Guest: Jeanne Carstensen is an award-winning journalist. She is the author of A Greek Tragedy: One Day, a Deadly Shipwreck, and the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis.

The post A Greek Tragedy: the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Dean Baker is a Senior Economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.   He is the author of several books, including Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer. His blog, Beat the Press, provides commentary on economic reporting.

Photo by lonely blue on Unsplash

The post Economist Dean Baker on Trump’s Tariffs appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Nancy Altman is the President of Social Security Works.org.  She is the author of The Truth About Social Security: The Founders’ Words Refute Revisionist History, Zombie Lies, and Common Misunderstandings; The Battle for Social Security: From FDR’s Vision to Bush’s Gamble; and the coauthor with Eric Kingson of Social Security Works For Everyone!: Protecting and Expanding America’s Most Popular Social Program.

Her latest article can be found in counterpunch: The Greatest Threat to Social Security in Its 90 Year History.

The post The Greatest Threat to Social Security in Its 90-Year History appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Fred Glass is a labor Scholar. He’s also the former communications director for the California Federation of Teachers and is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).  He is the author of the book From Mission to Microchip: A History of the California Labor Movement. He also the director of the film We Mean to Make Things Over: A History of May Day which is a half-hour documentary video. 

On Thursday, April 3, 2025 from 5-7pm there will be  Art, documentary video, and labor politics featured at a reception at the UC Berkeley Labor Center (2521 Channing Way Berkeley CA).   As labor organizing is on the rise and the Trump administration threatens to dismantle federal oversight of labor rights, this event about the history and current relevance of International Workers’ Day—May Day—is extremely timely.

The 30-minute award-winning documentary film “We Mean to Make Things Over” explores how May Day became a workers’ holiday across the world, except in the USA—even though the tragic events inspiring May Day occurred here. Filmmaker Fred Glass will introduce the film.

Powerful scratchboard drawings depicting struggles for labor and immigrant rights in the late 19th century and today are on display at the Labor Center. Bay Area artist Jos Sances, who produced the illustrations for the documentary, will join us.

UAW President Shawn Fain is calling for unions of all industries to line up their contracts for expiration—and a general strike—on May Day 2028. UAW Local 4811 leader Tanzil Chowdhury will lead a post-film discussion of this potentially historic May Day event.

The post Labor Organizing in History & Building Blocks for a General Strike appeared first on KPFA.

Host Mitch Jeserich analysis and calls from listeners about the action of Senator Cory Booker in the Senate Floor.

The post Live: Senator Cory Booker Protesting the Trump Administration’s Policies on the Senate Floor appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Miriam Pawel is an award-winning reporter and editor who spent twenty-five years working for Newsday and the Los Angeles Times. She is the author of The Crusades of Cesar Chavez: A Biography. 

The post Cesar Chavez & the Farmworkers’ Struggle appeared first on KPFA.

Part 1. Gutting the Federal Work Force

Guest: Eric Blanc is a professor of labor studies at Rutgers University, Eric Blanc is author of the substack Labor Politics as well as the new book We Are the Union: How Worker-to-Worker Organizing is Revitalizing Labor and Winning Big. Blanc is an organizer trainer for the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee.

Part 2. Advocating for Gender Diversity in Sports

Harrison Browne is the first transgender athlete in professional hockey. He is the appointed inclusion leader for the NWHL advisory board and special ambassador for the National Hockey League’s Hockey Is for Everyone initiative.  He is the author with Rachel Browne of the forthcoming book Let Us Play: Winning the Battle for Gender Diverse Athletes.

Rachel Browne is an award-winning investigative journalist and documentary producer whose work appears has several outlets including VICE News, POLITICO, and many others. She is coauthor with Harrison Browne of Let Us Play: Winning the Battle for Gender Diverse Athletes. 

The post Gutting the Federal Work Force. Then, Advocating for Gender Diversity in Sports appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Linda Gordon is Professor Emerita of History at New York University. She is the winner of two Bancroft Prizes for best book in American history, most lately she is the author of Seven Social Movements That Changed America.

The post A History of Twentieth Century Social Movements appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Ruth Conniff is Editor-in-chief of the Wisconsin Examiner.  She is the author of “Milked: How an American Crisis Brought Together Midwestern Dairy Farmers and Mexican Workers” which won the 2022 Studs and Ida Terkel award from The New Press.

Photo: Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead on Public domain

The post Ruth Conniff: First 64 Days of the Trump Regime & Nihilism in the Wisconsin Supreme Court appeared first on KPFA.

Guest: Lyndal Roper is Regius Professor of History at the University of Oxford.  She is the author of several books including, Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet; Witch Craze, and her latest, Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War.

The post The German Peasant’s War appeared first on KPFA.