If the problem is religious polarization and inequality, isn’t the solution secular governance? Secularism, after all, promises the equality of citizens regardless of religious affiliation. In a 2016 interview, Saba Mahmood argued that modern secular governance, contrary to its grand claims, has in fact exacerbated religious inequalities. It has also, she said, constrained our political imagination to a significant degree.
Saba Mahmood, Religious Difference in a Secular Age: A Minority Report Princeton University Press
Obituary: Dr. Saba Mahmood, 1962-2018
The post Secularism’s False Promise? appeared first on KPFA.
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Racism, the Right, and the Anti-Tax Movement
How did a fringe rightwing movement calling for lower taxes become one of the most successful efforts in U.S politics, leading to a chronically underfunded government? The answer has more than a little to do with racism. Michael Graetz traces the rise and triumph of the anti-tax movement and the ways that politicians and think-tanks harnessed racial resentments for the benefit of the wealthy.
Michael J. Graetz, The Power to Destroy: How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America Princeton University Press, 2024
Photo credit: Mike Meadows, Los Angeles Times
The post Racism, the Right, and the Anti-Tax Movement appeared first on KPFA.
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Kerala and the CIA
In the 1950s the CIA took a keen interest in Kerala, a newly formed Indian state led, beginning in 1957, by a Communist ministry. Richard Franke describes the turbulent events that led to the ministry’s dismissal and the evidence he and T. M. Thomas Isaac have unearthed about CIA stances and ambitions vis-a-vis Kerala.
T. M. Thomas Isaac and Richard Franke, Toppling the First Ministry: Kerala, the CIA, and the Struggle for Social Justice Monthly Review Press, 2025
The post Kerala and the CIA appeared first on KPFA.
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How to Organize Against Authoritarianism
Are mass protests and elections enough to block the slide toward authoritarianism? Labor scholar and organizer Eric Blanc argues that neither will suffice without exerting leverage on the key pillars of Trump’s support. He discusses how a multi-level campaign against the corporations and other entities that back the administration could be organized, as well as the state of the labor movement and the Supreme Court, the victory of Zohran Mamdani, and what it might take to build to a general strike.
Labor Politics
Eric Blanc, We Are the Union: How Worker-to-Worker Organizing Is Revitalizing Labor and Winning Big UC Press, 2025
Photo credit: By Jessica Bolanos CC BY-SA 4.0
The post How to Organize Against Authoritarianism appeared first on KPFA.
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Animal Minds and Life
First-time presentation of the full-length interview with Brandon Keim about his book Meet the Neighbors, in which he considers the explosion of research into animal intelligence, emotion, and sociality; takes research findings out into everyday landscapes; and examines how wild animals are viewed and treated.
Brandon Keim, Meet the Neighbors: Animal Minds and Life in a More-than-Human World W. W. Norton, 2025 (paper)
The post Animal Minds and Life appeared first on KPFA.
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.
Colombia