RevolutionZ

Ep 346 of RevolutionZ takes on a stew of topics. What's up with Epstein. Fascism's arrival. Clickbait's Impact. Anti Collective Individualism. Gallaudet''s Struggle. Social Media. Good Trouble, and Now What? What's the connection among these? Lies, undermined trust, narrow horizons of calculation, fear, confusion, a surprisingly relevant movie, impoverished communicat...

Ep 345 of RevolutionZ begins with a brief apology for an error last episode. some self-reflection about RevolutionZ's duration of 345 consecutive episodes, some moving guest comments on Gaza plus my own comments on emerging Trumpian fascism. It then again addresses the question do activists need fresh conceptual frameworks that transcend traditional Marxism? The episode revisits the critique...

Episode 344 of RevolutionZ begins with some reflections on Zohran Mamdani's inspiring electoral win. How? By his campaign mobilizing an astonishing 50,000 volunteers. How? By he and his campaign feeling real and honest, and by offering real and meaningful vision. By electoral politics and grassroots activism becoming a mutual aid tag team rather than competing opponents.  The episode then mov...

Ep 343 of RevolutionZ has Gene Bruskin, long time and many issues, labor organizer to discuss workers' responses to rising fascism, our current predicaments and our potential paths forward. Why does America's labor movement struggle to mount a unified response to authoritarianism, one  for all and all for one? How did post-WWII labor structures intentionally divide workers by union and i...

Episode 342 of RevolutionZ reconsiders how to evaluate success in our struggles against Trumpian fascism. When someone asks how a protest went, what are we really measuring? Our feelings? Media coverage? Participation numbers? Or something more substantive? Being vague about what matters is our movement measurement problem. This episode proposes four essential metrics that truly matter: Did our ac...

Episode 341 of RevolutionZ quotes: "The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living" and with that claim from Marx asks whether today's movements should enrich the Marxist tradition as a viable and worthy heritage that only needs some modest contemporary refinements, or transcend it entirely as concepts and banners of dead generations that c...

Episode 340 of RevolutionZ addresses the mass deportations that are tearing through communities across America, and and discusses the resistance is growing. In this revealing conversation. Jeff Crosby—a factory worker at General Electric, former union president, and longtime labor activist says "We need leaders more than legislators right now."  ICE targets students, family members, neig...

Episode 339 of RevolutionZ has as its Guest Lucy Hicks from the General Strike US project to share her insights on building a decentralized movement aimed at mobilizing millions Americans for a general strike to "transform our economic and political systems." We discuss the challenges and strategies involved in creating nationwide labor and social solidarity during increasingly mind numb...

Ep 338 of RevolutionZ seeks to speak to Bruce Springsteen in light of his recent warranted and eloquent outcry against Trump and Trump's retaliatory threats, and also to Bobby Dylan, a Master of Words, with his own words, and, well, to anyone who would like to relate to these times in light of past and future times. Authoritarianism, military spectacle, and resistance. How do we survive is on...

Ep 337 of RevolutionZ displays connections between Netanyahu's vicious brutality and Trump's cruel authoritarianism. It examines the psychological mechanisms that enable or oppose both by discussing the need to maintain humanity while confronting inhumanity. "Can we hate the acts yet somehow recognize that those involved are people like us?" From snipers targeting children in G...

Episode 336 of RevolutionZ takes up issues of education as it is, as it should be, and how to go from the former to the latter. Trump, Vance, and their allies know that truth and critical thinking threaten their power. That's why they're launching unprecedented attacks on education—they want compliant, uncritical citizens who will accept authoritarianism without question. Current educati...

Episode 335 of RevolutionZ notes that when millions took to the streets after Trump's first election victory, a crucial question arose: "What can people do next?" and how can they connect with it? The new All of Us Directory (at allofusdirectory.org) creates easy means for everyday people and seasoned activists like to connect with grassroots organizations where they can exercise th...

Episode 334 of RevolutionZ assess three reactions to Trumpism, their causes, their effects, and their lessons for activism. The episode gets personal and in-depth to make a case  that collective resistance that envisions positive change rather than mere survival can transform these "worst of times" into the "best of times," and to indicate some features it might involve. The th...

Episode 333 of RevolutionZ addresses the question is there anything worth seeking beyond existing economics and in particular modes of allocation? It goes into some depth revealing the horrible intrinsic ills of markets and central planning. For example, it discusses how markets and central planning both yield top-down decision-making and a corporate division of labor and a coordinator class above...

Episode 332 of RevolutionZ has Hunter Dunn of Southern Cal 50501 as guest to share insight from his experiences with organizing the massive Southern Cal Unites protest in downtown LA, as part of the nationwide April 5th demonstrations against the Trump Administration. Hunter is a Senior at Pepperdine University and our conversation went beyond reporting April 5th tactics, scale, and mechanics to d...

Episode 331 of RevolutionZ has as guest long-time labor organizer Stephen Lerner to provide strategic clarity and emotive urgency about our current situation. Lerner describes a coordinated assault by "billionaires, the fossil fuel industry, and Silicon Valley" to "dominate every aspect of the country." Make public institutions "broke on purpose, "deliberately underfu...

Episode 330 of RevolutionZ confronts the growing threat of fascism by examining what constitutes genuine resistance versus complicity or apathy.  The episode says we face three choices: bow and scrape to fascism, ignore what's happening, or stand and fight. University presidents and private law firms that collaborate with authoritarian demands represent profiles in cowardice. They bow and scr...

Episode 329 of RevolutionZ tackles the issue of reform versus revolution in context of the growing resistance to Trumpism and fascism in America. The episode recounts hopeful signs of resistance building across campuses, unions, and communities. But with this surge may come a familiar challenge: will those seeking immediate reforms and those advocating for revolutionary change work together or in...

Episode 328 of RevolutionZ has as guest Yves Engler, a Canadian writer and political activist who shares his experience of being recently jailed for criticizing a pro-genocide influencer online and facing subsequent charges for "harassing the police" when he publicized his case. We discuss the growing criminalization of pro-Palestinian speech and the importance of solidarity in fighting...

Episode 327 of RevolutionZ takes up the question, can  nine different post-capitalist economic visions find common ground in a single unifying framework?  Rather than viewing Mainstream Marxist Economy, Councilist Marxist Economy, Anarchist Economy, Solidarity Economy, Green Economy, Degrowth Economy, Feminist Economy, Intercommunalist Economy, and Anti-authoritarian Economy as competing framework...

Ep 326 of RevolutionZ discusses Trump's unique role in contemporary politics, the problems of a purely defensive strategy, and enlarging resistance activism including reaching Trump voters. It proposes seeking a wealth tax, living wage, labor reforms, free quality education, day care, and health care, positive immigration reform, and various electoral, social, and environmental reforms as pos...

Episode 325 of RevolutionZ has as its guest the novelist and activist Rivera Sun. We discuss nonviolent resistance as a strategy to combat rising authoritarianism in the U.S. and around the world. The episode reviews the historical effectiveness of nonviolent movements worldwide, the essentials of winning campaigns, the importance of active civil disobedience and of positively engaging allies,  th...

Episode 324 of RevolutionZ gets personal, a bit strange, I hope a bit humorous, perhaps even a bit helpful. After over six years of episodes, I subject myself as interviewee to myself as a very aggressive interviewer, much more aggressive and even abrasive, than I have been with anyone else. I pounce on me as guest. I challenge me about my motivations.  I ask how I navigate the interplay of confid...

Episode 323 of RevolutionZ has as guest Steve Early who discusses the vital role of the labor movement in the days of Trump. What is going on at work and in unions now? What are union organizers emphasizing? What might we expect from and contribute to worker activism in coming months? To address these matters, Early discusses coalitions between unions and veteran organizations, strategies against...

Ep 322 of RevolutionZ addresses our necessary battle against harmful policies and the structural changes that are meant to empower them under the Trump administration. How do we recognize the role of societal structures in policy implementation to effectively resist both? How do we develop a proactive stance to fight  against fascistic behavior that aims to install dictatorial rule. How do we addr...