Last Born In The Wilderness

In this episode, I speak with award-winning journalist and author Dahr Jamail.  I can imagine most of you listening to this episode will recognize what Dahr and I both feel and know in this time we are in. Many of us are beginning to come to terms with the reality we have been dealt — a global predicament that includes a pandemic that won’t soon leave us, economic crisis and social unrest that will only worsen as the months pass on, and nonlinear climate disruption that continues to rear its ugly head, portending horrors that are only beginning to make themselves a reality. And we know, from these trends, this breakdown will only accelerate as the months and years pass. As Dahr states, citing his time in Iraq, “today is better than tomorrow.” // Episode notes + transcript: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/dahr-jamail-5 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this interview, I speak with meteorologist and geoscientist Nicholas Humphrey.  As the nations of the world continue to confront the challenges of a global pandemic, and as the United States experiences the worst economic crisis in its history and convulses in the wake of accelerated social breakdown and civil unrest, the global climate crisis continues unabated. I ask Nicholas to provide his insights into the profound climate shifts the Arctic region has experienced in the past several months (since the recording of this interview, a region in Siberia recorded a record-breaking temperature of 100.4°F/38°C). (https://lat.ms/2VnnYsG) This includes the impact these changes are having on the ocean currents and atmospheric jet streams—amplifying the severity of storms and nonlinear weather events around the globe, as well as triggering more tipping points and feedback loops in the climate system. We also examine how thawing permafrost in the Arctic is leading to infrastructural collapse, coastline erosion, and methane release, with the notable case of 21,000 tons of oil spilling into the Ambarnaya River in Siberia on May 29th, a potent example of the environmental consequences of this trend. (https://bit.ly/2VmnOlj) We then tie the roots of this particular crisis with the history of racial terror and economic exploitation inherent in a global capitalist system, reflective of the ecocidal relationship the dominant culture has with the natural world at large. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/nicholas-humphrey-2 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with journalist and activist Arun Gupta. We discuss several of his recent articles published at The Raw Story, addressing the rise of far-right violence by counter-protesters and agitators at dozens of Black Lives Matter protests over the past several weeks. In particular, we discuss what he addresses in his piece, Trump supporters are attacking and killing Black Lives Matter protesters — and getting away with it. After describing the severity of these acts of terror and the conditions that have given rise to them, Arun discusses the labor conditions of migrant farmworkers in the U.S. Along with living under constant threat of detainment and deportation by agents of the Department of Homeland Security, farmworkers and meatpacking plant workers are extremely vulnerable to infection from Covid-19. Arun discusses these exploitive conditions in detail, and how the explosion of infections is impacting food production and distribution across the nation. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/arun-gupta // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this interview, I speak with Sunil Bhatia, Professor of Human Development at Connecticut College. He is the author of dozens of articles related to transnational migration, identity and cultural psychology, and is the author of two books, American Karma: Race, Culture and Identity in the Indian Diaspora, and Decolonizing Psychology: Globalization, Social Justice and Indian Youth Identities. At its root, Western Psychology is colonial. With that in mind, what would a decolonized psychology include and exclude in its framework? As Sunil addresses in his work and in this interview, Psychology, as a social science, has served the Western colonialist project in all its forms. Even as we have entered into a "post-colonial" period over the past century or more, the impacts of colonization on numerous populations around the world are still felt presently, profoundly so. Officially, Western nation-states have abandoned previously defined colonies to self-governance (after centuries of various forms of anti-colonial resistance). But, the processes of an "internalized colonization" continue to manifest from a globalized, neoliberal socioeconomic system that is structurally founded on the long-lasting legacies of colonialism and white supremacy. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/sunil-bhatia // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with award-winning author and journalist Chris Hedges. We discuss the material conditions precipitating the unprecedented uprisings in the United States the past few weeks, as addressed in his recent article published at SheerPost, The Treason of the Ruling Class. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/chris-hedges // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Mike Africa, Jr., second generation member of the MOVE Organization and founder of The Seeds of Wisdom, a sister chapter of the MOVE Organization. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/mike-africa-jr // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Gerald Horne, Moores Professorship of History and African American Studies at Houston State University and the author of The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century. In this discussion, Dr. Horne examines the material conditions that have precipitated the uprisings across the United States the past week, in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25th. His analysis includes how the novel coronavirus pandemic has led to the "unmasking of capitalism” stemming from the U.S. government's altogether lack of economic support for the majority of U.S. citizens in wake of this unprecedented crisis; the far-right political and economic policies of the Trump Administration and his recent decision to defund the World Health Organization, in turn instigating a new Cold War with China; and the hundreds of years of white supremacy and class conflict the United States has grappled with up to the present moment. Dr. Horne frames the wave of uprisings across the nation within a deeper and broader context of previous uprisings (e.g. the Watts Riots of the 1960s in Los Angeles and the nation-wide uprisings that occurred after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.), and points to the impacts the "Long Sixteenth Century" had in the formation of white supremacy, as explored in his book The Dawning of the Apocalypse. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/gerald-horne-2 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with historian and conservationist Betsy Gaines Quammen, author of American Zion: Cliven Bundy, God and Public Lands in the West. This discussion with Betsy begins with an examination of the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and how the theological underpinnings of this religious organization has played an important and instrumental role in the settler-colonialist expansion in the American West since the followers of this faith settled in the region over a century ago. This is especially relevant when we examine how these historical processes have led to the present day crises of land use in the region — conflicts between the federal government (e.g. the Bureau of Land Management) and the political extremism of various cattle ranchers and the militia movement, particularly the Bundy family (Cliven and his son Ammon). The Bundy's numerous high-profile confrontations with federal authorities in recent years have been at the forefront of the "wise use" movement, a "loose-knit coalition of groups promoting the expansion of private property rights and reduction of government regulation of publicly held property." (https://bit.ly/3djbaub) These confrontations came to a head in 2014, with Cliven Bundy leading an armed confrontation with the BLM regarding a 21-year legal dispute involving grazing fees on public land in southeastern Nevada, and in 2016 with Ammon Bundy leading the armed occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Oregon, lasting well over a month. Betsy reveals the longstanding relationship far-right militias have had with the Bundy’s and their ongoing conflict with public land management in the western United States, and how the theology of the LDS church has informed their relationship with the land in the region. With these high-profile armed confrontations in mind, I ask Betsy to point to where this ultimately will lead—environmentally, politically, and socially. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/betsy-gaines-quammen // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Margaret Kimberley, author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents, and Editor and Senior Columnist at Black Agenda Report. We begin this discussion with Margaret examining the role every United States president has played in perpetuating and reinforcing the white supremacist structure of the nation, including the most lauded presidents in U.S. history: Abraham Lincoln, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Barack Obama, to name a few. From there, I asked Kimberly to define the term she and others at Black Agenda Report have coined, the "black misleadership class." // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/margaret-kimberley // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with Darcia Narvaez PhD, Professor of Psychology at Notre Dame University. Professor Narvaez is the author and editor of numerous books, including Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture and Wisdom, and Indigenous Sustainable Wisdom: First-Nation Know-How for Global Flourishing. She also writes regularly for Psychology Today with her Moral Landscapes column, which explores her work with parenting, child development, self-development, and morality. The first time I spoke with Darcia was almost three years ago, back when I was first beginning to do interviews for this podcast. A great deal has changed and happened since then, not only with my work specifically, but in the world at large. In contemplating the roots of the fragmented, disruptive responses the novel coronavirus pandemic has generated, I felt compelled to reconnect with Prof. Narvaez to discuss her insights into this subject. This includes an examination of the contemporary, common child-rearing practices in the West (specifically the United States), and how this informs the ideologies/belief systems people attach themselves to in states of crisis and uncertainty, such as ours. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/darcia-narvaez-2 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast