Jacobin Radio

Suzi talks to Warren Montag about the danger of the organized and armed far right. He argues in "The Necessity of Taking Back the Streets" in the journal Spectre that the left has not recognized the danger of the far right, and has been outflanked by the right’s strategic advance politically, electorally, and militarily. Warren sees the January 6, 2021 action as a big success for the right—and the left’s inability to respond to the danger encapsulates the political situation today, the actual balance of power. The right’s advance is not just in the streets, but in every level of government as well as law enforcement and all branches of the military. They have not been repudiated by the Republican Party, now a far right party of white supremacy. The Republican Party understands it can only win elections through the ever-increasing exclusion of the majority of the electorate, achieved through legal means as well as a campaign of fear and intimidation against opponents. Montag sees historical precedence both for the organized right’s march to power and the left’s complacency about the scale of the threat. To stop the right will require more than investigations and prosecutions. It will require understanding the danger the right represents, and mass mobilizations to defend democracy.

Everyone feels bad right now because conditions are awful and the outlook is bleak. What is going on, and where might things be headed? How might we become unstuck from this interregnum? Dan interviews returning guests Aziz Rana, Nikhil Pal Singh, and Wendy Brown.

This week, we speak with Alex Han, executive editor of Organizing Upgrade about a recent conversation he moderated between an Amazon activist named Howard and Wade Rathke, chief organizer of ACORN in the U.S. from 1970 – 2008. The discussion focuses on the successes and failures of organizing during the era in which Walmart was the ascendant force in commerce, a role Amazon plays today. Organizing Upgrade published the conversation as a three part series you can read here. You can listen to Primer by searching for Jacobin Radio on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. To keep up with us elsewhere, follow @primerpod on Twitter.

In 1985, a group of plucky renegades banded together to take on the political culture in the Democratic Party—demolishing Jesse Jackson's "Rainbow Coalition" to create a coalition that could win elections. That's the thesis of CRASHING THE PARTY (2016), a hagiographic documentary that chronicles the rise of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council and its star candidate, Bill Clinton. We discuss how funny it is that the documentary came out in mid-2016, just when it appeared that the Clintonite project was almost complete."In Anthony Banua-Simon’s Cane Fire, Hawaiians Are No Longer the Extras" by Alex Press: https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/anthony-banua-simons-cane-fire-hawaii-documentary"Atari Democrats" by Lily Geismer: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/geismer-democratic-party-atari-tech-silicon-valley-mondale"The Obamanauts" by Corey Robin: https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-obamanautsMichael and Us is a podcast about political cinema and our crumbling world hosted by Will Sloan and Luke Savage.

Doug speaks with Antonia Mardones Marshall on the recent presidential election and its winner, Gabriel Boric. Plus: Antonia Atria, in an interview from October 2020, on that country's constitutional referendum.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 here: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html

Suzi talks to Pablo Abufom in Chile about Gabriel Boric’s impressive landslide victory in the second round of Chile’s Presidential election held December 19. Boric, a 35 year old former student leader from the Apruebo Dignidad (I Approve Dignity) coalition, decisively defeated the first round winner, Jose Antonio Kast, the ultra-right admirer of Pinochet’s dictatorship whose campaign stoked fear and demonized migrants as narco-trafficking terrorists, opposed women’s rights, same sex marriage and promised repression. Pablo Abufom Silva discusses Boric’s politics and the immense challenges he faces in making the changes his campaign has promised in a divided country and a divided parliament, reeling from an economic downturn exacerbated by the pandemic. Boric is a moderate leftist representative of the anti-neoliberal popular movement that exploded on the streets in October 2019 and won the right to scrap Pinochet’s constitution and elect constituents to draft a new one. The structural reforms Boric championed include tax reform, de-privatizing pensions, taking on police brutality and human rights violations, urgent action on climate change, fighting for gender equity, the empowerment of women and indigenous peoples. Hundreds of thousands flocked to the streets to celebrate Boric’s victory as their own. Pablo describes the relief and joy of their triumph: they defeated Pinochetism and can now continue the cycle of transformations that prompted the popular revolt of October 2019.

Catherine Liu, professor at University of California, Irvine, joins The Jacobin Show to discuss the rise of elite liberalism and the professional class. The Jacobin Show offers socialist perspectives on class and capitalism in the twenty-first century, the failures of liberalism, and the prospects of rebuilding a left labor movement in the US. This is the podcast version of the show from December 20, 2021 with Jen Pan and Cale Brook hosting.Subscribe to Jacobin for just $10: https://jacobinmag.com/subscribe/?code=JACOBINYTMusic provided by Zonkey: https://linktr.ee/zonkey

Episode two of our two-part series on cryptocurrency: political theorist Stefan Eich on how crypto fits into Hayek's old neoliberal dream of private money and why that vision emerged in a new form in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.  Read Stefan's article: static1.squarespace.com/static/5ae8a7b625bf02c0b85aec02/t/5c923c13eef1a1ce843836ff/1553087508427/Stefan+Eich%2C+Old+Utopias%2C+New+Tax+Havens+%282019%29.pdf  Check out We're Not Here to Entertain: Punk Rock, Ronald Reagan, and the Real Culture War of 1980s America by Kevin Mattson global.oup.com/academic/product/were-not-here-to-entertain-9780190908232

For months we've been immersing ourselves in such Intellectual Property soups as Ready Player One, Space Jam: A New Legacy, and The Simpsons in Plusaversary, so we felt it was time to examine the animated hit that helped birth this new phenomenon: THE LEGO MOVIE (2014). PLUS: the return of COVID, a bad week for the Democrats, and the actual, honest-to-goodness phenomenon of official Rifkin's Festival NFTs."What’s behind global covid inequalities? Corporate greed" by Luke Savage - https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/13/covid-vaccine-corporatism-inequality/"Beyond NFT: DAMOVE company is building the future of movies and entertainment" - https://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/beyond-nft-damove-company-is-building-the-future-of-movies-entertainment#ixzz7FW3eISjzLearn more about Rifkin's Festival NFTs - https://twitter.com/RifkinsfestNft

Economist Richard Wolff joins Weekends to explain why Congressional partisan battles are like professional wrestling and why global capitalism continues to experience crisis after crisis. Weekends with Ana Kasparian and Nando Vila features free-flowing and humorous commentary on current events and political strategy. This is the podcast version of the (last!) episode, which aired December 17, 2021.Verso book club: https://www.versobooks.com/bookclubSubscribe to Jacobin for just $10: https://jacobinmag.com/subscribe/?code=JACOBINYTMusic provided by Zonkey: https://linktr.ee/zonkeyPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/jacobinmag