The Real Story: The Next Pandemic

On today's "In the News" roundtable, Brian Becker, Esther Iverem, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss how activists trying to defend the environment are being sent to prison for many years and Indigenous communities and frontline water protectors are being targeted with vicious repression. They also discuss voting rights, the indictment of the Trump Organization, the death of war criminal Donald Rumsfeld, and more. Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

6 Heinä 20211h 6min

On today's episode, we discuss the hidden history of the revolutionary class struggle that brought down the system of slavery in America, an accomplishment celebrated by the Juneteenth holiday. The military defeat of the confederacy -- accomplished thanks to the heroic intervention of hundreds of thousands of Black soldiers in the war -- ushered in a new era that sent shockwaves around the world. They also discuss the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Communist Party of China and how the party led the transformation of the country into the rising power of today. Brian is joined by Dr. Gerald Horne. He holds the Moores Professorship of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston and is the author of many books. His most recent book is “The Bittersweet Science: Racism, Racketeering, and the Political Economy of Boxing,” and he is the author of “The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America.” Dr. Horne is also the author of The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century. Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

1 Heinä 202155min

In this June 2021 patrons-only seminar, Brian and the crew discuss the Communist Party of China and other communist parties in power, the union movement today and how to organize with unions, a behind the scenes look at the struggle to end the Vietnam War, nationalism and national liberation, and more. Check out the preview now and subscribe at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram to hear the rest!

1 Heinä 202110min

Today we continue a series of discussions about the basics of Marxism — a method for understanding and changing the world used by many of the great revolutionaries of modern history. We discus the Marxist understanding of the so-called gig economy. More and more workers are forced to make ends meet driving for Lyft or Uber, delivering food or an ever expanding number of irregular jobs. But far before smartphones and the internet, capitalism has long depended on precarious labor. 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. Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

30 Kesä 202132min

On today's "In the News" roundtable, Brian Becker, Esther Iverem, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss the election of a socialist in the Democratic primary for mayor of Buffalo, New York, a series of dramatic reversals by the Biden administration over infrastructure, injustices in the prison system, the sentencing of convicted murderer Derek Chauvin, U.S. airstrikes attacking Iraq and Syria, and more. Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

29 Kesä 202138min

Over the past month, the U.S. media and the Biden administration have sought to give credence to the conspiracy theory first advanced by Trump that the COVID-19 virus emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. Last month, Biden breathed new life into this notion when he ordered intelligence agencies to redouble their efforts to determine whether the virus came from a lab and to report back to him in August. Brian is joined by KJ Noh. He’s a peace activist and scholar on the geopolitics of Asia, and he’s a frequent contributor to Counterpunch and Dissident Voice. Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

24 Kesä 202155min

Today we continue a series of discussions about the basics of Marxism — a method for understanding and changing the world used by many of the great revolutionaries of modern history. We discuss the Marxist understanding of the role played by stock markets in capitalism. How has the function of stock markets evolved over the years, and how do they contribute to today’s exploding wealth inequality? 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. Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

23 Kesä 202132min

On today's "In the News" roundtable, Brian Becker, Esther Iverem, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss growing inequality, the Juneteenth holiday, the New York City mayoral race, Joe Manchin's war on the working class, far right calls for a coup in Peru, the Biden-Putin summit, and more. Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

22 Kesä 202151min