Rising Up With Sonali

Listen to story:https://ia600208.us.archive.org/33/items/2025-09-30-RUWS/2025_09_30_Simone_Price.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 16:11) Subscribe now for only $4 a month so that journalists too can earn a living wage. Explore membership options - 5-day free trial FEATURING SIMONE PRICE - California’s incarcerated firefighters may win a huge pay bump if Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill that’s just reached his desk. AB 247 would raise the minimum wage for this group of workers from below-minimum wage to $7.25 an hour. As global warming triggers fire seasons that are longer and deadlier than normal, California’s reliance on incarcerated firefighters grows. But they are often treated as dispensable. Simone Price is the Director of Organizing at the Center for Employment Opportunities, where she oversees a program designed to center the voices of formerly incarcerated people at the local and federal level. She spoke with Sonali Kolhatkar about AB 247.NOTE: In an earlier version of this interview, Sonali erroneously cited the original proposed pay increase of $19 an hour. That amount was adjusted down to $7.25. ROUGH TRANSCRIPT: Sonali Kolhatkar: I think those people who may not live in fire zones or outside California may not really be aware to the extent that we as a state rely on incarcerated firefighters. I'm near Altadena. It was a big story in January of this year about how incarcerated firefighters made a huge difference to the ability to save property and lives. Tell us how much the state is relying on, and increasingly so, on incarcerated firefighters. Simone Price: Yeah of course, I mean this past January as Los Angeles experienced one of the most destructive wildfires, I think it came to the world's attention just how often the state is relying upon currently incarcerated people who are working on these fire crews. But it's actually been a trend that's evolved and increased over time. And for the past several wildfire seasons, about a third of the emergency responses that were deployed to fires were currently incarcerated people. And this past January, those numbers were 40%. So, it's very often incarcerated folks who are working side by side with their Calfire counterparts, but who are currently serving a sentence and receiving not only far below minimum wage, but about $5 to $10 per day and as much as a dollar per hour in an emergency situation. So far, far below minimum wage.  This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

Listen to story:https://dn721609.ca.archive.org/0/items/rufj-chip-gibbons/RUFJ_Chip_Gibbons.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 30:42) Upgrade your subscription now to access the EXTENDED CUT of this interview, not available to anyone except Rising Up paid subscribers. Subscribe for as little as $4 a month (5-day free trial) 🤩ENJOY THE LATEST EPISODE OF OUR NEW SERIES, RISING UP FOR JUSTICE. Every Tuesday, Rising Up subscribers get the EXTENDED UNCUT version of the interview airing Mondays on Free Speech TV.FEATURING CHIP GIBBONS - Our nation and our world is overrun with billionaires and bigots, but they are few and we are many. On this series, exclusive to subscribers of Rising Up With Sonali and viewers of Free Speech TV, we’ll hear from organizers in the movements for social justice, and dig into the nuts and bolts of values, strategies, tactics, narratives, and building power. This week, Chip Gibbons, policy director of Defending Rights & Dissent  joins us. Defending Rights and Dissent is a national civil liberties organization that defends the American people’s right to know and freedom to act through grassroots mobilization, public education, policy expertise, and advocacy journalism. ROUGH TRANSCRIPT: Sonali Kolhatkar: So, I gave a brief summary of what Defending Rights & Dissent does, but give us more background in terms of the kind of work that you're engaged in that gets more specific. What are the issues that are important to you and what is the main goal of the organization? Chip Gibbons: Well, I think the issue that's probably the most important to us is the right of the people to engage in political expression. Our organization has existed for six decades. It's actually the product over time of the merger of a number of smaller organizations. I will not bore people with an organization chart of this group merging to this group, but I will go back six decades ago briefly to note that we were founded as the National Committee against the House Un-American Activities Committee to take on the McCarthy era repression at a time when many people were afraid of speaking out because those who did, had their livelihoods destroyed, they were smeared, they were targeted. In the process of taking on McCarthyism, we angered another gentleman by the name of J Edgar Hoover. Hoover’s FBI, subjected us to ruthless surveillance. This came out in the mid-seventies, and, you know, with the demise of HUAC, we became very interested in defending political expression from government surveillance, both the FBI at the federal level, and what they used to call Red Squads, the police intelligence squads at the local level.  This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

Listen to story:https://dn721502.ca.archive.org/0/items/2025-09-23-RUWS/2025_09_23_Angela_Gonzales-Torres.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 20:23) Subscribe for as little as $4 a month to watch the video and read the transcript of this interview! Start now with a 5-day free trial! FEATURING ANGELA GONZALES-TORRES - Justice Democrats, the political organization that helped catapult Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, and other young progressives of color into Congressional seats, is backing a new candidate in Los Angeles: Angela Gonzales-Torres is challenging incumbent Jimmy Gomez for District 34. As a self-described “daughter of a deportee, raised by a single mom in and around Northeast LA,” Gonzales-Torres is running on an abolitionist platform of people-first housing, guaranteed basic income, Medicare-for-all, Green New Deal, immigrant justice and more. Angela Gonzalez-Torres, Congressional candidate challenging California Congressman Jimmy Gomez to represent District 34 in Los Angeles. She is an anthropologist, former President of the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council, where she helped lead efforts to resist displacement, protect renters, and hold developers and city officials accountable. She has also served as an intern with the LA City Mayor's office and as a Metro Public Safety Advisory Committee member. She spoke with Sonali Kolhatkar about her campaign. ROUGH TRANSCRIPT: Angela Gonzales-Torres: Oh my gosh, that was amazing to hear that. Yes, I'm only 30, but I feel like I've lived all these lives. Thank you for having me. Something You're most welcome. Sonali Kolhatkar: You're not very far from where I live in Pasadena. And this is a, an interesting time that we live in where we are seeing young people of color like yourself, people with immigrant backgrounds, at a time when anti-immigrant sentiment coming from the highest office is so virulent, so dangerous, and yet a lot of people are finding it in themselves to stand up. So just tell me, first of all, why, what led to your decision? Is this something you've always pictured for yourself to someday be in Congress or was this something that just motivated you more recently? And if so, why? Gonzales-Torres: That's, yeah, that's a really good place to start because I actually did not know who represented me really, on a congressional level until about two years ago, and now I'm running against him. So really anything is possible and certainly a better future for all of us. But I'm really excited to and proud to be introducing myself as a new voice for California's 34th district. I am born and raised here. I graduated from our public schools here. I certainly did not move here to become a politician, nearly fully funded by corporate SuperPACs. And I'm just really honored that this is something that I get to do for myself, my family, my community, because we are really looking for hope. And I'm just a daughter of this district. I'm also a daughter of a deportee, like you said. I have lived through my own father's deportation, was raised by a single mom. And I feel the urgency of this moment. And so I think this district, being the heart of Los Angeles really deserves a progressive leader who will actually stand with us and fight for us and not leave to Washington, DC and close the door behind him.  This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

Listen to story:https://ia801001.us.archive.org/33/items/2025-09-23-RUWS/2025_09_23_Andrea_Serrano.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 17:12) Upgrade your subscription to access the video and transcript of this interview. We hate paywalls too, but HEY, journalists gotta eat! 😌 Subscribe for as little as $4 a month (5-day free trial) FEATURING ANDREA SERRANO - The state of New Mexico just adopted a universal free childcare program, becoming the first state in the nation to do so. For decades now, the cost of childcare as a fraction of people’s wages has continued to increase, leading to more women dropping out of the workforce and people who want to have children, choosing not to in order to make ends meet. At the same time, childcare provider wages dropped to among the lowest in the nation. Progressives have been calling on government to step in and make free, publicly funded childcare available to all parents for years and were told such a thing was simply untenable. So, how did New Mexico make it happen?Andrea Serrano is  a life long New Mexican who has worked in social justice and advocacy for over 25 years. She began working at OLÉ in 2012 as a community organizer and became executive director in 2017, leading the organization’s electoral and political organizing. Andrea is also co-chair of the Working Families Party National Committee. She spoke with Sonali Kolhatkar about the movement that led to NM's childcare success story. Read Sonali Kolhatkar's story in Truthout based on this interview. ROUGH TRANSCRIPT: Sonali Kolhatkar: So, I understand that the news and the announcement was around New Mexico making childcare freely available to people regardless of income, meaning for everyone in New Mexico, but that is not something that came out of nowhere, right? It's been building for a few years and state government has been making the net wider and wider for people to the point now where basically anybody who is a parent in New Mexico can have free childcare provided by the government. Is that accurate? Andrea Serrano: That's that is accurate. There are no income requirements for childcare assistance in the state of New Mexico, effectively creating universal childcare. Kolhatkar: So take us through the steps of how it happened. you know, we can go back to 2022. You can go back even further than that. How did it all begin? It started out with New Mexico basically being one of the worst, if not the worst states in the nation when it came to childcare, right? Serrano: Yes, for years New Mexico teetered between 48th, 49th and 50th in the state for child wellbeing. And in 2010, the idea to offer universal childcare came out of advocates including OLÉ, who, you know, really started to look at the state's funds come that come from oil and gas production. GUEST: Andrea Serrano, Executive Director of OLÉ in New Mexico, Co-Chair of Working Families Party National CommitteeAnd so, you know, part of the Permian Basin sits in New Mexico. We're one of the largest oil and gas producers in the country. and we have a land grant permanent fund. It's royalties that oil and gas pays to the state of New Mexico. And it goes into this fund that pays for education. It pays for some of the state institutions, you know, state hospitals, state universities. And so, the idea was to increase the payout for education by 1% so that it can cover early childhood education. The way to do that in New Mexico is through constitutional amendment. And a constitutional amendment can go before voters only if the legislature passes it. And for 10 years, the legislature blocked the constitutional amendment from going before voters. And, you know, I think it was a combination of organizing as well as political organizing, getting some lawmakers out of office and replacing them with lawmakers who are more values-aligned. And finally, in 2020, actually, I'm sorry, in 2021 the question was approved to go onto the ballot. It went onto the ballot in 2022, and it passed with 70% of the vote. And in a state like New Mexico that has a mix of ideologies, and it's a spectrum of party affiliation, but it's also, you know, shades of blue, shades of red and everything in between in New Mexico. And so to, to get 70% of the vote was huge. And so it went before voters, they approved it because they saw the value. And three years later, we have universal childcare for all families in New Mexico. Kolhatkar: Right. I understand. In 2020, there was a increase in childcare provided by the government for people making something like 400% of the poverty rate. Yes. And then of course the governor just signed into law that it's now universal. Now, how important is this, not just for families, but for people who work in the childcare industry? I mean, generally speaking, this is a women-dominated field and it's a small business field. Childcare isn't the kind of thing that you have mass big corporations, they're basically small home-based businesses, family-run businesses, and just, you know, small, in general small businesses. Right? So explain the ripple effect that it's going to have and has already been having in the economy of New Mexico. Serrano: Well, I think you said it perfectly. So, these are businesses that are dominated by women in New Mexico, women of color, women from immigrant communities who are early educators. It's really important to note that these are the first teachers outside of the family that children have. And so, the part of the announcement that's really exciting on top of families being able to access childcare and early education is that now there are incentives for center owners to receive a higher payout from the state that if they are paying or educators between $18 and $21 an hour, which is a huge bump, then you know, they will actually, there's incentives from the state for that. There's actually also childcare deserts in New Mexico. And so, the state also wants to help build up childcare centers where there are none, especially in rural New Mexico. And so, it's really important to keep that in mind because the reality is, in women-owned businesses, in these small businesses, we don't want corporations taking over childcare. We don't want venture capitalists taking over childcare. We want these to remain centers that are small businesses. And so the fact that the state is also seeing that it isn't just the childcare that matters, it's also how are we paying our educators? And we still wanna see increases for early educators based on experience, based on, you know, the years that they've been in the field, if they've attained licenses and education. And so, it's really, it's exciting because it's a really holistic approach. It isn't just looking at the family, it's also looking at, you know, the function of the actual small business. And with universal childcare, we're gonna see families saving, you know, on average about $12,000 a year. That is huge. That is huge. There is no reason why families should be having to choose between paying the rent or paying their mortgage and paying for childcare. There's no reason why families should have to make that painful decision of, you know, being able to keep the lights on or being able to send their children to safe, quality early education. Now, they don't have to make that choice, right? Kolhatkar: And the reason why we've had this bizarre conundrum, that childcare costs are going up while wages are untenable for people providing childcare, is simply because overall wages are suppressed. And so fewer and fewer people can afford things, let alone childcare. And so we, it really needed, it's the kind of place that really needed government intervention. And certainly we have public school that's provided universally K through 12. But what about before that K? Pre-kindergarten there has not been universal availability of government provided care for children, right? There's been patchwork piecemeal income-based, tax credits-based help, but it's either inaccessible or doesn't cover enough. And then there's always folks who make just slightly too much money, but not enough to actually pay, you know for privately held childcare. So all of these things have put a squeeze on people. Let's talk about what it took to make it happen, Andrea. We've been told over and over again that this is the kind of thing that's untenable. But you are someone who has a national view as well as your co-chair of the Working Families Party National Committee. We are seeing Zohran Mamdani in New York saying that he wants to provide free childcare in the city, and he's being dismissed as somebody with a pipe dream, a socialist. But New Mexico did it, right? So reflect on that for us. Serrano: You know, it, it doesn't happen overnight. And every state is different. Every city is different. Not every state has a land grant permanent fund the way New Mexico does. But the reality is that we, we can do it actually. We can you know, when, when corporations are paying their fair shares in taxes, we have a more robust economy. When we are cutting services to give billionaires tax breaks, then no, we can't pay for these things. And so it's the choices that we make. And so, keeping people in poverty is a policy choice. And so, what it took to get here was an in incredible amount of organizing. When, when this fight first started in 2010, not a lot of lawmakers really understood what organizers were talking about. There were just a handful. And over years, it became a litmus test. If you were not with wanting early-ed for all, then you weren't necessarily a lawmaker who was in touch with community. The community calls for early childhood education to be accessible for all grew louder and louder. And that came from organizing. It is so important to note that it also came from a coalition. This was a coalition effort. It wasn't one organization, it wasn't one governor, it wasn't one legislature. It was a coalition of organizations, of lawmakers and the governor. Kolhatkar: And I'm so glad you brought that up because Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham seems to be getting a lot of credit for this, her faces on all of the newspapers and news coverage. But you're right, there's always a movement in the grassroots forcing it to happen from the bottom up because that's how change happens. Serrano: Yeah. And, and the reality is, you know, I think having a governor who, who did push and who was aligned with us on this is part of what makes it happen and makes it possible. And like I said, there were lawmakers who year after year blocked us from moving forward, blocked the constitutional amendment from getting a fair hearing so that it could go before voters. And eventually they were voted out. And that's what's so important about organizing is that there's the community organizing, there's the understanding of policy, and then there's political organizing. And that takes years. And the families who had children who started this fight, by the time we passed the constitutional amendment, those kids were in high school. And so, it was a long road. And, and we are really glad that the governor was with us on this. And we are really glad when she made the announcement. And it also was the culmination of years of organizing and of conversations of, you know, we're one of a handful of states who has a cabinet level secretary dedicated to early childhood education. And so having a governor, having a legislature that's aligned with us is key. It matters. And so, when you see other cities and other states wanting to tackle this as well, it might seem ridiculous at first. It might sound to some people, that it isn't possible. And it is, it absolutely is. It takes years and there's a tenacity that has to come with it as well. But it also is about how are you creating the issue environment and how are you electing the folks who are going to make it happen? Kolhatkar: Finally, let's talk about funding, because of course, that is where the opposition generally comes in. You mentioned that, you know, this oil and gas funded pot of money that New Mexico has that, you know, was available. What are the ways in which other states can make that case as well? Because we seem to find money for all sorts of things when we want to—more policing, et cetera. you know, there are some states that have revenues from cannabis sales. California has a surplus right now. There are states that have money, even if they don't have a specific pot of funding that's overflowing because of one resource. What advice could you give to organizers in other states that face that opposition, “There's just not enough money for free childcare.” Serrano: I think it's really important to have a variety of people in a coalition. You need community organizers. You also need people who understand tax policy. You under, you need people who understand economic policy and you need to look at state revenues and what is the revenue that exists? And if the revenue doesn't exist, how can the revenue be generated? You know under the Biden administration, there were $400 billion earmarked for early childhood education in the Build Back Better budget. And it was stripped out by Senator Manchin and Senator Sinema. They couldn't pass the big…Kolhatkar: Right wing democratic senators. Right? Serrano: Right. Very, very much not aligned with the party that they claimed. And what was unfortunate about that was that $400 billion would've set up the country to do what New Mexico is doing. And, and now we are in an administration where that isn't even in the realm of possibility. And so, I think it, it really is up to each state to really think through what are those revenue decisions that we make? You said it perfectly. There's always money to be found when, when there's the will to do it. And that will has to come from the ground up. It has to come from organizing. I think what makes this win so exciting for us, it isn't just the fact that we have universal childcare. Obviously, that's the center of this. But this is something that has come from community and it's come from early educators.At OLÉ, our members are early educators, many of whom are immigrant women, many of whom, or most of whom are women of color, who have gone through so many meetings and have testified in state legislature, and who have pushed and worked and pushed and advocated to make this happen. And so, I really, with every fiber of my being, believe that organizing works. And it might take a long time, it may take 15 years, but I do believe that organizing works and, and until there's a political will on the federal government side, I think that states have to take this on. But it truly has to be one, a coalition effort. Two, it has to be organizing. And three, there has to be some sort of political strategy to ensure that the people who are holding the purse are aligned with community. Kolhatkar: I so appreciate you laying this all out for us. Andrea. Thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it. Serrano: Thank you for having me. 

Listen to story:https://ia601001.us.archive.org/33/items/2025-09-23-RUWS/2025_09_23_Jessica_Gonzalez.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 21:37) The video and transcript of this interview is only available to paid subscribers. But, you can make the paywall magically disappear by diverting your Disney subscription to Rising Up With Sonali! Subscribe for as little as $4 a month (5-day free trial) FEATURING JESSICA GONZÁLEZ - The late night host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel has become a cause celebre after being yanked off the air by his employer Disney. But the ensuing mass protests against Kimmel’s firing were less about who he is as an individual than what his firing indicated. President Donald Trump, angry over hosts like Kimmel mocking him, has publicly expressed his desire to take them off the air. When the white supremacist activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated and Kimmel called out Trump’s movement for trying to capitalize on the killing for political gain, a series of events involving Trump’s proxy, FCC chair Brendan Carr, and the billionaire owners of media empires arranged for a swift end to Kimmel’s show. It was overt political extortion, akin to mafia-like tactics. Now, ABC has announced Kimmel’s show will return. But, not all ABC affiliates plan to air it.  Jessica J. González is an attorney and co-CEO of the media reform group, Free Press, a public policy organization working to rebuild the media system so that it can support a just and multiracial democracy. She spoke with Sonali Kolhatkar about how mass public protest had a big impact and how media consolidation is at the heart of the matter. ROUGH TRANSCRIPT: Sonali Kolhatkar: I was wading through the facts of this particular issue, the scandal, this debacle, and I'm sure I got a few things wrong because it is complicated. You've got Disney and then you've got Nexstar, and you've got Sinclair and ABC, and then ABC affiliates, and one company owns another and another company wants to buy out another. And all of that to say that we live at a time of unprecedented media consolidation, which is a really central part of the problem, especially in the context of an authoritarian fascist dictatorship, right? Jessica González: Correct. Yes. And in fact, Free Press actually did a ton of homework on this. We released recently our Media Capitulation Index, which tracks the 40 largest media and tech companies in the US, who owns them, and the extent to which they've already capitulated to the Trump administration. So, you're right, it is complicated because there are a number of different players here. But on the other hand, it's really not that complicated. What we saw in the past week was the president and his proxy, Brendan Carr, who chairs the Federal Communications Commission, shake down a bunch of broadcasters. Brendan Carr actually said, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Like he was a straight up mob boss.  This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

Listen to story:https://ia800305.us.archive.org/2/items/2025-07-RUFJ_Van_Bailey/2025_07_RUFJ_Van_Bailey.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 26:31) This NEWLY launched series is available to paid subscribers. Upgrade to paid subscription access it and support indie media. Now you get MORE CONTENT at the SAME SUBSCRIPTION RATE! Subscribe for as little as $4 a month (5-day free trial) 🤩ENJOY THE LATEST EPISODE OF OUR NEW SERIES, RISING UP FOR JUSTICE!FEATURING DR. VAN BAILEY - Our nation and our world is overrun with billionaires and bigots, but they are few and we are many. On this series, exclusive to subscribers of Rising Up With Sonali and viewers of Free Speech TV, we’ll hear from organizers in the movements for social justice, and dig into the nuts and bolts of values, strategies, tactics, narratives, and building power. Joining us this week is Dr. Van Bailey, an award-winning educator and advocate for transgender youth. They serve as the Family Resources Manager at Campaign for Southern Equality, where they provide patient navigation for the Trans Youth Emergency Project. ROUGH TRANSCRIPT: Sonali Kolhatkar: So, tell us about your organization. For those of us outside of the South, it, we, many of us might be unfamiliar with it. There is the Campaign for Southern Equality, and within that, a specific project that we'll be focusing on today, the Trans Youth Emergency Project. Tell me about both. Dr. Van Bailey: Yeah. So at the Campaign for Southern Equality we're an organization that's fighting for a future where all LGBTQ+ Southerners can really thrive. Through our specific program at the Trans Youth Emergency Project, we respond to one of the most urgent crises facing transgender youth today, which is state level bans on gender affirming care. So these harmful laws are basically being forced on families and where they have to travel hundreds of miles just to access basic healthcare. And so, through the project, which we call TYEP, we're working to ensure transgender youth and their families can live with dignity, safety and access to healthcare that they need.  This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

Listen to story:https://ia801002.us.archive.org/32/items/2025-09-16-RUWS/2025_09_16_Medea_Benjamin.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 16:53) Unlock the full transcript and video of this interview to learn how and why Medea Benjamin confronts elected officials, with principles and peace. Subscribe for as little as $4 a month (5-day free trial) FEATURING MEDEA BENJAMIN - At a time when the U.S. Congress’s popularity has tanked, Americans are largely disengaged from their day-to-day civic duties. Stepping into the void are the women of Code Pink who relentlessly show up in the halls of power to question elected officials about their silence on pressing issues such as the Gaza genocide, the recent Israeli bombing of Qatar, and the US bombings of Venezuelan ships. Most recently, Code Pink activists showed up at a restaurant in Washington DC to confront President Donald Trump with chants of “Free DC, Free Palestine, Trump is the Hitler of our time.”Medea Benjamin is the co-founder of CODEPINK and Global Exchange, and a longtime social justice advocate recognized with numerous peace prizes. A former UN and WHO economist, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for her essential work in the global peace movement. She was recently arrested outside the offices of Rep. Darrell Issa for asking him about Israel's bombing of Qatar. She spoke with Sonali Kolhatkar about the importance of confronting elected officials. ROUGH TRANSCRIPT: Sonali Kolhatkar: So first, let's talk about this arrest that you recently had. You have made it a habit to confront members of Congress with your phone and questions, and videos of them can be seen on Code Pink's social media. But you were arrested after you simply asked Darrell Issa a question about Israel. Tell us, take us through what happened. Medea Benjamin: Yes. I was doing what I do every week, which is come into the halls of Congress and try to get some response from members about issues related to what is happening in the world. And that was the day after Israel had bombed Qatar. And so, I was asking members of Congress if they would comment on that and if they had a problem with that. And Darrell Issa was walking down the hall, so I asked him if he would say something about it, and he was very nasty and walked right into his office. And then I opened the door and, you know, these are public places, you're allowed to just go in their offices. And he got so angry and told his staff to grab my phone and then called the police to have me arrested and couldn't even think of what I was gonna be arrested about, and then ended up saying it was to, that I impeded him walking down the hall.  This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

Listen to story:https://dn720700.ca.archive.org/0/items/2025-09-16-RUWS/2025_09_16_Nico_Udu_Gama.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 14:50) Click on the button below to unlock the full transcript and video of this interview! Subscribe now with a 5-day free trial FEATURING NICO UDU GAMA - A series of climate justice actions around the world this month, seeks to “Draw the Line” on numerous interconnected issues plaguing people and the planet. Organized by 350.org and other groups, Draw the Line addresses “injustice, pollution, and violence, and for a future built on clean energy, and fairness.” In the US, the main action takes place in New York on September 20th under the banner of “Make Billionaires Pay”Nico Udu Gama, is an organizer against militarism and imperialism. As part of the climate justice organization 350.org, he is helping to coordinate the Make Billionaires Pay mobilization on September 20th. He spoke with Sonali Kolhatkar about the mobilization.ROUGH TRANSCRIPT: Sonali Kolhatkar: So, what does “Draw the Line” mean? I mean, “Make Billionaires Pay” is very clear, obvious, but the broader global actions are under this banner of “Draw the Line.” Can you explain that? That's a vague term. Nico Udu Gama: Yeah, yeah. Definitely. Draw the Line comes out of a or there was some Indigenous groups in Brazil coming outta the Amazon who came together to form the G9 group of the indigenous of indigenous communities in Brazil. And they came forward with this idea that COP30, that's happening, the conference of parties, the UN Conference of Parties that happens every year around climate talks with the un. this year will be in Belen in Brazil. So that's the 30th one that's happened. And they said that COP needs to be the needs to where the social movements draw a line against fossil fuels, fossil fuel extraction and the influence of fossil fuel billionaires in these climate talks.  This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

Listen to story:https://dn720700.ca.archive.org/0/items/2025-09-16-RUWS/2025_09_16_Tariq_Khan.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 23:31) You won't hear centrist liberal drivel on this show. Upgrade now to a paid subscription to support values-driven, principled, progressive journalism that uplifts solutions. Subscribe for as little as $4 a month (5-day free trial) FEATURING TARIQ KHAN - In the days since the fatal shooting of rightwing extremist podcaster Charlie Kirk, conservative and centrist politicians and media outlets have worked hard to rehabilitate Kirk’s legacy. Ezra Klein of the New York Times has claimed Kirk was “practicing politics the right way,” and California Governor Gavin Newsom  decided that "we should all feel a deep sense of grief and outrage" at Kirk's killing and that "the best way to honor Charlie's memory is to continue his work.” But what does it mean to “practice politics the right way,” and “continue [Kirk’s] work”? Tariq Khan, a historian and lecturer at Yale University, found out first hand what it felt like to be on the receiving end of Charlie Kirk’s work. In a now-viral social media post, he wrote, “Members of Charlie Kirk's organization spent two years aggressively stalking me, harassing and threatening me and my family, spreading lies about me, wasting my time and energy with a bogus lawsuit, attempting to end my academic career, and attempting to incite violence against me. They did similar things to hundreds of other academics who they saw as easy targets or obstructions to far-right goals. Kirk was not simply a guy with different views who liked to debate. He actively worked to try to destroy the lives of people like me.”Khan is the author of the book The Republic Shall Be Kept Clean: How Settler Colonial Violence Shaped Antileft Repression. He spoke with Sonali Kolhatkar about his experience being targeted by Kirk's group.ROUGH TRANSCRIPT:Sonali Kolhatkar: I suppose writing about anti-left repression makes you an expert in more ways than one, when we're talking about the Charlie Kirk assassination. Tell us, take us through what it was that Kirk did to you, his organization, Turning Point USA, basically has kept a watch list of academics like yourself that they have deemed too dangerous to American discourse, this supposedly from an organization that claimed to be about debate. What exactly is that list and how did you get on it? Tariq Khan: Sure. So this was way back in I would say late 2017, early 2018, during that fall semester. I was a PhD student at the time, so I wasn't a professor. I wasn't somebody with really any kind of major power or influence in society. Just an ordinary person working on my PhD.I gave a speech at a rally on campus at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign shortly after Trump's inauguration there were… A lot of protesters were arrested, you know, nonviolent protesters who were given just ridiculous charges under the Trump administration for terrorism and all these things. We called them the J20 defendants. And so, their case was kind of in the works at that time. And so, I gave a speech just raising awareness about that case.  This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

Listen to story:https://ia801006.us.archive.org/19/items/2025-07-rufj-nadia-marin-molina/2025_07_RUFJ_Nadia_Marin_Molina.mp3Download: mp3 (Duration: 33:15) This BRAND NEW, recently launched series, is available to paid subscribers. Upgrade to paid subscription access it and support indie media. Now you get MORE CONTENT at the SAME SUBSCRIPTION RATE! Subscribe for as little as $4 a month (5-day free trial) 🤩ENJOY THE LATEST EPISODE OF OUR NEW SERIES, RISING UP FOR JUSTICE!FEATURING NADIA MARIA-MOLINA - Our nation and our world is overrun with billionaires and bigots, but they are few and we are many. On this series, exclusive to subscribers of Rising Up With Sonali and viewers of Free Speech TV, we’ll hear from organizers in the movements for social justice, and dig into the nuts and bolts of values, strategies, tactics, narratives, and building power. This week, Nadia Marin Molina, Co-Executive Director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) spoke with Sonali Kolhatkar. Marin-Molina leads NDLON's Workers Center and Workers Rights areas of work.  Previously, as NDLON’s Workers Rights Program Coordinator, she created and led NDLON’s disaster response initiative, to successfully train thousands of day laborers and build the capacity of the group’s member organizations.ROUGH TRANSCRIPT: Sonali Kolhatkar: So, I live in Pasadena. I'm really familiar with NDLON. We have the Job Center here that is a central hub of the organization, but NDLON is a national organization, and yet for people who haven't heard of the work that NDLON does, how do you introduce viewers to this organization?  Looking through your website, it is vast, but I remember when NDLON first started many, many years ago, and your organization has just expanded and expanded and is doing so much work in so many different avenues. How do you summarize the work, the main work that NDLON does? Nadia Marin-Molina: Yes. Well, NDLON is a national network at this point. We started when NDLON was founded with nine member organizations, and now we're a national network of 70 member organizations. So, you're right the network has grown a lot. Our goal is to improve the lives of daily laborers and low-wage immigrant workers. In general, we work at the intersection of immigrants’ rights and workers’ rights and we believe that by organizing and supporting those who are most vulnerable workers who are excluded and exploited, we're fighting for and protecting everyone's rights.  This post is for paying subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in