KPFA - Against the Grain Podcast
1) The Mass Revolts of the 2010s
In the decade of the 2010s, more people took to the streets than in any other time in history. And yet those horizontal protests, often spread through social media, were frequently co-opted by the rig...Show More
2) Fund Drive Special: Against Austerity
Capitalism by its nature produces crises and, for the last century, states have responded by imposing austerity measures on the public. Economist Clara Mattei argues that austerity is actually a bludg...Show More
3) Fund Drive Special: Fighting the Attention Economy
It’s been called a new gold rush, but not of our external environment, which continues to be plundered, but of our internal environment — of our psyches. Historian of science D. Graham Burnett, one of...Show More
4) Fund Drive Special: The Far Right’s Fascination with Ancient Greece and Rome
Ancient Greece and Rome are venerated throughout our society — including by the far right. Is this a misappropriation and misuse of the ideals of Greco-Roman antiquity? Classical scholar Curtis Dozier...Show More
5) Fund Drive Special: Saving and Restoring Nature in Our Gardens
Entomologist Douglas Tallamy discusses what we can do to stem the extinction crisis — the loss of habitat and plant and animal species — by transforming the places where we live. Please donate in supp...Show More
6) Fund Drive Special: Global Capitalism
Capitalism has transformed the world like no other force, which historian Sven Beckert calls a fundamental break in human history. Beckert traces the emergence and expansion of capitalism, arguing tha...Show More
7) Fund Drive Special: The Fortunes of the Wealthy
A year into Trump’s second term, the power and fortunes of the ultra-wealthy have only grown — following half a century of policies boosting the rich. Economist Rob Larson discusses Trump’s economic a...Show More
8) Zionism and U.S. Unions
Last autumn Italian workers shut down their country in opposition to the Gaza genocide. In the United States, in contrast, labor activists wanting to take a stand in solidarity with Palestinian worker...Show More
9) The Long Shadow of Criminal Records
Employers regularly check the background of potential workers for criminal records, even though claims that such checks predict their diligence or trustworthiness are dubious. Anthropologist Melissa B...Show More
10) Darwin and Marx
Did Charles Darwin influence Karl Marx? Joel Wainwright argues that Darwin significantly shaped Marx’s understanding of historical change — with implications for how we meet the ecological crisis toda...Show More