Laura Flanders and Friends: Solutions-Focused Progressive Perspectives on Politics, News, and Culture

What happened in Georgia in 2020? The election of two Democrats to the Senate from that state handed the presidency to Joe Biden and control of Congress to the Democrats. This was no flash in the pan, but rather the result of decades of organizing. Ray McClendon and Steven Rosenfeld, the editors of a new book, call it the ‘Georgia Way.’ “The Georgia Way: How to Win Elections” is an oral history in...

Rosa Parks is best known to Americans as a national treasure — the little old lady who sat down on a bus and “ended racism.” What we lose in that depiction is what happened before and afterward, which is to say most of the story of Park’s lifetime of activism. Soledad O'Brien, the award-winning journalist and producer, has just executive  produced the first ever full-length documentary on the Civi...

Hey Boomers: When it comes to the climate crisis, are you the problem, the solution or both? In this episode Laura sits down with acclaimed author and environmental activist Bill McKibben and author Akaya Windwood to find out what's required from all of us to solve the climate crisis. McKibben was the founder of  350.org . He's the author of “The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon: A Graying A...

In March 2021, a 21-year-old man murdered eight people, including six women of Asian descent, at three spas in Atlanta, Georgia. The act of violence was one of the most dramatic assaults in a wave of anti-Asian hate that surged during COVID. For many, the tragic events became a galvanizing moment, reigniting a sense of collective identity and political engagement within Asian American and Pacific...

"How do you spark alarm, inform the public, prod people to act, if the media aren’t covering the news, political fundraisers griped to the press this week....It’s a problem social movements in the US have faced for decades, of course, and met none of the same sympathy from the press." For independent reporting on grassroots change makers around the world and right here in the US, every week, catch...

How do Black and Indigenous communities intersect? This special feature for Indigenous People’s day explores the forces that have both facilitated and thwarted collaboration and movement-making among Black and Indigenous people in the United States. Exploitation of Black and Indigenous people was integral to the founding of this country, but the nature of that exploitation wasn’t exactly the same....

Can a novel become a catalyst to help us address impending climate disaster? That’s one question posed by the legendary Kim Stanley Robinson , in his best-selling novel The Ministry for the Future, which begins with millions of Indians dying from temperatures that send people cramming into lakes to cool off — where they literally poach to death. The book has been praised by everyone from Barack Ob...

"Even more than democracy, the language of freedom vs tyranny has characterized this year’s mid-term election campaigns." The F-Word is released bi-weekly featuring timely commentaries by Laura Flanders and guests. Flex your media muscles, become a monthly sustaining member for $3, $5, $12 at https://Patreon.com/theLFShow  Independent Media! Advertising free!   Laura Flanders and Friends Crew...

(Full Episode Notes are at Patreon.com/theLFShow)   Salman Rushdie praised A.M. Homes’ latest novel,  The Unfolding  as, “A terrific black comedy, written almost entirely in pitch-perfect dialogue, that feels terrifyingly close to the unfunny truth.” In this episode, A.M. and Laura discuss political fiction, women writers and the unraveling of American democracy. Homes is an American writer best k...

Are you drowning? The start of the school year can be stressful for parents, teachers and students. And this summer hasn’t been smooth sailing for many of us either — with extreme temperatures, a global pandemic and other crises. How do we take a breath? Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ UNDROWNED: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals, draws on the practices of marine mammals — they are the experts, aft...

(This full conversation is from the episode 'Ibram X. Kendi: How to Make America Antiracist?') The fight over what can and can’t be taught in schools is shaping up to be one of the most controversial issues in a pivotal mid-term election year. White voters are being mobilized to ban books, censor honest discussions of US history and current day racism, and organize against a fake spectre of “criti...

Crip Camp is a Peabody Award-winning documentary from Netflix and Higher Ground Productions that tells the story of Camp Jened, a summer camp in the 1960s where disabled youth could be themselves. The film follows several former campers who went on to be leaders of the Disability Rights Movement. Laura speaks with the directors and producers of Crip Camp about how they are using the film to advanc...

(This full conversation is from the episode 'Linda Villarosa- the Dobbs Decision: a Death Sentence for Black Women?' released July 11th, 2022)  Is the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health a death sentence for women of color? The overturning of Roe v. Wade not only creates an abortion disaster for millions of Americans, it also exacerbates a maternal healthcare crisis that’s al...

In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, imperiling all women’s freedoms, and creating a new pipeline to prison for the vulnerable just as the world is learning how counterproductive most incarceration - solutions are. Today’s guests argue that things could have been very different. If the white dominated “choice” movement had paid closer attention to all women’s choices, or lack the...

(This full conversation is from the episode 'Community Wealth Building: An Economic Reset' released June 13th, 2022)  Low wages, precarious jobs, shuttered Main Streets and bleak futures — do towns have a way out of poverty that doesn't involve begging and bribing outside employers to invest? From Cleveland, Ohio to Preston, England and Scotland, some local governments are experimenting with inves...

Many of the world’s most successful businesses began as someone’s good idea. But the path from startup to conventional financial success typically involves going public, prioritizing shareholders’ interests, and ultimately selling to a giant conglomerate whose intentions are far from the original mission of the business’s founders. In this episode, Laura interviews guests who say this conventional...

(This full conversation is from the episode 'Greenpeace at 50:  The Climate Crisis is a Fight Not an Argument' released April 18th, 2022)  In this special feature for Earth Day, we focus on just one group: Greenpeace, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The environmental group has been in the headlines again, confronting Russian oil tankers in many ports. They've attracted lots of attention...

The last US soldier to leave Afghanistan returned home this August, but private security personnel long outnumbered US troops in that war, and the for-profit business of training guns-for-hire is booming -- literally -- in the backyards of many rural Americans. In this special episode, The Laura Flanders Show travels to the tiny town of Hoffman in Richmond County, NC, where residents live next to...

Forty percent of those who get abortion services in the U.S. are African Americans. Would you know it from the media coverage of the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe vs Wade? S. Mitra Kalita and Sara Lomax-Reese of URL Media join Laura for this month’s “Meet the BIPOC Press” to consider what has changed in the coverage — and the organizing — around reproductive justice in the years since Roe. Are a...

Prosecutors are immensely powerful, especially now, after the overthrow of Roe. They decide which cases to bring, what charges to make and what sentences to ask for. Until this year, only internal committees could investigate misconduct, even after hundreds of exonerations and allegations of abuse. After years of grassroots effort, New York now has an independent commission, but the process was ha...

Season 3, Episode 307:  Congressman Jamie Raskin On January 6th: After a Failed Coup, a Successful One? (Full conversation from the episode released May 16th) The January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, intended to stop the certification of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States of America, “was as close to fascism as I ever want to see our country come,” says Jamie Raskin, Democratic...

"'It would be easier for people to understand what could have happened on January 6th in DC, if they knew what actually happened on November 10th,  in 1898, in Wilmington,' Cedric Harrison told me" Get the related episode HERE :  The Forgotten Coup, January 6th & the Small Town Americans on the Frontlines of Democracy The F-Word is released bi-weekly featuring timely commentaries by Laura Flanders...

Could a successful coup happen in the US? The ongoing Congressional hearings into the events of January 6 show that just a handful of election officials in several key states stood between Donald Trump and the overturning of the 2020 elections. While the insurrection unfolded, many Americans watched in shock, believing nothing like this had ever happened in United States history. But it has happen...

Is the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health a death sentence for women of color? The overturning of Roe v. Wade not only creates an abortion disaster for millions of Americans, it also exacerbates a maternal healthcare crisis that’s alreadly deadly for women of color. African American women are shockingly likely to die or almost die — in pregnancy and childbirth, New York Time...

"Birth, earth, indigenous rule, even the “demos” of government itself… Kavanaugh and his crew seem to have something against bodies they can’t control, be they human or governmental."   The F-Word is released bi-weekly featuring timely commentaries by Laura Flanders and guests. Flex your media muscles, become a monthly sustaining member for $3, $5, $12 at https://Patreon.com/theLFShow  Independent...