People's Republic

This week, we air the debut episode of The Reawakening, a podcast project of the Del Valle Blast featuring host Richard Franklin. Del Valle is a food desert and unincorporated area outside of Austin that suffers from a severe lack of resources. Richard interviews Brianna Griffith and Tina Byram about the issues that Del Valle faces.

We continue our coverage of the nationwide rebellion by turning to the social, political, and economic conditions facing Dallas leading up to the uprising there. We hear first from Marissa Rodriguez, an organizer with the Dallas/Fort Worth branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.Brianna then briefly discusses her own experience with the Austin uprisings before turning back to Dallas. We are then joined by Dariel Hernandez and Cooper Feste, two more organizers with the Dallas/Fort Worth branch of the PSL, to discuss their article "Pandemic reveals worker exploitation in Texas meatpacking industry."https://www.liberationnews.org/pandemic-reveals-worker-exploitation-in-texas-meatpacking-industry/

We begin our coverage of the nationwide rebellions of hundreds of thousands (likely millions) against police brutality. We are starting with voices from Texas cities to get a sense of this movement in areas outside of traditional "protest" strongholds. Brianna Griffith has also been on the ground, both as an organizer and a journalist, in protests in Austin.First, we hear from Mike Zendejas, an organizer in Houston, about the 60,000+ people who have risen up against police terror in that city.For the second half, we hear from Jake and Rachell Tucker about the burgeoning protest movement in San Antonio. Despite its conservative reputation as "Military City USA," San Antonio's City Council and police forces are creating the conditions for historic rebellions against state repression.

In the weeks after COVID-19, a couple in Del Valle, TX struggled to pay rent. They were both employed in carpentry, worked at the same business, and were tenants on the same lease. A reporter for the Austin American-Statesman implied the man was the sole breadwinner and leaseholder, while mentioning the woman only once: as a "live-in girlfriend." This reinforces sexist stereotypes about societal roles and completely erases the role of women in blue-collar professions. We speak with Sage Westbrook, a carpenter and one of the tenants in the story, to correct the record about her work. We also talk about the struggles women face in male-dominated blue-collar professions.Later, we speak with Walter Smolarek, an editor of Liberation News. We discuss the geopolitical realities obscured by U.S. fearmongering and posit a different thesis: that the United States, not China, is the primary threat to global stability.

American mercenaries were captured in Venezuela trying to overthrow the government in a Bay of Pigs-style operation. They were quickly apprehended even as seemingly pre-scheduled Tweets about the operation continued to be published. We talk with Jovanni Reyes, an organizer with About Face, about the forces behind the assault.Then, we have our segment Union News with Ken Zarifis, where we discuss the latest developments from Education Austin. If teachers and AISD employees are essential workers during COVID - which they absolutely are - then they deserve to be paid like essential workers. A petition can be found to support AISD employees here:https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/support-aisd-teachers-and-school-employeesWe conclude with Tech for the People with Chris Garaffa, where we discuss the latest tech news from a working-class perspective. We discuss companies' and governments' use of COVID-19 fears as a pretense to implement dangerous surveillance technologies. While tracing COVID-19 points of contact i

We celebrate May Day by highlight three ongoing struggles by working and oppressed people. First, we speak with Ryan Hamby, an organizer with the Denver branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, about the nationwide protests demanding to #CancelTheRent.Then, we examine Austin PD's shooting of Mike Ramos while his hands were in the air on April 24. The shooting happened just days after a damning report showing systemic racism, sexism, bigotry, and a culture of retaliation across all of APD. Chris Harris, an organizer with HomesNotHandcuffs, joins the conversation.Finally, we hear about the ongoing struggle to free ICE detainees from detention centers across the state of Texas. We speak with Rafael Aguilar with Never Again Action, a Jewish political action organization seeking to prevent genocide from happening in the U.S.A Gofundme for the family of Mike Ramos can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/justice-for-mike-ramos.

We speak with Austin DSA organizer Marina Roberts about her article in the Austin Chronicle, "Capitalism Has Failed Americans in This Crisis." We also discuss the latest wave of anti-government protests and the latest reports of Austin's police racism.Later we hear from Richard Franklin, the president of Youth Unlimited and former Del Valle School Board member, about Del Valle's fight for community health services.

We speak public health policy, geopolitics, media bias, and China with K.J. Noh. K.J. is a peace activist and scholar on the geopolitics of the Asian continent who writes for Counterpunch and Dissident Voice. He is special correspondent for KPFA Flashpoints on the “Pivot to Asia,” the Koreas, and the Pacific. He has recently authored "Yellow-caking an epidemic: New York Times spreads the virus of hatred, again."We highly recommend this article:https://mronline.org/2020/03/05/yellow-caking-an-epidemic/

We begin this episode with Union News with Ken Zarifis. We discuss the mass resignations of special education professionals within Austin ISD, while the district spends $53 million on a new headquarters.Then, we continue with Environmental Justice with Marissa Rodriguez. Marissa talks about the January explosion in Houston that left several people dead, the effects of environmental deregulation, and the Pentagon as a weapon of ecological destruction.Finally, we have Tech for the People with Chris Garaffa. We cover tech ground including the botched Iowa caucus app, the prosecution of Joshua Shulte around Vault 7, Clearview AI's legal troubles for scraping billions of pictures for law enforcement, and newly revealed information that the CIA had secretly owned an encryption company that it used to listen in on world affairs for decades.

For this entire episode, we feature speeches given by community members and organizers for the No War on Iran global day of protest which took place Jan. 25. Over 200 cities in 19 countries took place. Austin's protest included speakers from Iraq Veterans Against the War, Palestine Solidarity Committee, the Alliance for Global Justice, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the ANSWER Coalition, and many others.Another global protest will take place between March 19-21 in cities around the world. The ANSWER Coalition, which organized many of the Jan. 25 protests, will be participating in these as well. More information can be found at answercoalition.org.

We begin the show with Latin America in Focus with Luis Francisco Rangel. We discuss recent military killings in Colombia, Morales' call for citizens' self-defense committees in Bolivia, and Juan Guaido's deranged antics and "parallel parliament" in Venezuela.Later, we talk with Mike Prysner, host of Eyes Left Podcast and producer of The Empire Files with Abby Martin. We discuss the history of resistance to wars within the military, as well as what Trump's escalation toward war with Iran means for soldiers.

For our first segment, we talk with Jacob Aronowitz about Texas politics. We discuss the coalitions that have formed on either side of the political battle lines around homelessness in Austin.Later, we speak with Chris Harris, an organizer around police accountability issues, about alternative models to policing. This discussion comes in the wake of yet another Austin Police Department scandal around disparaging and racist texts sent by an assistant police chief.

We kick off our first segment of Latin America in Focus with Luis Francisco Rangel, a musician, educator, and member of the Venezuelan diaspora. For this episode, we talk about Luis' home country, Venezuela, which is seeing signs of a major economic recovery despite deadly U.S. sanctions which have killed 40,000 Venezuelans.Then, we continue Socialism 101 with Winn Ellinger. This month, we talk about the political and philosophical interventions made by Lenin at the time of the Russian Revolution.Finally, we talk with Carl Zha, host of the Silk and Steel Podcast, about the protests that rocked Hong Kong throughout much of 2019. We talk about the political, economic, social, and geopolitical factors that led to the protest movement.

We are joined for our monthly segment Texas Politics with Jacob Aronowitz. We discuss everything you need to know in order to register to vote for the primaries in Texas. The deadline to register to vote in the primaries is February 3. Early voting runs from Feb. 18-28, and the date of the primary is March 3. You can find Jacob's guide for registering and voting at https://bit.ly/atxregguide.Then, we speak with Chris Harris with the #HomesNotHandcuffs campaign about marijuana decriminalization and the latest Austin PD scandals, including likely retaliation against whistleblowers.

In October 2019, Nebane Abienwi, a 37-year-old Cameroonian man, died in ICE custody in San Diego. Abienwi was one of at least 10,000 Cameroonians seeking asylum in the United States. We speak with Joe Tache, an editor and writer for Liberation News, about the colonial history and neocolonial present of Cameroon.Later, we air an interview from last year with Dr. Gerald Horne. We discuss the radical legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King and his situation within the Black radical tradition.

For this episode, we discuss the situation leading up to the U.S. assassination of General Soleimani in Iran. Walter Smolarek, an organizer with the ANSWER Coalition, joins us to talk about the geopolitical tensions and the bipartisan support for endless warfare. Later, Winn Ellinger, a musician based in Austin, talks about the 20th century history of imperial wars.U.S. anti-war groups are planning a global day of protest to speak out against U.S. war on Iran. You can find more information at answercoalition.org.

To kick off the New Year, we are starting two new monthly segments.Union News with Ken Zarifis will discuss the latest on union organizing. Ken is the president of Education Austin. This month, we talk with Ken about how he started getting involved in his union.Environmental Justice with Marissa Rodriguez will cover the latest news on environmentalism and how it intersects with race, class, and global politics. This month, we discuss the tainted water supply of Green Tree Estates.Finally, Tech for the People returns for the new year. We discuss Barr's attempt to circumvent encryption, location tracking, Stingrays, and the attempt to capitalize on .org domain names.

We finish out 2019 with Jacquie Luqman, co-host of By Any Means Necessary and co-editor in chief of Luqman Nation. We discuss the end-of-year stories, including Labour's loss to the Tories, the endless Democratic debates, and the hypocrisies of the impeachment saga.

We are joined by Jovanni Reyes and Todd Arena, organizers with About Face, to discuss the mechanisms of the coup in Bolivia and the history of power relations in that country.

For International Migrants Day, we are joined by Paige Corich-Kleim, the media coordinator for No More Deaths, to talk about the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border.Later, we speak with Danny Shaw, a professor of Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the City University of New York, about the coup in Bolivia.