Cornel West on truth, love, and social justice
Cornel West on truth, love, and social justice.
Against the Grain
12:00 PM Pacific Time: Mondays - Wednesdays
Acclaimed program of ideas, in-depth analysis, and commentary on a variety of matters—political, economic, social, and cultural—important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. Against the Grain is co-produced and co-hosted by Sasha Lilley and C. S. Soong.
Feminist Visionaries
They were socialists, free love advocates, birth control campaigners, and trade unionists. Feminist historian Sheila Rowbotham describes the women who transformed gender relations in the US and the UK at the turn of the last century, prefiguring in many ways the New Left, and embodying an optimism about social change that is sorely lacking today. … Continued
Going to Waste
Prodigious amounts of usable and edible waste are produced by commercial enterprises. They, and the capitalist system, try to keep that waste out of public view. Alex Barnard and Marie Mourad discuss the politics of waste and describe efforts, by freegans and Disco Soupe and others, to recover and reclaim and, in some cases, live … Continued
Heidegger, the Personal, and the Political
We often act in isolation, or feel like we do. According to Scott Cameron, the German philosopher Martin Heidegger emphasized the social meaning and significance of individual action. Cameron uses Heidegger to evaluate personal conduct in relation to, among other things, climate change. And Peter Cannavò discusses the volume to which Cameron contributed. For more … Continued
No Alternative?
Since the global financial crisis, capitalism has been seen as the culprit for so many of the world’s woes, from inequality to the destruction of the environment. Yet no other system appears to be viable. But is that in fact the case? Journalist Richard Swift assesses anarchism, state socialism, social democracy, and the left turn … Continued
Beyond Autonomy; Toward Mothering; Remembering Galeano
At the Radical Imagination Festival, Ardath Whynacht asked attendees to consider what trauma-informed social justice might look like; she also contested many radicals’ emphasis on autonomy. Andrea Smith spoke about the importance of incorporating mothering into political thinking and struggle. And we remember the great Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, who died last week. For more … Continued
African Americans and the Environment
Why are African Americans missing from our collective imagery of the environment and environmentalism? Cultural geographer Carolyn Finney discusses both the history of African Americans and nature — as it’s defined in the United States — and the history of African American environmentalism, separating myth from fact. For more details and higher-quality audio, visit againstthegrain.org.
Failing to Stop Global Warming
The effects of global warming are not just waiting for us in the future, but are here already in the form of droughts, superstorms, fires, and other types of extreme weather. Yet politicians have done little over the last twenty-five years to halt climate change. Dale Jamieson examines how and why attempts to stop global … Continued
Are Nuclear Weapons an Affront to Democracy?
Elaine Scarry, author of Thermonuclear Monarchy, contends that nuclear weapons and democracy are fundamentally incompatible.
Nonprofits and Housing Privatization in New Orleans
Nonprofit organizations make up much of what we often think of as the left in this country — focusing on housing rights, the environment, and many other deserving issues. But is their influence benign? Could there be a connection between nonprofits and the neoliberal project of privatization and cutting back public services? Activist and sociologist … Continued