KPFA - Against the Grain

An Asian Pacific Islander history-themed program featuring Jean Pfaelzer on anti-Chinese pogroms; Karen Ishizuka on API organizing; Craig Santos Perez on Guam’s indigenous Chamorro population; and Julie Otsuka about her novel about Japanese American incarceration. Jean Pfaelzer, Driven Out: The Forgotten War against Chinese Americans UC Press Karen Ishizuka, Serve the People: Making Asian America in the Long Sixties Verso Craig Santos Perez, from unincorporated territory [guma’] Omnidawn Julie Otsuka, When the Emperor Was Divine Anchor Books (Image on main page by Andrew Ratto.) The post API Setbacks & Struggles appeared first on KPFA.

North Americans are sick, stressed, and alienated, a state of affairs accentuated in recent years by Covid. The Hungarian-Canadian physician Gabor Maté argues that capitalism engenders illness, while the medical system blindly ignores the lives of its patients. Maté discusses individual and collective change, while reflecting on human nature, alienation and rightwing politics, and the work of Karl Marx. Resources: Gabor Maté, MD with Daniel Maté, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture Avery, 2022 The post Gabor Maté on Illness, Human Nature, Capitalism, and Socialism appeared first on KPFA.

In the United States, few things seem as wholesome as camping, letting us temporarily escape the daily grind and commune with nature and each other. But Phoebe Young argues that camping has a complicated history, which tell us a lot about Americans’ notions of nature and the nation. She discusses the various forms that camping has taken in this country, from recreational camping to the encampments of those without shelter to Occupy Wall Street. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Phoebe S.K. Young, Camping Grounds: Public Nature in American Life from the Civil War to the Occupy Movement Oxford University Press, 2021 The post The Politics of Camping appeared first on KPFA.

[Preempted by a Pacifica Radio special about Bob Dylan.] The post Against the Grain – May 24, 2023 appeared first on KPFA.

Groundbreaking theorist David Harvey considers Marx’s analytical framework and applies it to contemporary conditions. The post Fund Drive Special: David Harvey appeared first on KPFA.

Audio highlights of the award-winning film “Aware: Glimpses of Consciousness.” The post Fund Drive Special: “Aware” Revisited appeared first on KPFA.

What can the work of Karl Marx tell us about the world we live in, beset by pandemics, economic distress, and vast inequality? The renowned geographer and radical theorist David Harvey has made answering that question his life’s work — and we on the left are so much richer for it. The post Fund Drive Special: David Harvey on Marxism and Capitalism appeared first on KPFA.

Penn professor Paul Goldin discusses the Chinese philosophical text “Tao Te Ching,” which has inspired and intrigued readers for more than two millennia. And we offer as a thank-you gift Ursula Le Guin’s acclaimed rendition of the text. The post Fund Drive Special: Tao Te Ching appeared first on KPFA.

The acclaimed physician Gabor Maté believes that capitalist society damages us at an early age and that we carry that trauma through our lives—making us alienated, sick, and often prone to destructive behaviors. Maté draws from his remarkable background and radical commitments to provide us with tremendous insights into the maladies that are the norm in our society. His deeply humanistic work is featured in an award-winning documentary film. The post Fund Drive Special: Gabor Mate on Trauma appeared first on KPFA.

The acclaimed physician Gabor Maté believes that capitalist society damages us at an early age and that we carry that trauma through our lives—making us alienated, sick, and often prone to destructive behaviors. Maté draws from his remarkable background and radical commitments to provide us with tremendous insights into the maladies that are the norm in our society. His deeply humanistic work is featured in an award-winning documentary film. The post Fund Drive Special: Moving Beyond Trauma 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.

Oakland’s Police Department has been a poster child for abusive and violent law enforcement. But award-winning journalist Darwin BondGraham argues that the OPD is exceptional only because of the scrutiny it’s received. He discusses the department’s history from the Red Scare of the 1920s to the Black Panthers in the 1960s to Occupy Oakland in 2011 and beyond, highlighting the ways activists and others have fought to hold the police department accountable against the odds. Resources: Ali Winston and Darwin BondGraham, The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover-up in Oakland Atria Books, 2023 Photograph by Pete Rosos The post Resisting Police Reform in Oakland appeared first on KPFA.

A number of things are bad for your health. Is economic inequality one of them? According to Stephen Bezruchka, U.S. population health lags behind that of dozens of other countries for two main reasons: extreme economic inequality and a lack of government support directed at early life. (Encore presentation.) Stephen Bezruchka, Inequality Kills Us All: COVID-19’s Health Lessons for the World Routledge, 2022 (Image on main page by AllaSerebrina.) The post Inequality’s Impact on Health appeared first on KPFA.

Atlanta is a pivotal city for reasons cultural, economic, and political. And so the changes that the city and metropolitan area have undergone since the 1990s have been consequential, deepening class and racial inequality. As Dan Immergluck points out, these shifts were not the inevitable product of market forces, but the result of political decisions. He lays out the lessons that can been drawn from the gentrification of Atlanta. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Dan Immergluck, Red Hot City: Housing, Race, and Exclusion in Twenty-First-Century Atlanta UC Press, 2022 The post The Gentrification of Atlanta appeared first on KPFA.

What does May Day, as an anarchist and socialist political project, commemorate? Nicolas Lampert and Paul Buhle share historical background; Cindy Milstein reviews anarchist principles; Richard Lichtman considers what Marx called alienation; and Paul C. Gray discusses the importance of identifying workers’ issues of concern and creating democratic structures. (Image on main page by Washington Area Spark.) The post May Day Meanings appeared first on KPFA.

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. (Full-length interview.) Resources: Dacher Keltner, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life Penguin Press, 2023 Photo credit: Natalie Keltner-McNeil The post Dacher Keltner on Awe appeared first on KPFA.

Can classic organizing methods be effective in gig economy workplaces? Paul C. Gray examines how methods like organizing conversations, social mapping, social charting, leader identification, and the identification of strategic chokepoints were applied by food couriers in Toronto to the peculiar circumstances of their platform-based work environment. Labour/Le Travail Gig Workers United (Photo on main page by Kai Pilger.) The post Organizing in the Gig Economy appeared first on KPFA.

Many have concluded that the climate emergency will only be addressed by mass collective action. But given the small size of the U.S. left, who would populate such a movement? Scholar and participant-activist Kai Bosworth draws lessons from the struggles against the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines in the Upper Midwest, which brought together a broad coalition of opponents, ranging from anti-capitalist to landowners. He discusses the populist side of that movement — its openings and limitations, including xenophobia and nationalism. Resources: Kai Bosworth, Pipeline Populism: Grassroots Environmentalism in the Twenty-First Century University of Minnesota Press, 2022 The post Popular Protest Against Oil Pipelines appeared first on KPFA.

Where can one find an outstanding example of decentralized democracy? Richard Franke describes a remarkable initiative launched in the Indian state of Kerala that devolved power to the community level, made local development a bottom-up process, and drew on mass mobilizations to bring to light people’s needs and how best to address them. (Encore presentation.) T.M. Thomas Isaac and Richard W. Franke, People’s Planning: Kerala, Local Democracy and Development LeftWord Books, 2021 The post Democratic Development appeared first on KPFA.

Ours is an era of breathless talk about innovation, technical change, and disruption –- all for the presumed greater good. But what if the focus on relentless innovation has obscured the more important work of maintenance and care? Historian Lee Vinsel discusses the trajectory of technical innovation and its valorization, as well as the devaluing of maintaining what already exists. Resources: Lee Vinsel and Andrew L. Russell, The Innovation Delusion: How Our Obsession with the New Has Disrupted the Work That Matters Most Currency, 2020 The Maintainers The post Hyping Innovation, Neglecting Maintenance appeared first on KPFA.