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.
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General Strike of the Slaves
Did Lincoln free the slaves? Or did they just as much free themselves? And what were the ramifications of their seemingly impossible achievement — immediate and uncompensated emancipation — for other oppressed groups? Historian David Roediger discusses that revolutionary period in U.S. history — and the consequences of its failure today. (Encore presentation.)
David R. Roediger, Seizing Freedom: Slave Emancipation and Liberty for All Verso, 2015
The post General Strike of the Slaves appeared first on KPFA.
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Troops in Cities; Veterans Under Siege
Supporting members of the military to resist deployment has taken on a new urgency as Trump sends troops into American cities. Journalist Steve Early discusses the history of soldier organizing — including as workers — from Vietnam to the present. And Suzanne Gordon reflects on why the broad public should care about the administration’s attack on the 1,400 hospitals and clinics that serve veterans, the largest socialized medical system in the country.
Common Defense
Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute
Suzanne Gordon, Steve Early, and Jasper Craven, Our Veterans: Winners, Losers, Friends, and Enemies on the New Terrain of Veterans Affairs Duke University Press, 2022
Photo by Ian Hutchinson on Unsplash
The post Troops in Cities; Veterans Under Siege appeared first on KPFA.
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Zionism and U.S. Unions
This autumn Italian workers shut down their country in opposition to the Gaza genocide. In the United States, in contrast, labor activists wanting to take a stand in solidarity with Palestinian workers are frequently chastised for trying to involve their unions in the affairs of other countries. Yet labor historian Jeff Schuhrke illustrates that U.S. unions have long been involved in Palestine — for almost a century supporting Zionism and then the state Israel.
National Labor Network for Ceasefire
Jeff Schuhrke, No Neutrals There: US Labor, Zionism, and the Struggle for Palestine Haymarket Books, 2025
Photo by Nikolas Gannon on Unsplash
The post Zionism and U.S. Unions 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.
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