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In-depth analysis and commentary on a variety of matters — political, economic, social, and cultural — important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. Against the Grain is co-produced and co-hosted by Sasha Lilley and C.S. Soong.
At a time when national governments are taking little action in the face of the climate emergency, the bicycle seems an ideal, if of course partial, remedy. It allows us to get around our cities and towns without producing greenhouse gases. Often cities that have encouraged biking, by putting in bicycle lanes and other infrastructure, …
How does colorism differ from anti-Black racism? What happens when a person of color’s skin shade doesn’t match ethnic or racial stereotypes? In what ways do women experience skin-color bias differently than men? Nikki Khanna discusses the nature and impact of skin-color discrimination and privilege, both globally and as experienced by Asian American women. Nikki … Continued
When looking back at pandemics in modern history, the 1918 Spanish influenza stands out. It took the lives of somewhere between 50 and 100 million people — and while it devastated the countries of the Global North, it took its greatest toll in the Global South. Science writer Laura Spinney reflects on the similarities — … Continued
What role did slavery play in the story of U.S. capitalism? Does the fact that slavery wasn’t rooted in wage labor mean that it wasn’t a form of capitalist practice? Caitlin Rosenthal offers a definition of capitalism and shares her understanding of how commodification, and the power to impose it, operated under slavery. Caitlin Rosenthal, Accounting for Slavery: … Continued
What do college athletes, prison laborers, welfare recipients, and graduate students in the sciences have in common? According to sociologist Erin Hatton, they’re all workers who face a particular form of coercion. She discusses what these workers’ circumstances tell us about work under contemporary capitalism. She’ll also consider the situation of prisoners pressured into dangerous … Continued
On the seventieth anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter, Gray Brechin spoke about the Roosevelts and their moral vision; the New Deal’s public works projects (many of them in San Francisco); the beginnings of the U.N.; the politics of fear; the nuclear arms buildup; and more. The Living New Deal Shaping San … Continued
The United States fancies itself an exceptional nation, and in terms of its media system, it’s right: the US has the most commercialized press of any advanced industrial country, with the least support for public media. So argues critic Victor Pickard in his study of the political economy of US journalism. He discusses the long … Continued
Excavating alternative and radical histories of San Francisco is Chris Carlsson’s specialty. He talks about the city’s role in the Underground Railroad; the enslavement of Native Americans; the 1966 Hunters Points uprising; the San Francisco Diggers; the Freeway Revolt; and more. Chris Carlsson, Hidden San Francisco: A Guide to Lost Landscapes, Unsung Heroes and Radical … Continued
Belief conjures up political fanaticism and blind religiosity. But evolutionary anthropologist Agustín Fuentes argues that belief is also connected to our capacities to imagine, create, and change the world for the better. He reflects on why the ability to commit passionately and wholeheartedly to an idea is a central part of what makes us human. … Continued
“All Lives Matter,” “I am Darren Wilson”: Reactionary whites and racist institutions have coopted and appropriated discourses originated by radical antiracist movements. Paula Ioanide discusses how and why this is happening. She also considers what white identity in the U.S., constituted historically by the exclusion and exploitation of perceived others, means for whites’ ability to … Continued
The conventional economic wisdom holds that humans started to use money as an outgrowth of bartering — and that money represented a great leap forward for civilization. That couldn’t be further from the truth, argues David McNally. Money, he contends, has not been a benign development, but has since its inception been tied to warfare … Continued
