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.
WSF 2005 and Agrarian Reform The unequal distribution of land in the developing world, and the role of the World Bank and IMF in shaping land reform, was a key topic at the 5th World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Mangaliso Kuhhaka from South Africa, Karem Sader from Egypt, and Sergio Soar from Brazil … Continued
Hog-Tied The dangers of the meat and poultry industry go far beyond salmonella and rotten meat that may slip past inspectors’ eyes and end up shrink-wrapped in a supermarket near you. Lance Compa, author of a new report by HRW, UFCW’s Jill Cashen, and Maria Martinez of Teamsters local 556 talk about labor conditions and … Continued
Eating & Living Chinese Veteran journalist William Wong was born and grew up in Oakland’s Chinatown; his new book captures in pictures the historical trajectory and vibrancy of that community. Artist Indigo Som has turned to photography to capture the phenomenon of Chinese restaurants in localities with few Asian American residents.
Power, Consent and Gramsci Should progressives be pinning their hopes of resistance to superpower hubris on so-called civil society? Perhaps a more nuanced picture of how society works — and of how power operates — is needed. Joseph Buttigieg believes that the ideas of Italian radical thinker Antonio Gramsci, who wrote about power, culture and … Continued
A murder on TV, a customer screaming at a store clerk, parents abusing children — we routinely observe violence and violation all around us. What can we do in response? Kaethe Weingarten talks about her book Common Shock: Witnessing Violence Every Day — How We Are Harmed, How We Can Heal.
Thomas Frank on Class Working class people in the US call themselves “middle class” and vote for George W. Bush because he appears to be a regular guy, despite being a millionaire. What’s going on here? No one has interrogated contemporary class and politics in the US like Thomas Frank and his work has drawn … Continued
Naomi Klein talks about war profiteering in her recent speech titled "War and Fleece: How Economic Shock Therapy Backfired in Iraq."
Curtis White talks about the impoverishment of the imagination in today’s world, the subject of his book The Middle Mind: Why Americans Don’t Think for Themselves.
War Propaganda What happens to the US press when the US goes to war? The eye-opening documentary Control Room looks at media biases created by the patriotism surrounding the US invasion of Iraq, and takes us behind the scenes at the Arab satellite news channel Al-Jazeera.
World-renowned environmentalist and broadcaster David Suzuki speaks about whether environment protection is irreconcilable with economic growth.
