Jacobin Radio

We begin with a rundown of recent events, from the Coronation to the CNN Trump town hall to the Liberal Party of Canada's recent convention, before discussing the beloved comedy GALAXY QUEST (1999). We situate the film's satire in the context of 1999-era fan culture, and hash over our own respective histories with the Star Trek franchise. PLUS: a dive into a young Tucker Carlson's journalism. Mich...

Michaela Chen of Foxglove discusses efforts to unionize the exploited workers who moderate content on social media. Micah Herskind, author of an article for Scalawag , "This Is the Atlanta Way: A Primer on Cop City," talks about the history and political economy behind the massive planned police training center. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics...

Featuring Jules Gill-Peterson on Histories of the Transgender Child . Amid this right-wing reaction, a discussion of the history of trans medicine and trans children—and also trans politics more generally. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Register for Socialism 2023 at socialismconference.org . Register before July 7 for the early bird discount rate! Subscribe to n+1 at nplusonemag.com/thedig...

"A soy-banter Nicolas Cage Dracula movie" was too enticing a pitch to pass up, so we hit up our local multiplex to see RENFIELD (2023). PLUS: Do conservatives need "a populist Dracula"? At least one right-wing outlet thinks so! Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.

Howard Rodman, former president of the Writers Guild of America West (WGA), joins Alan Minsky to discuss the Writers Guild strike, which began a minute after midnight on May 2, after a near unanimous strike vote on May 1. This strike action, the first in fifteen years, impacts TV, movies, and streaming platforms across the country and the world. The last strike, in 2007-08, lasted 100 days and foc...

Featuring Stacy Davis Gates, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, and Alex Han on how Chicago's labor left took over City Hall. Brandon Johnson's mayoral victory, the product of a decade-plus of social movement union struggle, is a model for the left everywhere in the United States. Guest hosted by Micah Uetricht. Subscribe to n+1 . Go to nplusonemag.com/thedig and enter THEDIG at checkout Buy Occupation: Organiz...

For International Workers' Day, Jacobin welcomed Richard Wolff, founder of Democracy at Work and visiting professor of international affairs at the New School, for a live conversation about economics and the labor movement. This is the audio version of that interview, conducted by Paul Prescod. Get a yearlong Jacobin subscription for as low as $1: https://jacobin.com/subscribe/?code=MAYDAY2023

Featuring Nikil Saval and Helen Gym on how the history of Philadelphia social movements brought Nikil into the state senate and has made Helen, a long-time public education organizer, a frontrunner in the mayoral race. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Subscribe to Dissent dissentmagazine.org/subscribe Buy Angela Davis: An Autobiography haymarketbooks.org/books/2001-angela-davis  &nb...

In May 1980, Josip Tito died after ruling Yugoslavia for more than three decades. In his absence, the Yugoslav League of Communists put in place a collective, power-sharing model. A politician from each of the country’s national units would take their turn as the head of state. But by the early 90s, Yugoslavia was on the brink of collapse. The rise of two nationalist leaders, Slobodan Milošević of...

A Christian boy goes up against his sinister atheist philosophy teacher (played by Kevin Sorbo!) in GOD'S NOT DEAD (2014), one of the biggest evangelical blockbusters of all time. Luke and guest host Alex Shephard discuss the film's tone-deaf depiction of academia and its particular streak of right-wing sadism. PLUS: What's next for Tucker Carlson? And is there any life at all in the ol' Ron DeSan...

Jacobin editor Micah Uetricht explains how Chicago elected a progressive mayor, Brandon Johnson. Lily Lynch, editor of Balkanist and contributor to New Left Review ‘s Sidecar blog, on how the Ukraine war destroyed Scandinavian neutrality. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the arch...

We have as many roads in the United States as we have streams and rivers.  Produced by Caroline Kanner and Jackson Roach, with original music by Jackson Roach. Edited by Liza Yeager and Mitchell Johnson.  Subscribe to The Dig Presents and support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig .  Bibliography (in order of appearance): A Field Guide to Roadside Wildflowers at Full Speed (PDF) - Chris...

Suzi talks to long-time political activist and theorist Ilya Budraitskis about the transformation of Russia into a dictatorship and the nature of Putinism more than a year after Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. Independent media has been replaced with censorship and propaganda. Expression of dissent is met with repression and long stints in prison. In fact, Ilya's vocal opposition to Putin's r...

A young man caught between his socialist father and Thatcherite uncle falls in love with a young National Front street punk while building a laundromat. We watched MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE (1985) and discuss the context that birthed it. PLUS: Fiery hot takes on Bruceploitation and Ron DeSanctimonious. Michael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan an...

Economist Josh Mason of John Jay College (and author of a recent Jacobin article , written in response to a Dylan Riley article for New Left Review 's website) on how we can save the climate before we get to overthrowing capitalism. Then Jen Duggan of the Environmental Integrity Initiative discusses a lawsuit to get the EPA to enforce the Clean Water Act. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood,...

Featuring Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider on the politics of public education. The authors of A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling of Education and the Future of School and co-hosts of the education policy podcast Have You Heard discuss everything from charters and vouchers to teacher social movement unionism and right-wing cultural wars against "woke" educators. Support The Dig a...

The breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s resulted in a brutal civil war. The conflict ended an experiment in multinational coexistence across the Western Balkans. But the tragic end of Yugoslavia shouldn't define the way we think about its history. The Yugoslav nationalities played an outsized role in the struggle against Nazi Germany. During the Cold War, Yugoslavia's government helped organi...

How did Warren Beatty convince a Hollywood studio to make a movie about American communists in 1981? We discuss REDS (1981), his epic biopic of writers John Reed and Louise Bryant, as well as Reed's landmark book about the Russian Revolution, Ten Days That Shook the World. PLUS: Fiery hot takes on billionaire Hitler collector Harlan Crowe. "The Paid Pundits Defending Clarence Thomas And His Billio...

Philosopher Kate Soper talks about her book, Post-Growth Living: For an Alternative Hedonism , just out in paperback: living on less but without the hair-shirtism. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive here: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html

Featuring Jane McAlevey on how to organize mass numbers of new workers into unions that wage mass strikes to fight employers and revive the labor movement. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Dan's 2019 interview with McAlevey thedigradio.com/podcast/strike-with-jane-mcalevey Buy Set Fear on Fire by LASTESIS versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2853-set-fear-on-fire Buy The New Cold War by Gilbert Achc...

Ben Affleck's AIR (2023) chronicles the wheeling and dealing that led to Michael Jordan signing with Nike, and this unabashed celebration of the world's most famous shoe brand positions the Air Jordan as a victory for trickle-down economics. We discuss the movie that asks the question: "What if you made The Social Network about people who were frickin' epic??" Michael and Us is a podcast about pol...

James Bamford, author of Spyfail and a recent article in The Nation , discusses Israeli collusion with Donald Trump in 2016. Then Donna Murch , associate professor of history at Rutgers and president of the New Brunswick campus’s faculty union, talks about why the teaching staff is on the verge of a strike and why it matters well beyond that institution. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, c...

Featuring Edo Konrad and Joshua Leifer on how Zionism's long-running contradictions led to the current political crisis in Israel. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out +972 Magazine at 972mag.com Subscribe to Jewish Currents ' Israel/Palestine newsletter at jewishcurrents.org/newsletter Buy The New Cold War: The United States, Russia, and China from Kosovo to Ukraine by Gilbert Achcar h...

In the past few years, Peru has experienced several waves of political turbulence. The latest cycle of unrest began when Pedro Castillo was ousted as president last December. State security forces have killed dozens of people protesting against Castillo’s removal from office. The political questions being posed in Peru and other Latin American countries today have a long history behind them. A cen...

Suzi talks to Sebastian Budgen and Yoav Peled about two existential crises rocking the social order. First in France, where President Macron used constitutional powers to bypass parliament and impose deeply unpopular pension reform. This move has provoked one of the largest waves of continuous popular mobilization since May 1968. The second crisis is in Israel, where half the population has taken...