Delete Your Account Podcast

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined once again by the show's resident artist Matt Lubchansky. Matt is a cartoonist and illustrator with a long running webcomic Please Listen To Me. You can find their work in VICE, Eater, The Intercept, Mad Magazine, Gothamist, and Brooklyn Magazine, among others.

We learn about what Matt has been up to since their previous appearance, especially in light of The Nib losing its primary source of funding from its parent company First Look Media after three and a half years. Matt shares how they've been coping, and why The Nib decided to go independent so they can keep pumping out high quality left-wing comic content. 

We also get into the weeds and examine the role of satire in political cartooning, and how Matt provides social commentary in their comics without punching down. We talk about Matt's artistic portrayal of a dystopian future, and "hell world" that features sci-fi and horror tropes. And this, of course, means we get to talk about aliens and how we would react to a potential alien invasion.

You can follow Matt on Twitter at @Lubchansky and support The Nib by becoming a member of the Inkwell.

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!!!

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are rejoined by Megan the Meme Witch and one of the hosts of the Naughty By Nurture podcast. Longtime listeners will remember her previous interviews discussing shame, trauma and burnout on the left, as well as her appearance modeling a therapy session on a special After Hours episode. This time around Megan outlines what organizers can learn from the lessons of clinical psychological practices about how people change their minds and break their toxic patterns of behavior. 

With the help of the crew, Megan introduces and models one framework she finds useful for organizers constantly confronted with apathy and conservatism: motivational interviewing (MI), which is particularly effective in treating people with deeply entrenched beliefs. Motivational interviewing emphasizes sitting with feelings of ambivalence and letting people come to their own conclusions. Megan, Roqayah, and Kumars end by debating the wisdom of meeting people where they are in the context of genuine bigotry and ideological opposition. 

You follow Megan on Twitter @MemeVVitch and you can check out the abundance of resources referenced in the episode on her old blog. 

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!!!

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by Ashley Reyes and Cam Crowell, former workers of the Portland-based fast food chain Little Big Burger. Both Ashley and Cam were fired for their involvement in the recent campaign to unionize Little Big Burger, and they join the crew less than 24 hours before their union election to talk about these organizing efforts.

Ashley and Cam talk about the issues facing workers at Little Big Burger, and explain how this led to collective action culminating in their union campaign. We talk about the impact of the success of Burgerville workers in forming a union, as well as their decision to join Burgerville workers in the IWW. They also discuss how their efforts resulted in a targeted harassment campaign by management designed to coerce other Little Big Burger workers from joining. This included the firing of nine employees including Cam and Ashley, and the creation of a wildly conspiratorial website that specifically targeted organizers.

We learn why these management tactics have been in vain, and how the push for the Little Big Union has gained traction. 

You can find out more about Little Big Union at littlebigunion.org, follow the union on Twitter @LBU_IWW, and support the Little Big Union strike fund by giving to their fundraising campaign.

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!!!

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by immigration attorney Sophia Gurulé who works for the non-profit legal advocacy group, The Bronx Defenders. Sophia has also participated in the CARA Family Detention Pro Bono Project in Dilley, Texas for which she helped provide legal services to asylum-seeking women and children. 

Sophia describes how the Bronx Defenders, which represents over 30,000 people each year, is creatively redefining public defense through a holistic approach and how this has helped communities impacted by the criminal and immigration system find authentic and effective representation. We learn about the challenges facing public defenders and their clients, from a lack of resources to a system that is designed to instill fear into asylum seekers who are seeking reprieve.

Sophia helps us understand what's at stake for her clients and other undocumented people who are facing an increasingly inhumane detention process. We also talk about the importance of highlighting the ways each recent US President, Republican or Democrat, has ratcheted-up the brutality relative to their predecessors. While Trump is certainly the worst yet, the immigration policies of Clinton and Obama paved the way for the nearly unimaginable cruelty we are enacting today.

You can follow Sophia on Twitter @s_phia_ to keep up to date with her work. You also can find more information on The Bronx Defenders at bronxdefenders.org and on Twitter @BronxDefenders. And support your local bond fund! 

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!!!

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by Sina Toossi, a research associate at the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) where he specializes in Iranian politics and US foreign policy in the Middle East, for another deep dive into the Trump administration’s push for regime change in Iran. Sina was previously at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and the Institute for Policy Studies in DC, and his work has been published in Newsweek and Foreign Policy among many other outlets. 

After sharing a bit of his personal background as well as his path to both his politics and the world of foreign policy thinktanks, Sina breaks down escalating US-Iran tensions, including the fallout from the tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman and Trump’s recent decision to order and then call off military strikes in response to the downing of a US drone in Iranian airspace. The gang also discusses the various responses of the Democrats to the threat of war, public sentiment and activist perspectives in Iran, and why it’s no longer in the Islamic Republic’s interest to abide by the nuclear deal, which Sina outlines in his recent piece for the National Interest on the Iranian government’s strategy for geopolitical survival.

You can follow Sina on Twitter @SinaToossi and keep up with his work at sinatoossi.com.

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!!!

Welcome to election hell. This week we are joined by Sam Knight and Sam Sacks, founders of the artisanal news co-op The District Sentinel and hosts of the daily District Sentinel Radio podcast. The Sams join Roqayah for a discussion of the first Democratic Primary debate, and then Kumars and Roqayah discuss the second debate on their own. Hear our takes on all your favorite candidates, and all your least-favorite candidates as well.

Follow the District Sentinel on twitter @TheDCSentinel and follow Sam Sacks @SamSacks.

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!!!

This is just a teaser for today's episode, which is available for patreon subscribers only! As little as $5 a month keeps the lights on over here, we can't do the show without your support!

Today the gang is joined by comedian and Walkley nominated satirist James Colley, who's written for The Weekly with Charlie Pickering and Gruen on ABC TV. James fills us in on some of the odd and seemingly pointless tourist attractions in Australia—including The Big Pineapple—and how anti-PC culture has shaped his approach to comedy. We also get political and talk about the failures of the Australian Labor Party, and why the party's former leader Bill Shorten had his own Clinton moment during the last election.

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are rejoined by Julia Damphouse and Loren Balhorn, who were last on the show together in 2017 and are back to give us a rundown of the recent European Parliament elections and a German politics update. Julia is a Canadian student in Berlin, a member of the German Left Party die Linke, and the Reading Group Coordinator at Jacobin. Loren is an American member of die Linke also based in Berlin, a contributing editor at Jacobin and a founding editor of Ada Magazin, Jacobin’s German-language sister magazine.

After providing some context the European Union’s legislative body, Julia and Loren explain the main voting blocs in the European Parliament, where they fall on the political spectrum and who the big winners and losers were this time around. The focus then turns to Germany as Loren and Julia discuss the unprecedented rise of the German Green Party, the failure of traditional German social democracy, how the far-right Alternative for Germany is dictating the national agenda, and the anti-immigrant triangulation of the Left Party’s Sahra Wagenknecht.

You can follow Julia on Twitter @remarksist and Loren @fraubalhorn.

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!!!

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by Bahman Kalbasi, who serves as the New York and United Nations Correspondent for BBC Persian. Bahman, who has also covered international affairs for the CBC, discusses the wide-ranging implications of US policy against Iran under the Trump administration and the administrations of Trump’s predecessors.

Bahman, who has previously interviewed then-president Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, examines the similarities and differences between the Obama administration's policy towards Iran and that of Donald Trump, who has in some ways taken a more proactively hawkish position. Bahman offers his takes on the influence of Iran’s regional rivals as well as National Security Advisor John Bolton. The crew discusses the language of US-Iran relations, and how threats from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, coupled with military posturing and vague pre-conditions, are escalating tensions.

Bahman also highlights the lasting impact that oil sanctions and US aggression has had on the Iranian people—specifically their access to increasingly expensive medicine and food—and how US allies, including the UAE and Israel, have helped tighten the grip and further isolate Iran.

You can follow Bahman on Twitter where tweets in English @BahmanKalbasi, and in Persian @bbckalbasi.

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!!!

This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by Ariel Gold and Lily Tajjadini. Ariel serves as the national co-director of the anti-war group CODEPINK, and is an organizer with the Ithaca Committee for Justice in Palestine. Ariel has been published in The Huffington Post, Forward, and Tikkun Magazine, among others. Lily is also an organizer with CODEPINK where she is the Iran Campaign manager. Ariel and Lily, who were recently involved in the historic occupation of the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, D.C., describe the events that lead up to this dramatic action and what hurdles they encountered from local authorities, the Secret Service, and a barrage of protesters loyal to self-appointed president Juan Guaidó.

Ariel and Lily recount the creative efforts on the part of the embassy activists, who called themselves as the Embassy Protection Collective, to get food and supplies into the embassy where as many as 50 demonstrators were inside, having been invited to stay by the legitimate government of Venezuela led by Nicolás Maduro. We hear about hostile clashes during which pro-Guaidó protestors, who had barricaded the exterior of embassy, attempted to intimidate embassy volunteers and prevent access to first aid, medicine, and food.

We discuss the fate of activists who were arrested by authorities after the embassy was illegally raided after an incredible 36 days. Ariel and Lily explain that activists haven’t been charged with trespassing, an admission that the embassy was Venezuelan territory. Additionally, representatives of Guaidó’s self-described “government” still haven’t gained access to the site, further proof of the shaky footing the US government knows itself to be on. Finally, Ariel and Lily explain that, far from a symbolic act, this effort had a real impact on ratcheting down tensions and making a US military attack on Venezuela less likely.

You can follow Ariel on twitter at @ArielElyseGold, and Lily at @lilytaj5. You can also find Code Pink as at @codepink.

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!!!