Episodes

  • Siphoning Revenue from the Poor

    Siphoning Revenue from the Poor
    Jan 28 2026
    At every step of the process in which communities are policed and punished, states, localities and other public entities benefit financially, along with their partners in the private sectors. Scholars Joe Soss and Joshua Page describe the multitude of ways in which the poorest people — not just individuals, but the communities around them — became a cash cow for extracting revenue for the state. Joshua Page and Joe Soss, Legal Plunder: The Predatory Dimensions of Criminal Justice University of Chicago Press, 2025 The post Siphoning Revenue from the Poor appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 hr
  • Extraction and Global Capitalism

    Extraction and Global Capitalism
    Jan 27 2026
    It’s largely invisible to most of us, but without the industries and workers that drill or mine the world’s raw materials, and the arteries of transport that bring petroleum and other resources across the seas, global capitalism would sputter to a halt. Scholar and writer Laleh Khalili has traveled on the system’s massive container ships and describes in unflinching terms the inner workings of resource extraction. Laleh Khalili, Extractive Capitalism: How Commodities and Cronyism Drive the Global Economy Verso, 2025 Photo credit: NOAA’s National Ocean Service The post Extraction and Global Capitalism appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 hr
  • Policing the Civil Rights Movement

    Policing the Civil Rights Movement
    Jan 26 2026
    Conventional wisdom holds that the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and early 60s neglected the question of police violence, only to be remedied by the Black Panther Party and decades later by the Movement for Black Lives. But historian Joshua Clark Davis argues that that assumption is inaccurate. He also discusses the extensive involvement of local police departments, above and beyond the FBI’s COINTELPRO, in disrupting and repressing the Civil Rights movement. Joshua Clark Davis, Police Against the Movement: The Sabotage of the Civil Rights Struggle and the Activists Who Fought Back Princeton University Press, 2025 The post Policing the Civil Rights Movement appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 hr
  • Antiquity and the Far Right

    Antiquity and the Far Right
    Jan 21 2026
    Ancient Greece and Rome are venerated throughout our society — including on the far right. Is this a misappropriation and misuse of the ideals of Greco-Roman antiquity? Classical scholar Curtis Dozier argues that when white nationalists appeal to ancient thinkers to justify their reactionary ideas, there is surprisingly much to draw from. Curtis Dozier, The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate Yale University Press, 2026 Pharos – Doing Justice to the Classics The post Antiquity and the Far Right appeared first on KPFA.
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    2 mins
  • The Black Labor Movement

    The Black Labor Movement
    Jan 20 2026
    The struggle for labor across the color line has often been credited to white activists. However, as sociologist Cedric de Leon argues, the black labor movement, independently organized outside of the official union movement, propelled such efforts. He discusses the black labor movement’s divisions, including in the face of the state’s attempt to destroy it. Cedric de Leon, Freedom Train: Black Politics and the Story of Interracial Labor Solidarity UC Press, 2025 The post The Black Labor Movement appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 hr
  • Depending on the Constitution

    Depending on the Constitution
    Jan 19 2026
    The U.S. Constitution is an object of great political veneration in this country. Legal scholar Aziz Rana examines the contradictions within it, which have allowed for the authoritarianism of the Trump administration. (Encore presentation.) Aziz Rana, The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them University of Chicago Press, 2024 The post Depending on the Constitution appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 hr
  • Venezuela, U.S. Power, and the Latin American Left

    Venezuela, U.S. Power, and the Latin American Left
    Jan 14 2026
    As Congress considers a war powers vote, economist Mark Weisbrot places the Trump administration’s attack on Venezuela in the context of a longstanding bipartisan campaign to undermine left-leaning governments across Latin America. He discusses the differing visions Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio have for the region, one focused on oil and the other on regime change, including in Cuba. Image credit: IbaKa Vector The post Venezuela, U.S. Power, and the Latin American Left appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 hr
  • MoMa and Cultural Imperialism in Latin America

    MoMa and Cultural Imperialism in Latin America
    Jan 13 2026
    Modern art has always been a battleground — and the highly influential Museum of Modern Art has been partisan since its inception. Architectural historian Patricio Del Real discusses two differing political visions of modernism and modern architecture: one rooted in the left, and associated with figures such as Communist muralist Diego Rivera, and the other on the right, represented by the architect and fascist sympathizer Philip Johnson. He weighs in on the role of MoMa in promoting a view of modernism in Latin America, stripped of its radical politics and racial fusions, and radiating American power and hegemony. (Encore presentation.) Patricio del Real, Constructing Latin America: Architecture, Politics, and Race at the Museum of Modern Art Yale University Press, 2022 The post MoMa and Cultural Imperialism in Latin America appeared first on KPFA.
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    1 hr