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.
To mark the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Rebecca Solnit talks to Sasha Lilley about the glimpses of a more hopeful future that can be gleaned from moments of catastrophe. Solnit’s book is “A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster.”
Historian Vicente Rafael examines how language and the act of translation relates to the projection of imperial power, and to the early years of the American republic.
First-time presentation of the full-length interview with UC Santa Cruz scientist Gary Griggs about his book “Introduction to California’s Beaches and Coast.”
Economist William Tabb, author of “The Long Default,” talks to Sasha Lilley about the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis–which was resolved with an attack on public sector workers, the gutting of public services, and the restructuring of the city–and the parallels with the current crisis in California today.
Paul Edwards discusses his book “ A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming.”
Pauline Lipman, author of “High Stakes Education; Inequality, Globalization, and Urban School Reform,” talks about Obama’s education policies, which promote standardized tests and charter schools at the expense of public education.
U.C. Berkeley political scientist Kiren Chaudhry discusses what she calls the “economic underbelly” of the Af-Pak war and the chaotic nature of the US military effort there.
Seth Tobocman and Eric Laursen, authors of the comic book “Understanding the Crash,” talk about the economic meltdown and its affects on poor and working class people.
Human rights and their violation are an insistent focus of many activists and organizations. In his book “Are Worker Rights Human Rights?” economist Richard McIntyre identifies important limitations to rights-based politics.
