Jacobin Radio Folgen

Suzi talks to Boris Kagarlitsky, Russian left intellectual writer-activist, just two weeks after he won his release from over four months in pre-trial custody. Kagarlitsky was arrested in Moscow on July 25 by the FSB, the Russian secret police, and taken more than 800 miles north to the city of Syktyvkar in the Komi Republic, where the local FSB opened a criminal case against him. He was accused of justifying terrorism, ostensibly for comments that he posted months earlier on social media regarding the attack on the Crimean Bridge. Even pro-Kremlin commentators were surprised at how far-fetched the accusations were. The state has imposed increasingly draconian charges and sentences for even minor anti-war activities, arresting thousands.Kagarlitsky's arrest was part of a coordinated attack on the online journal and popular YouTube channel that Kagarlitsky edits, Рабкор.ру (Workers Correspondent). The Russian Socialist Movement saw Kagarlitsky’s arrest as an attack on the whole left movement in Russia, and a huge movement to free Boris emerged all over Russia and the world in response.Kagarlitsky’s trial opened on December 11 in Syktyvkar and lasted two days. The prosecution and the FSB demanded five and a half years in prison. Kagarlitsky’s lawyer argued that “the charges against Boris were absurd, Kagarlitsky never supported or justified terrorism. The purpose of all his speeches is an attempt to show the real problems that the Russian state faces.” In a total surprise, the Russian authorities conceded to public opinion and the demands of thousands of scientists, researchers, artists, politicians, trade union members, and political activists from around the world. Kagarlitsky was found guilty, fined 600 thousand rubles (about $6600), banned from editing any media outlet or webpage for two years, and set free. The next day Rabkor held a crowdfunding event and 700,000 rubles was raised within an hour.We are fortunate to have Boris Kagarlitsky with us to tell the story.Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Featuring Ussama Makdisi on how Western colonialism and Zionism exploited, exacerbated, and imposed sectarianism across the Arab Middle East. This is the SECOND of a two-part interview.Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDigContact Spotify and tell them: stop hiding The Dig! Why is The Dig so hard to find on Spotify? support.spotify.com/contact-spotify-support/Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.comBuy The Good Die Young: The Verdict on Henry Kissinger at versobooks.comBuy War Made Invisible thenewpress.com/books/war-made-invisible

Samuel Moyn, law professor and historian, discusses the political and legal dubiousness of excluding Trump from the presidential ballot. Labor journalist Alex Press talks about the year in labor. See her Jacobin article, "In 2023, the US Working Class Fought Back" here.Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global. Find the archive online.