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.
Militarizing the US-Mexico Border Jose Palafox, ethnic studies lecturer and an expert on the US-Mexico border, discusses the militarization of the border, the US’s role in forcing people into migration, and current border and immigrant rights organizing. A representative of the Tucson-based group No More Deaths describes that group’s efforts to assist migrants.
Struggling Against HIV/AIDS Every day 9,000 people die from the AIDS virus and yet so little real effort has been made by the rich countries to stop the spread of the pandemic in the developing world. The documentary, "Against All Odds: Hope in the Struggle," tells the stories of health workers and activists in southern … Continued
What’s the likely foreign policy direction of a second Bush term? What impact will Bush administration policies have on the rest of the world? John Gershman, director of the Global Affairs Program at the Interhemispheric Resource Center, reviews recent developments and makes some predictions.
Zora Neale Hurston’s long-forgotten script Polk County was discovered seven years ago in the Library of Congress. Berkeley Repertory Theatre is now staging the play’s west coast premiere. Two key players in the production are co-adapter Cathy Madison and featured actor Kevin Jackson. Carla Kaplan collected and edited hundreds of Hurston’s letters; her book is … Continued
Individuality and Quantum Theory Quantum theory revolutionized the way scientists look at the world. It also, contends Peter Pesic, calls into question common notions of human identity and individuality. How unique is each person, really? Pesic draws on literature and philosophy as well as science in his investigations.
Soy and the Amazon The destruction of the Amazon proceeds every year with greater speed. What is driving the clearing of “the lungs of the world”? Geographers Wendy Jepson and Jan Maarten Dros and Environmental Defense’s Steve Schwarzmann talk about the role of soy production in transforming the greater Amazon region.
Whatever Happened to Chinese Socialism? Radical scholars Paul Burkett and Martin Hart-Landsberg address the question.
African American Railroad WorkersThey are the focus of Wayne Harris’s one-man show in San Francisco called "Train Stories," and of Larry Tye’s book Rising from the Rails, about the Pullman Porters and their legacy.
A conversation with Liza Featherstone, author of Selling Women Short, about the sex discrimination class action suit against Wal-Mart.
Acclaimed writer Russell Banks, whose works The Sweet Hereafter and Affliction were turned into major motion pictures, joins C.S. in studio to discuss his new novel, The Darling. Its main protagonist, indicted by US authorities for her involvement in the Weather Underground, flees the country for Liberia and a confrontation with her past.
