Episodes
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Featuring Bassam Haddad on the historical and geopolitical origins of Assad’s rise and fall — and what might happen next. We think through the contradictions: honoring the joy felt by Syrians at Assad’s ouster while simultaneously taking stock of a truly bad geopolitical outcome.
Want to learn more? Listen to “Thawra,” our series on the 20th-century political history of the Arab East thedigradio.com/Thawra
Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Buy Palestine in a World on Fire at Haymarketbooks.com
Buy Against the Crisis at versobooks.com
The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.
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Trita Parsi and Joshua Landis analyze what’s been going on in Syria. Tina Gerhardt reviews the annual UN climate conference, COP29, where little happened.
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 online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html
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Missing episodes?
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As with many other periods, the history of the Roman Empire has often been told from the vantage point of a minoritarian social elite. Sarah Bond, a professor of classics at the University of Iowa, set out in her research to uncover something different: a "history from below" detailing the class struggle in ancient Rome. She joins Long Reads to discuss this project. Sarah's book Strike: Labor, Unions, and Resistance in the Roman Empire will be published in February of next year.
Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies, music by Knxwledge.
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Featuring Patrick Blanchfield on assassination and political violence: from the routine to the extraordinary; authored by the state, capital, the left, the right, the unwell and alienated; as an anxiety, in our fantasies, as a morbid symptom and repetition compulsion; and as expressing distinctively American logics of domination and human disposability.
Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Listen to the Ordinary Unhappiness podcast at ordinaryunhappiness.buzzsprout.com/
Read Patrick’s essay on the death drive late-light.com/issues/issue-1/death-drive-nation
Buy China in Global Capitalism at haymarketbooks.com
Use code “DIG” for 30% off a subscription to The-Syllabus.com
The Dig, hosted by Daniel Denvir, is a weekly interview podcast going deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political-economy to imperialism and immigration.
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Bernie Sanders resurrected socialist politics in the United States after many decades of defeat. But what socialism will entail or how we get there remains unclear. In this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber discusses the difference between social democracy and socialism, how progressives won policies in the past, and where the Left should go after the Bernie moment.
Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.
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The Democratic Party has long clung to the notion of “demographic destiny,” the view that minorities will vote blue no matter who. But now it is clear that workers of all races are abandoning the Democratic Party, either by moving to the right or dropping out of politics altogether.
In this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber and Melissa Naschek discuss how Donald Trump’s recent victory is different from eight years ago, why the Democrats gave up their working class base, and how the Left can respond to dealignment.
Read the article mentioned in this episode:
https://jacobin.com/2024/11/obama-democrats-2024-election-race
Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.
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Larry Bartels discusses his Foreign Affairs article about the right-wing “populist wave." Sopo Japaridze, co-author of a recent Jacobin article, examines the crisis of democracy in Georgia (the country, not the US state).
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 online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html
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Suzi talked to Gilbert Achcar just before the spectacular collapse of the Assad regime that has ruled Syria for more than fifty years.
Achcar, author of many books on the region, explains Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)’s origins, what is behind the lightning offensive that toppled Assad's government, and how that overthrow was prepared by Israel’s war on Lebanon and Gaza. We will also get Gilbert’s take on the collapse of the political center and rise of the far right worldwide, including in France and the US. What new dangers does Gilbert see for the Middle East with Trump’s election? The conversation was recorded December 5.
Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.
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In the inaugural episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber is joined by Jacobin's editorial director Bhaskar Sunkara to discuss why Trump won the election, how socialists should think about strategic alliances with liberals, and what it means to be an anti-capitalist.
Read the articles mentioned in this episode:
https://jacobin.com/2024/09/liberalism-marxism-cohen-rawls-workers
https://jacobin.com/2024/11/obama-democrats-2024-election-race
Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst, a journal for theory and strategy, and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.
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Brooke Harrington, author of Offshore, uncovers how and where the mega-rich stash their cash. Mahendran Thiruvarangan talks about a new leftish government in Sri Lanka.
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 online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html
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Featuring Quinn Slobodian and Wendy Brown on Trump’s triumphant return to power and the freakish, obscene, billionaire-dominated, capitalist reactionary, Christian nationalist, contradiction-ridden MAGA movement that surrounds him. A comprehensive early assessment of what is going on, where it’s coming from, and where it all might be heading.
Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Share Thawra with a friend thedigradio.com/Thawra
Use code "DIG" for 30% off a subscription to The-Syllabus.com
Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15— a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin
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Last week, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant. It was a rare moment of hope for Palestinians, but the US government responded with outrage.
Earlier this year, a report by the Guardian and +972 Magazine showed that Israel had been spying on the ICC for a number of years. The aim of the espionage was to keep track of which particular allegations of war crimes were being investigated by the ICC. Israel would then start its own investigation retroactively into the same allegations. This was designed to undercut the ICC and make it possible for people like US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller to speak about the virtues of the Israeli court system.
Our guest today for a conversation about the ICC arrest warrants is John Reynolds. John is a professor of law at Maynooth University and the author of Empire, Emergency and International Law. He’s joined us twice before on Long Reads to speak about the challenges Israel is facing on the international legal front.
Find his last interview for the podcast, "Backing Israeli Apartheid Isn’t Just Immoral — It’s Illegal," here: https://jacobin.com/2024/08/israeli-apartheid-gaza-icj-icc
Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies, music by Knxwledge.
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Veteran journalist Marc Cooper joins Suzi to talk about the landslide that wasn’t, Trump’s transition swamp, and the state of the Fourth Estate. Trump’s victory is confined to the undemocratic electoral college. His winning margin in the popular vote is 1.6 percentage points, the smallest in more than 20 years. Trump may claim an historic, unprecedented mandate, but he just squeaked by. He is still dangerous but vulnerable. We talk about the danger and the chaos to come, including the threat to formal democracy.
Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.
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Michael Meeropol, son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, talks about how the government executed his mother despite knowing her innocence. Ruth Whippman, author of BOYMOM: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity, discusses the challenges of raising boys.
See recent documents shedding light on "Why Ethel's execution was wrongful": https://www.rfc.org/node/4836
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 online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html
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Featuring Hilary Goodfriend and Jorge Cuéllar in the final installment of a three-part series on Central America. This episode picks up with Nayib Bukele’s authoritarian crypto enthusiasm in El Salvador; Daniel Ortega’s perversion of Sandinismo’s revolutionary legacy in Nicaragua; anti-mining movements in Panama; Honduras and Guatemala, where popular social movements have elected left presidents to confront entrenched power structures. We conclude by discussing mass migration from the region that’s taken on a mystified form in US politics as the MAGA far right’s principal scapegoat.
Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Share Thawra with a friend thedigradio.com/Thawra
Check out nacla.org for in-depth coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean
Buy Defund: Conversations Toward Abolition at haymarketbooks.com
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Anatol Lieven tries to divine a Trump foreign policy out of unreliable rhetoric and early appointments. Alex Vitale tries similar on Trump and criminal justice.
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 online: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/radio.html
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Featuring Hilary Goodfriend and Jorge Cuéllar in the second of a three (not two!) part series on the history and present of Central America. This interview picks up our discussion of revolutionary armed struggles against brutal US-backed military-oligarchic regimes in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. Then, the peace accords and postwar transitions accompanied by the imposition of neoliberal economic restructuring. Finally, the rise of mass migration, new transnational gangs, and the regime of El Salvador’s authoritarian Bitcoin enthusiast Nayib Bukele. And more.
Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Want to learn more? Greg Grandin on The Dig: thedigradio.com/podcast/empires-workshop-with-greg-grandin
We now have a special feed dedicated entirely to our Thawra series. Listen and spread the word: thedigradio.com/Thawra
Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15— a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin
Buy Abolish Rent at Haymarketbooks.com
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Suzi talks to UC Berkeley sociologist Dylan Riley, who has written a great deal about fascism and far right politics. The US has just elected to the Presidency a man who represents a dire threat to democracy and constitutional rule as we know it. We get Dylan’s understanding of the specificity of Trump’s politics, the basis of his support, and the fascistic measures favored by people in and around his party, including the frightening Project 2025. Central to MAGA is a reactionary view of gender, which sees women’s advances happening at the expense of men and their traditional family role. Dylan sees Trump as more of a patrimonial misfit, a charismatic leader who rules more incoherently than a consistent fascist. We also ask how Trump fits in with analogous movements of the far right around the world.
Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.
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Earlier this week, Joe Biden welcomed the Israeli president Isaac Herzog to the White House. Last October, Herzog announced that there were no innocent civilians in Gaza. The International Court of Justice cited his comments as evidence that the Palestinian people needed protection from the threat of genocide.
Akbar Shahid Ahmed of the Huffington Post has been following the Biden administration’s support for the Israeli attack on Gaza from the start. He’s currently working on a book that will give a detailed account of the inside story. Akbar has joined the podcast twice before to discuss the latest developments. Dan spoke to him again after the US presidential election about the events of the past few months and what is likely to happen next.
Find our last Long Reads interview with Akbar here: https://jacobin.com/2024/06/biden-administration-israel-cease-fire-policy
And read his ongoing coverage for Huffington Post here: https://www.huffpost.com/author/akbar-shahid-ahmed
Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies, music by Knxwledge.
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We look at the election results that took many of us by surprise — giving Donald Trump and Republicans an across the board victory. For a look at the bigger picture, Suzi speaks to Robert Brenner, professor of history at UCLA, for analysis and some post-election blues. This podcast was recorded on November 8, before all the votes were counted along the West Coast. The final tallies will likely shrink Trump’s margin of victory, but not the overall results. The striking character of the Trump victory is attributable virtually entirely by the drop off in the vote for the Democrats. We try to understand what happened, and how to analyze this shift to the right.
Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.
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