The Real News Podcast

The world is in a bleak state right now, and every day it feels a little more certain that the elite power brokers who control our society are not going to do anything to make things better. But giving up on the possibility of a better world and giving in to hopelessness and despair is not an option; if we’re going to get out of this mess, we have to fight.In her new acclaimed book Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor, journalist and organizer Kim Kelly writes about working people who faced similarly impossible odds throughout US history but refused to accept the status quo and fought to change their circumstances. From freed Black washerwomen in the Reconstruction-era South to Jewish immigrant garment workers in early 20th-century New York, to incarcerated workers, sex workers, and disabled workers fighting to have their rights and humanity recognized, Fight Like Hell reminds readers today that working people’s struggle for justice, equality, and dignity is just that—a struggle. In this special discussion, hosted by Red Emma’s, a worker cooperative bookstore, cafe, and community events space in Baltimore, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Kelly about writing the history of that struggle and about the people who are carrying that struggle forward today.Kim Kelly is a freelance journalist and organizer based in Philadelphia. Her work on labor, class, politics, and culture has appeared in a wide range of outlets, including Teen Vogue, The New Republic, The Washington Post, The Baffler, Esquire, and The Real News Network. She is the author of the acclaimed book Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor.The recording of this talk was produced in partnership with Red Emma’s in Baltimore, a worker-owned restaurant, bookstore, and social center, co-founded by our Executive Director John Duda.Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/kim-kelly-workers-make-history-and-so-can-youPre-Production/Studio: Phil GlaserPost-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

As Wendy Sawyer and Wanda Bertram recently wrote for the Prison Policy Initiative, “Over half (58%) of all women in US prisons are mothers, as are 80% of women in jails, including many who are incarcerated awaiting trial simply because they can’t afford bail… And these numbers don’t cover the many women preparing to become mothers while locked up this year: An estimated 58,000 people every year are pregnant when they enter local jails or prisons.” In this edition of Rattling the Bars, Mansa Musa speaks with Debra Bennett-Austin of Change Comes Now about the shocking number of incarcerated mothers in the US today, the barriers keeping incarcerated mothers from staying connected with their families, and the irreparable damage those severed connections cause for everyone involved.Debra Bennet-Austin is the president and co-founder of Change Comes Now, a nonprofit “focused on assisting those who have been, are in danger of being, and who are currently impacted by the criminal legal system.” Bennet-Austin was formerly incarcerated for 19 years in the Florida Department of Corrections and has been home for four years.Read the transcript of this interview: https://therealnews.com/cutting-incarcerated-mothers-off-from-their-families-hurts-everyonePre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Donald Trump claimed to be a supporter of Medicare, yet his administration took numerous steps to cut its budget and introduce schemes to privatize it, including the Direct Contracting Entity (DCE) program, also known as ACO REACH. Rather than overturn this program, President Biden and his administration have been quietly letting it continue. As Branko Marcetic recently wrote in Jacobin magazine, "ACO REACH’s continued existence is a serious looming threat to Medicare as we know it and to seniors themselves. And in a sadly typical trend, it’s a Democratic president who’s trying to get away with gutting Medicare, something a Republican could never hope to get away with."In the latest installment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc talks with Marcetic about his recent Jacobin piece, the corporate-serving "logic" behind the push to privatize Medicare, and about the grassroots effort to fight against it.Branko Marcetic is a Jacobin staff writer based in Toronto, Canada, and the author of Yesterday’s Man: The Case Against Joe Biden.Read the transcript of this episode: https://therealnews.com/trump-wanted-to-privatize-medicare-bidens-letting-it-happenTune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday on TRNN, and subscribe to the TRNN YouTube channel for video versions of The Marc Steiner Show podcast.Pre-Production/Studio: Adam ColeyPost-Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Adjunct faculty and lecturers at Santa Clara University, a private Jesuit university in Silicon Valley, have been working to organize a non-tenure track (NTT) faculty union for five years. Along with navigating the particular challenges that come with worker organizing in higher education, theirs is a historic campaign because it is taking place at a religious institution, which the National Labor Relations Board does not exercise jurisdiction over. Nevertheless, after years of organizing and union busting, NTT faculty at Santa Clara are currently voting in their long-awaited union election. In this mini-cast, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez reconnects with former Working People guest Maggie Levantovskaya to talk about why NTT faculty have fought so hard for so long to get to this point and why organizing your workplace—in higher ed and beyond—is so important. Levantovskaya is a lecturer in the English Department and member of AFLOC, the Adjunct Faculty and Lecturer Organizing Committee, at Santa Clara University.To read the transcript of this episode and see full show notes, visit: https://therealnews.com/the-long-uphill-battle-to-unionize-workers-at-religious-institutionsFeatured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org):Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"Pre-Production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Jules TaylorBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Qualified immunity is a legal precedent that has allowed cops to evade accountability for violating civil rights for decades. But recent arguments in front of the federal circuit appeals court by two cop watchers could bring that precedent to an end. The Police Accountability Report examines how the actions taken by police in Lakeland, Colorado, to prevent First Amendment activists Liberty Freak and Eric Brandt from filming a seemingly routine traffic stop could could lead to a legal showdown that might make it easier to hold police accountable.Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/cops-stopped-him-from-filming-a-traffic-stop-but-changed-their-tune-when-they-went-to-courtPre-Production/Studio: Stephen JanisPost-Production: Adam ColeyHelp us continue producing Police Accountability Report by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-parSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-parGet Police Accountability Report updates: https://therealnews.com/pod-up-parLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

As updates on the unspeakable mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, continue to come in, the details are as horrifying as they are horrifically familiar. Even more familiar has been the public response to these heinous crimes: empty “thoughts and prayers” and inaction from feckless politicians, and an immediate, depressing conviction among the population that nothing will change. How did we get here? How can this keep happening? How can we continue to accept the unacceptable? In this conversation for the TRNN podcast, Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez and Marc Steiner, host of The Marc Steiner Show, speak with world-renowned historian and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz about how mass shootings became so commonplace in the US and how America’s voracious gun culture feeds off of its settler-colonial roots.Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz grew up in rural Oklahoma in a tenant farming family. She has been active in the international Indigenous movement for more than four decades and is known for her lifelong commitment to national and international social justice issues. She is a world-renowned historian, the winner of the 2017 Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize, and she has authored and edited many books, including An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, which won the 2015 American Book Award, Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment, and Not "A Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion.Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/roxanne-dunbar-ortiz-on-uvalde-the-second-amendment-and-the-great-american-arms-racePre-Production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Jules TaylorHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Caliber Public Schools, a group of charter schools in Northern California, states on its website that its mission is "to achieve educational equity by shifting the experiences, expectations and outcomes for students in historically underserved communities. Our strengths-based educational program validates, affirms, respects and supports students, families and staff members to reach their full potential." But when teachers and staff who believe in that mission did not feel validated, affirmed, respected, and supported, they took it upon themselves to organize and push Caliber to live up to its promise. Earlier this month, the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) ruled that a majority of the 150 teachers and staff at Caliber: Beta Academy in Richmond and Caliber: ChangeMakers Academy in Vallejo had demonstrated sufficient support for unionizing with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and ordered management to formally recognize the union.In this episode of Working People, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez talks with Tyler Powles, who was a fourth grade teacher at Caliber: Beta Academy for five years, and Erinn Murphy, an education specialist (and school parent) at Caliber: ChangeMakers Academy, about their experience working for the charter school network and fighting for a union.To read the transcript of this podcast and see full show notes, visit: Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org):Jules Taylor, "Working People Theme Song"Pre-Production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Jules TaylorHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

“As a result of being on or near wastelands, prisons constantly expose those inside to serious environmental hazards, from tainted water to harmful air pollutants,” Leah Wang recently wrote for the Prison Policy Initiative. “These conditions manifest in health conditions and deaths that are unmistakably linked to those hazards.” In this edition of Rattling the Bars, Mansa Musa speaks with Paul Wright about the scope and scale of the drastic environmental hazards the prison-industrial complex poses to incarcerated people, prison staff, and surrounding communities.Paul Wright is the founder and executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center. He is also editor of Prison Legal News (PLN), the longest-running independent prisoner rights publication in US history. Wright has co-authored three PLN anthologies: The Celling of America: An Inside Look at the U.S. Prison Industry; Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America’s Poor; and Prison Profiteers: Who Makes Money from Mass Imprisonment.'Read the transcript of this interview: https://therealnews.com/the-prison-industrial-complex-is-an-environmental-catastrophePre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

From gang life and drug addiction in East LA to community organizing, activism, and becoming an internationally acclaimed poet and writer, Luis J. Rodriguez has walked a long and arduous path. Now Rodriguez is running for governor in the California primaries under the campaign slogan “Imagine a New California for Shared Well-Being. Then Let's Build It!” Primary voting will take place on June 7. In this installment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Rodriguez about his campaign and why—in this urgent and dangerous political moment when the right is ascending, climate change and inequality are accelerating, and working people’s faith in the political system is collapsing—he is taking on Gavin Newsom’s political machine.Luis J. Rodriguez is a current candidate for California governor; his campaign has been endorsed by the Green, Peace & Freedom, and Justice parties. Rodriguez is an acclaimed writer and poet who served as the official Poet Laureate of Los Angeles from 2014-2016. He is the author of numerous novels, memoirs, children’s books, and essay collections, including Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in LA and It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions, and Healing. He is also the founding editor of Tia Chucha Press and co-founder of Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural & Bookstore in the San Fernando Valley.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday on TRNN, and subscribe to the TRNN YouTube channel for video versions of The Marc Steiner Show podcast.Read the transcript of this podcast:Pre-Production/Studio: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Eric King is an antifascist, antiracist, anarchist activist who is currently serving a 10-year federal prison sentence for throwing Molotov cocktails into an empty government office in Kansas City, Missouri, in solidarity with the 2014 uprisings after Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown. From the beginning of his imprisonment, King and his advocates say he has been targeted and “tortured” by the state, including assaults from prison guards and white supremacist gangs, solitary confinement, communication bans, and unexplained transports to different private and federal prison facilities. Now, even though he does not qualify for maximum security designation, King has been transferred to USP Lee, a maximum security prison in Virginia where his life has been threatened, and advocacy groups, including Amnesty International, are sounding the alarm. In this episode of Rattling the Bars, Mansa Musa speaks with Josh Davidson, a member of Eric King’s support crew, about King’s case, his treatment while serving out his sentence, and what is known about his current condition.Josh Davidson is an activist focusing on prisoner support and the abolition of the carceral state. He is involved in numerous social justice projects, including the Certain Days collective and the Children’s Art Project, and also works in communications with the Zinn Education Project.Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/imprisoned-ferguson-activist-assaulted-by-guards-assaulted-by-nazisPre-Production/Studio/Post-Production: Cameron GranadinoAdditional resources/info provided by the Support Eric King collective…Eric’s mailing address:Eric King #27090-045USP LeePO Box 305Jonesville, VA 24263Eric has a wishlist for books.For updates on Eric’s case, follow the Support Eric King collective:Linktree: https://linktr.ee/supporterickingWebsite: https://supportericking.orgFacebook page: Support Eric KingTwitter page: https://twitter.com/SupportEricKingHelp us continue producing Rattling the Bars by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-rtbSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-rtbGet Rattling the Bars updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-rtbLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnewsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!