KPFA - Against the Grain

What can our fantasies about space tell us about life on earth? Fred Scharman discusses competing visions for long-term space occupancy over the last century and a half, many of them emanating from Russia and the United States even before the Cold War, and now monopolized by billionaires like Elon Musk. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Fred Scharmen, Space Forces: A Critical History of Life in Outer Space Verso, 2021 The post Conquering Outer Space appeared first on KPFA.

What makes one group of people show up and stand up for another group’s interests? Manijeh Moradian describes how what she calls affects of solidarity spurred Iranian student leftists in the U.S. to become active in Black liberation, Palestine liberation, and other radical movements and struggles of the 1960s and ‘70s. Manijeh Moradian, This Flame Within: Iranian Revolutionaries in the United States Duke University Press, 2022 The post Solidarity Across Difference appeared first on KPFA.

Following the attacks of September 11th, the administration of George W. Bush instituted the widespread use of coercive interrogations of detainees, as well as kidnapping, forced disappearance, and sham commission proceedings. Yet for the first several years of the “war on terror” little was known about what the U.S. state was doing to prisoners, until hundreds of lawyers — some from the left, but others even from the military itself — challenged the U.S. government in court. Sociologist...

According to Jesse Olsavsky, vigilance committees in Philadelphia, Boston, and other northern cities constituted the militant, highly organized urban wing of the Underground Railroad. According to Olsavsky, the interviews conducted by vigilance committee members with runaways acted as crucial conduits for information, ideas, and strategies for resistance. (Encore presentation.) Jesse Olsavsky, The Most Absolute Abolition: Runaways, Vigilance Committees, and the Rise of Revolutionary...

Twenty years ago, Against the Grain came on the air for the first time, in the midst of turmoil, protest, and impending war. In the second half of a two part retrospective, historian Iain Boal discusses the context out of which Against the Grain emerged, from the media reform, global justice, and antiwar movements at the turn of the new century, to the program’s deeper roots in West Coast radicalism and radio. Photo credit of Sasha Lilley and C.S. Soong: Ilona Bray The post Against the...

In the first of a two-show retrospective marking Against the Grain’s twentieth anniversary, C. S. presents excerpts of some of his favorite interviews. Featured are David Hawkes talking about money, magic, and ideology; Laura Kipnis on monogamous coupledom; Theodore Brown on the history of socialism; Juliet Hooker on “democratic loss” and Black activism; and Louise Erdrich on the search for answers to life’s big questions. (Image on main page by Upsilon Andromedae.) The post Celebrating...

The poorest and most vulnerable regularly find themselves at the mercy of the juvenile and criminal justice systems – through policing and detention, of course, but also child removals and child support, property seizure, and probation. Scholar and lawyer Daniel Hatcher illustrates how U.S. courts, prosecutors, sheriffs, and probation departments are generating vast amounts of revenue on the backs of poor people, often causing them irreversible harm. Resources: Daniel L. Hatcher, Injustice,...

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The experience of awe — of a sense of vast, mysterious wonderment — may feel beyond classification or definition. But recently, awe as an emotion has been deeply probed, and the results are fascinating. Scientist Dacher Keltner, who has pioneered the study of awe, argues that awe allows us to make connections that break down our sense of isolation and can lead to more cooperative ways of seeing and being in the world. Photo credit: Natalie Keltner-McNeil The post Fund Drive Special: Dacher...

Audio highlights, including some never-before-aired excerpts, of the award-winning film “Aware: Glimpses of Consciousness.” The post Fund Drive Special: “Aware” Revisited appeared first on KPFA.

In the award-winning film Aware, six thinkers weigh in on the nature of consciousness. The post Fund Drive Special: On Consciousness appeared first on KPFA.

A look at the doctrine of discovery, a set of concepts and principles used to justify the domination and dehumanization of indigenous people. The post Fund Drive Special: The Doctrine of Discovery appeared first on KPFA.

Football is the most popular sport in the United States and the NFL its the most influential sports league. A documentary, featuring sports writer Dave Zirin, examines the ways that the NFL has used the cache of football and black culture to effectively sell support for U.S. militarism, reactionary notions of manhood, and to shore up establishment politics, all the while benefiting the vastly wealthy white team owners. The post Fund Drive Special: Football, Militarism, and Dissent appeared...

A documentary film called “The Doctrine of Discovery” sheds light on a set of concepts and principles used to justify the domination and dehumanization of indigenous people in the Americas. The post Fund Drive Special: The Doctrine of Discovery appeared first on KPFA.

How many thinkers come to mind who combine medical training, first-hand experience of dealing with some of society’s most abused members, such as drug addicts, and a deep familiarity with the ideas of Karl Marx? Gabor Mate draws from his remarkable background and radical commitments to provide us with tremendous insights into the maladies that are the norm in our society — how stress and trauma, accentuated by the divisions of class, gender, and race, damage our lives and bodies. Photo...

The fortunes of DDT, the synthetic pesticide which infamously devastated bird populations in the United States, rose and fell during the 20th century, and rose again in the 21st century, driven by a campaign by Big Tobacco to sew uncertainty about what can be known. Historian of medicine Elena Conis discusses the trajectory and afterlife of DDT, used to cast doubt on scientific evidence and undermine the regulation of private corporations and markets. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Elena...

Part Two of our interview with Michael Burawoy about W. E. B. Du Bois’s political trajectory, and about Burawoy’s latest book. Also: a conversation with David Harris (1946-2023) from our archives about his legendary antiwar activism. Michael Burawoy, Public Sociology Polity, 2021 Aldon Morris et al., eds., The Oxford Handbook of W. E. B. Du Bois The post Du Bois, Burawoy, and David Harris appeared first on KPFA.

What stances did the renowned sociologist and historian W. E. B. Du Bois take toward race and class? And how and why did his convictions change over time? According to Michael Burawoy, Du Bois moved from a phenomenology of racism to a Black Marxism, a shift that culminated in Du Bois’s book on the Civil War and Reconstruction. Michael Burawoy, “The Making of Black Marxism: The Complementary Perspectives of W. E .B. Du Bois and Frantz Fanon” (pdf) Michael Burawoy, Public Sociology Polity,...

The world seems in dismal shape and only set to get worse. And capitalism appears to be the only option, spinning us further and further out of control. But Danny Dorling argues that if you take the longer view, stepping back and looking at measures like the rate of economic growth, innovation, debt, population growth, and more—the world is actually slowing down. He argues that it augurs a transition out of capitalism to a more stable society. (Full-length interview.) Resources: Danny...

It’s been described at the most turbulent period of global class struggle in history — the turn of the 20th century when revolutionaries around the world found common cause against capital and empire. Christina Heatherton discusses the revolutionary internationalism swirling around the Mexican Revolution and the remarkable intersection of radicals at that time. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Christina Heatherton, Arise! Global Radicalism in the Era of the Mexican Revolution UC Press, 2022...