WPKN: Politics, Policy, and Planet Podcast

Interview with Raed Jarrar, advocacy director with Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), conducted by Scott Harris.Raed Jarrar discusses the current state of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, escalation of the regional conflict destroying fossil fuel infrastructure and disrupting energy supplies, the prospect of the deployment of U.S. troops to Iran and the consequences for international law. Jarrar is advocacy director with Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), founded by Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi before his assassination.

Interview with Sarah Ganong, state director of the Connecticut Working Families Party, conducted by Scott Harris.Sarah Ganong discusses the Working Families Party’s Connecticut legislative agenda, which includes standing up for immigrant rights, advocating for an equitable state budget with higher taxes on the wealthy and demanding fair schedules for workers in hospitality, retail and food service jobs. She also talks about statewide groups organizing for the March 28 anti-Trump, pro-democracy No Kings Day protests in Connecticut and nationally.

Excerpt of speech by Bishop William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, recorded and produced by Repairers of the Breach.In this Nov. 2, 2025 speech, Bishop William Barber talks about the Moral Mondays coalition response to President Trump and GOP’s effort to gerrymander the 1st Congressional district in North Carolina and efforts to rig the 2026 midterm election nationwide. Watch the full speech on the YouTube channel, Repairers of the Breach.Bishop Barber is president and senior lecturer at Repairers of the Breach and founding director of the Center for Public Theology & Public Policy at Yale Divinity School.

Interview with Branko Marcetic, a Jacobin staff writer and the author of Yesterday’s Man: The Case Against Joe Biden, conducted by Scott Harris.Branko Marcetic talks about his recent commentaries, “Trump Is in Way Over His Head in Iran,” “The U.S. Is Fighting Israel’s War on Iran,”and “U.S. Military Aid to Israel Is a National Security Risk.”

Interview with Mel Goodman, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and author of American Carnage: The Wars of Donald Trump, conducted by Scott Harris.Mel Goodman shares his views on the motivation and conduct of the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran, as well as the short and long term consequences for international law, the world economy and the American empire.  Goodman is a professor of government at Johns Hopkins University and a former CIA analyst.

Interview with Justin Glawe, an independent journalist and editor of the American Doom newsletter, conducted by Scott Harris.Justin Glawe discusses his recent article, “Inside the FBI Raid in Georgia — and What It Really Means,” and his reports on the Trump regime plan to nationalize the 2026 midterm election in a clear effort to employ voter suppression to prevent a Democratic party takeover of the House and U.S. Senate.

Interview with Craig Mokhiber, former director of the New York Office of the United Nation's High Commissioner for Human Rights, conducted by Scott Harris.Craig Mokhiber discusses the catastrophic war launched against Iran by President Donald Trump and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the further dismantling of international law and the resulting death and economic chaos engulfing the region, addressed in his recent article, “Understanding the U.S. and Israel’s Illegal War on Iran.”Mokhiber was former director of the New York Office of the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights until he resigned in protest due to UN inaction on the Gaza genocide.

Interview with Steven Levitsky, David Rockefeller professor of Latin American Studies at Harvard University, conducted by Scott Harris.Professor Levitsky, co-author with Daniel Ziblatt of How Democracies Die and Tyranny of the Minority, talks about his recent article, “The Price of American Authoritarianism,” assessing Donald Trump’s first 12 months back in the White House and the threat he now poses to the 2026 midterm election, U.S. democracy and our republic. 

Carol Rizzolo, Co-Founder of CT Shoreline Indivisible, highlights her experience organizing here in Connecticut against the Trump agenda, and gives a preview of the upcoming No Kings rallies that will be taking place across the U.S. and Connecticut on March 28.

Alex Taubes, a Connecticut Civil Rights Attorney, shines a light on the local legacy and landscape of wrongful convictions, including the crisis of corruption in policing and prosecution in the city of New Haven.