Jacobin Radio

Islamophobia is conventionally regarded as racist and bigoted views about Muslims expressed by ignorant individuals, including the one who somehow became president. But legal and critical race scholar @KhaledBeydoun explains that the reality is more complicated. The War on Terror perpetrated state-backed Islamophobia, which nurtured and bolstered popular anti-Muslim bigotry. Support us at Patreon....

We look at urban politics from Barcelona to Chicago with Isidro Lopez, Podemos Member of Parliament in Madrid, and Troy LaRaviere , president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association. Isidro brings us his analysis of the independence referendum in Catalonia — slated for October 1 but now banned and declared unconstitutional by the Central Government — that has brought tens of thous...

For this Diglet, Dan and Eve Peyser discuss What Happened , Hillary Clinton's new book. Eve also talks about spending time with Jill Stein recently, and argues that it's wrongheaded to blame Stein for Trump. Thanks to our supporters at University of California Press. Check out their new title How All Politics Became Reproductive Politics: From Welfare Reform to Foreclosure to Trump .

Andrew Cockburn, author of this article , on the Saudi involvement in 9/11 • Asad Haider, author of this article , on identity, Mark Lilla, and Ta-Nehisi Coates.

September 7, 2017 Christo Sims, author of Disruptive Fixation, on school reform and techno-fetishism • Christian Parenti, author of this article , on climate change and the threat to coastal cities.

Trump is normal in more ways than people care to admit, but he is different in that he parts from the bedrock ideology of American exceptionalism that has governed this country from its violent founding. Foreign policy scholar @stephenwertheim makes the case that the Trump Doctrine could reignite extreme nationalism and militarism but also provides the Left with an opening to finally launch a move...

The so-called Olympic spirit doesn’t match the reality of a highly-corporatized Games that often leaves taxpayers picking up the tab, engenders abusive policing and justifies the remaking of cities for the rich at the expense of ordinary and poor people. Dan’s guests today are Molly Lambert, a writer and member of Los Angeles DSA, and Jules Boykoff, the author of "Power Games: A Political History...

On Jacobin Radio today we talk to Christian Parenti, now teaching in the economics program at John Jay College (CUNY) about the catastrophic effects of climate change already upon us — from Harvey to Irma, from Katrina to Houston, to the fires raging around the globe. Christian has written in the new issue of Jacobin on climate change, "Earth Wind, & Fire," about what the near future will look...

This two-hour episode is a look at inequality in Houston from slavery to the present. First, Dan talks to Tyina Steptoe, historian at the University of Arizona and author of "Houston Bound: Culture and Color in a Jim Crow City." Then Robert D. Bullard, professor of urban planning and environmental policy at Texas Southern University in Houston and the “father of environmental justice.” Finally, Jo...

Immigration law scholar César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández breaks down the lies, misdirections, and bigoted absurdities conveyed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions when announced that the Trump Administration would cruelly make some 800,000 young people who came to this country as children deportable. Check out César's blog at crimmigration.com Support us at Patreon.com/TheDig APOLOGIES FOR THE PRIO...

The devastation wreaked by Hurricane Harvey has made the denial of climate change all the more dangerous. But writer Kate Aronoff says that mainstream liberals and environmental groups, touting cap-and-trade and business-friendly reforms, have put forward an agenda that can’t address the crisis and won’t mobilize the masses. We need a radical and transformative climate agenda. Thanks to our suppor...

New Republic reporter Emily Atkin talks about why Harvey is already and inherently political thanks to climate change and the potential for petrochemical disaster in Houston. Calls to not “politicize” the disaster are political too: they’re efforts to defend the destructive status quo of fossil-fueled neoliberal capitalism. Support us at patreon.com/thedig and please donate to homelesshouston.org/...

Is the internet good or bad? The debate is more often than not a proxy for one about politics more generally and populism in particular. But the real issue with the internet is this: unaccountable businesses wield oligopoly power over the digital public sphere. Support us with some cash https://www.patreon.com/thedig And check out Adrian’s article http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/09/04/the-f...

Jodi Dean, a professor of political science at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, discusses how to rethink the class vs. identity debate, as well as the tensions between online life and practice. Then, journalist Jason Wilson on Charlottesville and the far right.

First, Robert Kuttner, the co-editor of The American Prospect, recorded the day after Kuttner published his conversation with White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, just as Bannon was being ousted, likely for his call to Kuttner. Then, Bruce Cumings, University of Chicago historian and a leading expert on Korea, brings us historical perspective to help understand North Korea’s development of a...

Dan talks to Splinter Politics Editor Alex Pareene about his recent piece “Charlottesville Was a Preview of the Future of the Republican Party” and about why Phoenix is Trump’s happy place. This second weekly episode costs time and money. We can only keep it up if you contribute at patreon.com/thedig Check out Pareene’s article and podcast http://splinternews.com/charlottesville-was-a-preview-of-t...

The War on Terror’s permanence should be remarkable, an outrage. But it is precisely because the war has become permanent that it has long since been rendered unremarkable. Dan’s guest is historian Andrew Bacevich, author or coauthor of over a dozen books, including most recently, America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History (Random House, 2016). Note that we spoke before Trump’s...

Kristen Ghodsee, author of Red Hangover: Legacies of Twentieth-Century Communism (Duke University Press, 2017), joins Doug to discuss sex and gender in the former socialist world, and her recent essay in the New York Times, available here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/12/opinion/why-women-had-better-sex-under-socialism.html. Plus, Roger Lancaster, who has a new article in Jacobin on the subject...

In the wake of the fascist terror attack, RL attended DSA Charlottesville's monthly meeting. Time and again, the issues of safety and violence were discussed along with how the terror attack would change their organizing work going forward. RL asked a few members to stay after the meeting for a chat.

New Republic writer Sarah Jones on Trump's invocation of the "alt-left," the term's unseemly centrist history, and more. We're gonna try doing two episodes each week now: the regular long Dig on Tuesdays and a shorter, hotter-take Diglet on Fridays. This will take more time and more money! If you listen to and love the show please support us at https://www.patreon.com/thedig

RL talks with Kevin, an organizer at The Haven, a nonprofit serving Charlottesville's homeless population. Kevin knew Heather Heyer because she had helped him escape homelessness himself. He was on the scene the day of the fascist attack that killed her.

The FARC peace accord is a historic victory for Colombian society. But the struggle to build an urban left strong enough to take on the country's powerful right remains a daunting one. Today's guest is Forrest Hylton, the author of Evil Hour in Colombia. Check out a great article from Forrest here https://www.academia.edu/26907051/The_Experience_of_Defeat_The_Colombian_Left_and_the_Cold_War_that_N...

Paula Mielke lives in Falcon Heights, Minnesota--where Philando Castile was murdered by a police officer. She had never before considered herself an activist, but after Philando's death, she got to work. She and her team organized protests, petition drives, and vigils. They've also met weekly and attended every city council meeting in the year since Philando's murder. Now, Paula's running for city...

On Jacobin Radio, Dan La Botz. co-editor of New Politics discusses the Democrat Party's "bullshit deal;" Professor Jeremy Bendik-Keymer talks about Trump and fascism; and Dr. Adam Gaffney analyzes the demise of Trumpcare and why we need truly universal health care.

With Trump, Mexico is the symbol and source of so many things that are wrong with the United States. Oftentimes, these stories told about Mexico in the United States aren’t just wrong but serve to obscure the true source of our shared problems—which, more often than not, are both countries’ ruling classes. Today's guest is Christy Thornton, a professor of history and international studies at Rowan...