Rev Left Radio

Economist Rob Larson joins Breht to discuss his book Mastering the Universe: The Obscene Wealth of the Ruling Class, What They Do With Their Money, and Why You Should Hate Them Even More . Together they explore the billionaire class not merely as a collection of rich individuals, but as a ruling class whose ownership of corporations, finance, media, housing, technology, and political access gives...

In this episode, Breht goes on The Left Page podcast as a guest to explore the role that science fiction plays as part of the cultural superstructure of empire: a genre born in the shadow of British and American imperial power, shaped by colonial assumptions, and increasingly haunted by attempts to critique the very structures it once blindly reproduced. From early invasion fiction and dreams of s...

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In this episode, Breht O'Shea and Alyson Escalante join forces for a deep philosophical conversation on Marxism, consciousness, and the mind-body problem. Using China Miéville's essay on consciousness and materialism as a starting point, they explore why the nature of subjective experience remains such a profound challenge for crude or reductionist forms of materialism -- and why this question mat...

In this episode, Breht sits down with Mohamed Khougali, author of Politically Unconscious: The Psychic Aftermath of the Sudanese Revolution (Iskra Books) for a sweeping and deeply illuminating conversation on Sudanese history, revolution, counterrevolution, and the current catastrophe unfolding in Sudan. Together, they discuss the 2018–19 Sudanese Revolution, how it erupted, what forces animated i...

In this episode, Breht is joined by organizer, educator, and Marxist feminist scholar Comrade Gabi for a discussion on patriarchy, misogyny, and power within contemporary socialist and organizing spaces. Together they explore the relationship between capitalism and patriarchy, the contributions of Marxist feminism, the persistence of sexist attitudes and behaviors among those committed to liberati...

Breht and Alyson spend over three hours answering your questions on a wide range of topics! Subscribe to Rev Left Radio on YouTube to be notified about future livestreams like this one HERE   ---------------------------------------------------- Check out our NEW REV LEFT MERCH with Goods For The People  HERE Support Rev Left and get access to bonus episodes:  www.patreon.com/revleftradio Make a on...

In this installment of our  All Too Human interview series , Breht and Dave welcome Dr. John Ukadike, a physician and emergency medicine specialist, into the Shoeless Shed to have a fascinating conversation about his experiences as an ER doctor, his treatment of many patients who struggle with addiction in various forms, his personal relationship with religion and death, his understanding of and a...

Breht is joined by A.J.A. Woods , author of The Cultural Marxism Conspiracy: Why the Right Blames the Frankfurt School for the Decline of the West . In this conversation, they explore the genealogy of the "Cultural Marxism" myth, the reactionary forces that shaped it, and the way it continues to animate right-wing attacks on liberation movements, critical thought, and social progress. Moving from...

Breht listens, reacts, and elaborates on a lecture by the late professor Michael Sugrue on the religious philosophy of the famous German Christian Mystic and Theologian, Meister Eckhart. In the process Breht touches on a dizzying array of spiritual, existential and religious themes. This is a classic Rev Left "Spiritual" episode that doubles as a sort of weird Dharm Talk... capped off with a 15 mi...

Myriam Charabaty, a Lebanese political analyst and journalist, joins Breht for a wide-ranging discussion on Lebanon, the struggle against imperialism and Zionism, the nature of solidarity and resistance, and the rapidly shifting political landscape of West Asia. Drawing from both personal experience and political analysis, Myriam helps unpack the history, forces, and contradictions shaping the cou...

In this episode, Breht is joined by writer, intellectual, and poet Too Black to discuss his essay " Nonviolence is Violence, Too (Part 2)—We're All in the Gunk." Together, they critically examine the liberal mythology of "nonviolence" as a pure moral alternative to violence, arguing instead that all movements operate within conditions already structured by state, colonial, racial, and imperial vio...

Historian David Yaghoubian joins Rev Left Radio to discuss the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, the genocide in Gaza, the assault on Lebanon, and the broader imperial-Zionist project to dominate West Asia. Drawing from his 2014 monograph Ethnicity, Identity, and the Development of Nationalism in Iran , Yaghoubian explains why Washington and Tel Aviv have repeatedly misunderstood Iranian society, underest...

In this episode, Breht sits down with filmmakers and journalists Abby Martin and Matthew Belen from BreakThrough News to discuss their new documentary Cuba After Castro — an unprecedented and historic film featuring the first major interview Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has ever given to American journalists. At a moment when Cuba faces intensifying economic warfare, sanctions, destabilizatio...

In this episode, Breht speaks with scholar Angie Bittar about the life, thought, and enduring relevance of Carl Jung. Together they explore Jung's understanding of the unconscious, archetypes, the shadow, individuation, dreams, symbols, myth, and the modern search for meaning. After introducing Jung on his own terms, Breht and Angie place Jung in conversation with Marxism, historical materialism,...

In this episode, Breht and Alyson sit down with Arlene Eisen  to discuss her new memoir,  In the Worldwide Family of Militant Women . Eisen reflects on her political formation across the upheavals of the 1960s through the early 1980s, her encounters with Black liberation and anti-imperialist struggle, and the forgotten history of militant women who built relationships of solidarity across borders....

In this episode, Breht speaks with Mohanad Alsayed about his memoir Scars and Medals (Iskra Books) , a powerful and deeply human account of growing up Palestinian under occupation, carrying exile across continents, and trying to make sense of memory, loss, family, and resistance. Through the story of his grandmother Jamila, his missing uncle Ghazi, and his own journey from Palestine to the United...

In this episode, Breht sits down with Suzin Green, author of The Goddess Remedy , to explore the psychological, spiritual, and civilizational roots of modern disconnection. Moving beyond conventional political understandings of patriarchy, Green presents it as a deeper structure of domination that shapes not only institutions, but consciousness itself -- fueling alienation, compulsive striving, in...

In this episode, Breht sits down with Ashwin Shantha to discuss the argument that China's green development is not only an environmental achievement, but also a profoundly political one. Drawing on Ashwin's essay " China's Green Development is Both Anti-Imperialist and Socialist ," the conversation explores how China became the global leader in solar, wind, and electric vehicles through long-term...

In this episode, Breht speaks with professor of history Dr. Afshin Matin-Asgari to discuss his book Axis of Empire: A History of Iran–US Relations , about the long arc of Iranian–American relations from the nineteenth century to the present. Matin-Asgari argues that U.S. policy toward Iran has been structured by enduring "imperial priorities," a framework that reframes familiar episodes such as th...

Alyson and Breht apply dialectical and historical materialist analysis to the current war of aggression in Iran. Together they break down the Marxist methodology into its three main parts - dialectics, materialism, and history - and showcase how they apply to the US and Israeli war on Iran, before bringing them back together into a coherent whole. Then they compare and contrast dialectical and his...

In this episode, public school history teacher Gianni joins Breht to trace the historical roots of our current political and economic crisis -- democratic breakdown, endless war, institutional distrust, rising authoritarianism, and deepening inequality -- back through the George W. Bush administration and the early 2000s. Together, they explore the contested election of 2000 and the Supreme Court'...

Breht reads and reacts to "A Letter To The American People" written by Masoud Pezeschkian, the Iranian president, as a ground invasion of some sort seems imminent. Check out our new design in collaboration with Goods for the People HERE   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Support Rev Left and get bonus episodes on  Patreon Make a one-time donation to R...

In this episode, we're joined by professor Joel Wainwright (co-author of Climate Leviathan ) to discuss his newest book, The End: Marx, Darwin, and the Natural History of the Climate Crisis . Together, Breht and Joel explore the intellectual impact Charles Darwin had on Karl Marx, and why it matters for the ecological crisis of our time. Wainwright argues that Marx's study of Darwin helped him dev...

Matthew Vernon Whalan joins the show to discuss  Bullock: Chronicles of Deprivation and Despair in an American Prison , an interview-driven, investigative journalistic, and collectively narrated portrait of life inside Bullock Correctional Facility in Alabama. Through the words of incarcerated people themselves, we explore the everyday realities that rarely make it into public view: mental health...