Cocktails & Capitalism

It shouldn’t be illegal to feed hungry, unhoused folks, and yet this is now the case in Houston and cities across America.  Shere Dore is a homeless advocate in Houston who has been working to feed her unhoused neighbors since 2011. She is a devoted member of Food Not Bombs – a movement composed of volunteers who come together in cities around the world to provide food for hungry and unhoused folk...

This week, I dive into the massive wave of strikes and protests that have surged in France over the past 3 months. At it’s peak, the protests swelled to over a million people, bringing young and old together on the streets. This is now the 12th week of action that has been underpinned by strikes and acts of civil disobedience organized by unions and workers across the country.  We recorded this ep...

In this episode, I speak with The Lever ’s Rebecca Burns about the explosive Norfolk Southern train derailment that produced a toxic mushroom cloud over East Palestine, Ohio. We talk through the events that unfolded on February 3rd when train cars carrying over a million pounds of hazardous chemicals went off the tracks, explaining how this nightmare was a product of corporate greed.  Rebecca outl...

This conversation with Amy Westervelt and Paul Paz y Miño examines and condemns the extreme charges that have been used against Cop City protestors, Steven Donziger, and others for defending people and the planet. In the first half of the discussion, we talk about Chevron’s brutal legal assault against those who have tried to hold the company accountable for its deliberate pollution of Ecuador, fo...

This week, I speak with Kamau Franklin about the insane charges for Stop Cop City protestors, including possible RICO indictments in the coming days.  We discuss Sunday’s massive police raid which resulted in 35 arrests and 23 domestic terrorism charges, bringing the total number of domestic terrorism charges for #StopCopCity activists to 44.  While RICO charges have not been issued, community org...

Have you ever wondered why we tip in the US? It seems like such an American thing to do and if you’ve ever traveled abroad, you almost immediately notice that most other countries don’t participate in this system. But why is that and where did it come from?  In this episode we explore tipping in America with our resident anti-capitalist bartender and long time service industry worker, Jesse Torres...

In this episode, I speak with 3 activists working to STOP COP CITY – a highly militarized police training facility that would pave over one of the largest remaining forests in Atlanta. These 3 are part of a broad coalition of activists without centralized leadership who have come together to resist this development and defend the Atlanta Forest.  Days after we recorded this episode, fellow activis...

Reagan and Velveeta have been working with fellow dancers to unionize the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar. While the club is contesting the results of their union vote from back in November, it looks like these ladies will succeed in forming the only stripper union in America! This will be the second unionized strip club in the history of the country, the first being the Lusty Lady in San Francisco w...

This week, I speak with a Jodie of Palestine Action – a UK-based network of activists using sustained direct action to shut down businesses profiting off of the violent oppression of Palestinians. They’ve already shut down two facilities owned and operated by Elbit Systems, and their tireless work has led to the cancellation of 280 million worth of British military contracts with Israel.  Jodie pa...

In this episode, Jessica Burbank explains the origins of her anticapitalist views. We discuss her working class background, her family’s economic hardships during the 2008 economic crash, and the massive bank bailouts that led her to dive deep into the field of economics.  Next, we pivot to a discussion of capitalism as an undemocratic system designed “by and for the bosses.” We explore how this f...

When invited to speak at the recent Gates Foundation annual event, Mikaela Loach seized the opportunity to announce that capitalism is causing climate change and “billionaires shouldn’t exist.”  This young climate justice activist has been fighting fossil fuel projects in the UK using a variety of tactics. She is one of three claimants who has taken the UK government to court for handing over taxp...

This episode dives into the nightmarish reality of residential schools and their connection to capitalism. Here are some of the issues we discuss: The history of the residential school system The connection between residential schools and the military How these facilities promoted capitalist values How residential school allowed for the theft of land “Outing programs” that tried to make Indigenous...

Join us for a fun deep dive into the history of Halloween and Día de los Muertos with Nash and Angel of the Death and Friends podcast. We talk about the ancient origins of Halloween, beginning with the Celtic bonfires, feasts, and drunken festivities that took place during Samhain. When the forces of colonialism, Catholicism, and capitalism arrive on the scene, the Pagan celebration is appropriate...

What is mutual aid? Joshua Potash helps me answer this question in an episode that connects the dots between mutual aid, capitalism and policing. We examine the anarchist origins of the term before we discuss how the practice of mutual aid can help us start to build a world outside of capitalism.  Joshua Potash is an anticapitalist abolitionist who helped to found WSP Mutual Aid – a group that pro...

We’re back with season 3! We begin by interviewing Chris Smalls – the founder and president of the Amazon Labor Union and the face of the growing labor movement in America. Chris tells us about his #hotlaborsummer tour and his travels across the country to lead protests in front of CEO mansions and penthouses. We discuss his “new school” approach to organizing that has done so much to energize you...

America’s healthcare system is not only broken – it's exploitative. This reality became incredibly clear to Christy Snodgrass during her time as a nurse, leading her to leave nursing and throw herself into reforming the field of medicine to better serve struggling patients and healthcare workers. In the season 2 finale of Cocktails & Capitalism, Christy and I discuss the experiences that...

Saadia Mirza joins us from Texas to break down the insanity of America’s gun violence epidemic. Our discussion takes place in the aftermath of the Uvalde school shooting, at a time when there are too many mass shootings in America for the media to cover. Saadia shares how her connection to a victim of the Sandy Hook massacre led her to become incredibly outspoken about this ongoing American nightm...

If we want to have any chance of countering the rising power of the right, we need to start healing the divides that have only deepened on the left. A big part of this is engaging in productive conversations with folks who aren't as far left but who nevertheless hold a lot of fundamental views in common. This is why I thought it would be good to dive into a discussion about how we can start t...

Speaking of Disney, Kane Lynch remarks that “their power and wealth is more like a nation than an entertainment company.” As you'll learn in this episode, they even have a secret police force called Global Intelligence and Threat Analysis.  Previously, we explored Disney’s role in exporting American capitalism around the globe. This week, Kane joins us again to discuss the corporation’s effor...

Speaking of Disney – the company that has forced us “to share the same formative dreams” – film critic Richard Schickel writes, “ As capitalism, it is a work of genius; as culture, it is mostly a horror. ” In this episode, I speak with cartoonist and educator Kane Lynch , who walks us through the story of Walt Disney, the birth of the Disney empire, and the many ways the company has helped to expo...

We’re joined by filmmaker, storyteller, and poet Zachary Marlow, who tells us about his personal journey in relation to alcohol consumption. He shares how he was driven to drink to escape the alienating aspects of our capitalist hellscape, relating this addictive drive to society’s destructive addiction to capitalism.  Marlow is one of 3 hosts of the Moneyless Society podcast – a show that aims to...

We’re joined once again by Indigenous advocate, bartender, and doom metal queen Chockie Tom , as well as our resident anticapitalist cocktail creator, Jessie Torres . In this episode, we discuss how the art of crafting cocktails can be used as a medium for storytelling, exploring the role of the bartender as a sort of subversive educator. This brings us to the incredible drink these two created fo...

We’re joined by Chockie Tom , who works to increase Indigenous visibility and empowerment in the drink and hospitality industry. Chockie’s advocacy efforts are deeply tied to her Pomo and Walker River Paiute heritage. As a bartender, consultant, and occasional brand ambassador, she has striven to increase Native involvement in the industry while helping people navigate this space for harm reductio...

This week, we discuss the power of agitprop with prolific memelord @radleftdad . In keeping with his persona, he joins us in a pink ski mask and a sprinkle doughnut bucket hat. As a father of two toddlers, he manages to produce radical content during nap time. He describes how inequality, the pandemic, and fatherhood all contributed to his decision to start creating dank leftist & anticapitali...

We’re joined by comedian and historian Nash Flynn , who had us laughing hysterically throughout this dark story about funeral rituals.  She tells us how Victorian capitalism ruined funerals by magnifying social inequality even after death. We discuss poorhouses and the poor laws of 17th Century London before examining death rituals from the Victorian era in England and America. Nash Flynn is one o...