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Behind the News: Sandra Cuffe, Alexander Main, and Janet Capron Jan 22, 2018

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Journalist Sandra Cuffe on Honduras after a stolen election and waves of official violence. Alexander Main, Senior Associate of International Policy at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, on US policy towards Latin America under Trump. Then, Janet Capron, author of Blue Money, on drugs and sex work in 1970s New York City.

The Dig: Workers' Rights Are Students' Rights Jan 19, 2018

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Student workers at Rutgers University are fighting for $15 an hour. Undergraduate history major and dining-hall worker Danny Taylor of @RutgersUSAS talks about their struggle. Thanks to Verso Books for their support. Check out Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump by David Neiwert versobooks.com/books/2535-alt-america, and support this podcast with your $ at patreon.com/TheDig! Also: Jacobin has published a transcription of Dan's interview with the Fields sisters jacobinmag.com/2018/01/racecraft-racism-barbara-karen-fields

The Dig: A New Poor People’s Campaign with Nijmie Dzurinko Jan 17, 2018

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Martin Luther King Jr. launched the Poor People’s Campaign alongside other organizers shortly before he was assassinated 50 years ago. Today, organizers nationwide are relaunching that movement as The Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, tackling the evil quadruplet of poverty, systemic racism, militarism, and environmental devastation. Dan’s guest is rock star organizer Nijmie Dzurinko, making her second appearance on the show. Check out Dan’s recent work slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/01/the-opioid-crisis-is-blurring-the-legal-lines-between-victim-and-perpetrator.html & injusticetoday.com/philadelphia-media-slam-newly-elected-da-krasner-for-firings-but-house-cleaning-advances-his-f2da076ffb06 Thanks to Verso Books. Check out Futures of Black Radicalism versobooks.com/books/2438-futures-of-black-radicalism

Jacobin Radio w/ Suzi Weissman: Iranian Uprising Jan 16, 2018

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Suzi talks to UCLA sociologist and Iran expert Kevan Harris about the massive uprising that began in Iran at the end of December and quickly spread to every corner of the country. Persistent poverty and inequality are driving discontent, but Harris says that isn't the whole story. Suzi then talks to economist Dean Baker from the Center for Economic Research, who has some innovative ideas about how California can get around the tax-cut plan passed by the Republicans, which directly targets California and other so-called high tax states that also have relatively decent public services. She also asks Baker about the state of the economy, unemployment and wage growth, whether we’re in a new bubble, and why the media does such a bad job informing the public on economic issues.

The Dig: That Trump Book Tho with Patrick Blanchfield Jan 13, 2018

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Your first Diglet of the new year, and we’re talking about that Trump book. At n+1 Patrick Blanchfield makes the case that Fire and Fury is not, as some might think, a bunch of meaningless palace-intrigue that has distracted us from what Trump is doing to destroy the environment and wage relentless class war against the poor. Rather, the book in one fell swoop exposes the Trump administration for the dangerously hot mess that we all knew it was but were entirely unable to understand clearly because the deluge of drama and weird tweets had rendered it all banal wallpaper. Thanks to our sponsors at Verso Books. Check out How Will Capitalism End versobooks.com/books/2519-how-will-capitalism-end Like our show music? Check out Brodsky’s commercial and artistic work at Jeffreybrodsky.com and painterly.bandcamp.com

The Dig: Killing the Black Body with Dorothy Roberts Jan 10, 2018

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Chattel slavery made black women’s reproduction the source of private property — and in doing so, invented race and American racism. Ever since, the denigration and regulation of black women’s childbearing has been central to the construction of white supremacy and the exploitative economic order that it protects, as scholar Dorothy Roberts explained in Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty, a pivotal book first published in 1997. In this episode, Roberts talks about the book and what lessons it holds today as Trump and Republicans seek to destroy yet more of the social safety net and use racism as a smokescreen to distract white Americans from their class war against working people. Thanks to Verso Books for their support. Check out Duty Free Art: Art in the Age of Planetary Civil War by Hito Steyerl versobooks.com/books/2553-duty-free-art. And please support The Dig with $ at patreon.com/TheDig!

Behind the News: What Social Reproduction Theory Offers Us Jan 08, 2018

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Professor Tithi Bhattacharya, editor of Social Reproduction Theory on capitalism, Marxism, feminism, and society. Social reproduction theory is a type of socialist feminist analysis of the connection between worker and society, with particular attention paid to the family and household as critical units for the reproduction of society. While this can sound abstract, social reproduction theory has a lot to contribute to today's most pressing issues, from social security reform to the #MeToo movement.

The Dig: Troop Veneration and US Empire with Catherine Lutz Jan 04, 2018

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The protest movement against the onset of the Iraq War was countered by a call to “support our troops” from militarists on the Right. But venerating American soldiers is not about supporting actual American soldiers; it's a rhetorical device to preclude questioning or criticism of the wars they are sent to fight. In a face-to-face interview at Brown University’s Watson Institute, anthropologist Catherine Lutz discusses John Kelly’s recent diatribe, Khizr Khan, Trump’s attack on protesting NFL players, and the roots of it all in the Nixon administration’s response to GI rebellion against the Vietnam War. Thanks to our supporters at Verso Books. Check out How Will Capitalism End? Essays on a Failing System by Wolfgang Streeck versobooks.com/books/2519-how-will-capitalism-end And support us with $ at patreon.com/TheDig

The Dig: Bhaskar Sunkara on the Bolsheviks Dec 27, 2017

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At the close of the centenary of the Russian Revolution, Jacobin editor Bhaskar Sunkara discusses his new article on the Bolsheviks and what we can learn from and blame on them — and also what might be forgiven and moved beyond. Thanks to our sponsors at Verso Books. Check out Duty Free Art: Art in the Age of Planetary Civil War by Hito Steyerl and Radical Happiness: Moments of Collective Joy by Lynne Segal at versobooks.com.

Behind the News: Yanis Varoufakis on the Need for a Progressive Internationalism Dec 22, 2017

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Doug Henwood explains the bitcoin craze, and then ex-finance minister of Greece Yanis Varoufakis ties up some loose ends on Adults in the Room, and discusses the need for a progressive internationalism.

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