Green & Red: Podcasts for Scrappy Radicals

In this episode we discuss Jimmy Carter's policies as President (1977-1981) both domestic and foreign.  In Part 1, we look into his rise to prominence via the Trilateral Commission, his race-baiting during the 1976 Campaign, his embrace of Neo-Liberal policies, and his deregulation of key industries--all of which led to the rise of Ronald Reagan and Reagan's Policies.  Since being President, Carte...

Throughout the world (but not in the U.S.) May 1st is International Workers' Day, so Scott and Bob had a discussion on the radical origins of "Labor Day" as a Socialist celebration of the working class.  We talked about the nature of Labor in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, the various strategies used by the capitalists to crush and oppress workers, and the way workers responded.  We talke...

Our Earth Week arc of episodes featuring red state women organizing for communities and the planet continues!   In this episode, we talk with the legendary Diane Wilson (@unreasonabledw), Texas shrimper, environmentalist and author, about her hunger strike demanding that the Biden Administration stop the proposed dredging of Matagorda ship channel and ban crude oil exports.   T...

Happy Greenwashing Day (i.e. Earth Day)! In our Earth Day episode, flying solo, Scott talks with Wild Idaho Rising Tide (@WildIdahoRT) co-founder and organizer, and host of Radio Free Moscow's "Climate Justice Forum," Helen Yost.   In 2011, Wild Idaho Rising Tide launched with a direct action campaign to stop the "Tar Sands Megaloads," huge pieces of oil drilling equipment being shipped...

In our second interview with Mike Elk in the past couple weeks, after he returned from a week in Alabama, we followed up on the Amazon union vote in Bessemer, of which the results are still out, possible outcomes and the future of union organizing at Amazon, and a recent Coal Mine strike outside Tuscaloosa at Warrior Met Coal, which has just been settled.  We also discussed a new Steel strike in P...

**Just a few hours after recording this, there were media reports that Major League Baseball is pulling this year's All-Star Game out of Atlanta to protest its "new" Jim Crow voting laws, which would heavily and negatively impact Black communities.  Once again, Green and Red Podcast was ahead of the loop. ********** Scott and Bob have another discussion about the ruling class, this time empha...

In this episode, on the 41st anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero in San Salvador, we talk with Prof. Phillip Berryman about the tumultuous history of Central America during the 1970s and 80s. We discussed liberation theology, his work in Central America during Carter and Reagan's wars against the people of countries like El Salvador and Guatemala, the solidarity movements o...

Part two of our series on the Amazon union drive in Alabama. We talk with journalist Alexander Richey (@all_scout), about the situation on the ground as Amazon's Bessemer warehouse prepares to vote on whether they will become the first unionized "Amazon Fulfillment Center." Alexander Richey is a freelance radio producer, sound designer and documentary photographer from the Shoals area in Northwest...

One of the most important union organizing drives in recent history is playing out in the Birmingham-Bessemer, Alabama area as Amazon workers are holding a union vote due to end next Monday.  We spoke with Mike Elk, the creator and editor of "Payday Report," about the situation in Alabama, the impact of Joe Biden's endorsement, the intersection of Black Lives Matter and the union efforts, and...

In this episode we talked with Dr. Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi, @EskandarSadeghi, who is an assistant professor in Comparative Political Theory at Goldsmith's University of London.   He was previously a  British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Oxford  (2016-2019), where he also obtained his doctorate (2010-2014). Eskandar  has published widely on moder...

Our series on the climate and political crises in Texas continues!   In this episode, as today's guest put it, "t he energy capital of the world shut down for a week" a nd we have a must-listen interview on it.  We talk with powerhouse environmental justice organizer Bryan Parras (@hightechaztec) in Houston, TX about the impact of the Texas polar vortex and the subsequent political crisi...

In our latest episode, we're excited to speak with labor journalist and author Sarah Jaffe (@sarahljaffe) about her new book "Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted and Alone." In the episode, we discuss her new book, the evolution of work and the working class and the gender dynamics at play through it. We talk about the "labor of love" myth, work in...

Our series on Texas's winter crisis continues!  In this episode, we talk with Jamie Henn (@jamieclimate) from Fossil Free Media (@fossilfreemedia) about the climate and power crisis in Texas. We discuss how the minions of the oil and gas industry --right-wing politicians Greg Abbott and Rick Perry, and their spin machine-- moved to shift the blame of the power outages on the Green New Deal and oth...

In this episode, we talk about left politics in country music with Prof. Mark Allan Jackson. Country music has a huge popular following and has been closely associated with Republican and socially conservative political forces. Politicians like George Wallace, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan have all appealed to country's fans to build their political bases. But country music has also had a populi...

We're rejoined by repeat Green and Red repeat-offenders Debbie Russell (@debmocracy) and Clayton Lust (@claytonlust), in Austin and Houston, respectively, to discuss the "Katrina-scale" crisis happening throughout Texas at the moment. We talked about conditions on the ground in Austin and Houston, especially the loss of heat and water, and the human misery--homeless people dying, the elderly...

In this episode, we offer a postmortem on Trump's presidency and the limits of his power. The "opposition" gave Trump powers that he never had.  He was never popular, his positions never had close to majority approval, his own judges and GOP officials rebuked him, and, as we've talked about plenty, the military and ruling class were opposed to him.  Despite that, Liberals and too ma...

In this episode we talk politics and podcasting with Bill Troveski from The Way (@PodcastTheWay).  Students for a Democratic Society said in the Port Huron statement, "looking uncomfortably to the world we inherit..."  We discuss the current version of that discomfort that today's students and youth are inheriting as the pandemic, economic collapse, the climate crisis and political crisi...

In our latest episode, we talk with two professors with exemplary records at Collin College, outside Dallas, who were recently fired for criticizing the school's COVID policies.  Audra Heaslip and Suzanne Jones (@Sesjones), both longtime professors, questioned President Neil Matkin's dismissal of COVID concerns, his insistence on returning to in-person classes, and his refusal to create...

In this episode, we're excited to talk to author, activist and historian Dr. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (@rdunbaro) about the Indigenous history of the U.S. We discuss her journey from activist and organizer to historian of the vast and complex subject of Indigenous people's history. We also discuss settler colonialism and today's protest movements for Indigenous rights.  Dr. Dunbar-Ortiz is a hist...

In our latest episode, we get into it! The left media universe includes YouTubers with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, hundreds of podcasts and journals like Jacobin with 60,000 subscribers monthly. Yet that has translated in little support for on-the-ground organizers working in workplaces, frontline communities and the streets.  We talk with Joshua Kahn Russell (@joshkahnrussell), Exe...

In our latest episode, Bob (@bobbuzzanco) interviews Scott (@sparki1969) about his recent article "Why 2021 needs more direct  action." They discuss how elections and electing Democrats and  Democratic Socialists won't be the only way to get us out of the current  cascade of crises hitting the world right now (COVID-19, economic  collapse, climate change, political crisis aroun...

In this episode, we talk with comic book creator Brian Wood (@brianwood) and the influence of pop culture on politics. And vice versa. We discuss his work on Channel Zero, DMZ and the Massive. And how his work in those comics has focused on lefty politics and issues like media activism, far right militias, climate change and direct action. We also talk about Marvel's The Punisher and the obvious c...

In our latest episode, we have a lively discussion with Eileen Flanagan (@eileenflanagan) of Choose Democracy about mass organizing efforts to defend democracy from Trump.  We discuss their efforts to recruit and prepare thousands to hit the streets, taking advantage of "cracks" in ruling class institutions, like Wall Street and the military, and turning anxiety about Trump remaining in power...

In our special MLK day episode, we talk about the radical politics of  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We discuss King's democratic socialist  beliefs, his stance against the war in Vietnam, the campaigns he worked  on, --including the 1968 Olympic Boycott and the Poor People's  Campaign--, and his thoughts on property destruction.     Read more//  Buzzanco: MLK...

In  this episode, Bob interviews Professor Andrew Bacevich ( @AndrewBacevich ) about the extraordinary involvement in electoral  politics by Trump and the military, the military public repudiation of  the president, racial and hate group problems in the armed forces,  civil-military relations, the appoint of General Lloyd Austin as Defense  Secretary, what to expect from B...