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.
It’s easy to view the last 250 or even 600 years as a relentless period of ascendant capitalism, conquering everything in its wake. But the work of historian Peter Linebaugh reminds us that resistance to capitalism was present at its birth and that working class movements for a better world have profoundly shaped our histories. … Continued
Naomi Klein on what she calls “disaster capitalism,” plus Eric Holt-Giménez on capitalism’s trajectory.
Smartphones have rapidly become a necessity in the U.S., including for the working poor. During Covid, we’re using them more than ever to work — if we’re lucky enough to still have work — or to stay in touch with each other. Sociologist Nicole Aschoff argues that much of the discourse about our personal use … Continued
Intellectualism and cosmopolitanism aren’t things typically associated with working-class people and communities. But James Barrett has unearthed and investigated highly literate and often quite radical working-class cultures, cultures in which people read widely, engaged in group discussions, and in some cases traveled a great deal. (Encore presentation.) James Barrett, History from the Bottom Up and … Continued
The global crisis of our times — the climate emergency — has been temporary slowed by another worldwide disaster: the coronavirus pandemic. As industrial production, transport, and consumption have plummeted, so has the demand for fossil fuels. Environmental historian Troy Vettese places the fortunes of fossil fuels within a larger context over time, with an … Continued
What does it mean to be committed to nonviolence, in one’s activism and everyday life? Kazu Haga reveals that Kingian Nonviolence is a principled way of life, one that actively confronts violence and injustice, restores relationships, and helps create what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called Beloved Community. Kazu Haga, Healing Resistance: A Radically Different … Continued
The coronavirus has laid bare the divisions and inequalities of our society. It’s also exposed the stark differences in possible approaches to the pandemic. Radical scholar Alexis Shotwell argues that we need to frame our fight as one for collective care, rather than containment and control. She discusses solidarity and the lessons of the HIV/AIDS … Continued
William Morris’s designs are still admired and revered, but his radical politics and utopian inclinations are less well known. Michael Robertson discusses the nineteenth-century Englishman’s insistence on craftsmanship, his critiques of industrialism, his turn toward socialism, and his utopian novel News From Nowhere. (Encore presentation.) Michael Robertson, The Last Utopians: Four Late Nineteenth-Century Visionaries and … Continued
What do college athletes, prison laborers, welfare recipients, and graduate students in the sciences have in common? According to sociologist Erin Hatton, they’re all workers who face a particular form of coercion. She discusses what these workers’ circumstances tell us about work under contemporary capitalism. She’ll also consider the situation of prisoners pressured into dangerous … Continued
Political elites and technocrats in many countries believe we can innovate our way out of poverty. But can problems of development be tackled by profit-driven entrepreneurialism? Lilly Irani’s book looks at what professional design is and isn’t doing for poor people and communities. She reveals who gets ignored and what goes unaddressed when innovation is … Continued
