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 produced and hosted by Sasha Lilley.
Twenty years ago, the inaugural World Social Forum was convened in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Jackie Smith describes some of the networking processes and movement-building dynamics fostered by that gathering and its successors. She also discusses three strands of organizing directly influenced by the World Social Forum: the Right to the City movement, Via Campesina, and … Continued
How can we manage to think about, and move toward, a better world in the bleakest of times? Argentinean critical theorist Ana Cecelia Dinerstein talks about capitalism, the state, and our own collective power. She also discusses the tradition of Open Marxism and why we should be skeptical of a universal basic income, which has … Continued
What are the prospects that a mass movement against capitalism will emerge and develop in the U.S.? Robert Latham considers the power and potential of what he calls the contending masses. And David Ravensbergen evaluates two prominent currents within ecosocialism: ecomodernism and degrowth. Latham, Kingsmith, von Bargen, and Block, Challenging the Right, Augmenting the Left: Recasting … Continued
In a society that devalues ideas, perhaps it’s not surprising that the thought processes of children receive little interest. Yet, as psychologist Susan Engel argues, children are constantly constructing ideas, often collaboratively, although this impulse is frequently dampened by the wider world. And she suggests that we ignore the mental processes of children at our … Continued
A special Friday encore broadcast of Philip Freeman discussing Cicero and Mark Vernon talking about Plato, on the last day of KPFA’s spring fund drive.
Is the cigarette the world’s deadliest invention? Historian of science Robert Proctor, outspoken critic of the tobacco industry and author of Golden Holocaust, discusses how cigarettes shaped the 20th century and stand to leave an even greater trail of destruction in the 21st. Part of the Big Picture Ideas: The Best of Against the Grain … Continued
A radio and web media project whose aim is to provide in-depth analysis and commentary on a variety of matters — political, economic, social and cultural — important to progressive and radical thinking and activism.
Could humans ever live together without warring? Did half of us evolve to start wars and dominate the rest of us? Biological anthropologist Agustín Fuentes separates myths from the facts about aggression, genes, human nature, and evolution, in this interview from the collection “Big Picture Ideas: The Best of Against the Grain”.
Philip Freeman discusses the Roman philosopher Cicero’s insights into how to enjoy and get the most out of one’s later years, and Mark Vernon talks about his book “Plato’s Podcasts: The Ancients’ Guide to Modern Living.” (Photo by Sonse.)
How should we on the left regard technology? Is it something neutral that we can shape for our own purposes? Is it a weapon of social control? Automation and the perilousness of life under capitalism have brought those debates back, but they’re not new. Marxist scholar Gavin Mueller discusses technology, capitalism, and the left.
