Fund Drive Special: Plants and Animals of the Bay Area
John Muir Laws writes about and creates illustrations of plants and wildlife found in the Bay Area.
Against the Grain
12:00 PM Pacific Time: Mondays - Wednesdays
Acclaimed program of ideas, 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 produced and hosted by Sasha Lilley.
The Paris Commune, the Mexican Revolution, the Spanish Revolution — some of the most important social upheavals fomented by radicals were led or populated by anarchists. Yet most of us have very little knowledge of what the anarchist tradition is actually about, and the ideas of anarchism are often conflated with particular strategies or tactics. … Continued
Fund Drive Special: Birds and Birdwatching
Charles Hood discusses his book “A Californian’s Guide to the Birds Among Us.”
Novelist and critic Gore Vidal, Malcolm X, and journalist Molly Ivins are just some of the luminaries of the left whose voices were given a platform on KPFA and Pacifica Radio. We look back at some highlights.
Fund Drive Special: Inequality’s Impact on Health
Stephen Bezruchka on why U.S. residents are less healthy than people in dozens of other countries.
Consumer capitalism and the focus group appear to go hand in hand. But Liza Featherstone argues that the focus group has radical origins and, in convoluted ways, points to the potential for collective input in an egalitarian society. She discusses the history of focus groups for consumer goods and electoral politics. Resources: Liza Featherstone, Divining … Continued
Du Bois on Stalin’s U.S.S.R.
What accounts for the allegiance W. E. B. Du Bois professed to Stalin’s U.S.S.R.? What did the influential African American thinker and writer believe had happened to white supremacy and racial prejudice in the Soviet Union? According to Vaughn Rasberry, Du Bois believed that emerging communist nations like the U.S.S.R. had the right to experiment, … Continued
While Americans are dealing with anxiety and depression in greater numbers, and the suicide rate has increased by almost 25% since the turn of the 21st century, access to talk therapy is decreasing. Clinical psychologist Enrico Gnaulati considers the social implications of the decline of psychotherapy and the rise of pharmaceutical drugs like Prozac, cognitive … Continued
Remembering Anti-Fascists; The Salton Sea
How does Germany remember and honor those who fought fascism, and where does the U.S. stand in comparison? David Bacon reports on the monuments he visited and the courageous and often radical people they commemorate. Bacon also traveled to the once-majestic Salton Sea in California, where dust pollution from the receding shoreline is making farmworkers … Continued
Radio in the twentieth century, which you could tune into in your car or at home, had a mass audience and was a collective experience, for good or ill. Radio today, which can be listened to when and how you want it, is a more private and atomized affair. Historian Matthew Lasar discusses the social … Continued