Jacobin Radio

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Behind the News: Capital’s Chatbots w/ Jodi Dean Aug 18, 2026

Show notes

Jodi Dean, who has a new Substack on the issue, surveys how AI has been terrible. Anatol Lieven, author of a new article for New Left Review’s Sidecar blog, looks at the bloody stalemate that is the Russia–Ukraine war.

Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.

The Dig: Destruction of the Jewish Bund w/ Molly Crabapple Aug 15, 2026

Show notes

Featuring Molly Crabapple on her book Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund. The second in a two-part interview.

Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig

Buy Decolonizing Money at Plutobooks.com

Buy Femmephilia at Haymarketbooks.org

The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

Long Reads: How US Media Whitewashed the Gaza Genocide w/ Adam Johnson Aug 13, 2026

Show notes

From the very start of the Gaza genocide, Western media outlets were happy to repeat the most outlandish claims from Israeli government officials. One of the most notorious examples was the allegation that dozens of Israeli babies were beheaded on October 7, 2023, a story amplified by CNN and promoted by the former US president, Joe Biden, who claimed to have seen “pictures of terrorists beheading children.” Of course, Biden was lying — it never happened.

This failure to ask any serious questions before reporting the most inflammatory claims set the tone for media coverage of Gaza, right up to the present day.

Adam Johnson joins Long Reads to discuss a pattern of journalistic malpractice by some of the world’s most prestigious newspapers and broadcasters. Adam is a media critic and the author of a new book about Gaza and the US media, How to Sell A Genocide. It chronicles how influential media outlets, instead of reporting on the crimes Israel was committing in Gaza, helped the Biden administration whitewash them.

Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies with music by Knxwledge.

Jacobin Radio: Health Care Class Struggle w/ Gabriel Winant Aug 11, 2026

Show notes

“Men in hard hats were once the heart of America’s working class. Now it is women in scrubs,” says historian Gabriel Winant, author of The Next Shift, who joins Suzi to explain how deindustrialization made health care the country’s largest employer, but the jobs are lower paid, understaffed, and more precarious.

That’s playing out now at UVM Medical Center, where Vermont's own regulator found the nonprofit hospital was over-earning. Its response? Cut union jobs while nineteen top executives split $3 million in bonuses. Three union leaders — Melissa LaVallee, Teagan Cook, and Emma Galvin — from AFT Vermont, a branch of the American Federation of Teachers, describe the fight from inside for safe staffing and common-good demands. Their contract expires midnight on August 13th. The stakes are national.

Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Behind the News: The Rise of India’s “Cockroach” Movement w/ Aditya Nigam Aug 10, 2026

Show notes

Aditya Nigam looks at the “Cockroach” protest movement in India. Then, Gerald Epstein and Juliet Schor outline a detailed set of proposals to transform the US economy.

Read their papers here: https://peri.umass.edu/gamechangers/

Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.

The Dig: Making the Jewish Bund w/ Molly Crabapple Aug 06, 2026

Show notes

Featuring Molly Crabapple on her book Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund. The first episode of a two-part interview.

Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig.

Buy Unions of Our Own and Femmephilia at Haymarketbooks.org.

The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

Confronting Capitalism: How Capitalism Undermines Democracy Aug 05, 2026

Show notes

Libertarian thinkers like Milton Friedman like to say that capitalism not only gave birth to democracy but also is the ideal economic system to complement democracy. But while capitalism may have created the conditions for democracy, it’s actually the main obstacle to securing full democratic rights.

On this latest episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber and Melissa Naschek examine the worker struggles central to the rise of democracy, and why, in a system built around profit, the ruling class opposes it.

The latest issue of Catalyst is out and you can subscribe for just $20 using the code CONFRONTINGCAPITALISM: https://catalyst-journal.com/subscribe/?code=CONFRONTINGCAPITALISM

Have a question for us? Write to us by email: confronting.capitalism@jacobin.com

Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.

The Dig: Nusantara Ep. 8 — Reform Stalls, Oligarchy Triumphs Aug 01, 2026

Show notes

The eighth and final episode in a series on the history of Indonesia: a hinge in the world system where colonialism and revolution have decisively shaped the trajectory of global history. This last installment picks up with the 2014 election of Joko Widodo, or Jokowi, to the presidency. That promise was soon betrayed, laying the groundwork for the rise of Prabowo Subianto, a scion of Suharto who represents nearly everything repugnant about the New Order regime. And yet Prabowo’s rule remains beset by contradiction and controversy — and Indonesia’s political future remains uncertain. Featuring Rianne Subijanto, Made Supriatma, Iqra Anugrah, and Farabi Fakih.

Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig

Check out IndoPROGRESS promotion of Nusantara in Bahasa Indonesia: instagram.com/reel/DafhG9-qdPW/

Watch Pig Feast: Colonialism in Our Time: youtube.com/watch?v=A-pPemC8m_M

Buy The Extended Universe at Haymarketbooks.org

Find Money In The Mountains at Plutobooks.com

The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

Long Reads: China’s Next Decade w/ Eli Friedman Jul 31, 2026

Show notes

Over the last couple of years, media coverage of China has focused on the trade war launched by the Trump administration. While Trump and his tariffs have been grabbing the headlines, there have been some major developments in China’s domestic political economy.

So far this year, the Chinese authorities have announced plans to reform the hukou system that controls the movement of workers around the country. They’ve also published their latest five-year plan setting out development goals for the rest of the decade.

Eli Friedman joins Long Reads to talk about what’s been happening in China. Eli is a professor of global labor at Cornell University and the coauthor of China in Global Capitalism.

Jacobin Radio: The World Cup’s Impact and FIFA’s Mendacity Jul 28, 2026

Show notes

In a jam-packed final installment of The People’s Game on Jacobin Radio, Mel and Alan speak with five distinguished guests. The feature interview is with Jules Boykoff, author of Red Card: The 2026 World Cup, Sportswashing, and the FIFA Greed Machine. Boykoff, speaking on the day before the final between Spain and Argentina, reflects on what has defied, met, or exceeded his expectations about this year’s men’s World Cup soccer tournament. What lasting impact might the most profitable, largest, and longest major soccer tournament in history have on the global game? What does a 39-day carnival of soccer staged during a time of global and national crisis reveal about 21st-century society?

We also ask One Fair Wage organizer Saru Jayaramen, political scientist Vanessa Tyson (who played varsity soccer at Princeton), and left progressive congressional candidates Chris Rabb (PA-3) and Randy Villegas (CA-22) for their take on the tournament. Meanwhile, former UK Member of Parliament George Galloway says the corruption has gone too far, and promises to expose the depths of FIFA’s mendacity to the world.

Finally, the People’s Game’s co-hosts and co-producers — Alan Minsky, Meleiza Figueroa, and Fernando Romero — summarize their thoughts and feelings about the North American World Cup. An equal measure of triumph and disgrace? Did the excitement of so many great games once again earn FIFA a pass? Or was this the year that fans finally have had enough?

Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

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