Jacobin Radio

Latest Episodes:

The Dig: Patrick Blanchfield on Serious Men Sep 26, 2018

Show notes

Serious people in Washington are seduced by vapid and self-serving accounts of their savvy operation of the machinery of government — works like Bob Woodward's latest exercise in extended stenography Fear: Trump in the White House. The problem with Trump — for defenders of the establishment political order that helped make his presidency possible — is precisely that he's not a man like John McCain, a bloodthirsty and world-historically successful self-mythologizer. Patrick Blanchfield on his review of Fear in n+1and obituary of John McCain in The Baffler.

Thanks to Verso Books. Check out their massive collective of left-wing books at versobooks.com!

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

Behind the News: Socialist Women Winning Office Sep 25, 2018

Show notes

This episode's guests are Margaret Corvid, who recently won a city council race in Plymouth, England, and Julia Salazar, who just won the Democratic primary for New York state senate in Brooklyn.

The Dig: #AbolishDEA Sep 23, 2018

Show notes

The United States today exceeds at perpetually waging wars that are destined to fail to meet their purported objectives. The War on Terror is one such war. The War on Drugs is another. In both cases, failure never leads to much official questioning of the war let alone a repudiation of its underlying wisdom. The conventional wisdom is always that the war just hasn't been waged in the right way, or aggressively enough. My guest today is Leo Beletsky, who directs the Health in Justice Action Lab at Northeastern University. He and Jeremiah Goulka recently published an op-ed in the New York Times calling for the abolition of the DEA, noting that after hundreds of billions of dollars spent fatal overdose rates have skyrocketed to a historic high. Let's #AbolishDEA.

Thanks to Verso Books. Check out a huge catalogue of excellent left-wing books at versobooks.com.

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

The Dig: The Problem with the Problem With Appalachia Sep 19, 2018

Show notes

For many, conservatives and liberals alike, Appalachia provides a skeleton key for interpreting changes in American politics that might otherwise be difficult to comprehend. But the way conservatives and liberals talk about Appalachia tells us a lot more about conservatives and liberals than it does about the region. Elizabeth Catte, the author of What You Are Getting Wrong about Appalachia, puts the region and representations of it in historical and political-economic context.

Thanks to Verso Books, which has loads of great left-wing titles at www.versobooks.com. And thanks to University of California Press, which just published Making All Black Lives Matter: Reimagining Freedom in the Twenty-First Century by Barbara Ransby: ucpress.edu/book/9780520292710/making-all-black-lives-matter.

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

The Dig: Beyond Economism with Nancy Fraser Sep 12, 2018

Show notes

Legendary critical theorist Nancy Fraser argues that a total analysis of capitalism requires taking Marxism beyond a narrowly economistic view. Throughout its history, capitalism has been defined not just by labor exploitation but also by the disavowal of that exploitation's own basic conditions of possibility: the things that the daily business of labor exploitation and surplus-value appropriation require from politics, care work, war-making, mining, patriarchy, racism, and more.

Thanks to Verso Books, which has loads of great left-wing titles at www.versobooks.com. And thanks to University of California Press. Check out Uberland: How Algorithms Are Rewriting the Rules of Work by Alex Rosenblat ucpress.edu/book/9780520298576/uberland.

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

Jacobin Radio: Mayor 1 Percent; Puerto Rico After Maria Sep 11, 2018

Show notes

Suzi talks to Jacobin's managing editor, Micah Uetricht, who has been writing about Chicago politics and Rahm Emanuel since 2011: in fact Micah Uetricht is to Rahm Emanuel what Hunter Thompson was to Richard Nixon. We get Micah's take on why "Mayor 1%" is not running for reelection, and what his legacy will likely be. Suzi then speaks to freelance writer Chloe Watlington, who has been writing about Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria for the Baffler and Teen Vogue. Chloe looks at the bizarre attempts to reboot the economy that profess to solve problems that aren’t the problem, and the response from labor, as well as student strikes against massive cuts to education at all levels. There is a pattern here and Chloe helps unravel it.

Behind the News: Neofascism in Germany and Israel; #MeToo Sep 10, 2018

Show notes

Writer Joel Schalit on neofascism in Germany and Israel. Then, Heidi Matthews, assistant professor of law at York University, on #MeToo.

The Dig: Matt Bruenig Spreads the Wealth Around Sep 09, 2018

Show notes

What socialism should offer is freedom by way of power and democratic control over our polity and economy—and thus over our future as a society. Matt Bruenig has one proposal out at his People's Policy Project on how to begin to do just that, and it's called a social wealth fund. The idea is that the state gradually socializes the assets of every single publicly-traded company in the United States by purchasing their stocks.

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

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

Behind the News: Racism in the United States Sep 05, 2018

Show notes

Raven Rakia, a journalist with The Appeal, on the nationwide prison strike (more here and here). Then, Asad Haider, author of Mistaken Identity, on race and class.

The Dig: Race or Class? Bad Question. With Nikhil Pal Singh. Sep 05, 2018

Show notes

Nikhil Pal Singh on the unfortunate obsession shared by certain pundits, journalists and social scientists: definitively proving that Trump won because of racism, and racism alone. What drives so many people to dedicate so much time to arguing that either class or race or gender or whatever matters the most—or worse yet, matters exclusively? And what does "matter more" even mean? Plus, a Dan Denvir monologue on the identity politics debate.

Thanks to Verso Books. Check out versobooks.com for loads of great left-wing titles.

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