Jacobin Radio

The War on Terror’s permanence should be remarkable, an outrage. But it is precisely because the war has become permanent that it has long since been rendered unremarkable. Dan’s guest is historian Andrew Bacevich, author or coauthor of over a dozen books, including most recently, America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History (Random House, 2016). Note that we spoke before Trump’s recent announcement that the US would double down on the Afghanistan War. And please support the show at Patreon.com/thedig. We can't do it without you!

Kristen Ghodsee, author of Red Hangover: Legacies of Twentieth-Century Communism (Duke University Press, 2017), joins Doug to discuss sex and gender in the former socialist world, and her recent essay in the New York Times, available here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/12/opinion/why-women-had-better-sex-under-socialism.html. Plus, Roger Lancaster, who has a new article in Jacobin on the subject, on prison reform and the problems with the abolition movement.

In the wake of the fascist terror attack, RL attended DSA Charlottesville's monthly meeting. Time and again, the issues of safety and violence were discussed along with how the terror attack would change their organizing work going forward. RL asked a few members to stay after the meeting for a chat.

New Republic writer Sarah Jones on Trump's invocation of the "alt-left," the term's unseemly centrist history, and more. We're gonna try doing two episodes each week now: the regular long Dig on Tuesdays and a shorter, hotter-take Diglet on Fridays. This will take more time and more money! If you listen to and love the show please support us at https://www.patreon.com/thedig

RL talks with Kevin, an organizer at The Haven, a nonprofit serving Charlottesville's homeless population. Kevin knew Heather Heyer because she had helped him escape homelessness himself. He was on the scene the day of the fascist attack that killed her.

The FARC peace accord is a historic victory for Colombian society. But the struggle to build an urban left strong enough to take on the country's powerful right remains a daunting one. Today's guest is Forrest Hylton, the author of Evil Hour in Colombia. Check out a great article from Forrest here https://www.academia.edu/26907051/The_Experience_of_Defeat_The_Colombian_Left_and_the_Cold_War_that_Never_Ended And also Forgotten Peace: Reform, Violence, and the Making of Contemporary Colombia from our supporters at University of California Press http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520293939

Paula Mielke lives in Falcon Heights, Minnesota--where Philando Castile was murdered by a police officer. She had never before considered herself an activist, but after Philando's death, she got to work. She and her team organized protests, petition drives, and vigils. They've also met weekly and attended every city council meeting in the year since Philando's murder. Now, Paula's running for city council herself. You can find out more about Paula's campaign here: https://votepaulamielke.com/Micah and RL recorded the introduction to the interview with Paula from a new studio. Special thanks to Wan for providing the technical support.

On Jacobin Radio, Dan La Botz. co-editor of New Politics discusses the Democrat Party's "bullshit deal;" Professor Jeremy Bendik-Keymer talks about Trump and fascism; and Dr. Adam Gaffney analyzes the demise of Trumpcare and why we need truly universal health care.

With Trump, Mexico is the symbol and source of so many things that are wrong with the United States. Oftentimes, these stories told about Mexico in the United States aren’t just wrong but serve to obscure the true source of our shared problems—which, more often than not, are both countries’ ruling classes. Today's guest is Christy Thornton, a professor of history and international studies at Rowan University, and soon to be fellow at the Weatherhead Research Cluster on Global Transformations at Harvard. Thanks to our sponsors at University of California Press.

We’re taking a quick break halfway into our four-part series of interviews on Latin America because this week is a big week for the American Left: Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA, is holding its first national convention since the organization has undergone a massive explosion in size. R.L. Stephens and Ella Mahony, running on competing slates for leadership in the organization, explain what's at stake. This episode is long and we apologize that some of the audio quality is a little worse than usual. But the debate and discussion is great.