KPFA - Against the Grain

Over the past half century, the US economy has undergone a profound change: wealth has been concentrated in the hands of a few, inequality has skyrocketed, and insecurity has reigned. And yet it’s a story mainly downplayed by mainstream pundits and the media. Noam Chomsky, arguably the most important public intellectual in the world, says that any discussion of democracy is pointless if we don’t recognize the corrosive effects of this class war from above. The post Fund Drive Special: Chomsky on Wealth and Power appeared first on KPFA.

Conversations with William Irvine about his book “A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy” and with Mark Vernon, author of “Plato’s Podcasts: The Ancients’ Guide to Modern Living.” (Image by Joshua Woroniecki via Unsplash.) The post Fund Drive Special: Philosophy and the Good Life appeared first on KPFA.

Many are the names forgotten to history, of people who fought to transform our world for the better. One of them was Benjamin Lay, a trailblazing figure who opposed slavery and devoted his life to forcing his fellow Quakers to end their complicity in the enslavement of others. Historian Marcus Rediker seeks to rescue a revolutionary figure who speaks to us across the ages. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Marcus Rediker, The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist Beacon Press, 2018 David Lester, Prophet Against Slavery: Benjamin Lay, A Graphic Novel Beacon Press, 2021 The post Trailblazer Against Slavery appeared first on KPFA.

Structural racism may be the dominant intellectual framework for understanding race and racism, but it’s not the only one. Greta Snyder prefers what she calls a complex systems framework. She contends that an approach rooted in complex systems thinking may motivate more action and activism to combat racism. Greta Fowler Snyder, “Absolving Responsibility and Dampening Activism?: The Structural Racism Framework, Democratic Motivation, and the Complex Systems Alternative” New Political Science (Image on main page by Backbone Campaign.) The post Beyond Structural Racism appeared first on KPFA.

The fortunes of DDT, the synthetic pesticide which infamously devastated bird populations in the United States, rose and fell during the 20th century, and rose again in the 21st century, driven by a campaign by Big Tobacco to sew uncertainty about what can be known. Historian of medicine Elena Conis discusses the trajectory and afterlife of DDT, used to cast doubt on scientific evidence and undermine the regulation of private corporations and markets. Resources: Elena Conis, How to Sell a Poison: The Rise, Fall, and Toxic Return of DDT Bold Type Books, 2022 The post DDT’s Toxic Reach appeared first on KPFA.

What would — what should — getting beyond capitalism look like? Many scholars and activists have advanced strategies for moving toward a postcapitalist future. Some have focused on extending practices of “commoning”; some have advocated full automation; others have emphasized asset redistribution. Greg Albo considers and critiques strategies promoted by Erik Olin Wright, Sylvia Federici, Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri, Paul Mason, and others. Leo Panitch and Greg Albo, eds., Socialist Register 2021: Beyond Digital Capitalism: New Ways of Living Monthly Review Press The Socialist Register The post Viable Visions? appeared first on KPFA.

We spend much of our lives at work and, especially in this country, our identities are often closely tied to our jobs. And yet work, along with being exploitative and demeaning, is often meaningless as well. Journalist and playwright Barbara Garson set out fifty years ago to understand how Americans viewed and tried to shape their work, and the result was a classic book, subsequently revised, called All the Livelong Day. She discusses work then and now, during the so-called Great Resignation. Resources: Barbara Garson, All the Livelong Day: The Meaning and De-Meaning of Routine Work Penguin, 1994 The post The Meaning and Demeaning of Work appeared first on KPFA.

How best to understand the violence and discrimination directed against queer and trans people of color? Eric A. Stanley considers these phenomena through multiple lens. He brings up chattel slavery, commodification, biocapital, pharmaceutical industry practices, LGBT activism, and what he calls cellular labor to elucidate the nature and consequences of racialized anti-trans/queer violence. Eric Stanley, Atmospheres of Violence: Structuring Antagonism and the Trans/Queer Ungovernable Duke University Press, 2021 The post Anti-trans/queer Violence appeared first on KPFA.

Rising rents, rising food prices, rising gas prices — the price of basic necessities has been going dramatically up. Pundits are wringing their hands, worrying about a return to the tumultuous 1970s, while the Federal Reserve has begun a series of interest rate hikes designed to slow the economy down, and potentially put people out of work. Political economist Sam Gindin discusses the need to fight capital’s plan to make workers pay for inflation — and to shift the debate to more radical demands for public ownership of production. Resources: Sam Gindin, Inflation: Reframing the Narrative The Bullet April 4, 2022 The post Who Pays for Inflation? appeared first on KPFA.

Does it spark joy? That’s the criterion Marie Kondo has set for deciding which personal belongings to keep, and which to relinquish. Maureen Ryan considers Kondo’s decluttering method and her television show in the context of pervasive burnout and insecurity. Richard Grusin, ed., Insecurity University of Minnesota Press, 2022 Maureen Ryan, Lifestyle Media in American Culture: Gender, Class, and the Politics of Ordinariness Routledge, 2018 (Image on main page by mycurrency.com.) The post Kondo Critiqued appeared first on KPFA.