The Real News Podcast

America’s electoral system is broken. From partisan gerrymandering and voter suppression to an Electoral College that sidelines the popular vote, it should surprise no one that a majority of Americans don’t believe they live in a democracy. As the January 6 hearings play out in Congress, some argue that the attempted coup on that fateful day was only made possible by the fact that the American political system subverts meaningful democratic participation. How can progressives organize in the face of such widespread voter apathy and systemic barriers preventing so many from exercising their most fundamental democratic right? TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez chats with former TRNN senior reporter Jaisal Noor, who’s spent the past few months reporting on grassroots get-out-the-vote campaigns from rural Georgia to Nevada.Read the transcript of this report: https://therealnews.com/how-americas-broken-electoral-system-made-the-jan-6-insurrection-possiblePre-Production/Studio: Jaisal Noor, Cameron GranadinoPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoThis story is part of a series that was made possible with the support of the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Native Americans overcame multiple challenges to turn out in record numbers during the 2020 elections, playing a crucial role in Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump. One of those challenges: many Native reservations lack their own polling sites, forcing residents to sometimes travel hours to cast a ballot. As part of our series “Defending Democracy in the 2022 Midterm Elections,” TRNN’s Jaisal Noor and Carly Sauvageau speak with leaders of the Walker River Paiute and Pyramid Lake Paiute, two tribes that successfully sued Nevada for the right to get polling sites on their reservations, which played a key role in Native organizers’ efforts to mobilize and empower their community.Read the transcript of this report: https://therealnews.com/how-native-organizers-won-voting-access-and-reached-record-turnout-in-2020Pre-Production/Studio: Jaisal NoorPost-Production: Jaisal Noor, Cameron GranadinoThis story is part of a series that was made possible with the support of the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Georgians went to the polls in record numbers during the May 24 primary ahead of the crucial 2022 midterm elections, despite renewed GOP efforts to suppress the votes of the state’s communities of color. Passed in the wake of the 2020 elections, inspired in large part by former President Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud, Georgia’s SB 202 (the Election Integrity Act of 2021) is perhaps the most egregious example of Republicans’ nationwide efforts to roll back voting rights through a flurry of restrictive voting laws. Such laws disproportionately impact people in low-income communities and communities of color, and they are being passed at a moment when the power of communities of color to shape election outcomes is rapidly increasing. Case in point: Georgia’s Latinx community has grown by 30% over the past decade and now comprises 10% of the state’s population. In this on-the-ground report for our special series “Defending Democracy in the 2022 Midterm Elections,” TRNN’s Jaisal Noor and Jeffrey Moustache speak with organizers from the Georgia Alliance of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO), an advocacy group that helps Latinx voters unlock their political power, about how they are working to “out-organize voter suppression” by mobilizing and empowering the state’s Latinx community.Read the transcript of this report: https://therealnews.com/how-georgias-latinx-community-is-working-to-out-organize-voter-suppressionPre-Production/Studio: Jaisal Noor, Jeffrey MoustachePost-Production: Jaisal Noor, Jeffrey Moustache, Cameron GranadinoThis story is part of a series that was made possible with the support of the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

In rural North Carolina, dog-whistle politics focused on scapegoating minorities for social and economic problems have long fueled racial resentment but have done little to address high poverty rates and rising inequality, says Alicia Walker-Patterson. This is why Walker-Patterson, deputy field director of Down Home North Carolina, works with other grassroots organizers to get residents in rural areas engaged in the political process and to show them that their voices matter. Since 2016, these progressive activists have organized areas like Alamance County and other parts of deep-red, rural North Carolina that have long been ignored by the Democratic Party. However, just going door to door and asking voters to support their cause doesn’t make much of a difference, and that is why Down Home relies on deep canvassing, a strategic approach to canvassing that draws on active listening and asking non-judgmental questions to spark deep, meaningful conversations.In this on-the-ground report for our special series “Defending Democracy in the 2022 Midterm Elections,” TRNN’s Jaisal Noor and Joshua Komer speak with members of Down Home North Carolina about how they are working to build working-class, grassroots power one voter at a time.Read the transcript of this report: https://therealnews.com/how-organizers-in-rural-north-carolina-are-bridging-racial-and-class-dividesPre-Production/Studio: Jaisal Noor, Joshua KomerPost-Production: Jaisal Noor, Joshua Komer, Cameron GranadinoThis story is part of a series that was made possible with the support of the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

We all know that, even before the horrific, world-changing event of COVID-19, society would fall apart without hospital workers and medical staff. But like so many other fields and sectors of work, the medical field is a very stratified one. Even though we as patients may not see it, many of the folks who make hospitals and medical facilities run are overworked, understaffed, under-protected, and paid way less than we’re led to believe. This was made painfully clear last month when frontline physicians at LA County hospitals voted overwhelmingly in favor of striking over unfair labor practices. After voting to authorize a strike, LA County members of the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR/SEIU), a local of the Service Employees International Union, won historic contract gains, including major increases in salaries and housing stipends, the creation of a $125,000 fund for diverse recruitment efforts, and more. To talk about all of this and more, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez chats with Dr. Frances Gill, a first-year resident physician at LAC/USC Medical Center who is training to be a psychiatrist.To read the transcript of this episode and read show notes, visit: https://therealnews.com/frontline-physicians-in-la-cant-pay-rent-so-they-threatened-to-strikeFeatured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org):Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song:Pre-Production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Jules TaylorHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Breathless media coverage of a purported ‘crime wave’ is galvanizing the right and prompting reactionary calls for expanding policing and the prison-industrial complex. Already, just two years after the historic nationwide protests in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd, the pendulum has swung violently in the opposite direction, as exemplified in the right’s lionization of Kyle Rittenhouse, the recall of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, and "centrist" Democrats' calls to "refund the police." At the same time, the failures of police in Uvalde, Texas, to protect the lives of innocent children poses serious questions about how effectively police actually prevent violence. In this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, New York City public defender Olayemi Olurin unpacks the relationship between white supremacy, the police, and the systematized cruelty of American society.Olayemi Olurin is a public defender and staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society and an analyst at the Law & Crime Network and The Hill’s Rising.Read the transcript of this podcast: Pre-Production/Studio: Dwayne GladdenPost-Production: Stephen FrankTune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday on TRNN, and subscribe to the TRNN YouTube channel for video versions of The Marc Steiner Show podcast.Help us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

UPDATE (7/1/2022): One day after this segment aired, prison authorities announced that they had “reconsidered” their earlier decision, clearing the way for Atiba to earn his degree.Education is one of the few rehabilitative options available to incarcerated people, yet all across America prisoners are prevented from pursuing their education. “Atiba” Demetrius Brown, for instance, has been dedicated to improving himself and his post-incarceration prospects by taking correspondence courses while incarcerated in Maryland, but thanks to a draconian new decree by the Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services (DPSCS), Atiba can’t take his exams. In this installment of Rattling the Bars, Victor Wallis joins Mansa Musa to discuss the case of “Atiba” Demetrius Brown and the calculated cruelty of the prison-industrial complex.Victor Wallis is a professor in the Liberal Arts Department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He has been involved in prisoner support activities since the 1970s in Indiana, and he is the author of numerous books, including Democracy Denied: Five Lectures on US Politics, which has been used in prison education projects.To contact “Atiba” Demetrius Brown:Demetrius Brown #401226sid #2642892MCTC18800 Roxbury Rd.Hagerstown, MD 21746Pre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoRead the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/how-maryland-is-preventing-prisoners-from-getting-college-degreesHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

The COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding failure at every level of government to prevent its spread dealt a devastating blow to healthcare workers. Nurses, doctors, and other medical workers faced increasingly dangerous conditions, along with employers more concerned with increasing profits than saving the lives of their patients or employees. At St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, nurses fought back against their corporate employer by organizing a strike of over 700 workers that lasted for 10 months. Filmed by TRNN contributor Gino Canella, these interviews with St. Vincent nurses comprise an oral history of a ferocious labor battle that became the longest nurses’ strike in Massachusetts state history.Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/an-oral-history-of-the-10-month-st-vincent-hospital-strikePre-Production/Studio: Gino CanellaPost-Production: Adam ColeyHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

From Dollar General and Dollar Tree to Family Dollar, dollar stores are spreading rapidly throughout Louisiana and across the country, often strategically located in low-income communities and “food deserts.” But dollar store workers notoriously have to endure low pay, understaffing, and hazardous working conditions; some workers report frequently working alone in stores and having their air conditioning controlled from corporate headquarters in another state. That's why Step Up Louisiana, "a community based organization committed to building power to win education and economic justice for all," is organizing employees, customers, and community members to fight for safer stores and better pay and working conditions for dollar store workers. In this episode, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Kenya Slaughter, who has been an organizer and frontline worker at Dollar General for a number of years, and Curtis Williams, a dollar store customer who has gotten involved in Step Up Louisiana's campaign.To read the transcript of this episode and read show notes, visit: https://therealnews.com/louisiana-dollar-store-workers-cant-control-air-conditioning-in-their-own-storesFeatured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org):Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song:Pre-Production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Jules TaylorHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

“It took most of us far too long to fully comprehend that Trump’s presidency represented a qualitative uptick in the determination and capacity of the right to impose minority rule,” Linda Burnham, Max Elbaum, and Maria Poblet write in the introductory essay to their co-edited book Power Concedes Nothing: How Grassroots Organizing Wins Elections. “Forty years of Republican anti-tax, anti-regulatory, anti-government ideology and governance; backlash against the election of the nation’s first Black president; fear of demographic change; the growth of a far-right, all-encompassing media environment; and long-standing, deeply rooted patterns of white and Christian supremacy set the stage for his election.” Now, as a conservative-dominated Supreme Court is poised to launch a legalistic assault on civil rights and Republicans continue to undermine the democratic process around the country, the right is reaping the gains it has sought and fought for over the course of generations. In this installment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Burnham and Elbaum about how the right’s long-term strategy paid off and how the contributions compiled in their new book chart a path for the left to fight back.Linda Burnham served as national research director and senior advisor at the National Domestic Workers Alliance for nearly a decade and co-authored, with Nik Theodore, Home Economics: The Invisible and Unregulated World of Domestic Work. She was a leader in the Third World Women’s Alliance in the 1970s, and co-founded, with Miriam Ching Louie, the Women of Color Resource Center, serving as the organization’s executive director for 18 years. Max Elbaum has been involved in peace, anti-racist, and radical movements since joining Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in the 1960s. The third edition of his book about the US revolutionary efforts that emerged from the 1960s upsurge, Revolution in the Air, was released in 2018 by Verso Books. He is currently on the editorial board of Convergence (formerly Organizing Upgrade).Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/the-right-won-by-playing-the-long-game-what-is-the-lefts-responsePre-Production/Studio: Dwayne GladdenPost-Production: Stephen FrankTune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday on TRNN, and subscribe to the TRNN YouTube channel for video versions of The Marc Steiner Show podcast.Help us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!