In our special MLK day episode, we talk about the radical politics of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We discuss King’s democratic socialist beliefs, his stance against the war in Vietnam, the campaigns he worked on, –including the 1968 Olympic Boycott and the Poor People’s Campaign–, and his thoughts on property destruction. Continue reading “Remembering Martin Luther King Jr., Radical, Democratic Socialist and Opponent of State Violence”
Why 2021 needs more direct action
by Scott Parkin
Back in the first week of June, 2020, soon after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin, I found myself once again in the streets marching in the streets of Oakland, CA and taking action for black lives. I’d been here many times before after the murders of Michael Brown, Philandro Castile and Alton Sterling. Beyond that, I’ve been organized and partaken in campaigns, direct actions and mass protests on a myriad of issues from the war in Iraq to knocking Wall Street banks for their financing of fossil fuels to the Indigenous uprising around Standing Rock for decades. Continue reading “Why 2021 needs more direct action”
Andrew Bacevich on the Military and Trump, the current crisis, and what to expect from Biden’s foreign policy
In this episode, Bob interviews Professor Andrew Bacevich (@AndrewBacevich) about the extraordinary involvement in electoral politics by Trump and the military, the military public repudiation of the president, racial and hate group problems in the armed forces, civil-military relations, the appoint of General Lloyd Austin as Defense Secretary, what to expect from Biden’s foreign policy team–essentially putting the Obama band back together–the nuclear deal with Iran, the insane attacks on Cuba, and a new Cold War between the U.S. and China.
Listen in: https://bit.ly/MilitaryTrumpGandR
Andrew Bacevich is an emeritus professor at Boston University and President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He’s also the author of several books on U.S. foreign policy and one of the foremost critics of America’s war and interventionism for decades now. He is also a retired colonel in the U.S. Army, armored cavalry. And he’s a frequent columnist in The Nation, as well as many other publications. Continue reading “Andrew Bacevich on the Military and Trump, the current crisis, and what to expect from Biden’s foreign policy”
Video: An Air Force Vet and a Teenager Walk Into a Podcast….
We talked with Jeremy Sayers and Chesney Sayers briefly about their impressions of the riot in the Capitol on January 6th. Jeremy’s also my nephew, and he’s an Air Force vet and we talked about right-wing extremism in the military and his thoughts on the events of last Wednesday and views of military veterans about Trump and the right wing he incites. Chesney’s his daughter and she told us what she and her friends, an increasingly politicized generation, thought of Trump and mobs who attacked the Capitol.
Continue reading “Video: An Air Force Vet and a Teenager Walk Into a Podcast….”
Capitol Hill Riots and The Ruling Class
And we thought 2020 was bumpy. In this fresh episode, we talk about the shocks happening in the liberal democratic capitalist system–How the ruling class is destabilized by Trump and the far right actions at Capitol Hill this week, and how they are responding to maintain order and their own power as quickly as possible. It’s an analysis you won’t find in many other place, if anywhere.
This Is Not a Coup
cross-posted from Afflict the Comfortable
The Treachery of (Words and) Images
Wednesday’s events were horrible, dangerous, infuriating, and predictable. People with weapons easily breached the Capitol, gallows were hung (perhaps performative, perhaps not), and people were attacked and some died. The country was stunned, and both establishment and social media have been deeming this Trump’s “coup” or an “insurrection” from the first. It’s hard to talk about this. Trump is horrid, detestable, and dangerous, and any time you try to reel the rhetoric back, you can be accused of being an apologist for a cruel, racist, inhuman bigot who happens to be president—which all makes sense. But doing awful things doesn’t mean we have fascism, and vandals and thugs breaking into a sacred public building doesn’t mean we’ve had a coup. There’s no saving grace to any of this, but it needs to be viewed clearheaded and coldblooded. Continue reading “This Is Not a Coup”
COVID in California and other mutations w/ Prof. Sarah Koster
We’re back! In our first episode of 2021, we’re joined by our frequent guest Prof. Sarah Koster to discuss the outbreak of COVID-19 in California, virus mutations, whether vitamin D is a virus preventor, food scarcity and housing insecurity.
Listen in: https://bit.ly/COVIDCaliGandR Continue reading “COVID in California and other mutations w/ Prof. Sarah Koster”
Swipe Left on the Democrats and Electoral Politics
cross-posted from Afflict the Comfortable
They’re Just Not That Into You
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There are currently two feuds dominating the Left—Jimmy Dore vs. AOC in “The Brawl Over Medicare-for-All” and various segments of the Left vs. The Squad on its vote to re-elect Pelosi as Speaker of the House.
If you want/need better evidence of the futility of the Left, it would be hard to find. There’s a huge ongoing dispute over whether “The Squad,” a group of about 6 elected officials (hell, throw Sanders and Markey in there and make it 8) out of 535, should force Congress to have a vote on socialized medicine to put everyone on the record, and another argument over whether to vote against the incumbent (and politically inept) speaker of the house. Social media is still in in an uproar over these issues with “support AOC” and “The Squad is dead to me” opinions seeming to alternate in frequency and intensity. Continue reading “Swipe Left on the Democrats and Electoral Politics”
Marx on the immiseration of humanity
Prof. Bob Buzzanco with Karl Marx on “the immiseration of humanity,” from the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, 1844.
Video below text of the quote.
“By reducing the worker’s need to the barest and most miserable level of physical subsistence, and by reducing his activity to the most abstract mechanical movement; thus he says: Man has no other need either of activity or of enjoyment. For he declares that this life, too, is human life and existence. Continue reading “Marx on the immiseration of humanity”
Hope Among the Ruins of 2020
Happy New Year, Tender Comrades! In our last episode of 2020, we talk about the past year.
Listen in: http://bit.ly/HopeRuins2020GandR
We discuss what we’ve learned, the worsening precarity, the absence of community and a rewarding life, the barriers posed by the Professional Left (NGO Industrial Complex, labor leadership, etc), the often-unhinged, conspiratorial left, but also the inspiring moral courage and bold action we saw in the streets, the role of organizers and activists, and what we can do moving forward. Continue reading “Hope Among the Ruins of 2020”