12:00 PM Pacific Time: Mondays to 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.
Landscapes of wealth and geographies of exclusion in this turbo-capitalist era are explored in the new book "Evil Paradises." Jon Wiener examines the environmental record of Ted Turner, this nation’s largest landowner. Rebecca Schoenkopf sounds off about Orange County’s politics and its affluent youth. And Sara Lipton explains how monastic retreats echo and legitimate neoliberal … Continued
Moving People Millions who oppose the war in Iraq are apparently unwilling to become part of the antiwar movement. Why is this? What have antiwar groups been doing well, and how might their outreach efforts improve? Madeline Gardner has co-authored a pamphlet that proposes ways of attracting the broader public. Judith Le Blanc has many … Continued
Psychologists & Torture; Battered Inmates
Habeas and the Antiurban City The Brennan Center’s Jonathan Hafetz describes the current tenuous state of habeas corpus rights. And Don Mitchell discusses what the privatization of public space is doing to personal freedoms in urban areas.
In her book "Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism," Susan Jacoby examines two centuries of secularist activism, shining a light on the contributions of people like Thomas Paine, Robert Ingersoll, and Walt Whitman.
They come to the US: Indian IT workers on H-1B visas, and adopted Chinese babies. Payal Banerjee describes how the first group is marginalized as a result of racialized US immigration policies. Sara Dorow examines how notions of race, gender and identity shape at least some adoptive couples’ decisions to adopt from China.
Moving the Media How can progressive ideas and experts be funneled into both the progressive media and the mainstream media more effectively? What can the Left learn from the Right’s successful efforts to build a powerful media machine? Tracy Van Slyke discusses ways of improving the dissemination of progressive messages. And Tim Pozar comments on … Continued
Community and labor organizers from New York, Kentucky, and New Orleans talk about their experiences at the just-completed US Social Forum in Atlanta.
Microcredit: Two Perspectives The founder of Grameen Bank, which provides what’s called microcredit to poor people and communities, won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize. So is microcredit the solution to global poverty? Sam Daley-Harris directs the Microcredit Summit Campaign. Radical economist Robert Pollin questions the effectiveness of microcredit in a policy setting dominated by neoliberalism.
Kareem Shora, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, discusses a just-released report about the impact on Lebanon’s civilians of Israel’s invasion last year. And Nadine Naber describes how Arab American female identity relates to religion, sexuality, class, and other factors.
