KPFA - Against the Grain

Gene-guided healthcare has taken U.S. medicine by storm, promising precision, targeted treatments to myriad illnesses. It has also proved very profitable. James Tabery traces how genetic medicine vied within the federal government with another approach to healthcare — one emphasizing the social and environmental determinants of health, such as whether you live in a polluted neighborhood — and triumphed over it. He argues that private industry has benefited, while public health has suffered. (Encore presentation.) Resources: James Tabery, Tyranny of the Gene: Personalized Medicine and Its Threat to Public Health Knopf, 2023 Photo credit: Dave Titensor The post The Price of Gene-Based Medicine appeared first on KPFA.

Edward Said, Palestinian-American scholar, critic, and activist, discusses his insights on Israel/Palestine, reconciliation, and a just coexistence in this podcast. Topics include the impact of Zionism on Mizrahi Jews, the Arab Jewish perspective, Said's critique of Oslo Accord, and the role of Mizrahi Jews in challenging Zionism. The podcast also explores Edward Said's vision for Palestinian liberation and coexistence, as well as the potential for a binational future amidst hostility.

Legal scholar Francine Banner explores the shifting meaning of complicity, discussing its role in holding the powerful accountable and finding someone to blame. The podcast also delves into actions taken after an attack in 1964, challenges faced by women victims, and the complexities and implications of complicity in various contexts. It explores how complicity intersects with personal responsibility, societal intervention, and the impact of social movements. The episode concludes by discussing the challenges of dismantling systems and the growth of moral circles within social movements.

Nico Slate shared a white mother with his brother Peter, but Nico’s father was white, whereas Peter’s was black. What did that matter? To whom did it matter? Slate has written a book remembering his older brother, recalling their relationship, and examining the charged sociopolitical context of their private and public lives. Nico Slate, Brothers: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Race Temple University Press, 2023 The post White Brother, Black Brother appeared first on KPFA.

While it would seem like the crisis of the political establishment would provide fertile ground for the left, instead we have seen the ascendancy of right-wing figures around the world, who denounce the establishment while shoring up the capitalist order. Often these figures are businessmen like Donald Trump and Silvio Berlusconi, who position themselves outside of the discredited status quo. Sociologist Leslie Gates asks why such capitalist outsiders win, looking at the very different trajectories of Venezuela and Mexico. She contrasts the victories of Hugo Chavez and Vicente Fox — the latter whose election heralded the rise of more leaders in his mold. Resources: Leslie C. Gates, Capitalist Outsiders: Oil’s Legacies in Mexico and Venezuela University of Pittsburgh Press, 2023 The post Electing Capitalist Outsiders 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. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Sophie Lewis, Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation Verso, 2022 The post Family Abolition appeared first on KPFA.

Much been said and written about the Sixties; what should we make of the ’70s? Revolutionary hopes were dampened and movements repressed, but did something constructive and instructive also take place? Michael Hardt considers radical struggles and conceptual developments that he finds provocative, inspiring, and relevant to our times. (Encore presentation.) Michael Hardt, The Subversive Seventies Oxford University Press, 2023 (Image on main page by Fábio Goveia.) The post Rethinking the ’70s appeared first on KPFA.

They shut down the Las Vegas strip, when the casinos were operated by the mafia, and waged a grassroots fight against racism and poverty. The struggle of African American poor mothers for welfare rights in Nevada is a story with lessons for our times of punitive austerity. Historian Annelise Orlick has documented one of the forgotten but key social struggles of the 1960s and 70s. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Annelise Orleck, Storming Caesars Palace: How Black Mothers Fought Their Own War on Poverty Beacon Press, 2023 The post Organizing Against Poverty 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. Chuck Collins, Altar to an Erupting Sun Green Writers Press, 2023 Inequality.org DivestInvest The post Fueling Change appeared first on KPFA.

The modern nation-state has been premised on the violent creation of permanent minorities ruled over by ethnic or religious majorities, argues Mahmood Mamdani. The acclaimed scholar of colonialism and anti-colonialism reflects on the United States, Nazi Germany, South Africa, and Israel — settler-colonial societies built on internment and ethnic cleansing. He calls for a decolonialism that transcends nationalism altogether, moving beyond the divisions fostered by colonial rule (Encore presentation.) Resources: Mahmood Mamdani, Neither Settler nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities Harvard University Press, 2020 The post Beyond Settler-Colonialism appeared first on KPFA.