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Delete Your Account Podcast

Delete Your Account is a new podcast hosted by journalist Roqayah Chamseddine and her plucky sidekick Kumars Salehi. Every week they will talk about important stories from the worlds of politics and pop culture, both on and off-line, in a way that will never bore you.
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Now displaying: 2021
Dec 17, 2021

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by Lara Sheehi and Stephen Sheehi. Lara us Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at the George Washington University, and the secretary and president-elect of the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology. She is also co-editor of Studies in Gender & Sexuality and of Counterspace in Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society. Lara also serves on the advisory board to the USA-Palestine Mental Health Network and Psychoanalysis for Pride.

Stephen Sheehi is the Sultan Qaboos Professor of Middle East Studies and Director of the Decolonizing Humanities Project at William & Mary, where he is also Professor of Arabic Studies in the Asian and Middle East Studies Program, Arabic Program, and Asian and Pacific Islander American Studies Program. Stephen is also the author of Camera Palaestina: Photography and Displaced Histories of Palestine (with Salim Tamari and Issam Nassar), Arab Imago: A Social History of Portrait Photography, 1860-1910, and Islamophobia: The Ideological Campaign Against Muslims and Foundations of Modern Arab Identity.

Lara and Stephen describe how their work has changed since the pandemic, and unpack the frequently overlooked pitfalls of face-to-face communication and the sanitisation of our daily human experiences. 

We discuss the framework guiding their research into and documentation of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation—threaded with insight from Palestinian clinicians while centering the stories of non-clinical Palestinians.

Lara and Stephen help clarify the origins of not only colonial psychology, but the revolutionary work of psychiatrist and Marxist Frantz Fanon, arguably the architect of what is now called liberation psychology.

We also go over cases of colonial psychological warfare as well as the methods used by Israel's settler colonial state to disrupt and destroy Palestinian life.

You can follow Lara on Twitter @blackflaghag and buy the Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine from Routledge, and wherever fine books are sold.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!

Nov 17, 2021

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by Sarah Lazare, reporter and web editor for In These Times and the coauthor, with her late father Peter Lazare, of the new novel Testimony, a political thriller out now from Strong Arm Press. Sarah introduces listeners to her formative experiences in organizing and independent media, including her father’s legacy of socialist union organizing as well as her own history in the so-called “anti-globalization” and antiwar movements. The gang then dives into a (spoiler free!) preview of Testimony, discussing its main themes and sources of inspiration, why leftists are natural detectives, and the importance of international solidarity to radical politics in the imperial core. 

Follow Sarah on Twitter @SarahLazare, keep up with her reporting at In These Times and order Testimony via Strong Arm Press

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!

Oct 29, 2021

This is just a teaser for today's episode, which is available for Patreon subscribers only!   We can't do the show without your support, so help us keep the lights on over here and access tons of bonus content by subscribing on our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. While you’re at it, we also love it when you subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts

This week, Roqayah and Kumars celebrate Halloween on the After Hours feed with friends of the show Bryan Quinby, Donald Borenstein and Mattie Lubchansky. Bryan is the co-host of Street Fight Radio, alongside Brett Payne, and the cocreator and costar of an upcoming live action comedy series on Means TV. Donald is a freelance journalist and filmmaker whose work has appeared on Means TV. Mattie Lubchansky is the associate editor of The Nib and the author of the Antifa Super Soldier Cookbook as well as the upcoming graphic novel Boys Weekend.

The gang discusses Halloween traditions from candy to costumes before sharing their favorite scary movies and formative horror viewing experiences. Bryan, Donald and Mattie play a spine-tingling new game, and ring in the holiday with some spooky stories.

Follow Donald on Twitter @Boringstein, Mattie @Lubchansky and Bryan @murderxbryan.

Oct 20, 2021

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by Kooper Caraway, president of the South Dakota Federation of Labor, he’s also the former statewide representative for AFSCME Council 65, which represents workers in South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota. Previously, Kooper worked with the American Federation of Teachers and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

Kooper joins us to discuss the wave of strikes sweeping across the United States: over 10,000 John Deere workers, 1,400 Kellogg’s cereal factory workers, over 24,000 nurses and healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente, and many more.

We discuss the tactics being deployed by employers—like attempting to hire non-union workers—and why it's imperative that workers hold the line and continue to fight back.

Kooper explains the optimism present among workers, and how this has driven a new generation of union members and organizers. 

Follow Kooper on Twitter @KooperCaraway.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!

Sep 27, 2021

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by immigration attorney and returning guest Sophia Gurulé, policy counsel and staff attorney with the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project at the Bronx Defenders, a public defender nonprofit in New York City. Sophia was also involved in the CARA Family Detention Pro Bono Project in Dilley, Texas where she helped provide legal services to asylum-seeking women and children and advocated for an end to family detention.

Sophia sheds light on the Biden administration’s mass deportation of Haitian refugees and how right-wing judges anointed by the Federalist Society are keeping the most draconian Trump policies in place. The gang also picks up where Sophia’s last interview left off, discussing Biden’s immigration plan and its shortcomings, Bill Clinton’s immigration legacy and the history of the prison-to-deportation pipeline, and why movements for climate justice, workers’ rights and prison-industrial complex abolition can’t shy away from the demand to abolish borders.

You can follow Sophia on Twitter @s_phia_ and find out more about the work of organizations like Haitian Bridge Alliance, Grassroots Leadership and Black Alliance for Just Immigration.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!

Sep 11, 2021

This is a free clip of our Patreon-only episode with Brett and Bryan of Street Fight Radio. Subscribe at Patreon to hear the rest!

On this episode of Delete Your Account After Hours, Roqayah and Kumars are joined once again by the hosts of Street Fight Radio, Brett Payne and Bryan Quinby. 

Brett and Bryan update us on their latest post-pandemic lifestyle choices—from Bryan's weight loss to Brett's flashy new paint job—and what types of hedonistic misadventures they've been up to. 

The gang also gets into the spooky season a little early by talking aliens, 9/11 conspiracy theories, and Brett and Bryan try their luck at another game of Ohio or Nohio.

Finally, we learn why Bryan thinks "wrestling is back" thanks to the AEW, and how the WWE has failed audiences and wrestlers, paving the wave for a more exciting and creative world of wrestling.

Follow Brett on Twitter @BrettPain and Bryan @murderxbryan. You can also follow the official Street Fight show account @StreetFightWCRS.

Aug 20, 2021

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by socialist congressional candidate and political organizer Imani Oakley, formerly legislative director for New Jersey Working Families, deputy chief of staff in the New Jersey State Assembly, and constituent advocate in the US Senate. She is also the first Dean of Movement Building at the Movement School and recently declared her candidacy in New Jersey’s 10th congressional district, challenging four-term incumbent Donald Payne Jr. in the June 2022 Democratic primary. 

Imani describes the experiences that galvanized her to get involved in policy making at the highest levels of government while pushing her further and further to the left, from witnessing police brutality in her neighborhood to working in the district office of Senator Cory Booker. Imani also talks about her work at Working Families, where she took on New Jersey’s wildly corrupt ballot design, protesting the Biden administration’s eviction inaction with Cori Bush on the Capitol steps, her vision for housing policy, her opponent’s warm relations with ICE, and how she’s taking on the notoriously entrenched New Jersey political machine. 

You can follow Imani on Twitter @ImaniOakleyNJ10 and donate or find out more about how to get involved in her campaign at oakleyforcongress.com.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!

Aug 12, 2021

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by Shanti Singh and René Christian Moya. Shanti is the Legislative and Communications Director for the statewide tenants rights organization Tenants Together. René is an organizer with the L.A. Tenants Union and campaign coordinator for ACCE, the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment.

Shanti and René join us to discuss the consequences of evictions in the midst of an ongoing pandemic, and how the eviction moratorium has played out for renters. We examine the impact of the moratorium, the lack of tenancy protections, and the displacement of the homelessness in California.

The crew also discusses the nefarious ties between members of the real estate industry and property owners and their efforts to further criminalize the unhoused communities in California.

Follow René on Twitter @rcmoya84 and you can also visit the LA Tenants Union’s website at join.latenentsunion.org to become a member. You can follow Shanti on Twitter @uhshanti and Tenants Together @tenantstogether and learn more about how you can support their work at tenantstogether.org.

A transcript for this episode will be provided upon request. Please send an email to deleteuracct @ gmail to get a copy sent to you when it is completed.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!

Aug 1, 2021

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by labor and tech reporter extraordinaire Edward Ongweso Jr., a staff writer at Vice’s Motherboard and cohost of This Machine Kills, a podcast about the political economy of tech. 

Ed shares a bit about his own history as an organizer, which saw him involved in the successful campaign to pass the country's first ride-hail vehicle license cap for drivers in New York City, before expanding on his reporting about the nationwide strike of Uber and Lyft drivers on July 21. The gang discusses the package of antitrust legislation targeting the tech sector currently waiting for a floor vote in the House of Representatives, the provisions of the PRO Act reportedly included in Democrats’ Senate infrastructure bill and how they would impact labor struggles in the gig economy. Ed explains why Uber’s business model is not what it seems and that it is unprofitable by design, situating the company’s practices in the context of the possibility of a tech bubble in the stock market and its implications for the broader economy. The gang rounds out the conversation by zooming in on US-based tech entrepreneurs’ predatory and increasingly devastating push for the adoption of cryptocurrencies by vulnerable populations worldwide. 

You can follow Ed on Twitter @bigblackjacobin and keep up with his staggeringly prolific reporting at Motherboard as well as his podcast, This Machine Kills

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!

Jul 26, 2021

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined once again by grassroots organizer and abolitionist Mariame Kaba, known best as @prisonculture on Twitter. Mariame, whose work focuses primarily on dismantling the prison industrial complex, is also the founder of Project NIA, an advocacy group focused on ending youth incarceration, and co-founded a number of other organizations including the Chicago Taskforce on Violence against Girls and Young Women.

Mariame describes the impact that mutual aid has had during the pandemic, and how mutual aid functions as an act of solidarity, especially during times of crisis when communities are left without resources. We also discuss her new, New York Times bestselling book "We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing And Transforming Justice" and the abolitionist principles that help guide her work.

The crew also examines the emotional satisfaction and fallout behind high profile cases like those of Bill Cosby and Derek Chauvin, and why retribution and revenge are not the same as justice.

You can follow Mariame on Twitter @prisonculture. For more details on the mutual aid toolkit make sure to visit The Big Door Brigade.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!

Jun 11, 2021
Enjoy this free teaser of our interview with Sarah Jaffe. Subscribe at Patreon to hear the whole thing!
 
This week Roqayah and Kumars are joined by returning guest and labor journalist extraordinaire Sarah Jaffe, cohost of Dissent Magazine’s Belabored podcast and the author of two books: Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt, and a new book out this year from Hurst and Bold Type Books, Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone.
 
The gang starts off with the latest on the Palestinian general strike and takes stock of how the BDS movement has shifted US political discourse on Israeli apartheid before moving across the pond as Sarah explains the role of anti-Palestinian propaganda in the UK Labour Party. Sarah debunks business owners’ claims of a “labor shortage” in the US and takes a sober look at the state of the labor movement today before ending on a sporting note.
 
Follow Sarah on Twitter at @sarahljaffe, keep up with her work on her personal website sarahljaffe.com and workwontloveyouback.org, check out the Belabored podcast, and don’t forget to pick up a copy of Work Won’t Love You Back.
Jun 3, 2021

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined—from Ramallah, Palestine—by Rawan Eid and Fathi Nimer, creators of the resource hub Decolonize Palestine. Previously, Rawan organized for Students for Justice in Palestine and the Democratic Socialists of America. After moving to Palestine, she began working for a feminist organization in Ramallah and attending meetings at a local youth group dedicated to sharing Palestinians’ stories and providing a space for discussion. Fathi Nimer is a political scientist, activist, and a former teaching fellow at the Democracy and Human Rights program at Birzeit University.

Rawan and Fathi describe the lessons they've drawn from their personal lives in creating Decolonize Palestine, and how the long arm of Israeli apartheid has impacted and dictated their day to day experiences—from accessing identification cards, the difficulties they face in traveling to Jerusalem from their home in Ramallah, and even something as simple as having a pet.

We examine how far the discourse on Palestine has shifted in the last few years, and recent weeks after the recent massacre in Gaza, and what this means for efforts to confront the occupation both on the ground in occupied Palestine and elsewhere in the world. Fathi describes how academic work has been stymied by the occupation, including calculated efforts by Israel to prevent countless students from leaving the blockaded Gaza Strip in order to study abroad.

We also discuss Israel's historical media censorship inside occupied Palestine and the state's violent attacks on journalists and those engaging in political activity. Rawan and Fathi highlight the recent wave of lynchings of Palestinians and the IDF's mass arrests in Lydd, named "Operation Law and Order" and how this is meant to send a message to Palestinians across occupied Palestine that should they rise up in protest that the state will respond with force.

Finally, the crew talks about ways you can get involved and resources you can access to get better informed about the situation on the ground as well as the historical context that brought us here today.

Follow Rawan on @RiverToSea48, and Fathi @AManInTheSun. For your go-to resource on all things Palestine make sure to visit decolonizepalestine.com and support their work at patreon.com/decolonizepalestine

List of Palestine-related donation causes:

Palestine Children’s Relief Fund

Palestine Red Crescent Society 

BuildPalestine

Middle East Children’s Alliance

Medical Aid for Palestinians

Al Makassed Hospital/Jerusalem Hospitals

United Palestinian Appeal 

Taawon

Political resources:

Palestine Youth Movement

National Students for Justice in Palestine 

US Campaign for Palestinian rights 

Adalah Legal Center 

Al Haq

BDS

Adalah-NY campaign for boycott of Israel

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts. We can't do this show without your support!!!

May 28, 2021

Kumars and Roqayah are joined this week by India Walton, a registered nurse, community organizer and candidate for mayor of Buffalo, New York. She is a founder and former executive director of Fruit Belt community land trust, an historic grassroots housing justice organization, and also former lead community organizer for Open Buffalo’s Opportunity and Justice coalition. She’s already picked up endorsements from the Democratic Socialists of America and New York’s Working Families Party. They call her the unofficial Mayor of Buffalo, she’s just looking to make it super official.

We talk to India about her ideas for transforming the city of Buffalo, including her ideas around policing and public safety, housing, food access, COVID response and more.

If you want to support India's campaign, you can volunteer or donate.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts. We can't do this show without your support!!!

May 20, 2021

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by returning guest Sydney Ghazarian and first timer Ashik Siddique, both climate organizers with the Democratic Socialists of America’s Ecosocialist Working Group and coordinators for DSA’s Green New Deal and PRO Act campaigns. Syd is the Los Angeles-based founder of the Ecosocialist Working Group and previously came on the show to tackle everything from racism in the environmentalist movement to what we can learn from indigenous-led pipeline blockades, as well as her article in In These Times outlining an agenda for escalating climate organizing through labor tactics. Ashik serves on the steering committee of the Ecosocialist Working Group and is a research analyst with the National Priorities Project, an initiative of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC. 

After Ashik shares a bit about his personal path to organizing and the left, the gang jumps into the history of US labor law and breaks down how the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which passed the House of Representatives in 2020 and again on March 9, 2021, would fundamentally alter it, from legalizing secondary strikes to extending labor protections to undocumented immigrants. Syd and Ashik discuss the emerging coalition between unions and the socialist left, as well as the concrete ways the PRO Act would have impacted the unionization efforts of Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama.

Visit proact.dsausa.org to sign up for phone banking in states whose senators do not yet support the bill. 

Follow Ashik on Twitter @ahSHEEK and Syd @SydneyAzari. You can also follow the DSA Ecosocialist Working Group @DSAecosocialism and find out more about how to get involved in this campaign as well as their future efforts here

To keep up with what is happening in Palestine and to learn more about ways you can help, visit the Electronic Intifada and Decolonize Palestine.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts. We can't do this show without your support!!!

May 11, 2021

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined once again from the top of the hour by Brett Payne and Bryan Quinby, hosts of Street Fight Radio and the creators and stars of an upcoming live action comedy series on Means TV, in their first appearance on the show since November. The gang catches up, discussing Biden banning blunts and recent innovations in the field of getting high. Brett and Bryan talk about the community response in Columbus to the police murder of Ma’Khia Bryant before tackling electoral politics, identity politics, and the banality of J.D. Vance

Follow Brett on Twitter @BrettPain, Bryan at @murderxbryan, and the Street Fight show account @StreetFightWCRS, and as always you can hear Street Fight Radio wherever pods are cast.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts. We can't do this show without your support!!!

Apr 23, 2021

This is just a teaser for today's episode, which is available for Patreon subscribers only!   We can't do the show without your support, so help us keep the lights on over here and access tons of bonus content by subscribing on our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. While you’re at it, we also love it when you subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined once again by political cartoonists extraordinaire Eli Valley and our resident artist Matt Lubchansky to talk all things comics, from Matt’s new book and Eli’s ode to Andrew Cuomo to Roqayah’s Panel Pulp project on Twitter and the cultural politics of superheroes. 

Matt is associate editor of the left-wing comics emporium The Nib as well as the writer and illustrator of the long-running webcomic Please Listen To Me, and you can find their work in VICE, Eater, The Intercept, Mad Magazine, Gothamist, Brooklyn Magazine, and many more. Eli is a writer and artist, he’s the author of Diaspora Boy: Comics on Crisis in America and Israel and his work has been published in The New Republic, The Daily Beast, The Nation, and The Nib, among other outlets. The gang also checks in on Andrew Yang’s mayoral campaign, Star Wars, the Godzilla-Kong Monsterverse, and aliens

You can follow Eli on twitter @elivalley, pick up Diaspora Boy via OR Books and find more of his work at elivalley.com. Find Matt on Twitter at Lubchansky, find their work on The Nib and you can pick up The Antifa Super-Soldier Cookbook at your local comic shop or direct from Silver Sprocket

Apr 15, 2021

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined today by Mark Maher, a staff attorney with Reprieve US. Mark currently works as counsel to six men detained at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and works on Reprieve US’ death penalty casework

During this episode Mark goes in-depth discussing the history behind the horrific abuse and internment of some 800 men and boys in the notorious Guantánamo Bay detention camp and how this grave injustice has impacted not only his clients but their families by stripping away their humanity—from reducing them to a number, to keeping them locked away from the outside world for decades without the ability to touch or hold their loved ones.

We also discuss the case of Ahmed Rabbani, endearingly referred to as Badr by those close to him, who has been on hunger strike since 2013 and Mark's role in his case as well as how Reprieve works to fight for Rabbani and other men still locked away inside Guantánamo Bay.

You can follow Mark on Twitter @mahermark123. You can also follow Reprieve @ReprieveUS and keep updated on their cases by visiting their website.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts. We can't do this show without your support!!!

Apr 8, 2021

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined from the top of the show by Amanda Yee, an independent analyst and writer in New York City with a specialty in medical anthropology, and Ian Goodrum, a Beijing-based commentator and senior digital editor for China’s premier English language newspaper China Daily. In Amanda’s first appearance on the show in March 2020, she talked about the rising tide of anti-Asian racism and the demonization of China in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. 

This time, she and Ian go in-depth discussing the implications of anti-China policy and rhetoric in the context of China’s increasingly formidable role as a global anti-imperialist leader. The gang examines the spike in racist violence against people of Asian descent in the US over the past year and hammers out some of the kinks in the discourse around white supremacy in the wake of the Atlanta massage parlor shootings. 

You can follow Amanda on Twitter @catcontentonly and Ian @isgoodrum. You can also follow Ian’s work over at China Daily.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts. We can't do this show without your support!!!

Mar 29, 2021

Kumars and Roqayah are joined today by Danielle Salinas, a certified medical assistant in Oregon and a member of AFSCME Local 328. Danielle recounts visiting Cuba as a public health student and discusses what makes the Cuban health care system unique befores sharing her more a bit of her more recent experience being thrown into the front lines during the pandemic. The gang talks all things vaccines, from vaccine envy and the success of the US rollout to vaccine hesitancy and the merits of comparing the different brands. Danielle offers her perspective on the top stories of the pandemic so far, including the high-risk labor conditions faced by health care workers, liberals being obnoxious, and how to prepare for the next pandemic. 

You can follow Danielle on Twitter @veryspooky_.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts. We can't do this show without your support!!!

Mar 17, 2021

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined once again by Ken Klippenstein, a DC-based investigative reporter with The Intercept whose explosive work has appeared in The Daily Beast, The Young Turks and many other outlets. In his previous appearances, Ken has discussed his exclusive reporting on the Trump administration’s mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic and the importance of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in revealing government misdeeds and corporate malfeasance. 

This time Ken walks us through the implications of the recent Supreme Court decision severely weakening FOIA as well as the effect of the pandemic on transparency and his latest reporting on the FBI spying on Congress in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The gang ends with a retrospective on Trump’s civil legacy on civil liberties, including his expansion of DHS and record number of whistleblower crackdowns, and takes stock of where the intelligence apparatus is headed under Biden.  

You can follow Ken and keep up with his work on Twitter @kenklippenstein and at The Intercept.

Feb 12, 2021

Roqayah is off this week, so Kumars is joined from the top of the hour by independent labor journalist Sarah Jaffe, reporting fellow at Type Media Center, cohost of Dissent Magazine’s Belabored podcast, and the author of two books: Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt, and a new book out now from Hurst and Bold Type Books, Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone. In her new book, Sarah examines the expectation in the neoliberal era that we should love our work, and documents the resistance of workers who fight back against the “labor of love” myth by organizing. 

Sarah and Kumars discuss the main themes and historical background of the book, highlighting the commonalities between workers in sectors as disparate as social work and professional sports, as well as the roots of their contemporary struggles in the development of capitalism. They round out their discussion by reflecting on the obstacles to and possibilities of working-class politics in the 21st century, including the idea of the “professional-managerial class” (PMC) and the relevance of Marxism today.

Follow Sarah on Twitter at @sarahljaffe, keep up with her work on her personal website sarahljaffe.com and workwontloveyouback.org, hear her on the Belabored podcast, and don’t forget to pick up a copy off Work Won’t Love You Back.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts. We can't do this show without your support!!!

Jan 28, 2021

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by Dr. Abigail Cartus, PhD in epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh; Justin Feldman, epidemiologist and Health and Human Rights Fellow at the Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights; and Jay O'Neal, West Virginia teacher and organizer who co-founded the West Virginia United Caucus within the WVEA. After getting to know our guests, including Jay’s experience leading the West Virginia teachers wildcat strike in 2018 that kicked off a wave of teacher strikes nationwide, Abby, Justin, and Jay help us better understand the impact of the pandemic on the United States' educational institutions and how the pressure to open schools is failing our teachers and students, leaving them at greater risk despite little to no support from state officials. 

Abby and Justin explain the myths and realities behind many of the studies being shared on social media, and Jay argues why it's necessary that public health advocacy on behalf of school re-openings involves a thorough understanding of what community transmission means and its implications both inside and outside the classroom. Jay also gives us a clearer picture of how dire things are for teachers, many of whom are risking their lives after being pressured to go back to in-person teaching.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts. We can't do this show without your support!!!

Jan 14, 2021

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) organizer Lillian House, one of 6 leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement in the Denver area to be arrested on September 17, 2020. After sharing a bit about her own path to organizing, Lillian shares her insight into the strength and endurance of BLM organizing in Colorado around the cause of 23-year-old Elijah McClain, slain in 2019 when Aurora, CO police put him into a chokehold and injected with a sedative. Lillian describes how she and her comrades were held illegally for 8 days before seeing a judge and now face decades in prison on trumped-up federal charges, as well as how the local community and labor organizations around the world have shown up to support them while continuing to demand justice for McClain.

You can find more info and ways to help at the National Committee for Justice in Denver website as well as the PSL website, where you can donate to the legal support fund, sign and share this petition demanding that all charges be dropped, and sign and share this statement of solidarity for your organization. 

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts. We can't do this show without your support!!!

Jan 7, 2021

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by Cliff Willmeng, a registered nurse of 13 years, an activist in rank and file labor and environmental struggles, and a front line healthcare worker unjustly dismissed for bringing attention to safety violations which includes the reusing of hospital scrubs and the lack of basic supplies.

Cliff, who once ran for Boulder County Commissioner as a independent socialist and worker’s candidate, helps us understand the impact of the pandemic on nurses, and how hospital administrators have been retaliating against workers such as himself who have been bringing attention to the lack of PPE, despite the obvious risks this poses to both nurses, their families, and patients alike. 

Finally, we discuss how capitalism has devastated US hospitals and why the fight to win healthcare for all necessitates a united front against administrations and health industry CEOs who are profiting off of a global pandemic.

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