The Real News Podcast

Back in May, the remains of 215 children were discovered on the grounds of a former residential (boarding) school in Canada that was used to forcibly assimilate Indigenous children—soon after, over 750 unmarked graves were discovered at another residential school. Given the historical brutality of such residential schools in their treatment of Indigenous children, it is widely suspected that similar gravesites exist at residential schools across the U.S. and Canada. Investigating these atrocities will require a significant commitment from the US and Canadian governments, and atoning for the (continued) evils wrought upon Indigenous people will take an even more significant commitment from all of us. In our first segment for this week’s episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc talks about all this and more with Mary Annette Pember, an award-winning journalist and photographer whose work appears regularly in Indian Country Today and other outlets like In These Times. Pember, a member of the Red Cliff Band of Wisconsin Ojibwe, recently authored an article for the Goodman Institute for Investigative Journalism on how the Catholic Church stole $30 million from Native families, and another article in The Atlantic exposing the horror of Indigenous children being stolen from their homes and put in boarding schools. to take the Indian out of them. In our second segment, we bring you the latest installment of our ongoing series “Not in Our Name,” which highlights the diverse voices of Jewish activists, artists, intellectuals, and others who are speaking out against the Israeli occupation. In this installment, Marc and his guests, Professor Mira Sucharov and Rabbi Elizabeth Bolton, raise difficult questions regarding the different personal and political meanings of Zionism. Mira Sucharov is Associate Professor of Political Science at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and the author of The International Self: Psychoanalysis and the Search for Israeli-Palestinian Peace; Rabbi Elizabeth Bolton is a world-renowned opera singer and currently serves the Jewish congregation of Or Haneshamah in Ottawa.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Tuesday on TRNN.Become 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!

When faced with unlawful intimidation and interrogation from management at Trader Joe's, Alex P. and his coworkers stood together and stood up for their rights in the workplace, eventually securing a crucial victory with the National Labor Relations Board. In this deep and wide-ranging conversation, we talk with Alex about his life and work—and so much more. We talk about growing up with strict immigrant parents, graduating from college into a global recession, and the imprints our past jobs leave on us. We talk about the winding road that led Alex to his current job at Trader Joe's, and we discuss the events at Alex's store that pushed him to file a complaint with the NLRB and secure a settlement from the company.Additional links/info below...National Labor Relations Board, "Your Rights"A message from Trader Joe's crew members: "Trader Joe’s crew members are organizing to make changes to the way the company does things from the local to national level right now. If you want to connect with us reach out here and you’ll be contacted by other workers fighting to make change and can get paired with experienced organizers to train and support you: Join other Trader Joe's Workers Taking Action!"Alex Press, Jacobin, "Trader Joe’s Is Once Again Accused of Violating Workers’ Rights"Brittany Shammas & Hannah Knowles, The Washington Post, "A Trader Joe’s Employee Called for Stronger Coronavirus Measures. The Company Fired Him"Mary Pilon, Bloomberg Law, "Trader Joe’s Employees Say Virus Response Was Haphazard, Chaotic"Michael Sainato, The Guardian, "Trader Joe’s and Other US Firms Suppress Unionization Efforts During Pandemic"Kim Kelly, The Baffler, "Food Fight"Erica Mildner, Jacobin, "Trader Joe’s Put Workers Like Me at Serious Risk During the Pandemic"Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"Poly Action, "Black Smoke Cloud"Become 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!

ACLU legal expert Sonia Kumar says the ruling slows but does not stop the movement toward more just sentencing for juveniles. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and making a small donation: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-ytSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-ytLike 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!

Union miners at Warrior Met Coal in Brookwood, Alabama, have now been on strike for four long months, facing economic hardship, social stigma, and even physical assault on the picket line. But the miners have not been alone—it takes a village to win a strike. While the powerful executives and managers of the Wall Street hedge funds that power Warrior Met continue to hope that the strike will fizzle out, an even more powerful network of spouses, families, retirees, and community members with the UMWA Auxiliary have been doing everything they can to hold the line. In the latest installment of "Battleground Brookwood," labor journalist and TRNN contributor Kim Kelly travels to West Blocton, a small town near the Warrior Met mines, to talk with five women from the UMWA Auxiliary about the joys and struggles of being married to a coal miner, and about their tireless efforts to organize strike support and carry on the fighting spirit of coal mining families before them. Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and making a small donation: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-ytSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-ytLike 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 a brazen effort to make political hay out of the right-wing culture wars, Republican Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis has signed a slew of bills into law that, among other things, target transgender student athletes, further criminalize protests, limit voting rights, and surveil the political leanings of college professors, staff, and students. In our first segment for this week’s episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc talks with Florida State Representative Anna Eskamani about the cynical machinations behind the right’s legislative onslaught in Florida and the real-world harm these new bills will do. Eskamani is a member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing the 47th district in Orange County.In our second segment, we talk to Current Affairs Amusements and Managing Editor Lyta Gold about her recent piece in the Current Affairs magazine, “Nation of Bones,” which explores the cultural tools we have (and the kind of artistic outlets we need) to confront the traumatic experience of COVID-19 and mass death.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Tuesday on TRNN.Become 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 cover a lot of important worker struggles on this show, but it's important to cover worker victories as well—and workers in South Dakota just landed a huge victory. After suffering one of the worst COVID workplace outbreaks in the country last year, leading to four deaths and over 1,200 infections, workers at the Smithfield pork processing plant in Sioux Falls refused to back down on demands for better pay and to retain a 15-minute break during the second half of their shifts. When negotiations with Smithfield stalled, UFCW Local 304A members voted overwhelmingly (98%) to authorize a strike, and the company backed down. On this extended mini-cast, we welcome back president of the South Dakota Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, Kooper Caraway, to discuss this important victory and what lessons the labor movement should take away from it.Become 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!

What would cause a former cop to cross the thin blue line and use his camera to monitor law enforcement and hold police accountable? For well-known police auditor James Madison, it was a fraught encounter with a police officer who threatened to falsely arrest him on his own property for filming him. In this week's PAR, we speak to Madison about his conversion from cop to cop watcher, and about the deep issues that plague law enforcement.Help us continue producing Police Accountability Report by following us and making a small donation: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-yt-parSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-yt-parGet Police Accountability Report updates: https://therealnews.com/yt-up-parLike 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!

There is a battle happening in rural America: Across the country, rural farming communities are struggling to combat the relentless onslaught of Big Ag and the factory farming industry. With help from the federal and state governments, industrial farming and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) have colonized greater swathes of rural areas, upending what remains of the independent farming economy and polluting the air, land, and waterways. Throughout the month of July, as part of their investigative series “The Wisconsin Idea,” TRNN is teaming up with In These Times magazine to bring you in-depth coverage from three rural counties in Western Wisconsin (Burnett, Polk, and Crawford) where farmers and other community members have been engaged in a tireless battle to halt construction of two factory hog CAFOs that they fear will do irreparable damage to their communities.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and making a small donation: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-ytSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-ytLike 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 Trump administration's frequent antagonism toward China ushered in what many analysts have called a "new Cold War" between the two world powers. Rather than reverse course, President Biden has committed to thrusting the US further into a world-historical contest with China, declaring in his first speech to Congress in April, "We're in a competition with China and other countries to win the 21st century.”While it is clear that the relationship between the US and China will come to define the geopolitical terrain for decades to come, many among the Western left are unsure about what their own positions and responsibilities should be. As the slogan “Neither Washington nor Beijing!” continues to gain traction, it is important for leftists to critically assess what they know and don't know about China. TRNN contributor Radhika Desai speaks with John Ross, senior fellow at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China, whose most recent book, China's Great Road, is published with 1804 Books.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and making a small donation: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-ytSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-ytLike 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 our first segment for this week’s episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc talks with Marjorie Cohn about the highly anticipated report from the International Commission of Inquiry on Systemic Racist Police Violence Against People of African Descent in the United States, which issued a blistering indictment of police-perpetrated racist violence in the U.S. As Cohn writes in Truthout, “The Commissioners concluded that the systematic police killings of Black people in the U.S. constitutes a prima facie case of crimes against humanity and they asked the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to initiate an investigation of responsible police officials.” Marjorie Cohn is professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, former president of the National Lawyers Guild, and a member of the bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and the advisory board of Veterans for Peace. In our second segment, we bring you the latest installment of our ongoing series “Not in Our Name,” which highlights the diverse voices of Jewish activists, artists, intellectuals, and others who are speaking out against the Israeli occupation. In this installment, Marc talks with writer and translator Joanna Chen about the role of literature in understanding and resisting the inhumanity of occupation. Chen teaches poetry at the Helicon School of Poetry and her work has been published in outlets like Guernica, Poet Lore, Consequence, Poetry International, Narratively, and the L.A. Review of Books. Her full-length translations include Less Like a Dove, Frayed Light, and My Wild Garden. Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Tuesday on TRNN.Become 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!