North Americans are sick, stressed, and alienated, a state of affairs accentuated in recent years by Covid. The Hungarian-Canadian physician Gabor Maté argues that capitalism engenders illness, while the medical system blindly ignores the lives of its patients. Maté discusses individual and collective change, while reflecting on human nature, alienation and rightwing politics, and the … Continued
What can our fantasies about space tell us about life on earth? Fred Scharman discusses competing visions for long-term space occupancy over the last century and a half, many of them emanating from Russia and the United States even before the Cold War, and now monopolized by billionaires like Elon Musk. Resources: Fred Scharmen, Space … Continued
The Old Left, we’re told, was narrowly focused on issues of class to the detriment of other struggles, such as those of queer people. But Aaron Lecklider argues that there has long been an affinity between political and sexual dissidents. He suggests that McCarthyism and the Cold War obscured history that was an open secret … Continued
Brilliant theorist of non-violent social change or Cold War defense intellectual and strategist? Gene Sharp has had a tremendous influence on progressive ideas and activism since the early 1970s and his ideas are so pervasive that at times they appear to be without a history, just part of the air we breath on the left. … Continued
Ayn Rand’s novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged have been called gateway drugs to rightwing ideas for so many Americans. And while the works of the writer and philosopher have seen a resurgence since the global economic crisis, her influence has been undeniably huge and sustained since those books were originally published in mid-century. Historian … Continued
The term socialism has, amazingly, gone from one consigned to Cold War obscurity to the self-description of several prominent US politicians. But what does socialism mean and how could we ever manage to get there? Jacobin magazine founder Bhaskar Sunkara argues that socialism is achievable — and maps out a path to emancipation, first through … Continued
Are we facing a new Cold War with Russia? Does that country represent a serious threat to the United States? Tony Wood separates myths from facts about Russia’s domestic and foreign policy — and whether Putin represents a return to the authoritarian Soviet past. Resources: Tony Wood, Russia Without Putin: Money, Power and the Myths … Continued
The U.S. was left the world’s sole superpower after the demise of the Soviet Union. Yet the U.S. spends a mind-boggling amount on weapons and we’re constantly warned, including in the liberal media, that there are dangerous governments out there in need of containment, Russia being first among them. John Marciano discusses the lessons of … Continued
Few thinkers have shaped the world as much as Karl Marx, although the ways that he changed it may not have been to his liking, as David McNally argues. He discusses the ideas and legacy of Karl Marx, to mark the bicentennial of his birth.
This show focuses on the early race to space between the U.S.A and the Soviet Union from the late ‘50s through the ultimate (and apparently final) end game of landing on the Moon in 1969. Much of this is told from the Soviet perspective, complete with Russian pop music touching on the subject. From Sputnik’s … Continued
