Biden and the working class: Harold Meyerson; Dems and the Senate: John Nichols; Margo Jefferson’s memoir
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Recent polls show Biden’s level of support among non-college voters of all races is down to 39% – that’s 9 points less than his level of support from those same voters in the 2020 election – Harold Meyerson comments.
Next: Democrats in the Senate are going to lose the seat vacated by Joe Manchin in West Virginia – can they hold all the others in November? John Nichols has our analysis, starting with Maryland, where Democrat Angela Alsobrooks will face Republican “moderate” Larry Hogan, the popular anti-Trump former governor.
Plus: The wonderful writer Margo Jefferson talks about “Constructing a Nervous System” – her memoir about growing up in a middle-class Black family in Chicago. (First recorded in April 2022) 5-23-2024
American Origins of the Israel – Palestine Conflict, plus Climate Hope
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The most important event in the history of Israel and Palestine was not the 1948 founding of Israel and the Nakba, or Israel’s 1967 occupation of Palestinian territories. It was the outlawing of immigration of Jews (and others) to the US from Russia, Poland, and Eastern and Southern Europe. That was the purpose of the immigration restriction act passed by Congress in May, 1924, 100 years ago this month. Without that, the Jews of Europe would never have moved to Palestine, Harold Meyerson argues.
Also: The New Yorker’s award-winning climate writer Elizabeth Kolbert talks about her fascinating new book, “H is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z.’”
Transcript HERE 5-16-2024
The US, Jews, and Palestine: Harold Meyerson; Elizabeth Kolbert on Climate, Katha Pollitt on Judith Butler
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The most important event in the history of Israel and Palestine was not the 1948 founding of Israel and the Nakba, or Israel’s 1967 occupation of Palestinian territories. It was the outlawing of immigration of Jews (and others) to the US from Russia, Poland, and Eastern and Southern Europe. That was the purpose of the immigration restriction act passed by Congress in May, 1924, 100 years ago this month. Without that, the Jews of Europe would never have moved to Palestine, Harold Meyerson argues.
Also: The New Yorker’s award-winning climate writer Elizabeth Kolbert talks about her fascinating new book, “H is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z.’”
Plus: Judith Butler may be the most famous feminist theorist in the world today. Now Butler has a new book out, with the provocative title, “Who’s Afraid of Gender?” Katha Pollitt provides a critique. 5-16-2024
The Mob Attack on UCLA’s Gaza Encampment, plus Israel, Hamas, and Rape
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Lots of pro-Palestine encampments on college campuses have been attacked by local police, but UCLA was different: a pro-Israel mob attacked the encampment on April 30. The attack continued for three hours before police stepped in, and they didn’t arrest any of the attackers. The next night, the police themselves attacked and shut down the encampment. David Myers has our report.
Also: There’s no doubt that Israeli women and girls were raped during the Hamas attack on Oct. 7; but there is little evidence to support Israel’s charge that rape was a “premediated, systematic” strategy by Hamas—offererd as a justification for their destruction of Gaza and killing 35,000 civilians. At the same time, evidence is growing of sexual abuse of Palestinian women held in detention by Israel. Azadeh Moaveni reports on the findings of her reporting for the LRB.
Transcript HERE 5-7-2024
The mob attack at UCLA: David Myers; Hamas and Rape: Azadeh Moaveni; The Age of Insecurity: Astra Taylor.
Listen HERE
Lots of pro-Palestine encampments on college campuses have been attacked by local police, but UCLA was different: a pro-Israel mob attacked the encampment on April 30. The attack continued for three hours before police stepped in, and they didn’t arrest any of the attackers. The next night, the police themselves attacked and shut down the encampment. David Myers has our report.
Also: There’s no doubt that Israeli women and girls were raped during the Hamas attack on Oct. 7; but there is little evidence to support Israel’s charge that rape was a “premediated, systematic” strategy by Hamas—offererd as a justification for their destruction of Gaza and killing 35,000 civilians. At the same time, evidence is growing of sexual abuse of Palestinian women held in detention by Israel. Azadeh Moaveni reports on the findings of her reporting for the LRB.
Plus: There are two kinds of insecurity in our lives today, Astra Taylor argues: existential insecurity, the unavoidable issues of life and death, and manufactured insecurity—intended to make workers more submissive to authority. Communal action can do a lot to reduce that. Her book is “The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together As Things Fall Apart.” (First broadcast in September, 2023.) 5-7-2024
How Dems Can Win Rural Voters, plus “Who’s Afraid of Gender?”
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Rural America is Trump country. In 2016, Hillary got barely 30 percent of the rural vote. Biden did only a little better in 2020. But he can do a lot better than that this year—and he needs to, if he’s going to carry some of the swing states. Anthony Flaccavento will explain – he’s co-founder and executive director of the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative.
Also: Judith Butler may be the most famous feminist theorist in the world today. Now Butler has a new book out, with the provocative title, “Who’s Afraid of Gender?” Katha Pollitt provides a critique. 5-2-2024
Gaza Protests From UCLA to Columbia: Harold Meyerson; Rural Voters: Anthony Flaccavento
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On Tuesday, April 30, UCLA failed to protect students when 200 pro-Israel militants — who were not students — attacked the pro-Palestine encampment on campus. On Wednesday, thousands of pro-Palestine supporters gathered outside Royce hall; and during the early morning hours on Thursday, May 2, police raided the pro-Palestine encampment themselves and made over 200 arrests. Harold Meyerson contrasts UCLA’s treatment of peaceful protests against Israel’s destruction of Gaza with that of other US universities (recorded after Tuesday, before the Thursday morning raid).
Also: Rural America is Trump country. In 2016, Hillary got barely 30 percent of the rural vote. Biden did only a little better in 2020. But he can do a lot better than that this year — and he needs to, if he’s going to carry some of the swing states. Anthony Flaccavento will explain — he’s co-founder and executive director of the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative.
Plus: Arthur Danto visits Las Vegas — not to gamble, but to look at the art. Arthur was an American art critic, philosopher, and professor at Columbia University. He died in October 25, 2013. (This interview was recorded in March 2000.) 5-2-2024
Can We Build a Shared Homeland for Israelis And Palestinians?
In this conversation, Jon Wiener and May Pundak of A Land For All discuss a better two-state solution.
Jon Wiener: We want to look beyond the daily news of Israel’s destruction of Gaza and talk about a political solution that will bring real equality and justice to Palestinians as well as Israelis. It’s been clear from the beginning of this war that Netanyahu had no goal beyond what he called “complete victory over Hamas.” But what should happen after the war? The US policy for decades has been to support a two-state solution. But today that seems problematic or obsolete.
May Pundak: The reality is so, so, so bleak today. The war on Gaza, and on the Palestinian people well beyond Gaza, in the West Bank, and in East Jerusalem, and within Israel itself, is continuous and continuing. And children are starving today in Gaza. In a way, it is fair to say that we are all complicit in this. I think it’s important to start there, and not make this a conversation that is on another, higher level that is disconnected from where we are. But I honestly believe that a political vision and a political horizon can be a mechanism to end this war faster.
… continued at The Nation, HERE 4-29-2024
A Better Two-State Solution—Plus, the UAW’s Victory
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Transforming the two-state solution for Palestine and Israel to meet today’s realities: a federation, something like the European Union. That’s the project of the visionary group A Land for All. May Pundak, co-executive director, explains.
Also: History was made last Friday in Chattanooga, when workers at Volkswagen’s factory there voted to join the United Auto Workers — by an overwhelming margin, 73 to 27 percent. This was the first major union victory in the South in many decades, and it may mark the rebirth of a powerful union movement. Harold Meyerson comments; he’s editor-at-large of The American Prospect.
Transcript HERE 4-25-2024
UAW victories: Harold Meyerson; Palestine & Israel: May Pundak
Listen HERE
History was made last Friday in Chattanooga, when workers at Volkswagen’s factory there voted to join the United Auto Workers — by an overwhelming margin, 73 to 27 percent. This was the first major union victory in the South in many decades, and it may mark the rebirth of a powerful union movement. Harold Meyerson comments; he’s editor-at-large of The American Prospect.
Plus: Transforming the two-state solution for Palestine and Israel to meet today’s realities: a federation, something like the European Union. That’s the project of the visionary group A Land for All. May Pundak, co-executive director, explains. 4-25-2024
