What if Earth were furious with humanity? What if revolutionaries took their cues from an unruly planet? Anne Stewart examines depictions of terrestrial upheaval and grassroots rebellion in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, Leslie Marmon Silko’s Almanac of the Dead, and other works.
Anne Stewart, Angry Planet: Decolonial Fiction and the American Third World University of Minnesota Press, 2022
 
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Angry Planet

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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What does May Day, as an anarchist and socialist political project, commemorate? Nicolas Lampert and Paul Buhle share historical background; Cindy Milstein reviews anarchist principles; Richard Lichtman considers what Marx called alienation; and Paul C. Gray discusses the importance of identifying workers’ issues of concern and creating democratic structures. (Encore presentation.)
(Image on main page by Washington Area Spark.)
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May Day Meanings

What did the abrupt transition from socialism to capitalism in the former Soviet Bloc mean for residents, radicals, and the social order? Helena Sheehan, a Marxist thinker, educator, and activist, devotes a portion of her latest book to the impact and legacy of the momentous events of 1989 and 1990.
Helena Sheehan, Until We Fall: Long Distance Life on the Left Monthly Review Press, 2023
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Socialism to Capitalism

Over the last forty years, bottled water consumption has exploded. Once a rarefied item, global sales of bottled water dwarf every other beverage — totaling $300 billion a year. Environmental sociologist Daniel Jaffee argues that packaged water doesn’t only imperil our oceans and bodies with plastic waste, but undermines safe public water even more than water privatization. (Encore presentation.)
Resources:
Daniel Jaffee, Unbottled: The Fight against Plastic Water and for Water Justice UC Press, 2023
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Commodifying Water

What insights into Israel/Palestine, and what visions for the region, were articulated by Edward Said? Under what conditions did the Palestinian-American scholar, critic, and activist believe reconciliation and a just coexistence are possible? Jonathan Graubart considers a number of Said’s assertions; he also brings up Ella Shohat’s claims about Zionism’s impact on Mizrahi Jews. (Encore presentation.)
Jonathan Graubart, Jewish Self-Determination beyond Zionism: Lessons from Hannah Arendt and Other Pariahs Temple University Press, 2023
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Edward Said’s Vision

As the plight of the Palestinians, many of them refugees in their native lands, dominates world headlines, a look at the ways that international policy, though entities like the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has not been driven by altruistic motives. Instead, as historian Laura Robson argues, much of what takes place under the guise of humanitarian assistance has served to keep a lid on displaced populations, while profiting from their captive labor.  
Resources:
Laura Robson, Human Capital: A History of Putting Refugees to Work Verso, 2023
Photo credit: Mrbrfast
The post Exploiting Refugees appeared first on KPFA.

Angry Planet

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