What makes one group of people show up and stand up for another group’s interests? Manijeh Moradian describes how what she calls affects of solidarity spurred Iranian student leftists in the U.S. to become active in Black liberation, Palestine liberation, and other radical movements and struggles of the 1960s and ‘70s. Manijeh Moradian, This Flame Within: Iranian Revolutionaries in the United States Duke University Press, 2022 The post Solidarity Across Difference appeared first on KPFA.

State-ownership of the means of production and a planned economy appear to be the hallmarks of Marxist thought, along with the notion that revolution necessitates passing through socialist and communist stages. But, as Peter Hudis points out, these ideas don’t originate with Marx. He discusses his Critique of the Gotha Program, in which Marx most fully expounds his conception of life after capitalism, and the gap between Marx’s vision and that of his later followers. Resources: Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program (Introduction by Peter Hudis) PM Press, 2022 The post Marx’s Communism Before Marxism appeared first on KPFA.

Revolutionaries in one country can inform and inspire rebels in another. Kevin A. Young examines the impact of Vietnamese and Chinese revolutionary strategies on El Salvador’s guerrillas in the tumultuous 1970s and ’80s. Among other things, he describes how conceptions of “prolonged popular war” were adopted and adapted by the FPL, the FMLN’s largest faction. Becker, Power, Wood, and Zumoff, eds., Transnational Communism across the Americas University of Illinois Press, 2023 The post (Re)making Revolution appeared first on KPFA.

The call to abolish the family and liberate its members has been one of the central pillars of the radical left historically. Yet today that venerable tradition is almost forgotten, abandoned with the ebbing of the Sixties. Sophie Lewis renews the argument for abolishing the family and replacing it with collective forms of care. Resources: Sophie Lewis, Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation Verso, 2022 The post Family Abolition appeared first on KPFA.

Why was the political philosopher Hannah Arendt so critical of mainstream Zionism? What did her criticisms have to do with how she understood nationalism and historical antisemitism? According to Jonathan Graubart, Arendt sought to delink Jewish nationalism from Israel’s state project; she also condemned Herzlian Zionism for subscribing to a view of eternal antisemitism. Jonathan Graubart, Jewish Self-Determination beyond Zionism: Lessons from Hannah Arendt and Other Pariahs Temple University Press, 2023 The post Arendt on Zionism appeared first on KPFA.

A hallmark of our age is feeling we’re perpetually struggling with time — not having enough of it to accomplish seemingly endless tasks and obligations, while swimming in a sea of distractions. Can we cope if we learn, following the gurus of time management, to become ever more disciplined and productive? Or does that just feed into a capitalist logic that doesn’t benefit us? Journalist Oliver Burkeman discusses the perils of time management orthodoxy. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2021 The post Mastering Time? appeared first on KPFA.

In the award-winning film “Aware,” six thinkers weigh in on the nature of consciousness. The post Fund Drive Special: On Consciousness appeared first on KPFA.

The climate crisis no longer looms in the future, but has arrived in the form of deadly heat waves, enormous wildfires, floods, hurricanes, and droughts. While the fight to slow the effects of global warming continues, it’s clear that we also need to protect ourselves and the most vulnerable around us from the devastating effects of global warming. Award-winning science writer and broadcaster David Pogue discusses concrete steps to safeguard ourselves and our loved ones in an increasingly precarious world. The post Fund Drive Special: Preparing for the Climate Crisis appeared first on KPFA.

Peter Cave discusses his new book “How to Think Like a Philosopher: Scholars, Dreamers and Sages Who Can Teach Us How to Live.” The post Fund Drive Special: Enduring Ideas appeared first on KPFA.

The acclaimed physician Gabor Maté believes that capitalist society damages us at an early age and that we carry that trauma through our lives—making us alienated, sick, and often prone to destructive behaviors. Maté draws from his remarkable background and radical commitments to provide us with tremendous insights into the maladies that are the norm in our society. His deeply humanistic work is featured in an award-winning documentary film. The post Fund Drive Special: Gabor Mate on Trauma appeared first on KPFA.