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.
A number of thinkers and activists on the left have embraced the notion of a basic income paid to all without means testing or a work requirement. Erik Olin Wright argues that a generous basic income would contribute to revitalizing a socialist challenge to capitalism. He also distinguishes the version of UBI that he supports … Continued
Historian Matthew Delmont discusses the controversy over school desegregation in the 1960s and ’70s and how it was reduced by the media and politicians to the frame of “busing” students. He reflects on the political implications of turning civil rights and segregation in the North into the narrow issue of school transfers.
Is torture ever morally permissible? For what purposes does the US government practice torture? And what should we make of the oft-repeated ticking time bomb scenario? Rebecca Gordon contends that examining torture through the lens of virtue ethics helps us understand what torture does in relation to its targets, its practitioners, and society at large.
As the political theorist Hannah Arendt watched the Nazi official Adolf Eichmann give testimony before the District Court of Jerusalem in 1961, she came up with a notion of evil that generated enormous controversy. Peter Burdon shares his understanding of what Arendt mean by “the banality of evil,” and discusses the contemporary relevance of Arendt’s ideas.
Peter Hudis discusses the Martiniquan philosopher, psychiatrist, and revolutionary Frantz Fanon, best known for his books The Wretched of the Earth and Black Skin, White Masks.
Agriculture in the Soviet Union had some colossal disasters — not the least of which was the near-destruction of the Aral Sea — and some significant successes as well. But most of the analysis of that experience has been through a Cold War lens. Historian Jenny Leigh Smith has taken a second look at Soviet … Continued
Large homeless encampments are sometimes dismantled, at times tolerated, and in some cases legalized. What accounts for the different ways in which local authorities treat homeless encampments, and how do camp residents view their situation? Chris Herring discusses the administrative logics of homeless seclusion as well as the adaptive strategies of campers.
Historian Greg Grandin reflects on the ideology and practice of Henry Kissinger.
Many people fleeing the violence in Syria have made their way to Europe, but more than a million Syrians have entered, and still reside in, the small nation of Lebanon. Hassan Ahmad and Tori Porell recently traveled to Beirut as part of an IRAP/Berkeley Law delegation. They spoke with Syrian refugees, visited schools for Syrian … Continued
The oceans are in turmoil, but unfortunately most of it is out of sight and therefore out of mind. Environmental sociologist Stefano Longo explores the multiple threats to the oceans, from overfishing to coral reef collapse to ocean acidification. He weighs in on whether the notion of the “tragedy of the commons” is sufficient to … Continued
