Left Anchor

Max Alvarez joins us again to talk about his experience navigating the treacherous waters of higher education this time. We discuss how he came to end up in graduate school, how the logic of markets has penetrated the university, and the political function thereof. Find some of his writing on this here, here, or here.

For once we've got a timely episode! Today we're talking with Carl Beijer, whose People's Policy Project paper on the international financing of climate change policy came out today. Tackling this problem is going to require an eye-watering quantity of international subsidies, and it's worth thinking about how that might happen.

Here we discuss a section of Jeane Kirkpatrick's famous essay on why America should support right-wing dictatorships. Subscribe now to hear the full episode!

This time we've got historian Greg Grandin on to talk about his new book The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America, about the history of the American frontier, how it has functioned politically over the years, and how Trump is drawing on that legacy today. (Also listen for an interlude about whether it was appropriate for Bernie Sanders to oppose Reagan's death squad policy in Central America.)

In this excerpt we talk about some strengths and blind spots in Warren's foreign policy ideas. Subscribe here to hear the full episode!

We bring on Astra Taylor to talk about her twinned book and documentary on democracy (What Is Democracy and Democracy May Not Exist, But We'll Miss It When It's Gone). We discuss the theory and practice of self-government, how she developed her film and book, and what lessons she learned in the process.

Subscribe now to hear the full bonus episode (as well as all previous ones)!

Did you know Vidal Sassoon was a committed anti-fascist who brawled with Oswald Mosley's followers after the Second World War? Today we learn that and more from Natasha Lennard, author of the recent essay collection Being Numerous: Essays on Non-Fascist Life. We talk about the psychological and economic roots of fascism, the role of violence in defeating it, and how society might be changed to allow people to live better lives.

Subscribe now to hear the whole premium episode (as well as all previous ones)! 

Today we take a partial look at Bernie's policy platform -- his anti-usury bill, his agriculture policy, his ideas to desegregate education, Medicare for all, his plan to fix Puerto Rico, and more!