KPFA - Against the Grain

The rise and fall of unemployment, our dependence on the market for our livelihoods — such things are taken as a given. But economist Clara Mattei suggests we need to recognize them as being fundamentally political phenomena, not the product of natural laws outside of our control. She argues that a reconsideration of our capitalist economy is long overdue. (Encore presentation.) Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention Simon & Schuster, 2026 Forum for Real Economic Emancipation Photo by Julio Lopez on Unsplash The post Rethinking Capitalism appeared first on KPFA.

A vast circuit of tax payer dollars has flowed to the weapons industry, or directly to Israel, to pay for the bombs that have rained down on Gaza, ultimately enriching tech billionaires and private equity firms in the West. Similarly in Yemen, the Saudi war on that country has led to many hundreds of thousands killed and many more displaced, while generating enormous returns for arms manufacturers. Ruth Rohde and Jack Cinamon delve into the secretive, lucrative, and deadly business of arms. Andrew Feinstein, Ruth Rohde, and Jack Cinamon, Making a Killing: How the West Profits From Slaughter in Gaza and Yemen Verso, 2026 Photo credit CC BY-SA 4.0 The post Gaza, Yemen, and the Profits of War appeared first on KPFA.

The Trump administration has built a vast infrastructure of surveillance and prosecution against critics and protestors, justified and enabled by National Security Presidential Memorandum 7. Shilpa Jindia and Nora Benavidez discuss how to put the breaks on what is likely the largest apparatus of repression in U.S. history. Shilpa Jindia and Nora Benavidez, “Enemies of the State: NSPM-7 and the Trump Plan to Crush Dissent” Free Press, October 2026 Photo credit: Bill Scheer The post Reining in Trump’s Repressive NSPM-7 appeared first on KPFA.

The allegations are explosive: that the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia set up a secret fund for Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, to finance proxy wars hidden from democratic oversight. Journalist Matthew Cole delineates his claims involving, among others, autocratic Gulf leaders, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, and the disgraced mercenary Erik Prince. Matthew Cole, Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed’s Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East Atria/One Signal Publishers, 2026 Photo by Ryan Johnson CC BY-SA 2.0 The post Jared Kushner and the Reshaping of the Middle East appeared first on KPFA.

It’s no mystery that the fortunes of the very rich have soared under this administration, but the concentration of wealth in the hands of the very few is a hallmark of capitalism itself. Economist Rob Larson returns to discuss wealth and power in the United States, as well as the massive build out of AI data centers. World Inequality Database Photo by Jingming Pan on Unsplash The post Wealth, Power, and the Trump Administration appeared first on KPFA.

This month marks the 100th anniversary of the arrest of the Italian Marxist thinker Antonio Gramsci and his incarceration in a fascist prison. Jordan Camp argues that Gramsci’s writing on the so-called southern question was the kernel for an alternate tradition of anti-authoritarianism and anti-fascism, reformulated by thinkers like C.L.R James and Ruth First, Walter Rodney and Stuart Hall, which can help illuminate the present. Jordan T. Camp, The Southern Question: Anti-Fascism and the Global Conjuncture UC Press, 2027 The post Anti-Fascism and Southern Marxism appeared first on KPFA.

The terrorizing and mass deportations of immigrants under the Trump administration may seem an unprecedented descent into an racist order where Constitutional protections no longer apply. But, as historian Kelly Lytle Hernández argues, from early on the U.S. immigration system was exempted from the guardrails of the Constitution. She illustrates how these laws were put in place first to protect enslavers — and then elites more broadly — from the insurgent radicalism of migrants, starting with the Haitian Revolution. (Full-length interview.) Kelly Lytle Hernández, Racist by Design: Two Centuries of U.S. Immigration Control W. W. Norton, 2026 Photo credit: Fibonacci Blue from Minnesota, USA, CC BY 2.0 The post Immigration Control as Counterinsurgency appeared first on KPFA.

While Trump’s brand of reactionary politics is crude and often incoherent, a group of intellectuals have sought to legitimize his authoritarianism in the service of the greater good. Historian Hannah Gurman describes the ideas and influence of postliberalism, promulgated through publications like Compact and counting J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio as fellow travelers. Hannah Gurman, The Opportunists: The Post-Liberals and the Reinvention of Reactionary Politics New Press, 2026 Photo credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 The post Justifying Authoritarianism appeared first on KPFA.

Over the last decade, employees in the tech industry defied stereotypes — opposing contracts with ICE and the US military, even organizing to bargain collectively. Their employers, led by Elon Musk, responded by laying them off en masse and moving further to the right. Tech organizers J.S. Tan and Clarissa Redwine reflect on lessons from the flowering and then stifling of tech worker militancy. Clarissa Redwine and J.S. Tan, Against Tech Oligarchy: Worker Resistance in the World’s Most Powerful Industry Haymarket Books, 2026 The post Tech Worker Militancy appeared first on KPFA.

There’s not a person on earth who does not have PFAS, or Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, in their blood. Mariah Blake reflects on the how these chemicals came to pollute the world and the remarkable grassroots movement — much of it coming from working class communities in red states — that has arisen to ban them. Mariah Blake, They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals Crown, 2025 Photo by Maria Baranova on Unsplash The post Exposing Forever Chemicals appeared first on KPFA.

Our era is marked both by mass protest and the increasing criminalization of protest — driven by private interests, as well as states and the federal government. Annie Leonard, longtime activist, discusses the rich tradition of protest in this country and why we need to defend it, in the face of SLAPP suits, anti-protest bills, and diktats from the Trump administration. Annie Leonard and Andre Carothers, Protest: Respect It Defend It Use It Patagonia, 2026 Photo credit: Angus McIntyre The post Criminalizing Protest appeared first on KPFA.

We live in a time, says Brazilian political philosopher Rodrigo Nunes, where it feels like things cannot go on as they are — while at the same time, we can’t imagine anything else. Nunes discusses how such sentiments have fueled the ascendancy of the far right around the world and in Brazil, where the authoritarianism may return to power. Rodrigo Nunes, Anatomy of Disintegration: What Brazil Reveals About the Global Far Right Haymarket, 2026 Photo by Tutz Dias on Unsplash The post Brazil and the Global Far Right appeared first on KPFA.

Elites, especially in tech, in recent years have overtly espoused the repugnant idea that extreme social inequality is not only inevitable but desirable. Acclaimed historian Kim Phillips-Fein argues that there is a long US tradition promoting wealth inequality that has once again moved from the shadows into the mainstream. And historian Steve Fraser reflects on the class war of the Gilded Age. (Full-length presentation.) Kim Phillips-Fein, Country of Lords: Neo-Aristocrats, Social Darwinists, Tech Utopians, and the Long Fight against Equality in America W. W. Norton, 2026 The post The Long Struggle Against Equality appeared first on KPFA.

How should we organize while the planet is burning and authoritarianism is intensifying? Chris Dixon reflects on lessons for the present, drawn from decades of activism on the left – for a moment where interest in left politics has grown significantly, yet while the organizational infrastructures of the left are greatly diminished. Chris Dixon, For the Long Haul: How to Stay in the Fight for a Better World AK Press, 2026 Photo credit: Lori Shaull The post Organizing in a Time of Emergency appeared first on KPFA.

What was the most powerful technology introduced into schools in the past century? You might answer the computer, or something like Zoom, or even the slide projector. But scholar Antero Garcia argues that it was the humble yellow school bus. Buses have been central to the struggle to desegregate education. And school buses are a zone — and mainly an unnoticed one — in which many working class children and children of color spend a significant part of their day. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Antero Garcia, All through the Town: The School Bus as Educational Technology University of Minnesota Press, 2023 The post The Yellow School Bus appeared first on KPFA.

Longtime activist Annie Leonard discusses the rich tradition of protest in this country and why we need to defend it, in the face of anti-protest laws, SLAPP suits, and diktats from the Trump administration. Donate in support of Against the Grain and KPFA The post Fund Drive Special: The Power of Protest appeared first on KPFA.

Historian Kelly Lytle Hernandez argues that our immigration laws were put in place first to protect enslavers, and later elites more broadly, from the insurgent radicalism of migrants, starting with the Haitian Revolution. She looks at the modern construction of immigration control both as a type of counterinsurgency and labor control. Donate in support of Against the Grain and KPFA The post Fund Drive Special: Building the Repressive Machinery of Immigration Control appeared first on KPFA.

The history of African American antifascism is often overlooked, from Ida B Wells-Barnett’s struggle against lynchings to activism against police violence and the carceral state today. In our increasingly authoritarian times, scholar Jeanelle Hope discusses what we can learn from the black antifascist tradition. The post Fund Drive Special: The Black Anti-Fascist Tradition appeared first on KPFA.

American education has long been a battleground, but struggles over what students learn has become particularly intense right now, when teaching about racism has been prohibited in multiple states. Sociologist Nikki Khanna reflects on what’s missing, including key episodes from US history – from the United States attempts to starve native people, to the massacre of African Americans in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to the mass deportations of Mexican Americans in the Depression, to the Tuskegee syphilis study, and more. Donate in support of Against the Grain and KPFA The post Fund Drive Special: Erasing the History of Racism appeared first on KPFA.

Canadian physician Gabor Mate discusses the maladies that are the norm in our society — how stress and trauma, accentuated by the divisions of class, gender, and race, damage our lives and bodies. Donate in support of Against the Grain and KPFA The post Fund Drive Special: Gabor Mate on Capitalism and Health appeared first on KPFA.

Historian and activist, teacher and playwright — Howard Zinn told a different history of the United States, one of struggle between those on the bottom against those on top. Donate in support of Against the Grain and KPFA The post Fund Drive Special: Howard Zinn on His Life and Times appeared first on KPFA.

Are women as strong as men? According to science writer Starre Vartan, in some cases, they are stronger. She argues that scientific research over the last several decades shows that culture shapes strength as much as hormones — and that much of what we presume about sex differences, strength, and athleticism harms all of us. Donate in support of Against the Grain and KPFA Photo by Peter Zhan on Unsplash The post Fund Drive Special: Sex and Strength appeared first on KPFA.

Elites, especially in tech, over at least the last decade have espoused repugnant ideas arguing that extreme social inequality is not only inevitable, but desirable. Acclaimed historian Kim Phillips-Fein argues that there is a long US tradition promoting wealth inequality that has once again moved from the shadows into the mainstream. Please donate in support of KPFA and Against the Grain. The post Fund Drive Special: The Long Struggle Against Equality appeared first on KPFA.

Calling 911 can save lives. But all too often phoning the emergency hotline leads to maiming or death at the hands of the police. Rebecca Neusteter describes the origins of the emergency response system as a means of quashing social unrest, out of the urban uprisings of the 1960s. Rebecca Neusteter, 911, What’s Your Emergency? The Promise and Peril of Crisis Response The New Press, 2026 Photo by Yassine Khalfalli on Unsplash The post When 911 Calls Go Wrong appeared first on KPFA.

Some of the most important struggles for health justice have taken place in New York City — from the Young Lords to ACT UP, from battles to make school lunches free to the Fight for $15 for low wage workers. Public health scholar Nicholas Freudenberg discusses the lessons he’s gleaned from fifty years of activism, including the need to start with people’s daily living conditions. Nicholas Freudenberg, Fighting for New York: Activism for Health and Social Justice Since the 1960s Columbia University Press, 2026 Photo by CDC on Unsplash The post New York City and Health Justice appeared first on KPFA.