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 co-produced and co-hosted by Sasha Lilley and C. S. Soong.
Christian Parenti, author of “Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence,” talks about global warming, neoliberalism, and counterinsurgency. He also explains how elites plan to respond to climate change-related civil unrest and migration in the Global South by further sealing and militarizing the borders of the rich countries.
The radical historian and sociologist Robin Blackburn discusses his book “An Unfinished Revolution: Karl Marx and Abraham Lincoln.”
In Part Two of the interview begun on June 11, the political economist Jonathan Nitzan argues that profit maximization is not in fact the primary goal of capitalists, and he points to the harm done by those who bring up “the economy” as an objective concept. Also, veteran performer Charlie Varon discusses his new show … Continued
The Canadian political economist Jonathan Nitzan makes the provocative claim that capital, the accumulation of which is capitalism’s central process, is not about economic production or consumption or in fact anything economic. Rather, he argues, it’s a mode of organized power. (First part of a two-part interview.)
Baker and radical scholar Aaron Bobrow-Strain traces the history of white bread — symbol of science, progress, empire, and now bad taste — along with the alternative food backlash that it provoked. While food activists today may believe they’re transforming the world through wholesome food and toothsome bread, he suggests that such politics often reinforce … Continued
Left-wing historian James Livingston suggests — taking on the nineteenth-century Populists, the Frankfurt School, and current economic orthodoxy along the way — that consumption is good for social justice and the environment.
Adam Reich discusses the 9 year struggle to unionize a Santa Rosa hospital run by one of the most progressive orders of nuns in the country — which fought tooth and nail to keep the union out.
A discussion of the legendary San Francisco radical performance and art space, Komotion, with Robin Ballinger and Mat Callahan.
