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.
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.
Media critics Andi Zeisler and Jennifer Pozner discuss representations of abortion on the big screen, including in the recent movies "Waitress" and "Knocked Up." And Amy Moy from Planned Parenthood provides an update on the status of reproductive rights in California and nationally.
Michael Lebowitz discusses his new book "Build It Now: Socialism for the Twenty-First Century."
