Renowned mycologist Paul Stamets talks about mushrooms, human health, bee populations, psychoactive fungi, and more. The post Fund Drive Special: Paul Stamets on Mushrooms appeared first on KPFA.

Anti-genocide encampments in the U.S. have shined a spotlight on academic institutions and their complicity in militarism. Israeli universities have been heralded in the West for their liberalism and diversity, but critics assert that they are a crucial part of Israel’s war making machine. Israeli Jewish academic Maya Wind argues that even before the formation of the state of Israel, universities played a key role in the project of Zionism. And Noam Chomsky discusses why the U.S. supports Israel. Photo: Al Araby/Wikimedia Commons The post Fund Drive Special: Israeli Universities and the State appeared first on KPFA.

Award-winning artist/cartoonist Nate Powell discusses his graphic adaptation of James Loewen’s classic text “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong.” The post Fund Drive Special: A New “Lies My Teacher Told Me” appeared first on KPFA.

The banks and financiers are a common target of the left — and often the right — purportedly sucking the lifeblood out of the real industrial economy. Stephen Maher argues that while the financialization of the economy has intensified under neoliberalism, finance has played a central role in the growth of capitalism — and the disciplining of labor — from at least the Gilded Age. He discusses the recent rise of asset management companies Vanguard, State Street, and BlackRock, which have concentrated ownership at a level unprecedented in the history of capitalism. Resources: Scott Aquanno and Stephen Maher, The Fall and Rise of American Finance: From J.P. Morgan to BlackRock Verso, 2024 Photo credit: Lee De Cola The post The Fall and Rise of U.S. Finance appeared first on KPFA.

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

What did the abrupt transition from socialism to capitalism in the former Soviet Bloc mean for residents, radicals, and the social order? Helena Sheehan, a Marxist thinker, educator, and activist, devotes a portion of her latest book to the impact and legacy of the momentous events of 1989 and 1990. Helena Sheehan, Until We Fall: Long Distance Life on the Left Monthly Review Press, 2023 The post Socialism to Capitalism appeared first on KPFA.

Over the last forty years, bottled water consumption has exploded. Once a rarefied item, global sales of bottled water dwarf every other beverage — totaling $300 billion a year. Environmental sociologist Daniel Jaffee argues that packaged water doesn’t only imperil our oceans and bodies with plastic waste, but undermines safe public water even more than water privatization. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Daniel Jaffee, Unbottled: The Fight against Plastic Water and for Water Justice UC Press, 2023 The post Commodifying Water appeared first on KPFA.

What insights into Israel/Palestine, and what visions for the region, were articulated by Edward Said? Under what conditions did the Palestinian-American scholar, critic, and activist believe reconciliation and a just coexistence are possible? Jonathan Graubart considers a number of Said’s assertions; he also brings up Ella Shohat’s claims about Zionism’s impact on Mizrahi Jews. (Encore presentation.) Jonathan Graubart, Jewish Self-Determination beyond Zionism: Lessons from Hannah Arendt and Other Pariahs Temple University Press, 2023 The post Edward Said’s Vision appeared first on KPFA.

As the plight of the Palestinians, many of them refugees in their native lands, dominates world headlines, a look at the ways that international policy, though entities like the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has not been driven by altruistic motives. Instead, as historian Laura Robson argues, much of what takes place under the guise of humanitarian assistance has served to keep a lid on displaced populations, while profiting from their captive labor. Resources: Laura Robson, Human Capital: A History of Putting Refugees to Work Verso, 2023 Photo credit: Mrbrfast The post Exploiting Refugees appeared first on KPFA.

Degrowthers, Half Earthers, advocates of green growth – what distinguishes the ecological left’s various camps? Does it matter if an approach appears impracticable? Is only a post-capitalist future a sustainable one? And which thinkers are driving the debate, or trying to? Benjamin Kunkel considers a range of strategies advanced by contributors to New Left Review. Benjamin Kunkel and Lola Seaton, eds., Who Will Build the Ark? Debates on Climate Strategy from New Left Review Verso, 2023 The post Left Climate Strategies appeared first on KPFA.