KPFA - Against the Grain

Recessions, trade wars, labor unrest — in moments of societal crisis in the United States, Asian-Americans have been perennially targeted, from the destruction of Chinatowns by white mobs, to the mass internment of Japanese-Americans during WW2, to attacks against Asians during Covid. Historian Scott Kurashige reflects on more than 175 years of anti-Asian violence and its connection to U.S. empire abroad and a divided working class at home. (Encore presentation.)

Scott Kurashige, American Peril: The Violent History of Anti-Asian Racism UC Press, 2026

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

The post U.S. Capitalism, Empire, and Anti-Asian Violence appeared first on KPFA.

Capitalism has transformed the world like no other force, which historian Sven Beckert calls a fundamental break in human history. Beckert traces the emergence and expansion of capitalism, arguing that we can best understand the present by coming to terms with its past. (Full-length presentation.)

Sven Beckert, Capitalism: A Global History Penguin Press, 2025

The post Beckert on Global Capitalism appeared first on KPFA.

The Trump administration has justified the mass incarceration and deportation of immigrants by asserting that it’s going after the most violent offenders. Scholars of law and punishment, Keramet Reiter and Joshua Page, delve into the designation of the worst of the worse — from Three Strikes laws to longterm solitary confinement to mass detention under inhumane conditions and the transfer of immigrants to foreign prisons like CECOT in El Salvador.

Joshua Page and Keramet Reiter, The Uses and Abuses of the “Worst of the Worst” Dissent July 8, 2026

The post Immigrant Detention and the “Worst of the Worst” appeared first on KPFA.

For as long as we’ve known, humans have revered ancient trees. We’ve also destroyed them, especially since the advent of colonialism and fossil fuel capitalism. Environmental historian Jared Farmer reflects on what trees illuminate about our past and potential future. And forest activist and writer Greg King discusses the decimation of the California redwoods and the fight to preserve them.

Jared Farmer, Elderflora: A Modern History of Ancient Trees Basic Books, 2022

Greg King, The Ghost Forest: Racists, Radicals, and Real Estate in the California Redwoods Public Affairs, 2023

Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

The post Ancient Trees and Fossil Capitalism appeared first on KPFA.

We all know that we need money to survive, but most of us don’t spend much time considering its form and uses. Debt, interest, GDP, and capital just seem to follow almost natural laws. But J.W. Mason argues that we misunderstand money, and its power over our lives, at our peril.

J. W. Mason and Arjun Jayadev, Against Money University of Chicago Press, 2026

Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash

The post What’s Money For? appeared first on KPFA.

What can the weird tell us about our world of computer vision and so-called Artificial Intelligence? Artist and geographer Trevor Paglen discusses the function of the image now, when the majority of images are made by computers for other computers, with the goal of manipulating our perceptions.

Trevor Paglen, How to See Like a Machine: Images After AI Verso, 2026

Photo by Goost Eight on Unsplash

The post Images, UFOs, and Artificial Intelligence appeared first on KPFA.

Many in our society are struggling to provide care for their families or communities. Often they don’t have time to do it and can’t afford to pay for it. The right realizes this and has tried to woo women with a glorified vision of domestic life. Economist Nancy Folbre discusses the early fight for the recognition of unpaid care work as real work, while the economics profession has mainly ignored it, despite its crucial importance for capitalism. (Encore presentation.)

Nancy Folbre, Making Care Work: Why Our Economy Should Put People First UC Press, 2026

Photo by Jill Brand on Unsplash

The post Counting Care Work appeared first on KPFA.

Workers want and deserve decent, dignified, and democratic workplaces. But better wages and working conditions can be elusive in the face of management inertia and intransigence. Veteran organizer and Labor Notes board chair Ellen David Friedman talks about how to win workplace demands while building workers’ collective power.

Ellen David Friedman, Keep Going: A Guide to Organizing When It’s Hard (PM Press / Labor Notes)

The post Organizing to Win appeared first on KPFA.

The Trump administration has been unabashed in its intention to criminalize dissent, labeling protestors “domestic terrorists.” A recent verdict against anti-ICE protestors in Texas promises to be consequential in that effort.  Scholar Thomas Zeitzoff reflects on the administration’s widespread attempts to quash opposition, from targeting fundraising by liberal nonprofits, knocking on the doors of former activists, or charging people with conspiracy for communicating on Signal about protests. (Encore presentation.)

Thomas Zeitzoff, No Option But Sabotage: The Radical Environmental Movement and the Climate Crisis Oxford University Press, 2026

The post Criminalizing Dissent appeared first on KPFA.

The ramifications of the US attack on Iran have been a harsh reminder of the centrality of oil to the global economy – and not just for fuel and transport. Political economist Adam Hanieh reflects on the rise of crude oil in the 20th century. He argues that the blockage in the Gulf threatens to set off a more serious global crisis than seen in the 1970s. (Encore presentation.)

Adam Hanieh, Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market Verso, 2025

The post Oil and Global Capitalism appeared first on KPFA.