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.
In 1871, the lower classes of the city of Paris rose up and established a worker-run government. They flew the red flag, championed the rights of women, and separated church and state. The Paris Commune had little time to put into place many of the Communards’ ideals before it was violently crushed by the French … Continued
Why didn’t Karl Marx and Mikhail Bakunin get along? What accounts for the conflict between the two thinkers that led to the momentous breakup of the First International in 1872? Mark Leier discusses and compares the backgrounds and ideas of Bakunin and Marx; he argues that they were more similar than most believe. He also … Continued
Our capitalist world seems mired in crisis, beset by low growth and instability. Immanuel Wallerstein, the father of world-systems theory, argues that the current malaise goes beyond the periodic fluctuations of the business cycle. According to him, capitalism’s days are numbered: in 20 to 40 years it will be gone. What replaces it may be … Continued
Depending on whom you ask, cities in America are booming or cities in America are failing. But whether San Francisco or Detroit, or the many smaller cities around the country, urban areas are central to perpetuating the stark inequalities of our society—and yet are also sites of political ferment. William Goldsmith talks about the state … Continued
Each week brings another tragic account of the police injuring or killing someone, usually poor and of color. So shouldn’t we support reforms to make the police more accountable? Alex Vitale has a surprising answer. The sociologist discusses how liberal police reforms legitimize an illegitimate institution. He argues instead that the reform we should get … Continued
At an event called “Remembering Past Wars . . . and Preventing the Next,” Michael Kazin, Reiner Braun, Maria Santelli, David Swanson, and others spoke about World War I and its impact; the U.S. military budget; peace movement successes and shortcomings; NATO’s agenda; and the treatment of conscientious objectors. World Beyond War The Center on … Continued
What has been the relationship between queer struggles and other struggles on the left against racism, imperialism, and war? It’s often assumed that gay and lesbian liberation has run on its own separate track, but historian Emily Hobson argues that’s a misconception. She reflects on the history of LGBTQ liberation and the politics of solidarity, … Continued
Young Muslim and Arab Americans are being targeted by FBI surveillance, and this, says Sunaina Maira, colors the way they think and act. Maira describes who and what’s being monitored and why; the range of emotions surveillance generates; and the ways in which Muslim Americans are pushing back against post-9/11 regimes of surveillance and repression. … Continued
Emergent technologies have already altered our lives profoundly and promise to do so even more in the near future – from the smart phones most of us carry around to 3D printing to augmented reality, like Pokémon Go. But these innovations are seen as a fact of life – part of the march of progress … Continued
Racial politics intrude into a poor woman’s grief when her dead child is African American and he’s fallen prey to urban violence. According to Ina Kelleher, grieving Black mothers often have to perform a kind of emotional labor in order to garner public sympathy and to push back against racist assumptions and tropes. Kelleher discusses … Continued
