Jacobin Radio

Kristin Du Mez, author of the book Jesus and John Wayne, looks at the world of Christian nationalism. Jennifer Middlestadt, who wrote a recent opinion piece in the New York Times, speaks about the “sovereigntism” guiding the foreign policy of Trump et al. 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 online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Featuring Chris Newman on Trump's far-right anti-migrant agenda and Democrats' cruel and stupid complicity. Read All-American Nativism versobooks.com/products/704-all-american-nativism Read Dan's essay on Gaza and migration politics in n+1 nplusonemag.com/issue-48/politics/do-border Trump's immigration executive orders propublica.org/article/donald-trump-immigration-executive-orders Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy After Accountability at Haymarketbooks.com Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15—a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin

Last year, Martin Empson joined Long Reads to speak about the German Peasants’ War, Europe’s biggest social revolt before the French Revolution. Martin returns to talk about what happened next. After the revolt was crushed, radical religious tendencies became a vehicle for social discontent. The most famous of those tendencies was known as Anabaptism. A group of religious radicals inspired by Anabaptist ideas even took power in the German town of Münster. After the bloody repression of the Munster rebels, the very idea of Anabaptism became a sinister bogeyman for Europe’s ruling classes. Martin’s book The Time of the Harvest Has Come: Revolution, Reformation and the German Peasants’ War will be published later this year. Read Martin’s Jacobin article, “Anabaptism Was the Revolutionary Face of Reformation Europe,” here: https://jacobin.com/2024/07/anabaptism-reformation-europe-peasants-revolution Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical

Just two weeks in power, the new Trump administration has already led a horrifying whirlwind of attacks on immigrants, transgender people, tribal nations, people of color, and women. Government institutions are being dismantled. Make no mistake, these shock-and-awe actions are designed to keep people in fear and paralyzed as a fascistic presidency stages what is being called an administrative coup. Our guests today, David Cobb and Kali Akuno, are among the few who saw this moment coming years ago, and have never stopped organizing against the fascist threat. In their work, including the creation of the People’s Network for Land and Liberation, they take a programmatic approach to overcoming fear through clear analysis and direct action. They aim not only to resist, but to build real infrastructure to keep people safe, meet basic needs, and cultivate the idea and practice of political and economic democracy on a mass scale. As the Italian antifascist and theorist Antonio Gramsci said, “The old world is dying

Eoin Higgins, author of Owned, talks about tech moguls and the journalists, like Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi, who work for them. Ronnie Grinberg, author of Write Like a Man, on the mostly male, mostly Jewish New York intellectuals of the postwar scene. 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 online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Featuring Hannah Srajer on building tenant unions by applying labor organizing models. The Connecticut Tenants Union is partnered with SEIU 1199NE to organize fighting super majority tenant unions that win collectively bargained leases and wield working class political power. It's a model that's spreading nationwide. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Peruse The Dig's vast archives at thedigradio.com Support Reclaim RI https://secure.actblue.com/donate/reclaimri Buy Not Your Rescue Project at Haymarketbooks.com Buy My Country, Africa at Versobooks.com

President Trump is back in power and immediately moved to carry out his xenophobic policies with a slew of unconstitutional executive orders and plans for mass detention and deportation of the nation’s immigrants. Suzi talks to three extraordinary activists whose organizations and coalitions are building effective solidarity and defense for those about to be detained and deported: Victor Narro, UCLA’s long time expert on immigrant rights and low-wage workers, works in the sanctuary movement, Nana Gyamfi of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), and Aquilina Soriano-Versoza of the Pilipino Workers Center of Southern California explain what their Black, Latino, and Filipino led and focused coalitions are doing to counter the Trump offensive against immigrants. This is practical solidarity that builds power — and it is moving and uplifting. Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

There is no cultural phenomenon more hated today than what is called wokeness. While it is wrongly associated with the Left, the Right is very successfully taking advantage of it. In this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber traces the political and economic origins of it, and argues that the Left should be at the forefront of criticizing it. Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.

Featuring Leonardo Vilchis and Tracy Rosenthal on their book Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis. Tenant unions fighting to transform Los Angeles, the country, and the world. Support Reclaim RI https://secure.actblue.com/donate/reclaimri Buy Abolish Rent haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent Subscribe to Dissent at dissentmagazine.org/subscribe Use code ‘DIG50’ for 50% off your first order at Plutobooks.com The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

Mouin Rabbani surveys the Gaza ceasefire and Trump’s plans for the Middle East. Angela Jones and Bernadette Barton discuss the new book they co-edited, Sex Work Today. 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 online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Akbar Shahid Ahmed returns to Long Reads to discuss the recent ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas — and what’s likely to happen next. Akbar is the senior diplomatic correspondent for the Huffington Post and the author of a forthcoming book about the Biden administration and the Israeli attack on Gaza. He has been a guest on the show several times last year. This conversation was recorded January 23rd. Read more about the role of Gaza in the 2024 election: https://www.imeupolicyproject.org/postelection-polling https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/kamala-harris-gaza-israel-biden-election-poll And find our previous interviews with Akbar here: https://jacobin.com/author/akbar-shahid-ahmed Subscribe to Jacobin Radio to hear a special Long Reads series starting next month. Red Star Over Palestine will look at histories of the Palestinian left, from the Communist movement to groups like the PFLP. Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with

Laura Jedeed, author of an article for the New Republic, talks about San Francisco and tech moguls’ plans to “fix” it. Yasha Levine, co-director of a new documentary, Pistachio Wars, talks about billionaire couple and self-styled philanthropists the Resnicks and their involvement in the California water crisis. 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 online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Featuring Michael Denning on Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State and Law and Order, collectively authored by Stuart Hall and his colleagues at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham. Hall’s method of Marxist conjunctural analysis applied to the generalized crisis that paved the way for neoliberalism's rise; a model for how we should ask questions about our world that will provide us with knowledge we need to change it. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our vast archives and newsletters thedigradio.com Support Atlantic Mills Tenants Union Legal Fund https://bit.ly/4jg4D61 Buy Dead Cities and Other Tales at haymarketbooks.org Donate to Jacobin Magazine at jacobin.com/donate The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

Jacobin Radio has featured many presentations from the recent conference held in honor of Boris Kagarlitsky, author of The Long Retreat, a sobering analysis of the international Left that was discussed in our previous episode, and currently a prisoner in Russia for speaking out against Putin’s war in Ukraine. We continue with Trevor Ngwane, a South African scholar-activist at the University of Johannesburg, and Nancy Fraser, professor of philosophy and politics at the New School for Social Research, who bring to the table some difficult truths and critical questions for the global Left. After brief introductory comments from Patrick Bond, Trevor Ngwane outlines the brutal history of South Africa’s turn to neoliberalism and its consequences — widespread suffering and deepening despair among ordinary people as well as a political crisis in the African National Congress. He asks what it will take to revitalize the vibrant, militant, working-class movements that once overthrew apartheid. Nancy Fraser then reflec

Colette Shade, author of Y2K: How the 2000s Became Everything, talks about culture at the turn of the millennium. Tim Shorrock discusses the political crisis in South Korea. 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 online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Foregrounding workers’ material interests used to be commonplace among socialists. But as the Left faced decades of defeat, a materialist approach to politics fell out of favor. In this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber defends materialism from its critics and discusses how a materialist perspective understands rationality, the challenges around collective organizing, and cultural differences. Read the article mentioned in this episode: https://catalyst-journal.com/2024/12/the-flight-from-materialism Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.

Featuring Michael Denning on Stuart Hall’s Marxism—a Marxism without guarantees. This is a comprehensive introduction to Marxism as a method to analyze historically specific, complex and contradictory capitalist social formations, and what that means for making, rather than assuming the existence of, a working-class socialist politics. Next week Dan interviews Denning on Policing the Crisis, a 1978 book collectively authored by Hall and his colleagues; it’s a remarkable project that anticipates today’s politics around anti-immigrant xenophobia, mass incarceration, and Trumpism. Listen to Hall’s full 1983 Inaugural Karl Marx Memorial Lecture in Sheffield youtube.com/watch?v=IP_OWahR-Gc Our two-part series on Gramsci with Denning: thedigradio.com/podcast/gramsci-hegemony-w-michael-denning/ thedigradio.com/podcast/gramsci-organization-crisis-w-michael-denning/ Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Set the Earth on Fire at Haymarketbooks.com Use code "DIG" for 30% off a subscription to The-Syllabus.

This week is a best of 2024, with Rashid Khalidi, Pankaj Mishra, Annelle Sheline, Aziz Rana, Anna Kornbluh, Brooke Harrington, and, in memoriam, Jane McAlevey. 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 online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

Branko Marcetic, staff writer at Jacobin and author of Yesterday's Man, says farewell to Joe Biden (and takes some shots at Joe Scarborough too). Santiago Pérez, co-author of a recent paper, discusses his research on how little the class composition of elite college student bodies has changed. 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 online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html

In the wake of Kamala Harris's defeat, the Left's association with identity politics has been a major focus of public debate. But what identity politics is or who primarily benefits from it remains contested. In this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber discusses the Democrats’ long-standing attachment to identity politics, why this form of politics can't fight oppression, and the real history behind struggles for justice. Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.