The proponents of cultured meat — meat grown in a laboratory — argue that it not only will put an end of the suffering of animals, but could lead us into a world free of the global warming-effects of industrialized animal agriculture. Benjamin Wurgaft discusses how the hopes for cultured meat refract many competing visions of the future, including avoiding deep changes to capitalism. (Encore presentation.)

Resources:

Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft, Meat Planet: Artificial Flesh and the Future of Food UC Press, 2019

The post A Future of Lab-Grown Meat? appeared first on KPFA.

Immanuel Wallerstein (1930-2019) was a radical sociologist and economic historian who pioneered world-systems analysis. Although he analyzed what he called the capitalist world-economy over its centuries-long development, he remained a staunch, and globally influential, critic of capitalism.

Immanuel Wallerstein, World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction Duke University Press, 2004

Immanuel Wallerstein, The Essential Wallerstein The New Press, 2000

The post Remembering Immanuel Wallerstein appeared first on KPFA.

Ayn Rand’s novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged have been called gateway drugs to rightwing ideas for so many Americans. And while the works of the writer and philosopher have seen a resurgence since the global economic crisis, her influence has been undeniably huge and sustained since those books were originally published in mid-century. Historian Lisa Duggan examines what is at the heart of Rand’s enduring appeal. (Encore presentation.)

Resources:

Lisa Duggan, Mean Girl: Ayn Rand and the Culture of Greed UC Press, 2019

The post Ayn Rand and the Culture of Greed appeared first on KPFA.

Class divides and racial dynamics are explored in Nina Revoyr’s latest novel. In A Student of History, a biracial graduate student with a blue-collar background gains access to a very different world, that of the superrich descendants of the founders of Los Angeles. Many of them, he discovers, exert tremendous power and influence behind the scenes. (Encore presentation.)

Nina Revoyr, A Student of History Akashic, 2019

The post The Invisible Aristocracy appeared first on KPFA.

There’s no question: global warming is here and causing serious harm. And we’re on course for much worse, especially as the signatories to the Paris Accord — the US aside — are not on track to meet even the insufficient targets it sets.  How might that shape the politics of the future?   And what might radicals do to change course?  Joel Wainwright discusses our possible futures in a climate-changed world. (Encore presentation.)

Resources:

Geoff Mann and Joel Wainwright, Climate Leviathan: A Political Theory of Our Planetary Future Verso, 2018

The post The Politics of Climate Crisis appeared first on KPFA.

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.

The post Against the Grain – December 17, 2019 appeared first on KPFA.

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.

The post Against the Grain – December 16, 2019 appeared first on KPFA.

“American Socialist” is a documentary film about Eugene Debs, who garnered almost a million votes when he ran for President from prison in 1920.

The post Fund Drive Special: The Life and Times of Eugene Debs appeared first on KPFA.