KPFA - Against the Grain

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.

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.