Jacobin Radio

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Behind the News: Tim Shorrock and Vijay Prashad Jun 03, 2019

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Tim Shorrock (Nation page here) on the US conflict with North Korea. Then, Vijay Prashad, director of the Tricontinental Institute, on Modi’s recent victory in India.

The Dig: Bernie and Black Voters with Malaika Jabali and Wendi Muse May 30, 2019

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Dan has in-depth discussion on Bernie's approach to race and what he must do to win over Black voters with Malaika Jabali and Wendi Muse. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Sanders isn't unpopular with Black voters. In fact, he has done rather well with young Black people. But to win the primary and beat Biden, he must do a lot better. In particular, Malaika and Wendi argue that Bernie must integrate racial justice into the core of his class struggle agenda, rather than emphasizing it as a separate and siloed issue.

Read Dan's critique of Bernie's immigration agenda jacobinmag.com/2019/04/bernie-sanders-immigrant-rights-border-policy

Thanks to Verso. Check out their huge selection of left-wing titles at www.versobooks.com

Go to the Socialism 2019 conference in Chicago July 4-7! Register for the early-bird rate now at socialismconference.org

Support this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

Jacobin Radio: Barry Eidlin on Labor May 30, 2019

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Here, before a live audience at United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) headquarters, Suzi talks to Canadian sociologist and labor activist Barry Eidlin about socialist politics and the many issues facing radicals oriented to the working class. The interview is followed by a lively, well informed discussion from the largely DSA audience. The result is a remarkable “town hall” meeting that could serve as a primer for socialist politics in the present moment. Some of the issues discussed: the Democratic Party vs. Canada’s labor party or NDP (New Democratic Party); the potential of today’s labor upsurge and teachers' strike wave; the labor bureaucracy and the rank-and-file strategy required to combat it; how to develop a “militant minority” within the workers' movement; the relationship between organizing in the traditional industrial working class and new struggles oriented around problems of social reproduction; and how to relate to Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Party, and electoral politics.

The Vast Majority: "The Case for Open Borders" with Suzy Lee May 28, 2019

Show notes

What should the Left say about borders? Free flow of people across borders has always been a key topic for leftists, perhaps never more so than right now — especially given the realities of climate change. Some on the Left advance a maximalist demand of completely open borders; others (including, recently, Sen. Bernie Sanders) argue that social-democratic policies like Medicare for All require some restriction on the flow of people who can enter a country and access those goods. Suzy Lee is no fan of the latter argument. In "The Case for Open Borders" in the Winter 2019 issue of our journal Catalyst, she argues that the Left can't give any credence to restrictionist arguments by accepting the need to restrict people from entering the US or any other country. You can read Suzy Lee's essay "The Case for Open Borders" here: https://catalyst-journal.com/vol2/no4/the-case-for-open-borders You can also read Daniel Denvir's piece in Jacobin, "How Bernie Should Talk About Borders": https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/04/bernie-sanders-immigrant-rights-border-policy And you can subscribe to Jacobin at https://www.jacobinmag.com/subscribe

The Dig: Doug Henwood on DSA May 25, 2019

Show notes

DSA's explosive growth continues; it has already, in a few short years, become the center of a renewed American socialist movement. Dan interviews Doug Henwood, who recently published a lengthy article in The New Republic entitled "The Socialist Network: Inside DSA's struggle to move into the political mainstream."

Check out Lisa Duggan's Mean Girl: Ayn Rand and the Culture of Greeducpress.edu/book/9780520294776/mean-girl

Go to the Socialism 2019 conference in Chicago July 4-7! Register for the early-bird rate now at socialismconference.org

Support this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

The Dig: Capitalism and Slavery. Part 2. May 22, 2019

Show notes

Three interviews: historian Seth Rockman, scholars Crystal Eddins and Zachary Sell, and public historians Akeia Benard, Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, Elon Cook Lee and Marco McWilliams.

Dan conducted six interviews on capitalism and slavery at The Dig’s recent Slavery’s Hinterlands symposium here in Rhode Island. This second of two episodes begins with Seth Rockman on the role of slavery in American capitalism. Then, scholars Crystal Eddins and Zachary Sell on revolution and counter-revolution across the racial capitalist global order. Finally, public historians Akeia Benard, Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, Elon Cook Lee and Marco McWilliams on teaching slavery today.

Go to the Socialism 2019 conference in Chicago July 4-7! Register for the early-bird rate now at socialismconference.org

Check out Next Left, a new podcast from The Nation magazine. Their first interview is with Rep. Ilhan Omar. thenation.com/next-left/

Support this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

The Vast Majority: Socialism: The Movie with Yael Bridge May 20, 2019

Show notes

Socialism: The Movie with Yael Bridge Yael Bridge is one of the filmmakers behind the forthcoming documentary Socialism: An American Story. She talks with Micah about what she's trying to do with the film as well as her own transformation from a liberal into a socialist through the Bernie Sanders campaign. You can read more about Socialism: An American Story and chip in a donation for it here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/socialismmovie/socialism-an-american-story-post-production

Behind the News: Teachers Strikes and Community-Based Reparations May 20, 2019

Show notes

Eric Blanc, author of Red State Revolt, on the teachers' strikes. Then, Catherine Kaiman, environmental lawyer, on community-based reparations (paper here).

The Dig: Capitalism and Slavery. Part 1. May 16, 2019

Show notes

Three interviews: historians Linford Fisher, Christy Clark-Pujara and Joanne Melish, and Emily Owens.

Dan conducted six interviews on capitalism and slavery at The Dig's recent Slavery's Hinterlands symposium here in Rhode Island. This first of two episodes begins with historian Linford Fisher, who explains that the English settlement of North America was a settler-colonial project that required genocidally dispossessing indigenous people of their lands. What you might not know is that a central tactic for that dispossession, in New England and Virginia alike, was the threat and actual enslavement of native people, including the widespread practice of forcing native youth to labor in English homes. Then historians Christy Clark-Pujara and Joanne Melish, who pick up where Fisher leaves off: slavery wasn't the South's peculiar institution; it was the bedrock of the northern economy. And finally, historian Emily Owens on sexual labor under slavery: what, Owens' work explores, did slavery and freedom mean for women for whom, in brothels or the home, sex was work? On the next episode, Dan has two more interviews looking at the big picture questions of slavery, capitalism, revolution and colonialism, and an interview with a group of public historians who teach about slavery today.

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Please support this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

The Vast Majority: "Chicago's Socialist Surge" with Carlos Ramirez-Rosa May 14, 2019

Show notes

Chicago recently made international headlines for the victories of six — six!! — members of the Democratic Socialists of America running for city council. It’s an astonishing victory, the biggest socialist victory in any American city in probably a century. These victories matter both for Chicago, which has seen growing working-class pushback to neoliberalism in recent years, but also for socialist organizers in cities around the country, who can learn from how Chicago won so many elections on a left platform. One of the six victors in the April elections was Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, who represents Chicago's 35th Ward, a gentrifying area on the city’s northwest side. Carlos was the only incumbent socialist city council member (or “alderman”); despite being attacked repeatedly by the area’s wealthy real-estate developers, he won re-election comfortably. You can read my interview with Carlos from two years ago, when he was kicked off a gubernatorial ticket for his support of Palestine (which we mention in our discussion) here:https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/09/carlos-rosa-chicago-bds-democratic-party And you can read my piece in the Guardian on the Chicago electoral victories here:https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/03/americas-socialist-surge-chicago

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