U.S. higher education is in the grips of a new McCarthyism over criticisms of Israel. Sociologist William Robinson, himself the target of an unsuccessful campaign by the Anti-Defamation League, considers reports that the Israeli state is directly intervening to stoke repression on U.S. campuses and in U.S. society. He also discusses the political economic conjuncture and why the Palestinians have come to be regarded by elites as a dispensable population. Resources: William I. Robinson, “Israel Has Formed a Task Force to Carry Out Covert Campaigns at US Universities,” Truthout, March 23, 2024 Photo: Jersey Noah via AROC Bay Area The post Repressing Opposition to Israel appeared first on KPFA.

Of what use is utopian thinking? Is hope something we need to cultivate, or rediscover? Jon Greenaway looks at how the German philosopher Ernst Bloch (1885-1977) thought about history, human consciousness, revolution, Marxism, religion, and fascism. Jon Greenaway, A Primer on Utopian Philosophy: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Ernst Bloch ZerO Books, 2024 Mat Callahan and Yvonne Moore, Working-Class Heroes PM Press/Free Dirt, 2019 The post Ernst Bloch’s Utopianism appeared first on KPFA.

Radio is a medium with extraordinary propagandistic power — seductively transmitting ideas into the quotidian intimacy of one’s home and life. That power and potential was recognized early on by the state following the First World World. It was also appreciated by opponents of war, including the anarchist pacifists who founded KPFA Radio and the Pacifica network. As KPFA Radio celebrates its 75th anniversary, historians Matthew Lasar and Iain Boal reflect upon the origins of the legendary station, the mother of listener-sponsored radio. The post Fund Drive Special: War, Peace, and KPFA Radio appeared first on KPFA.

What does bold and militant action in the face of climate calamity look like? What sorts of individual and collective actions should the movement encompass, embrace, or at least tolerate? Chuck Collins explores these questions in a provocative novel packed with information about real-life activists and iconic campaigns. (Encore presentation.) Chuck Collins, Altar to an Erupting Sun Green Writers Press, 2023 Inequality.org DivestInvest The post Fueling Change appeared first on KPFA.

How did a Scottish moral philosopher of the Enlightenment become an apostle of the libertarian right in this country? Political theorist Glory Liu traces the uses of the complex ideas Adam Smith in the United States — from the establishment of the U.S. state, through debates about slavery and inequality, to justifying the ostensible retreat of the state in our era. Resources: Glory M. Liu, Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher Became an Icon of American Capitalism Princeton University Press, 2022 Image: Nicole Marie Photography The post Claiming Adam Smith appeared first on KPFA.

Urban renewal processes and projects have wreaked havoc on many communities of color. Lindsey Dillon reveals how Black San Franciscans have responded to exclusionary forms of development and, more specifically, how Hunters Point residents worked to establish community control over how their neighborhood was redesigned and rebuilt. (Encore presentation.) Camilla Hawthorne and Jovan Scott Lewis, eds., The Black Geographic: Praxis, Resistance, Futurity Duke University Press, 2023 Lindsey Dillon, Toxic City: Redevelopment and Environmental Justice in San Francisco University of California Press, 2024 The post Race & Redevelopment appeared first on KPFA.

Film brings to us — with unparalleled rawness — what feels like the intimate experience of war. But how true is that visceral feeling? And how do the tension and excitement of war on screen ultimately affect our sympathy toward each other and our humanity? David Thomson, one of the greatest film historians of our time, argues that movies — even those with antiwar intentions — perpetuate war. Resources: David Thomson, The Fatal Alliance: A Century of War on Film Harper, 2023 The post War and Film appeared first on KPFA.

What happened to California’s prisons and jails when the Covid pandemic struck? Why did so many people die behind bars, and why were so many on the outside affected (and afflicted)? Hadar Aviram sheds light on multiple aspects of California’s Covid-19 correctional disaster, including activist efforts to prevent it. Hadar Aviram and Chad Goerzen, Fester: Carceral Permeability and California’s COVID-19 Correctional Disaster University of California Press, 2024 (Image on main page by Annette Teng.)   The post Covid Carceral Calamity appeared first on KPFA.

The pandemic highlighted the vital importance of care work—whether childcare, nursing home care, medical care or schooling – and the struggles many people face to get sufficient care. Would more public investment solve the crisis? Historian Premilla Nadasen argues that the problem lies with contemporary capitalism itself, as care has become an enormous arena for corporate profit, in which the state is often deeply complicit. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Premilla Nadasen, Care: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (Haymarket Books, 2023) The post Profiting from Care appeared first on KPFA.

While the Supreme Court considers restricting abortion pills, feminists in the Global South have shown the way forward for safe abortions outside of the law. Sociologist Naomi Braine has documented the efforts of networks and collectives of activists, some formed in the struggles against dictatorship in Latin America, who provide information, pills, and support in ending unwanted pregnancies without the need for medical personnel. Resources: Naomi Braine, Abortion Beyond the Law: Building a Global Feminist Movement for Self-Managed Abortion Verso, 2023 If/When/How Digital Defense Fund The post Lessons in Self-Managed Abortion appeared first on KPFA.