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On the Clock with Emily Guendelsberger Aug 10, 2019

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Jobs have in recent years gotten much worse for millions of service workers at Amazon, McDonalds and call centers. Dan interviews Emily Guendelsberger on her book On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane.

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

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

Race and Class in the Liberal Suburbs with Lily Geismer Aug 02, 2019

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Dan interviews Lily Geismer, the author of Don’t Blame Us: Suburban Liberals and the Transformation of the Democratic Party. While Boston whites fought school busing in the streets, suburban liberals along Route 128 maintained and benefited from the larger system of metropolitan residential and school segregation that made the crisis possible. Suburban liberals also played a key role in creating a new Democratic Party that embraced a superficial politics of recognition while advancing a technocratic elite-driven neoliberal agenda that included the demonization and persecution of poor black mothers on welfare and mass incarceration.

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

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

From the archives: Aziz Rana on Two Faces of American Freedom Jul 27, 2019

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Dan is taking his first week off ever in Dig history to finish his book. Here’s a classic from deep in the archives: our first interview with Aziz Rana, on his book The Two Faces of American Freedom, aka episode 62. If you’ve already heard this one and are hungry for more content we’ve got everything organized by date, guest and topic at www.thedigradio.com.

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

The Struggle in Chile with Alondra Carrillo & Pablo Abufom Jul 19, 2019

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Dan’s lengthy interview with two brilliant Chilean social movement organizers: Alondra Carrillo and Pablo Abufom. Carrillo organizes in the country’s massive feminist movement. Abufom works in the labor-backed movement for a just pension system.

Read Dan’s interview with Daniel Jadue, the Communist mayor of Recoleta, in Jacobin.

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

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

Abolish the Family with Sophie Lewis Jul 11, 2019

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Dan interviews Sophie Lewis about her new book Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family. Something is deeply wrong with commercial surrogacy—but it’s just not what you might think. What’s wrong is the brute labor exploitation taking place at the reproductive crossroads of a racialized global capitalist order.

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

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

Astra Taylor on Socialism, Democracy, Liberalism Jul 05, 2019

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For much of the 20th century, Cold War politics defined socialism as the antithesis of democracy. Today, an insurgent democratic socialist movement is transforming US politics. It is socialism that is at the forefront of a fight for a radical deepening of democracy, one in which ordinary people exercise control over our political, economic and social lives—and one in which the people is expansively defined to include those excluded by racist immigration law and mass incarceration. Dan discusses this, and more, with filmmaker and writer Astra Taylor.

Read Astra’s article on socialism here: newrepublic.com/article/153804/reclaiming-future-growing-appeal-socialism-age-inequality

Check out her film, What is Democracy? on your preferred streaming service.

And her book, Democracy May Not Exist, But We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone, here: us.macmillan.com/books/9781250179845

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

Our History Is the Future with Nick Estes Jun 29, 2019

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Dan’s lengthy interview with Nick Estes on his remarkable book Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance. The problem that settler colonialism was repeatedly trying to solve by unleashing such terrific violence—through massacres, by nearly eliminating the buffalo, in reservation confinement, in dominating the Missouri River—was not just indigenous people being in the way but also the existence of a larger relationship between indigenous people and the land, water and animals. The history of resisting this capitalist and colonialist dispossession has endured through the Water Protectors’ struggle at Standing Rock—which will, in retrospect, be remembered as a pivotal moment in the global struggle against climate catastrophe.

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

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

Russia Beyond Putin with Tony Wood Jun 20, 2019

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Russia intervened and Trump is a criminal who committed obstruction of justice and is surrounded by constant criminality. But it’s no doubt also true that this situation and the hawkish liberal response to it have dangerously damaged US-Russia relations. At the core of Western misunderstanding is the way we think about Vladimir Putin, which is what Dan is discussing today with Tony Wood, the author of Russia Without Putin: Money, Power and the Myths of the New Cold War.

Thanks to Verso. Check out their massive left-wing book selection at versobooks.com

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

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

The Italian Situation with David Broder, Lorenzo Zamponi, and Marta Fana Jun 15, 2019

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There is perhaps no more depressing situation in Western Europe than that which prevails in Italy: a coalition government between the far-right Lega party and the now subordinate, bizarre, amorphously anti-corruption, internet-fetishist, pseudo-directly democratic Five Star Movement. In other words, Italian politics is dominated by a viciously racist anti-migrant politics; the left, along with most traditional forces, is in utter disarray. Today, Lega, led by Interior Minister Mateo Salvini, runs Italian politics. But the bad news is maybe also the good news: Salvini has not solved Italy’s deep rooted economic problems, and so it’s quite possible that the very same instability that abetted his rise will ultimately lead to his downfall. Dan interviews David Broder, Lorenzo Zamponi and Marta Fana.

Thanks to Verso. Check out their massive left-wing book selection at versobooks.com

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

The Spanish Situation with Carlos Delclós and Magda Bandera Jun 13, 2019

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In Spanish politics, the center-left Socialist Party has demolished the conservative Popular Party and checked risk of a major far-right surge. But meanwhile, the once very plausible-feeling dream of an insurgent radical left Podemos gaining power has faded. And fast. Dan discusses the Spanish situation with Carlos Delclós and Magda Bandera.

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

Check out Next Left, a new podcast from The Nation magazine: thenation.com/next-left

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

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