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.
John Bowen calls recent condemnations of multiculturalism by European leaders misdirected and irresponsible. He also decries the targeting of European Muslims. And filmmaker Nicole Newnham considers the human costs of draconian US deportation policies.
Noam Chomsky answers six questions about social change posed by writer John Berger, critic Chris Hedges, journalist Amira Hass, director Ken Loach, screenwriter Paul Laverty, and writer and poet Alice Walker.
Immanuel Ness, co-editor of “Ours to Master and to Own: Workers’ Control from the Commune to the Present,” talks with Sasha Lilley about the history and potentialities of workers’ councils.
August Wilson wrote a 10-play, decade-by-decade exploration of the African American experience in the 20th century. Sandra Shannon discusses Wilson’s life and work. Kent Gash directs a production of Wilson’s play “Seven Guitars,” set in 1948.
Ben Rawlence of Human Rights Watch has written a penetrating report about armed conflict, famine, and human rights abuses in Somalia. Also, Anna Deavere Smith talks about her new solo show “Let Me Down Easy.”
Steve Early, longtime former organizer for the Communications Workers of America, talks about the uphill battle labor faces, at Verizon and elsewhere, to hold the line in the face of anti-union actions.
In troubled times like these, the political economist and activist David McNally is encouraged and inspired by recent experiments in radical democracy and participatory decision making in places like Cochabamba, Tunisia, and Egypt.
Corey Robin, author of “Fear: The History of a Political Idea,” talks with Sasha Lilley about the ways that fear has been conceived by modern thinkers and the political uses to which it is put.
