Jacobin Radio

Suzi talks to Jacobin's executive editor, Seth Ackerman, and editor of Critique (and Russia expert) Hillel Ticktin, about the actual state of US-Russia relations and how they are portrayed. Seth Ackerman skewers mainstream-media reporting on Russia and asks why there is such a divergence between the substance and fact of US Russia policy — and what the media obsession and hysteria over the supposed Russian threat represents. Hillel Ticktin asks why the US has been so harsh on Russia, when Putin represents a Christian capitalist, if authoritarian, politics? We’ll get his take on what is behind making Russia our archenemy once again, now that it no longer pretends to be communist, and is indeed a fraction of what it was industrially, in terms of its population, and its strength. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The SESTA/FOSTA law purportedly aims to curb sex trafficking. But as my guest Melissa Gira Grant explains, it actually denies sex workers access to online platforms to more safely conduct their business. It received just two "no" votes in the Senate: from Rand Paul and Ron Wyden. It's a problem of hegemony: prohibition has long been plain common sense. So, it's our job to change that. The first step is to make it clear that there is dissent, and that prohibition is self-evidently neither good policy nor good politics.Live recording of The Dig coming up in New York City. Friday, August 17, 7 PM at Verso Books (20 Jay Street in Brooklyn). It's called Blockadia and Beyond: Left climate politics for the 21st century https://www.facebook.com/events/2042636042656908/?active_tab=about.Thanks to Verso Books. Check out Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump by Asad Haider versobooks.com/books/2716-mistaken-identity and The Amateur: The Pleasures of Doing What You Love by Andy Merrifield versobooks.com/b

Kaniela Ing (kanielaing.com) is a DSA member running in Hawaii's 1st Congressional District, calling for an end to imperialism and rule by the wealthy, and for housing rights, a green New Deal, Medicare for All, and free college. And he's Dan’s guest. Ocasio-Cortez became an overnight celebrity when she defeated Joe Crowley. But what's most important is that you know who these candidates are before election day — because that's when they most need your help.Live recording of The Dig coming up in New York City. Friday, August 17, 7 PM at Verso Books (20 Jay Street in Brooklyn). It's called Blockadia and Beyond: Left climate politics for the 21st century https://www.facebook.com/events/2042636042656908/?active_tab=about.Thanks to Verso Books. Check out Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life by Adam Greenfield versobooks.com/books/2742-radical-technologies.Support this podcast with your $ at patreon.com/TheDig to receive our weekly newsletter!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information

Janus was an entirely expected and atrocious decision. The conservative business interests that successfully obliterated private sector unions hope it will do the same to their public sector counterparts. Chris Maisano, a contributing editor at Jacobin, argues that labor has no choice but to return to its militant roots if it hopes to survive. In other words, to survive, labor has to fight for a lot more than mere survival.Thanks to Verso Books. Check out Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump by Asad Haider versobooks.com/books/2716-mistaken-identity and The Amateur: The Pleasures of Doing What You Love by Andy Merrifield versobooks.com/books/2765-the-amateur.Live Dig show in NYC on 8/17! Blockadia and Beyond: Left climate politics for the 21st century: facebook.com/events/2042636042656908/?active_tab=about.Support this podcast with your $ and receive our weekly newsletter and lefty books at patreon.com/TheDig! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Journalist Jason Wilson on Trump's pardoning of Oregon ranchers Dwight Lincoln Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven Hammond, as well as on the recent right-wing riot in Portland. Then, sociologist Christy Thornton analyzes AMLO’s victory in Mexico’s election. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Checking your privilege. Invisible knapsacks. Intersectionality. In his new book from Verso, Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump, Asad Haider questions the terms and concepts that underpin much liberal and left conversation about race and racism, exploring critiques advanced by the black radical tradition to mount a thoroughgoing demolition of what we now refer to as "identity politics" — something that had a quite different meaning when it was first coined by the black, radical lesbian feminists of the Combahee River Collective. This is not a book that dismisses racism and sexism. Quite to the contrary. Haider shows that we can only confront and defeat oppressions like racism and sexism if we recognize their relationship to the capitalist exploitation of the working class as a whole. The corollary is also true: capitalism can never be defeated without recognizing and fighting the various oppressions that help sustain it.Thanks to Verso Books. Check out We Built the Wall: How the US Keeps Ou

Suzi talks to Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of UC Berkeley’s School of Law, about the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Chemerinsky writes that Senators should exercise their power and insist Kavanaugh reveal his views on crucial constitutional issues — and that Kavanaugh should not be confirmed if he refuses to answer questions. Suzi also talks to Dan La Botz about the landslide victory of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) in Mexico’s recent presidential election. AMLO arguably had the election stolen from him in 2006, but this victory was too large to undermine or steal. But what are his politics and what is his program? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The last episode in this week's Ocasio-Cortez super series. First, an interview with Seth Ackerman on his essay "A Blueprint for a New Party," which lays out a strategy for building independent socialist power effectively, which means opportunistically seizing the Democratic Party ballot line when necessary (jacobinmag.com/2016/11/bernie-sanders-democratic-labor-party-ackerman/).Then, Kate Aronoff on her article "A Revolution From Within," which explains Our Revolution and Justice Democrats, two organizations formed out of the Bernie campaign that are playing critical roles in the left electoral insurgency (dissentmagazine.org/article/transforming-electoral-process-our-revolution-justice-democrats).  Thanks to Verso Books. Check out The Amateur: The Pleasures of Doing What You Love by Andy Merrifield versobooks.com/books/2765-the-amateur. And support this podcast with $ and access our weekly newsletter at patreon.com/TheDig! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week's super series on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's victory and the future of left politics continues with Julia Salazar, a DSA member running for a Brooklyn state Senate in New York's District 18. Salazar's campaign worked hard for Ocasio-Cortez; now, Ocasio-Cortez's team is returning the favor. Recently, The New York Daily News wondered if Salazar might be the new Ocasio-Cortez. Ocasio-Cortez responded: Salazar "isn’t the next me, she’s the first HER." Indeed, Salazar has her own story to tell. She immigrated from Colombia as a child, and came of age as a young activist by organizing a rent strike in her Harlem building. She describes herself as a democratic socialist, which she defines as recognizing "the capitalist system as being inherently oppressive and actively working to dismantle it and to empower the working class and the marginalized in our society."Get involved with the campaign at salazarforsenate.comSupport this podcast with $ and access our weekly newsletter at patreon.com/TheDig  See acast

Capitol Hill used to be a lonely place for a leftist. And, frankly, it still is. But now that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez appears to be headed to Washington, Senator Bernie Sanders will likely have some powerful company. Today, Sanders is Dan's guest, and they're talking about the impact of Ocasio-Cortez's victory and where the Left goes from here. This is the latest interview in this week's Ocasio-Cortez super series, which has already included interviews with Ocasio-Cortez and Cynthia Nixon. Next up is DSA member Julia Salazar, who is running for state senate in Brooklyn.Support this podcast with $ and access our weekly newsletter at patreon.com/TheDig See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's victory should make New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a larger-than-life bully and ideologically-chameleon Democrat, very afraid. He faces a challenge from Dan's guest today, Cynthia Nixon, who has spent the years after her time on Sex in the City organizing for public education. After what happened to Joe Crowley, the left is more energized than ever. And what once appeared to be a long-shot attack on the king of New York politics now appears like it might just hit its target. This is the second episode in this week's super series on left electoral politics in the wake of Ocasio-Cortez's stunning win.Thanks to Verso. Check out Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump by Asad Haider versobooks.com/books/2716-mistaken-identitySupport this podcast with $ and access our weekly newsletter at patreon.com/TheDig See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a 28-year old Latina working-class champion committed to social transformation who beat one of the most powerful men in Congress: the King of Queens. Dan had an extended conversation with her about how organized people won her election, how she’ll stay accountable to those movements now that she’s a rock star, establishment myopia and denial, The Congressional Progressive Caucus' shortcomings, and where the insurgency goes from here. Then Intercept D.C. Bureau Chief Ryan Grim on left media and left electoral politics, why mainstream media missed Ocasio-Cortez, and why Emily's List fails to support left women challengers.Thanks to Verso Books. Check out A World to Win: The Life and Works of Karl Marx with Sven-Eric Liedman versobooks.com/events/1785-a-world-to-win-the-life-and-works-of-karl-marx-with-sven-eric-liedman And the new paperback edition of China Miéville’s October: The Story of the Russian Revolution versobooks.com/books/2731-octoberAnd support this podcast with $ and acc

Leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador, or AMLO, won an overwhelming victory in Mexico's presidential election, shattering a corrupt, old party system that brought ordinary Mexicans rampant violence and economic immiseration. But AMLO faces powerful political and economic constraints once in office—including some of his own making. Dan's guest is Christy Thornton, a professor of sociology and Latin American studies at Johns Hopkins. During the last week, she was an election observer for the Scholar and Citizen Network for Democracy in Mexico.Thanks to Verso. Check out Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age of Crisis by George Monbiot, now out in paperback versobooks.com/books/2732-out-of-the-wreckage George did a Dig interview too blubrry.com/thedig/34202825/telling-a-new-story-with-george-monbiot/And Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump by Asad Haider versobooks.com/books/2716-mistaken-identityYou can find lots of great left Latin America news in English at nacla.orgSupport this podcast

 Today, we're talking about Italy, where a so-called "populist" alliance of the Five Star Movement and right-wing League just took over the government with anti-migrant and Euro-skeptic agenda. Dan's guest is David Broder, a historian of French and Italian communism and frequent contributor to Jacobin. The Five Star Movement was for a time welcomed by some on the left. But it’s not of the left; rather, it is a product of the Italian left’s collapse. Thanks to Verso. Check out Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life by Adam Greenfield versobooks.com/books/2742-radical-technologiesAnd register for the Socialism 2018 conference (July 5-8, Chicago!) at socialismconference.orgAnd support this podcast with $ and access our weekly newsletter at patreon.com/TheDig  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Suzi talks to Joel Jordan and then Alissa Quart, who in different ways are both looking at our squeezed post-recession lives and the fight to win or win back a decent standard of living. Longtime teacher and teacher-union strategist Joel Jordan joins us to talk about the spectacular mass strikes of the red-state teachers — and draw comparisons with the worsening conditions for teachers in California. Then, Suzi seapks with Alissa Quart about her new book, Squeezed: Why Our Families Can’t Afford America, which tells the stories of the financial instability — and downward mobility — of what she calls the "middle precariat": highly educated but insecure, so-called middle-class Americans who can barely afford to raise children and meet expenses. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Stephen Wertheim, a Lecturer in American and international history at Birkbeck, University of London, breaks cuts through the suffocating foreign policy debate that shapes American Empire under Trump.Peace has broken out across the Korean Peninsula—or, at least, the odds that Donald Trump will blow the world up have gone down a just a bit—at least temporarily. Yes, Trump is the one who pushed us way too close to the brink of nuclear war. And yes, he likely sought peace with Kim Jong-Un because he loves wins, whatever their political or ideological content. But wow, has the liberal reaction been revealing. According to the mindset that pervades the liberal media and political elite, a move toward peace with North Korea is bad because Trump is bad. Or perhaps worse yet, it's bad because the national security state conventional wisdom that has governed Washington under both parties for so long—purveyed by the very people who have brought us endless war almost everywhere—says that it's bad. It's clearer than ever

Everyone wants to know what's wrong with Appalachia. But beginning in the 1960s, it was "white ethics"—Italians, Irish, Polish, Jews and other non-WASPs—who broke from the New Deal coalition, embracing their Ellis Island immigrant roots in reaction to the Black Freedom struggle and, ultimately, Latin American migration. Dan’s guest today is Matthew Frye Jacobson, an historian at Yale and the author of Roots Too: White Ethnic Revival in Post–Civil Rights America, from Harvard University Press.Thanks to Verso. Check out Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age of Crisis by George Monbiot, now out in paperback versobooks.com/books/2732-out-of-the-wreckage George did a Dig interview too blubrry.com/thedig/34202825/telling-a-new-story-with-george-monbiot/And register for the Socialism 2018 conference (July 5-8, Chicago!) at socialismconference.orgSupport this podcast with $ and access our weekly newsletter at patreon.com/TheDig See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Vox immigration reporter Dara Lind, one very bright spot in an often disappointing landscape of mainstream immigration journalism, discusses the historical, political, and legal context of Trump’s family separation policy. Dan also just wrote a lengthy piece on this for Jacobin, which you can read at jacobinmag.com/2018/06/trump-immigration-child-family-separation-policyThanks to Verso Books. Check out the new paperback edition of China Miéville’s October: The Story of the Russian Revolution versobooks.com/books/2731-octoberAnd register for the Socialism 2018 conference (July 5-8, Chicago!) at socialismconference.org.And support this podcast with $ and access our weekly newsletter at patreon.com/TheDig. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

David Harvey has taught Capital to huge numbers of people. Dan interviews him about his latest book, Marx, Capital and the Madness of Economic Reason. Harvey explains why he thinks all three volumes are of Capital are key, why we’re still living under neoliberalism at least unless and until ethnonationalist autarchy pushes it aside, how capitalism might survive climate change via mass immiseration, and linking struggles over production and consumption in the fight to transform society toward socialism. And more.Thanks to Verso. Check out Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump by Asad Haider versobooks.com/books/2716-mistaken-identity.Register for the Socialism 2018 conference (July 5-8, Chicago!) at socialismconference.org!And support this podcast with $$ and access our weekly newsletter at patreon.com/TheDig.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Suzi speaks with David Graeber, whose earlier Debt: the First 5000 years was an international best-seller. From Adbusters to Occupy to the history of debt, Graeber has demonstrated his creative and provocative thinking. He takes on the biggest shibboleth — our very work — in his new book Bullshit Jobs: A Theory. A recent UK poll found that 37 percent of full-time workers were sure that their jobs made no meaningful contribution to the world. Bullshit jobs are the pointless ones that could be erased — and their absence would hardly be noticed. Graeber points to the ubiquitous administrative layer that has ballooned even as joblessness has grown in the last decade, creating an entire sector in academia, health administration, human resources, public relations, financial services, telemarketing, and the like. Graeber suggests we can move from the "bullshitization" of jobs to caring jobs and a caring society, but is it possible under capitalism? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.