media, businesses failed to do: contextualize his rise to office and connect with his voters to change their minds. In this episode, Laura interviews Adam and Arlie Hochschild, who have each spent their careers documenting the complexities of political behavior. Arlie Hochschild, with pragmatic energy, undertook the work we’d all like to do: she left the liberal haven of Berkeley, CA to go to the Louisiana Bayou ...
Dec 01, 2016•25 min•Ep. 77
On this week's episode, a special call to action against post-election complacency. Although many of us affected by this election will be embittered and jaded by the "nightmarish" election season, our guests this week, activists ranging from many backgrounds, communities, and ages have a thoughts on how we can continue to mobilize #AfterTheElection. Featuring words from a radical duo: Mab Segrest (Southerners on New Ground) and Agunda Okeyo (#GOPHandsOffMe). Read more at www.lauraflanders.com. L...
Nov 28, 2016•24 min•Ep. 76
