Jacobin Radio Folgen

Jacobin editor Alyssa Battistoni interviews Astra Taylor on her new film What is Democracy?, in which Astra asks ordinary people and political philosophers alike just that. The answers are often extraordinary and far more incisive than the mindless pablum emanating from Washington and its official interpreters. The film opens in New York on Wednesday January 16 at the IFC Center before traveling to theaters and campuses. Special guests on hand during opening week for live Q&As with Astra include Silvia Federici, Cornel West, and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. For details, go to ifccenter.com/films/what-is-democracy. Those of us who don't live in New York can find other dates through the distributor at zeitgeistfilms.com. And if you want to bring this film to your school or town, and you really should, contact Zeitgeist Films! Thanks to Verso Books. Check out their huge selection of left-wing titles at www.versobooks.com Please support this podcast with your money at Patreon.com/TheDig

<font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Suzi speaks to energy specialist and author Simon Pirani about his new book, Burning Up: A Global History of Fossil Fuel Consumption that traces the relentless rise in oil, gas, and coal use since the mid-twentieth century </font>— and shows how consumption has grown fastest since the discovery of global warming in the 1980s. Simon argues that fuels are mainly consumed through technological systems, which are in turn embedded in social, economic, and political systems — and that the transition away from fossil fuels will mean the transformation of all of these. Then: the LA teachers strike is on! Suzi talks toArlene Inouye, secretary of United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) and co-chair of the negotiations team about what happened in bargaining, and how important this strike is for public education, indeed, for the public. UTLA is demanding a fair agreement that addresses class size, funding for nurses, counselors, and librarians, a halt to further privatization through charterization, and teacher pay. The LAUSD’s Austin Beutner failed to show up for the last two bargaining sessions, lied to the media, and presented an inadequate proposal, so now he has to face teachers, students, and community on the picket lines. After the spectacular Red State teachers' strikes of last year, the LAUSD strike has enormous potential in practical and inspirational terms — for labor and community as a whole.

Typically, people think about migration as immigration: people crossing international borders from one nation-state to another. And for the past half century in the United States, people have tended to think about that immigration in a binary way: legal immigration versus illegal immigration. But to understand the origins of the immigration politics in general and the criminalization of Mexican immigrants in particular that have become the core of the Trump presidency, we must explode these categories, identify their origins, and analyze the history that preceded them. Dan interviews Aziz Rana.Thanks to Verso. Check out their huge collection of left-wing titles at www.versobooks.comPlease support this podcast with your money at patreon.com/TheDig