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KPFA - Against the Grain

Progressive Talk

Acclaimed program of ideas, in-depth analysis, and commentary on a variety of matters — political, economic, social, and cultural — important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. Against the Grain is co-produced and co-hosted by Sasha Lilley and C. S. Soong.

Location:

Berkeley, CA

Description:

Acclaimed program of ideas, in-depth analysis, and commentary on a variety of matters — political, economic, social, and cultural — important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. Against the Grain is co-produced and co-hosted by Sasha Lilley and C. S. Soong.

Language:

English


Episodes

A History of Sanctuary

3/18/2024
What was the modern Sanctuary Movement formed to do? What sorts of challenges has it faced, and how has the movement changed and evolved? Carl Lindskoog considers the history of the Sanctuary Movement, including its expansion into a far-reaching campaign for human rights, economic justice, and peace. Maria Cristina Garcia & Maddalena Marinari, Whose America? U.S. Immigration Policy since 1980 University of Illinois Press, 2023 (Image on main page by Church World Service/New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia.) The post A History of Sanctuary appeared first on KPFA.

In Search of Lost Foods

3/13/2024
Our food system, as well as our ecosystems, is clearly in crisis. Should we look to technological fixes and lab-grown meat to provide food for our future? Or, as writer Taras Grescoe suggests, should we look backwards instead to the lost foods of our past? Grescoe argues that a sustainable future necessitates cultivating food and plant diversity, while reclaiming collective practices, including those drawn from contemporary indigenous peoples. (Full-length interview.) Resources: Taras Grescoe, The Lost Supper: Searching for the Future of Food in the Flavors of the Past Greystone Books, 2023 Taras Grescoe’s Blog: lostsupper.blog The post In Search of Lost Foods appeared first on KPFA.

Portraying Black Loss

3/12/2024
How can people be moved from sympathy to solidarity with an oppressed group? Juliet Hooker considers how the legendary writer and activist Ida B. Wells and Harriet Jacobs, whose slave narrative was the first authored by a woman in the U.S., balanced grief and grievance in an effort to mobilize white people to act to end Black suffering. (Encore presentation.) Juliet Hooker, Black Grief/White Grievance: The Politics of Loss Princeton University Press, 2023 (Image on main page by kkfea.) The post Portraying Black Loss appeared first on KPFA.

The Price of Big Pharma

3/11/2024
Medicines – we’re told by the pharmaceuticals industry – are expensive by necessity owing to the high costs of research and development. Yet, as with the vaccines for Covid, much research is publicly-funded, and much comes out of universities. And, as Nick Dearden argues, only 3% of new drugs even represent actual breakthroughs. Instead most are “evergreened” drugs that Big Pharma tweaks in order to prolong its intellectual property rights. He discusses why the business of pharmaceuticals companies is not public health, but private profit. Resources: Nick Dearden, Pharmanomics: How Big Pharma Destroys Global Health Verso, 2023 The post The Price of Big Pharma appeared first on KPFA.

Fund Drive Special: Allen Ginsberg

3/6/2024
In “The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg,” Jerry Aronson paints a compelling portrait of the legendary writer, visionary, activist, and spiritual seeker. The post Fund Drive Special: Allen Ginsberg appeared first on KPFA.

Fund Drive Special: Rebuilding Habitats in Our Yards

3/5/2024
We are living through the 6th great extinction of species — and governments are doing almost nothing to curb it. Scientist Douglas Tallamy, however, proposes a blueprint for a grassroots effort to restore habitat in a meaningful way, seeing nature not as something to be preserved in parks and reserves far from us, but all around us in our cities and suburbs, farmlands and ranches. The post Fund Drive Special: Rebuilding Habitats in Our Yards appeared first on KPFA.

Fund Drive Special: Allen Ginsberg

3/4/2024
In “The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg,” Jerry Aronson paints a compelling portrait of the legendary writer, visionary, activist, and spiritual seeker. The post Fund Drive Special: Allen Ginsberg appeared first on KPFA.

Duration:00:59:58

Fund Drive Special: Gabor Mate and Steven Porges

2/28/2024
It is hard to measure the impact of social stress and political turmoil on our bodies and minds, but we know they does damage. The physician Gabor Maté has made it his life’s work to examine how stress and trauma make us sick, alienated, and often prone to harmful behaviors. He draws on the ideas of Stephen Porges, originator of Poly-Vagal Theory, and we feature the work of both men today. The post Fund Drive Special: Gabor Mate and Steven Porges appeared first on KPFA.

Duration:00:59:57

Fund Drive Special: Meditation Pioneer Sharon Salzberg

2/27/2024
World-renowned teacher Sharon Salzberg talks about her book “Real Happiness: A 28-Day Program to Realize the Power of Meditation.” The post Fund Drive Special: Meditation Pioneer Sharon Salzberg appeared first on KPFA.

Fund Drive Special: Ilan Pappé

2/26/2024
The death toll from Israel’s assault on Gaza continues to climb. Nearly 30,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli airstrikes since October, two-thirds of them women and children, and almost 70,000 people have been injured. Yet this unspeakable crime has been rationalized by much of the U.S. media. Israeli scholar Ilan Pappé says that such justifications rest partly on a distorted view of the history of Palestine/Israel, including of the multiethnic society that existed in Palestine before the establishment of the state of Israel. The post Fund Drive Special: Ilan Pappé appeared first on KPFA.

Fund Drive Special: Embodied Intelligence

2/21/2024
Philip Shepherd on the importance of recovering “radical wholeness” and experiencing a new way of being. The post Fund Drive Special: Embodied Intelligence appeared first on KPFA.

Fund Drive Special: Recovering Ancient Foods

2/20/2024
Our food system, as well as our ecosystems, are clearly in crisis. Should we look to technological fixes and lab-grown meat to provide food for our future? Or, as writer Taras Grescoe argues, should we look backwards instead to the lost foods of our past? Grescoe argues that a sustainable future necessitates cultivating food and plant diversity, while reclaiming collective practices, including those drawn from contemporary indigenous peoples. The post Fund Drive Special: Recovering Ancient Foods appeared first on KPFA.

Oil & Capital

2/19/2024
What accounts for worker injuries and fatalities in the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota? Should they be viewed as localized phenomena, or are larger socioeconomic processes at work? In his effort to explain oil-boom representations and calamities, Bruce Braun considers and extends Lauren Berlant’s analysis of worker precarity, “crisis ordinariness,” and “slow death.” Braun and Thomas, eds., Settling the Boom: The Sites and Subjects of Bakken Oil University of Minnesota Press, 2023 The post Oil & Capital appeared first on KPFA.

Israeli Universities and the State

2/14/2024
Israeli universities are heralded in the West for their liberalism and diversity, but critics assert that they are a crucial part of Israel’s war making machine. Israeli Jewish academic Maya Wind argues that even before the formation of the state of Israel, universities played a key role in the project of Zionist state-building. She makes the case for an academic boycott and discusses the demonization of Boycott Divestment Sanctions against Israel as it gathers strength. Resources: Maya Wind, Towers of Ivory and Steel: How Israeli Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom Verso, 2024 The post Israeli Universities and the State appeared first on KPFA.

Israeli Universities and the State

2/13/2024
Israeli universities are heralded in the West for their liberalism and diversity, but critics assert that they are a crucial part of Israel’s war making machine. Israeli Jewish academic Maya Wind argues that even before the formation of the state of Israel, universities played a key role in the project of Zionist state-building. She makes the case for an academic boycott and discusses the demonization of Boycott Divestment Sanctions against Israel as it gathers strength. Resources: Maya Wind, Towers of Ivory and Steel: How Israeli Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom Verso, 2024 The post Israeli Universities and the State appeared first on KPFA.

Responding to Racism

2/12/2024
What would it mean to have authentic dialogues around race and racism? How would one engage in a way that promotes transformation, not polarization? Roxy Manning reveals how nonviolent communication principles and practices can be used to interrupt racist conduct in ways that foster the creation of what Dr. King called Beloved Community. (Encore presentation.) Roxy Manning, How to Have Antiracist Conversations: Embracing Our Full Humanity to Challenge White Supremacy Berrett-Koehler, 2023 (Image on main page by RMHare.) The post Responding to Racism appeared first on KPFA.

America’s Drug Binge

2/7/2024
Americans as a population have an unusually large appetite for psychoactive drugs, whether legal or illegal. And American history has been marked by periodic moral panics over drug use and normalization or legalization, as we’re experiencing right now. Why is that? What is it about US society that makes drug use simultaneously so appealing and reviled? Writer and scholar Benjamin Fong weighs in. Resources: Benjamin Yen-Yi Fong, Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge Verso, 2023 The post America’s Drug Binge appeared first on KPFA.

Food & Freedom

2/6/2024
Reclaiming the commons sounds good in the abstract, but what’s being done on a practical level? Gaye Chan and Nandita Sharma, the Hawai‘i-based co-founders of Eating in Public, describe projects like Free Gardens and Free Stores. Also: Wren Awry discusses the volume to which Chan and Sharma contributed an essay. Eating in Public Wren Awry, ed., Nourishing Resistance: Stories of Food, Protest, and Mutual Aid PM Press, 2023 The post Food & Freedom appeared first on KPFA.

Radical vs Liberal Antiracism

2/5/2024
Following the mass George Floyd demonstrations, it appeared as if a racial reckoning was taking place in the United States, although of a puzzling nature. Amazon, Walmart, and other prominent corporations declared that Black Lives Mattered and dedicated funds to ostensibly address systemic racism. In cities across America, individuals denounced white silence and took on the task of scrutinizing interpersonal relationships for implicit racism. Arun Kundnani argues that such efforts are part of a tradition of liberal anti-racism, which he contrasts with the lineage of radical anti-racism forged against colonialism and capitalism. Resources: Arun Kundnani, What Is Antiracism? And Why It Means Anticapitalism Verso, 2023 The post Radical vs Liberal Antiracism appeared first on KPFA.

Microwork’s Impact

1/31/2024
Microwork involves the performing of short, discrete tasks on digital platforms, usually at the worker’s home and often after dark. Paul Apostolidis applies his analysis of nocturnal labor under capitalism, and its impact on worker’s lives, to microwork, for which people in many countries are paid miniscule wages. (Encore presentation.) James Muldoon and Paul Apostolidis, “‘Neither work nor leisure’: Motivations of microworkers in the United Kingdom on three digital platforms” New Media & Society (Image on main page by Kulik Stepan.) The post Microwork’s Impact appeared first on KPFA.