Against the Grain – October 4, 2023

Against the Grain

A radio and web media project whose aim is to provide in-depth analysis and commentary on a variety of matters — political, economic, social and cultural — important to progressive and radical thinking and activism.

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Against the Grain

Fund Drive Special: Drugs and American Capitalism

Americans as a population have an usually large appetite for psychoactive drugs, whether legal or illegal. And American history has been marked by periodic moral panics over drug use and normalization or legalization, as we’re experiencing right now. What is it about US society that makes drug use simultaneously so appealing and reviled? Writer and … Continued


When we think about nature preservation, many of us picture not just wetlands and forests, but farms and pasturelands. Yet journalist George Monbiot argues that the most destructive effects that humans have had on the planet has been through farming – through deforestation, the destruction of the soil, and the massive loss of habitat. Resources: … Continued


It’s both a precious resource and a dangerous pollutant, exponentially increasing crop yields, while fouling our waterways with blue-green algae. The element phosphorus has played a crucial role in agriculture and war, while its reserves are unevenly distributed, with much of the world’s supply located in the occupied territories of Western Sahara. Writer Dan Egan … Continued


How does a social movement attract younger participants, who may be turned off by older activists’ approaches, styles, and understandings? Elisabeth Jay Friedman describes how Ni Una Menos, an influential feminist formation in Argentina, managed to build an intergenerational mass movement. (Encore presentation.) Elisabeth Jay Friedman and Ana Laura Rodríguez Gustá, ‘“Welcome to the Revolution’: Promoting Generational … Continued


What happens to survivors of violence — often perpetrated by intimates — who defend themselves against their attackers? According to legal scholar Leigh Goodmark, it often depends on whether those survivors look suitably victim-like. She discusses the circumstances that frequently lead to the criminalization of survivors of violence –- and makes the case for the … Continued