Upstream

As the capitalist class continues to glom onto a kind of tech-utopianism, many of us are starting to recognize not just the detrimental impacts of certain technologies on our lives, but also the lies that have been sold to us about those technologies. Despite all of the technological advancements, we're more isolated, exploited, and alienated than ever before. And it really does feel like there's a growing, popular backlash against many of the technologies of our modern world as well as a resigned realization of their false promises. So, why is it that technological progress rarely seems to really improve our lives? Why does it feel like every new piece of software or gadget imposed onto us in our homes and workplaces more often than not adds to our stresses and leaves us with more to do? Well, we've brought on a guest today that has a pretty clear answer to these questions. Gavin Mueller's new book, Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Are Right About Why You Hate Your Job, seamlessly weaves together the philosophies and strategies of Luddism and Marxism, to explain why technology itself is a site of class struggle, and that, to truly understand the role of technology in our lives, we must approach the topic from a Marxist perspective — one that is infused with the critical technological perspective of the Luddites of 19th century. In this conversation, we dispel a number of myths about who the Luddites were, what they believed, and what their goals were. We also explore a somewhat nontraditional perspective on Marxism and industrialization, what the Luddites taught us about how technology functions under capitalism, and how to resist the exploitation and alienation that often accompanies it. Thank you to Gray Matter for the intermission music and to Carolyn Raider for the cover art. Upstream theme music was composed by Robert Raymond. This episode of Upstream was made possible with support from listeners like you. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

Happy Winter Solstice! In the 3rd year of this annual tradition, Upstream host and producer Della Duncan joins two friends to reflect on the past year. Manda Scott is a novelist, podcaster, regenerative economist, and host of the Thrutopia Masterclass, which aims to help writers across all forms weave credible narratives that will lead us forward from exactly where we are, to a flourishing future we would be proud to leave to the generations that come after us. Her award-winning novels have been published in over 20 languages and have been best-sellers across the world. Now, she is turning from historical writing to Thrutopian fiction and her new book West of the Sunset, North of Tomorrow is due out in 2023. This fast-paced thriller embraces all of the ideals explored in the Accidental Gods podcast and membership project. She lives in the English Marches on the border with Wales, dreams of Scottish Independence, and shares her life with a wife, assorted four-legged friends and a community of dreamers intent on forging a flourishing future. Nathalie Nahai is an author, keynote speaker, and host of The Hive Podcast, a series that enquires into our relationship with one another, with technology, and with the living world. With a diverse background in human behavior, persuasive tech and the arts, she brings a unique vantage point from which to examine the complex challenges we face today. She is also the author of bestselling books: Webs Of Influence: The Psychology of Online Persuasion and Business Unusual: Values, Uncertainty and the Psychology of Brand Resilience. Upstream theme music was composed by Robert Raymond. This episode of Upstream was made possible with support from listeners like you and by the Guerrilla Foundation and Resist Foundation. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on social media: Facebook.com/upstreampodcast twitter.com/UpstreamPodcast Instagram.com/upstreampodcast You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

Mainstream psychology has been complicit — whether intentionally or not — in the establishment of colonial, white-supremacist, capitalist hierarchies of oppression around the world. Individualizing pain lets the systemic causes for our suffering off the hook and places the responsibility for healing and wellbeing on individual will. In the 1970's in El Salvador, confronted by these dangers of western psychology — during a civil war — psychologist Ignacio Martín-Baró started to develop an alternative, constructing a psychology relevant to oppressed peoples, like many of the people of El Salvador who were undergoing social, political, and war-related trauma. Martin-Baró was ultimately assassinated as a result of his work by a CIA-trained battalion of the Salvadoran army, but fellow therapists and theologians in Latin America carried his work on. His legacy, known as Liberation Psychology, is an attempt to bring the historical, political, and economic causes of our distresses and discontents into the therapy session. The aim is to bring about liberation through an understanding of the systemic causes of oppression, exploitation, and alienation and to offer pathways to more socialist, just, and regenerative models of relating that would bring about both human and planetary well-being. To learn more, we've brought on two guests with both a theoretical and experiential relationship to Liberation Psychology. Daniel José Gaztambide Nuñez, PsyD is a therapist and author of the book A People's History of Psychoanalysis: From Freud to Liberation Psychology. Daniel is the assistant director of clinical training in the Department of Clinical Psychology at the New School for Social Research, and the director of the Frantz Fanon Lab for Intersectional Psychology, Harriet Fraad is a feminist activist, psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, and host of the Capitalism Hits Home podcast. We begin the show with Daniel José Gaztambide Nuñez, PsyD exploring Freud, Marx, and the origins of Liberation Psychology. In the second half of the show, we speak with Harriet Fraad exploring a Marxist-Feminist approach to Liberation Psychology. Thank you to Noname for the intermission music and to Neil Ballard for the cover art. Upstream theme music was composed by Robert Raymond. Related Conversations / Further listening: Stolen Focus with Johann Hari This episode of Upstream was made possible with support from listeners like you. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

Awareness of climate change has never been higher — outright climate denialism seems to be a thing of the past. Business leaders and the corporate media no longer shy away from terms like global warming or climate change like they used to, and policymakers from all sides of the political spectrum are claiming to be climate leaders. So why, then, do things seem to be getting even worse? Why are the actions of those in power so out of line with what scientists and experts at the IPCC are urgently calling for? Why does COP after COP continue to accomplish close to nothing? Why are we still on track for catastrophic levels of warming? Well, there are a lot of explanations for this, but they can all be distilled into one overarching reason: green capitalism. In this episode, we explore how the idea of green capitalism has hijacked any real possibility for climate solutions — and why the logic of mainstream economic reasoning has consigned us to a future where the continued habitability of our planet is up for question. Adrienne Buller is a Senior Research Fellow at Common Wealth and author of The Value of a Whale: On The Illusions of Green Capitalism, published by Manchester University Press. In this Conversation we explore how powerful financial interests shape the contours and curtail the possibilities of our response to climate change, how the flawed logic of dominant economic thinking sets dangerous parameters for policymakers, and why, if we're hoping to survive climate change and ensure a just, livable future for all, we must move beyond capitalism and embrace ecological, social, and economic principles designed to put people and the planet over profit. Thank you to Jenny Hval for the intermission music. Upstream theme music was composed by Robert Raymond. Related Conversations / Further listening: The Green Transition Part 1 & 2 This episode of Upstream was made possible with support from listeners like you. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

Far from being some kind of transcendent economic phenomenon originating from higher realms of monetary physics that are indecipherable to us mere proletarian mortals, the economy is actually pretty straightforward and easy to understand — it's mostly just politics. And that's still true when it comes to purposefully mystified topics like inflation — particularly to how policymakers respond to inflation — it's all just politics. Decisions made by those in power. But the thing is right now the decisions about how to respond to inflation are being made by a class of people whose job it is, under capitalism, to make sure that the economy works for just one small group of people: capitalists. There is, of course, an alternative — and that alternative is one that would look a lot better for the vast majority of us. In this Conversation we take a deep dive into inflation: what it is, what's driving it, what's wrong with the current response to it, and what a left response to inflation would look like. Hadas Thier is a writer, journalist, and activist based in Brooklyn, New York. We had her on the show earlier this year to talk about her book, A People's Guide to Capitalism: An Introduction to Marxist Economics, and for this Conversation we'll be talking about her latest article for In These Times, titled "A Left Answer to Inflation." Thank you to The Limeliters for the intermission music and to Bethan Mure for the cover art. Upstream theme music was composed by Robert Raymond. Related Conversations / Further listening: Inflation with Richard Wolff and Dean Baker (In Conversation) This episode of Upstream was made possible with support from listeners like you. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

Colonialism and white supremacy have shaped the field of archaeology from its inception — and to this day continue to dominate the cultural and scientific paradigms of this field of study. One of the most significant ways that this has shown up in the discipline is through the hegemony of a single theory — the Clovis First Hypothesis — which claims that the Americas were populated roughly ten to twelve thousand years ago — and not earlier. In her book, The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere, Dr. Paulette Steeves meticulously deconstructs and dispels the myth that human beings have only been in the Americas for ten thousand years. She builds on decades of research which has been suppressed and erroneously refuted by those in the field who have never wanted to accept the fact that the Indigenous people of the Americas have been here for much, much longer than was ever admitted by the most influential and powerful archaeologists. Dr. Paulette Steeves is an Indigenous archaeologist, professor at Algoma University, and the Canada Research Chair in Healing and Reconciliation. In this Conversation, we discuss exciting new findings in the fields of archaeology and paleontology and what they tell us about the real history of Indigenous people in the Americas, the ways that white supremacy and racism still permeate the fields of anthropology and archaeology, what a decolonized archaeology could look like, and how to get there. Thank you to Willie Mitchell and the Desert River Band for the intermission music and to Bethan Mure for the cover art. Upstream theme music was composed by Robert Raymond. This episode of Upstream was made possible with support from listeners like you. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

When it comes to climate policy, it probably won't come as a surprise to most that the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is one of the weakest bills that has ever been passed. Not only does the bill actually lock us into more fossil fuel production — it's really just more weak neoliberal policy that will lead to more inequality. The bill is also an incredibly anti-democratic piece of legislation. It provides tax breaks to businesses to incentivize renewable infrastructure — but it says nothing about if, when, where, or how this will happen. How about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal? Although it's been relegated to the purgatorial graveyard of left-leaning policy — its framework is still our best bet out of this mess, right? Well not exactly. We'll explore the benefits of AOC's Green New Deal vision but also explain its limitations and outline exactly where it falls short. So, then, what would truly just climate policy look like? In this episode — the second in our 2-part series on the Green Transition — we're going to take a look at what a just transition could look like. We'll explore policy proposals, international campaigns, people's climate agreements, manifestos, and the dreams, visions, and actions of those who are actually serious about equitably achieving the rapid systemic transformations that the climate emergency requires. Featured Guests: Max Ajl: Associated researcher with the Tunisian Observatory for Food Sovereignty and the Environment, postdoctoral fellow with the Rural Sociology Group at Wageningen University, author of A People's Green New Deal Sungmanitu Bluebird: Oglala Lakota activist, host of the Bands of Turtle Island podcast, and former member of the Red Nation Sergio Chaparro: Colombian human rights activist and researcher Matt Huber: Professor of geography and the environment at Syracuse University and author of Climate Change as Class War: Building Socialism on a Warming Planet Jeremy Ornstein: Youth climate activist with Sunrise Movement Dušan Pajović – Green New Deal for Europe specialist at Diem25 Thea Riofrancos: Associate professor of political science at Providence College and co-author of A Planet To Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal This is Part 2 of a 2-part series on the Green Transition. You can listen to Part 1 at upstreampodcast.org/greentransitionpt1 Music by Chris Zabriskie, Pele, Peder, Sergey Cheremisinov, and Michael Cera Pallin. Thank you to Bethan Mure for the cover art and to Elizabeth Sarmiento of Smart Yards Coop for reading excerpts from the Cochabamba People's Agreement for us. Upstream theme music was composed by Robert Raymond. This episode of Upstream was made possible with support from listeners like you and the Guerrilla Foundation and Resist Foundation. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support Also, if your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on social media: Facebook.com/upstreampodcast twitter.com/UpstreamPodcast Instagram.com/upstreampodcast You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

Vandana Shiva is an activist and tireless advocate for food sovereignty for farmers', peasants', and women's rights. She's a world-renowned ecofeminist, anti-globalization thinker and scholar, a Right Livelihood Award Laureate; and the author of several books including Reclaiming the Commons, Earth Democracy, Oneness vs. the 1%, Stolen Harvest, and most recently a memoir, Terra Viva: My Life in a Biodiversity of Movements. In this conversation, Vandana Shiva weaves together stories of her life with a critical examination of our current economic system along with inspiring stories of non-violent grassroots actions to protect and preserve the health and well-being of people and the planet. How can we reject the spread of hierarchy and division and begin reclaiming our right to live free, think free, breathe free, and eat free? How can we go upstream to decolonize all the spheres of our lives and focus on strengthening and revitalizing the commons? These are just some of the questions we explore in this Conversation. This episode of Upstream was made possible with support from listeners like you. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

It's clear that we need to decarbonize our economy as quickly as possible in order to avoid the worst of climate change — but carbon isn't the only problem we're facing. As the world moves towards renewables and away from fossil fuels as an energy source, we can't forget that the technology and minerals behind this green transition need to come from somewhere — and that somewhere is primarily countries in the Global South. The supply chains which carry the lithium, copper, cobalt, and other minerals essential for renewable technology from the peripheries to the imperial cores — from places like Chile and Bolivia to places like the United States and Europe — are built upon a foundation of colonialism, imperialism, hyper-exploitation, and ecocide: all essential components of our current economic system — capitalism. In part one of this two-part series on the green transition, we're going to explore what happens when we simply paint capitalism green without addressing its fundamental global operating principles and processes. What is the dark side of the energy transition — particularly for the Global South and Indigenous communities? In part two, we dive deeper into some solutions, but in this episode, we start our journey in the Atacama desert of Chile and end all the way in the Arctic Circle, exploring the global extractive machine and the communities that exist on its frontiers. Featured Guests: Max Ajl: Associated researcher with the Tunisian Observatory for Food Sovereignty and the Environment, postdoctoral fellow with the Rural Sociology Group at Wageningen University, author of A People's Green New Deal Ana Julia Aneise: Youth climate activist with Youth for Climate Sergio Chaparro: Colombian human rights activist and researcher Jason Hickel: Economic anthropologist and author of Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World Beaska Niillas: Northern Sámi traditional handicrafter, hunter and gatherer, activist, Sámi school kindergarten teacher, politician, and the host of the SuperSápmi Podcast Thea Riofrancos: Associate professor of political science at Providence College and co-author of A Planet To Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal Matthias Schmelzer: Economic historian at the University of Vienna and co-author of The Future is Degrowth: A Guide to a World beyond Capitalism Music by Chris Zabriskie, Pele, Do Make Say Think, and Sofia Jannok Thank you to Bethan Mure for the cover art. Upstream theme music was composed by Robert Raymond. Both english and spanish transcriptions are available at: upstreampodcast.org/greentransitionpt1. Thank you to Martina Knittel for the Spanish transcription. This episode of Upstream was made possible with support from listeners like you and the Guerrilla Foundation and Resist Foundation. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support Also, if your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on social media: Facebook.com/upstreampodcast twitter.com/UpstreamPodcast Instagram.com/upstreampodcast You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

There are many traditions or tendencies among the left. In fact, sometimes just trying to wrap our heads around all of the rich theoretical frameworks and various anti-capitalist thinkers can be dizzying. But it's also exciting — the richness of leftist history and theory is vital to learn and to build our work from. In this episode we've brought on someone who knows a thing or two about leftist theory — in fact, he's got multiple podcasts that go into depth on historical figures, theory, and philosophy from a post-capitalist perspective. Breht O'Shea is the host of Revolutionary Left Radio, Red Menace, and Guerrilla History. He's also an activist and organizer based out of Omaha, Nebraska. Although his breadth of knowledge spans an incredibly wide range, we brought Breht on today to focus on the Leninist tradition. We'll explore the fundamentals of Marxism–Leninism, as well as the related theoretical framework of Maoism. We talk about the importance of theory in informing our organizing, why it's important to learn about both the good and bad parts of historical figures and revolutionary movements – even when it comes to figures as controversial as Mao or Stalin. We also have a conversation about fascism in the United States, where we can go from here, and why it's important to center love and humanity in all we do. This episode of Upstream was made possible with support from listeners like you. Upstream is a labor of love — we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.