KPFA - Behind the News: Recent Episodes
Behind the News
Host Doug Henwood covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.
Two perspectives on Israel’s war on Iran: Mouin Rabbani on the regional/global context and Joel Schalit on Israeli society and politics
The post Israel’s war on Iran: two perspectives appeared first on KPFA.
Paolo Gerbaudo on the Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD’s rise (articles here and here) • Andrew Hartman, author of Karl Marx in America, on the bearded one’s reception in the US
The post BYD—whence it came, where it’s going • Marx in America appeared first on KPFA.
Laleh Khalili, author of this review, on the long relationship between the US military and industry • Kyle Chan, author of this article, on how China is surpassing the US
The post Weapons and technology, China surpassing the US appeared first on KPFA.
John Cassidy, author of Capitalism and Its Critics, on just that • Sandeep Vaheesan, author of this review, will talk about abundance—neoliberal vs. genuine
The post Capitalism and its critics, real abundance vs. bogue abundance appeared first on KPFA.
Meron Rapoport, co-author of this article, on Israel’s strategy of destruction in Gaza • Mouin Rabbani on Israeli politics, the fate of the Palestinians, and Trump’s scheming
The post Fundraising special: two views of Israel–Palestine appeared first on KPFA.
Fundraising special: Barry Eichengreen on why the gyrations in the value of the US dollar matter • Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan, hosts of Always at War, on why the US is always buying more weapons and bombing people
The post Fundraising special: wobbly dollar, perpetual wars appeared first on KPFA.
A look at Trumpian ideology: Kristin Du Mez on theology, Quinn Sloboidan on the latest iteration of neoliberalism (both rebroadcasts of interviews from February)
The post Fundraising special: Trumpian ideology appeared first on KPFA.
Vijay Prashad, executive director of Tricontinental, on the state of the US empire and the state of the global working class • Becca Rothfeld, author of All Things Are Too Small, speaks up for bigness
The post The US empire, the state of the working class, and things need to be bigger appeared first on KPFA.
Aziz Rana, author of The Constitutional Bind, on how the system crafted by the US Constitution, led to Donald Trump and has constricted our ability fight him
The post How constitutional fetishism gave us Trump appeared first on KPFA.
Quinn Slobodian, author of Hayek’s Bastards, talks about the IQ- and race-obsessed goldbugs of second generation neoliberalism
The post Hayek’s bastards: the second, cruder generation of neoliberals appeared first on KPFA.
Charlie Eaton and Alina Gibadulina on the increasing prominence of hedge fund and private equity titans on elite university boards (paper here) • Malcolm Harris, author of What’s Left, on a trio of political approaches to the climate crisis
The post Financiers and universities, approaches to the climate crisis appeared first on KPFA.
Jason Wade of the UAW explains the union’s endorsement of Trump’s auto tariffs • Sam Gindin, author of this article and former long-time adviser to what used to be known as the Canadian Autoworkers Union, on what issues the tariff controversy obscures
The post Tariff extravaganza: the UAW’s view, a critical view appeared first on KPFA.
Samuel Moyn on Trump and the courts • Chris Maisano, author of this article, on class and politics • Evgenia Kovda on hipster nihilism (article here)
The post Trump and the courts, class and politics, hipster nihilism appeared first on KPFA.
Brent Cebul and Lily Geismer, editors of Mastery and Drift, on professional class liberalism • a brief reprise of a 2019 interview with Gabriel Winant on the PMC
The post Professional class liberalism appeared first on KPFA.
Vanessa Wills, author of Marx’s Ethical Vision, on the morality behind Marxian “science” • Mathis Ebbinghaus on the effects of the summer 2020 anti-cop protests on police budgets (paper here)
The post Marx’s ethics, and what did the BLM protests do to police budgets? appeared first on KPFA.
Ben Tarnoff on tech worker militancy, the bosses’ crackdown, and their hard turn to the right • Jodi Dean, author of Capital’s Grave, on neofeudalism
The post Fundraising special: militancy and repression in the Valley, neofeudalism appeared first on KPFA.
Eric Blanc, author of We Are the Union, on worker-led organizing (Amazon, Starbucks, etc.)
The post Fundraising special: worker-led organizing appeared first on KPFA.
Anatol Lieven looks at the global dimensions of Trumpism • Quinn Slobodian muses on whether Trump is a neoliberal, and examines the three major strands of DOGE-ism (NYRB article here)
The post Trump, a new/old kind of imperialist? • Is Trump a neoliberal? appeared first on KPFA.
Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò picks apart the contradictory strands of the DEI obsession • Sophia Rosenfeld, author of The Age of Choice, explores this history of that concept over the last few centuries
The post The truth about DEI, a history of “choice” appeared first on KPFA.
Kristin Du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne, on Christian nationalism • Jennifer Middlestadt, author of this article, on “sovereigntism,” the foreign policy of Trump et al.
The post The theology of MAGA, “sovereigntism” and Trump appeared first on KPFA.
Eoin Higgins, author of Owned, on tech moguls and the journalists, like Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi, who work for them • Ronnie Grinberg, author of Write Like a Man, on the mostly male, mostly Jewish New York intellectuals
The post Moguls and their scribes, the New York intellectuals appeared first on KPFA.
Mouin Rabbani on the Gaza ceasefire and Trump’s plans for the Middle East • Angela Jones and Bernadette Barton, co-editors of Sex Work Today, on that topic
The post The Gaza ceasefire, and sex work today appeared first on KPFA.
Laura Jedeed, author of this article, talks about San Francisco and tech moguls’ plans to “fix” it • Yasha Levine, co-director of Pistachio Wars, on the Resnicks and water in California
The post Tech bros’ plans for SF, the Resnicks and water in California appeared first on KPFA.
Colette Shade, author of Y2K: How the 2000s Became Everything, on culture at the turn of the millennium • Tim Shorrock discusses the political crisis in South Korea
The post The Y2K era, the South Korean political crisis appeared first on KPFA.
Three interviews on Israel’s many wars: Rashid Khalidi and Pankaj Mishra with a historical perspective, and Annelle Sheline adds a former insider’s view. Then, Aziz Rana on the awfulness of the US constitution, Anna Kornbluh with a cultural critique of immediacy, and Brooke Harrington on the offshore money-hiding racket. And a memorial to Jane McAlevey.
The post Best of 2024 retrospective appeared first on KPFA.
Host Doug Henwood covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.
The post Behind the News – December 26, 2024 appeared first on KPFA.
Trita Parsi and Joshua Landis analyze what’s been going on in Syria • Tina Gerhardt reviews the annual UN climate conference, COP29, where little happened
The post Syria and the failures of COP29 appeared first on KPFA.
Fundraising reprise of two interviews from May: Annelle Sheline, who resigned from the State Department as a protest of the war on Gaza, on what’s driving US support for that genocide • Aziz Rana on the awfulness of the US Constitution
The post Fundraising special: Gaza, the Constitution appeared first on KPFA.
Political scientist Larry Bartels, author of this article, on how it’s politicians, not public opinion, that’s driving the right-populist upsurge
The post Fundraising special: what’s driving the populist right? appeared first on KPFA.
Brooke Harrington, author of Offshore, on how and where the mega-rich stash their cash • Mahendran Thiruvarangan on a new leftish government in Sri Lanka
The post Stashing money offshore, a new government in Sri Lanka appeared first on KPFA.
Michael Meeropol, son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, on how the government executed his mother despite knowing her innocence (docs here) • Ruth Whippman, author of BOYMOM: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity, on the challenges of raising boys
The post Ethel Rosenberg’s innocence, problems of masculinity appeared first on KPFA.
Anatol Lieven tries to divine a Trump foreign policy out of unreliable rhetoric and early appointments • Alex Vitale tries similar on Trump and criminal justice
The post Trump prognostications: foreign policy, criminal justice appeared first on KPFA.
DH comments on the Trump victory, especially the role of inflation • Dahlia Scheindlin on Israeli public opinion • James Foley and Vladimir Unkovski-Korica, authors of this article, on the role of Ukraine in the Western political imagination
The post Comments on Trump • Israeli public opinion • the role of Ukraine in Western politics appeared first on KPFA.
Laura Jedeed, author of this article, on the right’s war on North Idaho College • Mouin Rabbani on what’s driving Israel’s multiple wars, and on the state of the Axis of Resistance
The post The right’s war on higher ed • What Israel’s wars are all about appeared first on KPFA.
William Hartung, co-author of this paper, on how much aid the US has given to Israel over the last year (plus some wacky stuff on AI weapons) • sociologist Scott Schieman on his surprising research showing that people actually like their jobs
The post How much US aid goes to Israel? • people actually like their jobs, a study shows appeared first on KPFA.
Anatol Lieven on the ambitiously aggressive grand design of the Biden/Harris foreign policy • Lily Lynch, author of this article, on the emptying out of the Balkans
The post The Biden/Harris vision of the world, the emptying of the Balkans appeared first on KPFA.
Paul North and Paul Reitter on their new translation of Marx’s Capital • Nimrod Flaschenberg and Alma Itzhaky, authors of this article, on the political culture of Israel after October 7
The post Translating Marx’s Capital, Israeli society after October 7 appeared first on KPFA.
Rashid Khalidi, author of The Hundred Years War on Palestine, talks about Israeli settler-colonialism and its imperial patrons • Aurélie Daher looks at Hezbollah and the challenges it faces after the assassination of its leader
The post A century of war on Palestinians, a look at Hezbollah after Nasrallah appeared first on KPFA.
Forrest Hylton, author of this article, on wildfires in Brazil and the political impotence of Lula’s administration • Edwin Ackerman on politics in Mexico, as AMLO hands over power to Claudia Sheinbaum, having engineered a controversial overhaul of the judiciary (article here)
The post Fires in Brazil, successes in Mexico appeared first on KPFA.
Niobe Way, author of Rebels with a Cause, on the emotional and social lives of boys and what they’re telling us about our society • Branko Milanovic, author of Visions of Inequality, reviews what economists have had to say about the topic
The post The problem with boys and a history of inequality appeared first on KPFA.
Neil Sehgal, co-author of this paper, on the durability of slaveholder wealth, via a look at Congress • Emily Jashinsky with a conservative’s view of the election
The post Fundraising special: durability of slaveholder wealth, a conservative looks at the election appeared first on KPFA.
Robert Pausch of Die Zeit on the far right’s strong showing in German regional elections • Rob Larson, author of Mastering the Universe, looks at the superrich
The post German neo-Nazis on the march, a look at the superrich appeared first on KPFA.
Naomi Hossain explains the uprising in Bangladesh that deposed PM Shekih Hasina • Sandipto Dasgupta, author of Legalizing the Revolution, examines the transformation of India from colony to nation through the exercise of constitution-writing
The post Bangladesh uprising, writing India’s constitution appeared first on KPFA.
Jake Werner on a progressive China policy (paper here) • Gabriel Hetland, author of this article, on the record of Colombian president Gustavo Petro, a leftist trying to govern a deeply conservative country
The post A progressive China policy, and Petro’s record in Colombia appeared first on KPFA.
Pankaj Mishra, author of this article, on the propaganda-induced debasement of the Holocaust • Nancy Folbre, one of four authors of this report, on assigning a monetary value to care work [vacation rebroadcast of the March 28, 2024 show]
The post Behind the News – August 15, 2024 appeared first on KPFA.
Arielle Klagsbrun of the All Eyes on Yass Campaign on the insufficiently known right-wing moneybags Jeff Yass • Sohrab Ahmari and Hamilton Nolan debate the existence, real or imagined, of pro-worker Republicans
The post Who’s Jeff Yass, and more on those allegedly pro-worker Republicans appeared first on KPFA.
Heidi Matthews analyzes the World Court’s declaration of Israel’s occupations illegal • Molly White on how crypto is spending its money in politics • Nausicaa Renner psychoanalyzes Joe Biden
The post World Court v Israel, crypto politics, psychoanalyzing Biden appeared first on KPFA.
Cole Stangler on the monumentally inconclusive French elections • David Palumbo-Liu on the Silicon Valley world that launched JD Vance as a politician • a brief bit from Jane McAlevey on power
The post The French elections, Vance’s background, Jane McAlevey (very briefly) on power appeared first on KPFA.
Brandon Mancilla of the UAW looks behind the GOP’s pro-worker facade • Adam Hilton, author of True Blues, on the bizarre nature of the US political party system
The post JD Vance, no friend of the working class • the chaos of the American political party system appeared first on KPFA.
Richard Seymour discusses the British election (Sidecar article here) • Trita Parsi, the Iranian election • remembering Jane McAlevey with a 2017 BtN interview (catalog of interviews here)
The post elections in Britain and Iran, in memory of Jane McAlevey appeared first on KPFA.
Robert Pape on how, despite Israel’s murderous onslaught on Gaza, Hamas is winning (article here) • Wanda Bertram on how US incarceration rates stack up against the rest of the world (massively), and other news on crime & punishment (report here)
The post Israel is killing a lot of people but losing its war, and the latest on the US carceral state appeared first on KPFA.
Robert Fatton explains Haiti’s further descent into poverty and chaos • Steve Fraser, author of this article, analyzes and mourns the death of any sense of a better future [holiday-induced reprise of a show first broadcast on March 14, 2024]
The post Haiti and the death of the future appeared first on KPFA.
Steven Simon on Israel and the Arab states’ relations with it • Jennifer Berkshire, co-author of The Education Wars, on the right-wing’s latest educational ploys. (And here’s Marcus Brown’s website that I mentioned in the intro.)The post Israel and the Arab states and the latest on the education wars appeared first on KPFA.
Sociologist Edwin Ackerman on the Mexican elections, and the reasons for AMLO’s immense popularity (Sidecar piece here) • Joel Whitney, author of Flights, on radical and revolutionaries’ battles with the CIA
The post Mexican elections and radicals on the run appeared first on KPFA.
Siddhartha Deb, author of Twilight Prisoners, on the Hindu right and its poor showing in India’s elections • Sean Jacobs, New School prof and publisher of Africa Is a Country, on the ANC’s poor showing in South Africa’s electionsThe post Ruling parties take a hit in India and South Africa appeared first on KPFA.
Aziz Rana, author of The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document that Fails Them, on how our founding document constrains democracy
The post The Constitutional fetish appeared first on KPFA.
Mouin Rabbani on the war on Gaza, and the broader context of the Israel–Palestine conflict
The post Fundraising special: Mouin Rabbani on Israel–Palestine appeared first on KPFA.
Annelle Sheline, who’d been on BtN three times before, on her resignation from the State Department as a protest against the war on Gaza (her statement is here).
The post Fundraising special: a rare resignation on principle appeared first on KPFA.
Derek Seidman looks into the Alabama corporate elite and its terror at the incursion of the UAW (articles here and here) • Quinn Slobodian on Peter Brimelow and the white supremacist wing of neoliberalism
The post Fundraising special: the Alabama ruling class confronts the UAW, the white supremacist wing of neoliberalism appeared first on KPFA.
Adam Federman on the criminalization of protest (article here) • Kay Gabriel on how the right is using the anti-trans panic to make war on public schools and teachers’ unions (article here)
The post Criminalizing protest, exploiting transphobia appeared first on KPFA.
Jodi Dean talks about being suspended from teaching at Hobart and William Smith Colleges for writing an article the administration didn’t like • Keri Leigh Merritt on the lingering effects of antebellum Southern society (article here) • excerpts from an interview first broadcast in June 2023 with Samuel Bazzi, co-author of this paper, on the effects of the white migration out of the South after the Civil War on the recipient areas
The post Professor silenced for controversial article, the lingering effects of antebellum Southern society appeared first on KPFA.
Yanis Varoufakis talks about being banned in Germany for supporting the Palestinian cause, and then about the transformation he analyzes in his new book, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism
The post Yanis Varoufakis on being banned in Germany, and on the new post-capitalist world of technofeudalism appeared first on KPFA.
Heidi Matthews on the World Court and the cases against Israel pending there • Elijah Wald, author of Jelly Roll Blues, on Jelly Roll Morton and the hidden history of early bluesThe post The World Court, and the world of Jelly Roll Morton appeared first on KPFA.
Trita Parsi explains why Israel is trying to expand its war to Iran and Hezbollah • Natasha Lennard analyzes the Zionist appropriation of leftish “safe space” discourse • Stefan Yong explores the structure of the global shipping industry in light of the Baltimore bridge disaster
The post Why Israel is expanding its war, Zionists’ appropriation of safe space discourse, and the shipping industry and the Key Bridge disaster appeared first on KPFA.
Pankaj Mishra, author of this article, on the propaganda-induced debasement of the Holocaust • Nancy Folbre, one of four authors of this report, on assigning a monetary value to care work
The post The Shoah after Gaza, valuing care work appeared first on KPFA.
David Moore on how AIPAC is using Republican contributors’ money to go after progressive Dems • Meron Rapoport on how Schumer and the ICJ are being received in Israel • Jamieson Webster on the social aspects of mental disorder among the young
The post AIPAC targets leftish Dems, how Schumer and the ICJ are playing in Israel, troubled youth as a symptom of social problems appeared first on KPFA.
Robert Fatton explains Haiti’s further descent into poverty and chaos • Steve Fraser, author of this article, analyzes and mourns the death of any sense of a better future
The post Haitian chaos, the death of the future appeared first on KPFA.
Vijay Prashad on how the North American and European bourgeoisies are a spent force, with nothing to offer the world (article here)
The post Global bourgeois rot appeared first on KPFA.
Historian Donna Murch, author of Living for the City, takes on some myths about the Black Panther Party.
The post Correcting the record on the Black Panthers appeared first on KPFA.
Jeet Heer on Indian Americans in politics and society (article here) • Stephen Maher and Scott Aquanno, authors of The Fall and Rise of American Finance, on the new finance capital
The post Fundraising special: the Desi diaspora, the newest finance capital appeared first on KPFA.
Gerald Epstein, author of Busting the Bankers’ Club, on the finance racket and how to transform it • Anna Kornbluh, author of Immediacy, on our sped-up, unmediated cultural eternal present
The post The bankers’ club and how to bust it • the culture of immediacy appeared first on KPFA.
Ajay Singh Chaudhary talks about his new book, The Exhausted of the Earth: Politics in a Burning World • Matt Notowidigdo, co-author of this paper, on how recessions increase life expectancy
The post Exhaustion and the climate crisis • shocker: recessions increase life expectancy appeared first on KPFA.
Sean Jacobs explores why South Africa brought the genocide case against Israel in the World Court • Eric Blanc (Substack post here) on organizing in a scattered and atomized society • Hassan El-Tayyab on the widening war in the Middle East
The post Why did South Africa charge Israel at the ICJ? • organizing unions in the society of sprawl • the widening war in the Middle East appeared first on KPFA.
Shireen Al-Adeimi of Michigan State and the Quincy Institute, on the Houthis • political scientist Aurélie Daher with another view of Hezbollah
The post Who are the Houthis? • more on Hezbollah appeared first on KPFA.
Wanda Bertram of the Prison Policy Initiative on electronic monitoring (the ankle bracelet kind) • Joseph Daher, author of Hezbollah: The Political Economy of the Party of God, on that demonized organization
The post Electronic monitoring, and who is Hezbollah? appeared first on KPFA.
political scientist Jacqueline Behrend on Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei • Benjamin Fong, author of Quick Fixes, on Americans’ love/hate relationship with drugs
The post More on Argentina, and Americans’ complicated relationship with psychoactive drugs appeared first on KPFA.
Samuel Moyn, law prof and historian, on the political and legal dubiousness of excluding Trump from the presidential ballot • labor journalist Alex Press on the year in labor (articles on that topic here and here)
The post Perils of striking Trump from the ballot and the year in organized labor appeared first on KPFA.
slaying sacred cows: M.E. O’Brien, author of Family Abolition, on doing that and “communizing care” • Jane Chung, author of this article, on what’s wrong with our cult of homeownership
[holiday encore presentation of a show first broadcast in June]
The post transcending the family, questioning homeownership appeared first on KPFA.
environmental journalist Tina Gerhardt on the recently concluded COP28 environmental summit, where limited good intentions were uttered and oil contracts were signed • historian Forrest Hylton on Javier Milei, the new libertarian/authoritarian president of Argentina
The post COP28 and Argentina’s new president appeared first on KPFA.
Amy Schiller, author of The Price of Humanity, on what’s wrong with philanthropy and how to fix it • Joel Schalit, editor of The Battleground, on what it is in Israeli politics and society that’s behind the carnage in GazaThe post Fundraising special: problems of philanthropy, and what in Israel is producing the carnage in Gaza? appeared first on KPFA.
Fundraising special featuring a speech from a November 1 teach-in on Gaza by Angela Davis.
The post Fundraising special, featuring Angela Davis appeared first on KPFA.
Leigh Claire La Berge, author of Marx for Cats, on political economy and the human–feline relationship • Michael Zweig, author of Class, Race, and Gender, on understanding capitalism in order to transform it
The post Cats and capitalism, understanding capitalism in order to fight it appeared first on KPFA.
Tina Gerhardt, author of Sea Change, on the effects of rising oceans on small island nations • Quinn Slobodian, author of Crack-Up Capitalism, on libertarian enclaves insulated from democracy [rebroadcast of a May 2023 show]
The post Small island nations, libertarian enclaves appeared first on KPFA.
Christopher Ketcham, author of this article, looks inside the mind of an “ecoterrorist” • Neve Gordon on what in Israeli society leads to bombing hospitals
The post Profile of an “ecoterrorist” • What makes Israel do the things it does appeared first on KPFA.
Anatol Lieven on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and the global standing of US power • Ilyana Kuziemko and Suresh Naidu, co-authors of this paper, on class differences in economic policy preferences (predistributionist vs. redistributionist)
The post Wars in Ukraine and Gaza; preferences in economic policies appeared first on KPFA.
Amjad Iraqi on what it’s like to be a Palestinian citizen of Israel, and when what the Israeli state has in mind for Gaza • Georgi Derluguian (author of this article) on how the expulsion of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh is an example of the latest iteration of the new world disorderThe post Palestinians in Israel and Israel’s plans for Palestinians, and how Nagorno-Karabakh is a taste of the newest world disorder appeared first on KPFA.
Rami Khouri, a Palestinian American journalist and scholar, analyzes the war in Gaza • Evelyn McDonnell, author of The World According to Joan Didion, on her life and work
The post A Palestinian American view of the Gaza war; the life and work of Joan Didion appeared first on KPFA.
Stephanie Ross on the UAW’s innovative strike strategy against the Big Three automakers • Christopher Morten and Amy Kapczynski on how Corporate America profits off publicly funded research and how to stop them from doing that
The post The UAW’s innovative strike strategy, and how corporate America steals public research appeared first on KPFA.
Vincent Bevins, author of If We Burn, on the decade of protest movements that began with high hopes and ended up with things little changed or worse • Haggai Matar, executive director of +972 Magazine, on the latest horror in Israel–Palestine
The post The decade of disappointing protest, and an Israeli leftist’s view of the current horror appeared first on KPFA.
Two views of Haiti: Jake Johnston of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and Robert Fatton of the University of Virginia.
The post Fundraising special: two looks at Haiti’s chronic crisis appeared first on KPFA.
Samar Al-Bulushi on the coup in Niger, political unrest in France’s former colonies in Africa, and the US-led “war on terror” on that continent • Joanna Wuest, author of Born This Way, on the biology of sexuality
The post Fundraising special: the coup in Niger and the biology of sexuality appeared first on KPFA.
Aaron Benenav, sociologist and frequent contributor to New Left Review, and Seth Ackerman, an editor at Jacobin and author of this article, discuss the long-term health of capitalism: is stagnation really the problem?
The post Capitalism: how sick is it? appeared first on KPFA.
Jodi Dean, author of this review, on the postliberalism of Ahmari, Vermeule, Deneen, et al. • Sarang Shidore of the Quincy Institute on the G20, the BRICS, and the erosion of US imperial power
The post Postliberalism; the meaning of the G20 and the BRICS appeared first on KPFA.
Sam Gindin, writer and activist on labor issues, on the shortcomings of the UPS–Teamster deal • Samuel Moyn, author of Liberalism Against Itself, on how the Cold War crushed the tendency’s emancipatory side
The post The Teamsters, class-struggle unionism and UPS • How liberalism ate itself appeared first on KPFA.
Francisco Pérez of the University of Utah on the CFA franc • Caitlin Chandler, author of this Harper’s magazine article, on US interests in Niger
The post CFA franc, coup in Niger appeared first on KPFA.
Lisa Corrigan, author of this Nation article, on savage cuts at West Virginia University and what they mean for higher ed • Taylor Lorenz, author of Extremely Online, on the social history of the internet The post Engineered austerity at WVU, the social history of the internet appeared first on KPFA.
Sohrab Ahmari, author of Tyranny, Inc., on the dictatorship of capital • Erin Reed, aka Erin in the Morning, on the state of trans politics The post The tyranny of capital, the state of trans politics appeared first on KPFA.
Host Doug Henwood covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. The post Behind the News – August 10, 2023 appeared first on KPFA.
Sara Goldrick-Rab on rampant food and housing insecurity among undergraduates and graduate students • David Broder, author of Mussolini’s Grandchildren, on the whitewashing of far-right Italian PM Giorgia Meloni (NYT article here) The post Hunger on campus, whitewashing Meloni appeared first on KPFA.
Tim Shorrock marks the 70th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean war as tensions mount across the region • Christopher Morten on how the drug industry uses patents and secrecy to fatten its profits at the expense of patients and the broader public The post Tensions mounting on the Korean peninsula, and the evil uses to which the drug industry puts intellectual property restrictions appeared first on KPFA.
Fundraising reprise of an interview with economist Clara Mattei, author of The Capital Order. The post Fundraising special: austerity and fascism revisited appeared first on KPFA.
Harrison Stetler on the riots in France • Peter Turchin, complexity theorist and author of End Times, on why the US is heading for a smashup The post French riots, US social collapse appeared first on KPFA.
Clara Mattei, author of The Capital Order, explores the links among neoclassical economics, austerity, and fascism • Edwin Ackerman, author of this article, looks at AMLO’s presidency in Mexico The post Austerity, economics, and fascism • AMLO’s presidency in Mexico appeared first on KPFA.
Anatol Lieven, Eurasia director of the Quincy Institute, on Prigozhin’s aborted uprising in Russia and Putin’s status • Samuel Bazzi, co-author of this paper, on the effects of the white migration out of the South after the Civil War on the recipient areas The post The Wagner uprising, the Confederate diaspora appeared first on KPFA.
Slaying sacred cows: M.E. O’Brien, author of Family Abolition, on doing that and “communizing care” • Jane Chung, author of this article, on what’s wrong with our cult of homeownership The post Family abolition, the cult of homeownership appeared first on KPFA.
While other shows are getting applause for interviewing Corey Robin about his excellent book on Clarence Thomas (who is very much in the news these days), Behind the News was there first, as it so often is. This is a rebroadcast of a show that first ran in 2019. The post Corey Robin on Clarence Thomas appeared first on KPFA.
Christopher Layne, co-author of the Harper’s magazine article “Why are we in Ukraine?” • Marcus Brown on his augmented reality exhibit that evokes the eighteenth-century Wall Street slave market The post Why are we in Ukraine?, and using art to stimulate consciousness about slavery appeared first on KPFA.
Wanda Bertram of the Prison Policy Initiative talks about some underappreciated aspects of the carceral state: probation, parole, and civil commitment • Francisco Perez of the Center for Economic Democracy on why mainstream economics is so terrible and an online course that can help civilians break through the discipline’s mystifications The post Varieties of correctional control and how to get around the mystifications of economics appeared first on KPFA.
Tina Gerhardt, author of Sea Change,on the effects of rising oceans on small island nations • Quinn Slobodian, author of Crack-Up Capitalism,on libertarian enclaves insulated from democracy
The post Islands in a rising sea, and libertarian enclaves appeared first on KPFA.
Jeff Sharlet talks about his new book, The Undertow,a collection of essays on the increasingly violent and authoritarian politics on the right unleashed by Trump
The post Fundraising special: Jeff Sharlet talks about his new book, The Undertow, a look at the dark political forces afoot in the Trumpocene appeared first on KPFA.
Michaela Chen of Foxglove on efforts to unionize the exploited workers who moderate content on social media • Micah Herskind, author of this article, on the political economy of Atlanta that’s behind Cop City
The post Unionizing the content moderators, and what’s behind Atlanta’s Cop City? appeared first on KPFA.
Isabella Weber, author of How China Escaped Shock Therapy, on Chinese economic reform debates and how the country dodged post-Soviet-style collapse [reprise of a show from July 2021]
The post How China avoided shock therapy appeared first on KPFA.
Jacobin editor Micah Uetricht explains how Chicago elected a progressive mayor, Brandon Johnson • Lily Lynch, editor of Balkanist and contributor to New Left Review‘s Sidecarblog on how the Ukraine war destroyed Scandinavian neutrality
The post Progressive victory in Chicago and the Ukraine war ends Scandinavian neutrality appeared first on KPFA.
Economist Josh Mason of John Jay College on how we can save the climate before we get to overthrowing capitalism • Jen Duggan of the Environmental Integrity Initiative on a lawsuit to get the EPA to enforce the Clean Water Act
The post Can we save the climate before we overthrow capitalism?, and getting the EPA to enforce the Clean Water Act appeared first on KPFA.
Philosopher Kate Soper talks about her book, Post-Growth Living: For An Alternative Hedonism, just out in paperback.
The post Post-growth living: Kate Soper on an alternative hedonism appeared first on KPFA.
James Bamford, author of this article in The Nation(and of the just published Spyfail) on Israeli collusion with Donald Trump in 2016 • Donna Murch, associate professor of history at Rutgers and president of the New Brunswick campus’s faculty union, on why the teaching staff is on the verge of a strike and why it matters well beyond that institution
The post Israeli collusion with Trump, why the Rutgers faculty is on the verge of a strike appeared first on KPFA.
The writer and political adviser Nimrod Flaschenberg discusses the popular uprising in Israel against Bibi’s reactionary government • software engineer Dwayne Monroe revisits the hype around ChatGPT
The post Follow-ups on Israel and AI appeared first on KPFA.
Maxine Doogan and Tara Burns, contributors to this report, on how cops are snooping on sex workers, and using what they learn to spy on the rest of us • David Broder, author of Mussolini’s Grandchildren,on the fascist heritage behind Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni and her party
The post Snooping on sex workers (and the rest of us), varieties of fascism in Italy appeared first on KPFA.
DH comments on the bank failures • Wanda Bertram of the Prison Policy Initiative updates us on the state of the carceral state • Annelle Sheline on the Chinese-brokered deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran
The post Bank drama, carceral state gets back into action, the Saudi-Iran deal appeared first on KPFA.
Historian and union president Paul Ortiz on the DeSantis agenda and resistance to it • human rights lawyer Noa Levy on the far right agenda in Israel and resistance to it
The post fundraising special: Florida revisited, and repression & resistance in Israel appeared first on KPFA.
Journalist Judith Levine on moves to defund the Kinsey Institute, and on the trans kids panic • Phil Wegner of the University of Florida on Gov. Ron DeSantis’s moves to quash academic freedom in that state
The post State-level repression: sex in Indiana, academic freedom in Florida appeared first on KPFA.
Kari Lydersen, author of this In These Timesarticle, and Ron Kaminkow, locomotive engineer and general secretary of Railroad Workers United, talk about the miseries of the industry and why it should be naitonalized.
The post Fundraising special: nationalize the railroads, they suck! appeared first on KPFA.
Anatol Lieven on the slim prospects for peace in Ukraine and growing bellicosity towards China • Jairus Banaji, author of this Phenomenal Worldarticle, on the politicized structure of Indian capitalism generally, and the scandal surrounding Gautam Adani (Hindenburg report here)
The post War fever in the US and corruption in Indian capitalism appeared first on KPFA.
Software engineer Dwayne Monroe on the reality behind the hype around ChatGPT (and the sinister implications of AI) • Political economist Alfredo Saad-Filho on Lula’s return to the presidency of Brazil, and the landscape of the country’s politics generally
The post Behind the AI hype, and Lula returns to power in Brazil appeared first on KPFA.
Ann Neumann, author of this article (sorry, probably paywalled), on the bloody war in Ethiopia • two views on a proposed South American currency arrangement launched by Brazilian president Lula, one from Andres Arauz, the other from Brian Mier
The post The war in Ethiopia, and a common currency for Brazil and Argentina? appeared first on KPFA.
Josh White, author of Goodbye United Kingdom,on that country’s trajectory of decline • Felicia Kornbluh, author of A Woman’s Life Is a Human Life,talks about the fight for abortion rights in the late 60s and early 70s, and how it must be part of a larger struggle for reproductive justice
The post The rot of Britain and the fight for abortion rights 50 years ago appeared first on KPFA.
Matthieu Aikins, author of this article (among many), on the situation in Afghanistan with the US gone and the Taliban in control. And Christina Dunbar-Hester, author of Oil Beach, on the ecology of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The post The state of Afghanistan and the ecology of the port of LA appeared first on KPFA.
Emily Jashinsky of The Federaliston the GOP: the meaning of the speaker fight, and what is the base of the Freedom Caucus anyway? And Sohrab Ahmari, co-founder of Compact Magazine, offers a left–right hybrid.
The post A look rightward: what’s the GOP all about, and one of these left–right hybrids appeared first on KPFA.
Nancy MacLean, author of this paper, on how Milton Friedman’s war on public education fit nicely with Southern massive resistance to desegregation • Klaus Jacob, a geophysicist, on how we can live with rising seas and heavier rains
The post Segregation and the right’s war on public schools; how cities can live with heavier rains and higher seas appeared first on KPFA.
Holiday-season encore presentation: historian David Roediger, author of The Sinking Middle Class, on the uses of that term in US politics, and economist Ellora Derenoncourt, co-author of this paper, on the US racial wealth gap, 1860–2020
The post Middle-classness, racial wealth gap appeared first on KPFA.
Kathryn Joyce on the far right and its internal battles and Edward Ongweso Jr on tech, AI, and Luddism
The post Rumbles on the right, AI hype appeared first on KPFA.
Intercept reporter Ryan Grim, author of this article, on the fight between workers and bosses in the rail industry, and economist Sanjay Reddy on the fight between adjuncts and bosses in the neoliberal university.
The post Fundraising special: class struggle in rail and higher ed appeared first on KPFA.
Historian Natalia Mehlman Petrzela on her new book, Fit Nation, a history of physical culture in the US. Plus fundraising pleas.
The post Fundraising special: the history of fitness culture in the US appeared first on KPFA.
Jennifer Berkshire on the latest version of right-wing school politics (since the last versions haven’t been working for them), and Jodi Dean, co-editor (along with Charisse Burden-Stelly) of Organize, Fight, Win, a collection of black communist women’s writings from the late 1920s into the early 1950s.The post The right reinvents its approach to schools, and black communist women of the 20th century appeared first on KPFA.
Environmental journalist Tina Gerhardt on the COP27 climate conference, and Lyle Jeremy Rubin, author of Pain Is Weakness Leaving the Body, on masculinity, the Marines, and imperial violence The post COP27 climate conference and masculinity and imperial violence appeared first on KPFA.
Jodi Dean on the political landscape in the wake of last week’s election, and Tobias Hübinette, author of this article, on the role of immigration the backlash against Swedish social democracy. The post Politics in the US after the election, racism and social democracy appeared first on KPFA.
Joel Schalit talks about the return of Bibi Netanyahu in Israel; Mohammad Salemy, about the tripartite structure of the Islamic Republic of Iran; and Megan Kinch, about a labor upsurge in Ontario. photo: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0) The post Israel moves further right, a brief observation on Iran, and labor upsurge in Ontario appeared first on KPFA.
Political economist Alfredo Saad-Filho on the Brazilian elections, and Mina Khani and Mohammad Salemy on the women-led uprising in Iran. The post Elections in Brazil, uprising in Iran appeared first on KPFA.
Jamieson Webster, author of this article, examines what severe psychological distress among adolescents is telling us about American society, and Raina Lipsitz, author of The Rise of a New Left, looks at the history, personnel, and status of today’s radicalism. photo: Paola Chaaya via Unsplash The post Why are teens so miserable, and how that new new left doing? appeared first on KPFA.
Annelle Sheline of the Quincy Institute explains why Saudi Arabia cut its oil production dramatically, and James Meadway, former adviser to Jeremy Corbyn and now director of the Progressive Economy Forum, explains why Britain is in economic and political crisis. photo: Robin Sommer via Unsplash The post Why did Saudi Arabia cut oil production and why is Britain in political crisis? appeared first on KPFA.
Forrest Hylton on Brazilian elections, and Dorit Geva on why women leaders are prominent on the far right these days. The post Fundraising special: Brazilian elections, and far-right women leaders appeared first on KPFA.
Fundraising special, featuring Anatol Lieven on the horror in Ukraine, and Anne Rumberger, author of this article, on the history of the Christian right’s attitudes toward abortion (they weren’t always against it). photo: Elena Mozhvilo via Unsplash The post Fundraising special: Lieven on Ukraine, Rumberger on the history of abortion politics appeared first on KPFA.
Fundraiser special: excerpts from 2004, 2005, and 2009 Behind the News interviews with Barbara Ehrenreich, one of the great journalists of our time, who died on September 1. The post Vintage Barbara Ehrenreich Interviews appeared first on KPFA.
Mario Pino revisits Chilean voters’ rejection of a proposed new constitution, and Arielle Angel, editor of Jewish Currents and author of this article, explores the problems with organizing your politics around grievance. The post Chile revisited and the drawbacks of grievance politics appeared first on KPFA.
Chilean political activist Antonia Atria explains why that country’s voters rejected a proposed new constitution, and Juliana Fredman, a public interest lawyer in the Bay Area, analyzes Biden’s student debt relief proposals. photo: Ehud Neuhaus on Unsplash The post Chilean voters reject a proposed new constitution, and the meaning of student debt relief appeared first on KPFA.