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.
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.
Looking West Author, performance artist and academic Cornel West brought his wide-ranging intellect and electrifying oratorical style to a venue in Oakland last Saturday. He spoke about everything from imperialism to slavery to critical thinking to attitudes toward justice versus revenge.
The Corporation. What is a corporation? Most of us know about the immense power that companies wield in our society, but don’t know why they are so powerful or how they operate. The immensely popular film “The Corporation” grapples with these questions and features interviews with the likes of Michael Moore, Naomi Klein, Howard Zinn, … Continued
The United States is deeply divided by class and gender, race and ethnicity. What would happen if information on the disparity between groups just went away? NCRW’s Linda Basch speaks about the vanishing information on women under the Bush administration. And UFW’s Arturo Rodriguez and Rick Mines talk about the demise of the National Agricultural … Continued
