The Socialist Program with Brian Becker

On  today's "In the News" roundtable, Brian Becker, Esther Iverem and  Walter Smolarek discuss the tense summit in Alaska between top US and Chinese officials, the significance of the struggle to unionize the Amazon warehouse in  Bessemer, Alabama, back room maneuvering to strengthen the two-party duopoly in American politics, and more.

March 19 marks the 18th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. The catastrophic warfare that followed claimed the lives of over a million Iraqis, led to the death or life-altering injury of tens thousands of U.S. service members, and sowed chaos throughout the Middle East. Brian is joined by Mike Prysner, the producer of The Empire Files. Mike is also a co-host of the podcast Eyes Left, a podcast hosted by two anti-war Army veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Mike was a soldier serving in the U.S. military during the Iraq invasion, and went on to become an anti-war leader who organized soldiers and veterans to resist the Pentagon war machine.

Brian and Prof. Wolff discuss inflation. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen assured the public last weekend that growing fears of rising inflation are misplaced. Is this true? What is inflation? Why does this matter for the working class? Richard Wolff is the co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work and the author of many books, the latest being “The Sickness is the System: When Capitalism Fails to Save Us from Pandemics or Itself”. You can check out his work at rdwolff.com.

On today's "In the News" roundtable, Brian Becker, Esther Iverem and Walter Smolarek discuss the upcoming anniversaries of some of the most  infamous crimes of U.S. imperialism, the latest developments in the trial of Derek Chauvin, actions to mark the anniversary of Breonna Taylor’s murder, the Biden administration’s latest maneuvers against China, the continuing fight to win a living wage, and more.

Brian Becker reviews the history of heated debate within the socialist  movement over the necessity of taking a principled, anti-imperialist position in opposition to the U.S. war machine. Almost 18 years ago, George W. Bush launched the invasion of Iraq, a conflict that would ultimately take the lives of over a  million Iraqis. Whether and how to oppose this war -- and others like the 1991 Gulf War or the 2011 war on Libya --  has been a persistent topic of debate.

Brian and Prof. Wolff discuss the Biden administration’s stimulus package. The Washington Post exultantly proclaimed that the bill “showers money on Americans.” Is this really true? Richard Wolff is the co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work and the author of many books, the latest being “The Sickness is the System: When Capitalism Fails to Save Us from Pandemics or Itself”. You can check out his work at rdwolff.com.

On today's "In the News" roundtable, Brian Becker, Nicole Roussell, Esther Iverem and Walter Smolarek discuss the opening of the trial of Derek Chauvin in the case of George Floyd’s murder, intense political and military maneuvering ahead of the potential withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the racist roots of the so-called criminal justice system in the United States, and more.

Brian Becker dissects the reasons for the US military occupation in Syria and analyzes the objectives and strategies of U.S. imperialism in Syria, and its wars against Iraq and Libya. Becker examines in detail how the  Pentagon completely dominates U.S. policy in the region and reviews how and why U.S. strategy in the Middle East dramatically shifted during the past 30 years. The people of the United States heard that Biden bombed Syria last week  just as Trump bombed Syria in the early days of his administration. But  they don't have a clue that U.S. are troops are occupying the oil rich parts of Syria. This episode of The Socialist  Program explains why.

Brian and Prof. Wolff discuss how intellectual property rights are used by capitalists to stifle innovation and hold back progress while protecting  their profits. They focus especially on how this phenomenon is playing out when it comes to the Coronavirus vaccines. Richard Wolff is the co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work and the author of many books, the latest being “The Sickness is the  System: When Capitalism Fails to Save Us from Pandemics or Itself”. You can check out his work at rdwolff.com.

On today's "In the News" roundtable, Brian Becker, Nicole Roussell, Esther Iverem and Walter Smolarek discuss the one year anniversary of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery by racist vigilantes, the trial of Derek Chauvin -- the Minneapolis police officer who murdered George Floyd -- beginning this week, Donald Trump delivering a major speech to the CPAC right wing political gathering, the uprising in Haiti against the US-backed president’s power grab, and the US-Iran confrontation as Iran says enough is enough. This episode features a special interview with Mohammad Marandi, an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran, on recent U.S. actions towards Iran.