KPFK - Beneath The Surface

Guest: Jackie Goldberg, Eric Blanc

Jackie Goldberg, former teacher, member of the School Board, City Council and State Assembly is now running in the March 5th special election to the LAUSD School Board. If elected, Jackie will be an experienced and effective progressive voice for public education, opposing the charter allies elected with money from the '''bankrollers [who] have stacked the deck against district public schools.''' We talk to Jackie about the strike, the fight to save public education, and how the forces are aligned from Los Angeles to Sacramento to Washington.

Eric Blanc, author of the just published "Red State Revolt: The Teachers Strike Wave and Working Class Politics." has been covering the strike for Jacobin magazine. He looks at the larger issues in the UTLA strike, the billionaires arrayed against the LA schools, the dilemma this strike poses for establishment Democrats, and why this fightback is historic. Eric maintains that at its core, the strike '''is a fight against a hostile takeover of public schools by the superrich.'''

Guest: Arlene Inouye, Simon Pirani

Arlene Inouye, Secretary of the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) and Co-Chair of the Negotiations Team on how important the LAUSD strike, beginning January 14, is for public education, indeed, for the public. UTLA is demanding that LAUSD negotiate a fair agreement that addresses class size, funding for nurses, librarians, a halt to further privatization through charterization, and teacher pay -- or face teachers on picket lines. After the spectacular Red State teachers strikes of last year, the LAUSD strike has enormous potential in practical and inspirational terms ''' for labor and community as a whole.

Simon Pirani, Senior Visiting Research Fellow at Oxford Institute for Energy Studies on his new book, "Burning Up: a global history of fossil fuel consumption," that traces the inexorable increase in oil, gas and coal use since the mid 20th century - and shows how consumption growth accelerated since the discovery of global warming in the 1980s. He argues that fuels are mainly consumed through technological systems, which are in turn embedded in social, economic and political systems - and that the transition away from fossil fuels will mean the transformation of all of these.

Guest: Arlene Inouye, Simon Pirani

Arlene Inouye, Secretary of the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) and Co-Chair of the Negotiations Team on how important the LAUSD strike, beginning January 14, is for public education, indeed, for the public. UTLA is demanding that LAUSD negotiate a fair agreement that addresses class size, funding for nurses, librarians, a halt to further privatization through charterization, and teacher pay -- or face teachers on picket lines. After the spectacular Red State teachers strikes of last year, the LAUSD strike has enormous potential in practical and inspirational terms ''' for labor and community as a whole.

Simon Pirani, Senior Visiting Research Fellow at Oxford Institute for Energy Studies on his new book, "Burning Up: a global history of fossil fuel consumption," that traces the inexorable increase in oil, gas and coal use since the mid 20th century - and shows how consumption growth accelerated since the discovery of global warming in the 1980s. He argues that fuels are mainly consumed through technological systems, which are in turn embedded in social, economic and political systems - and that the transition away from fossil fuels will mean the transformation of all of these.

Suzi Weissman

Suzi Weissman

Guest: Mike Davis, Meleiza Figueroa, Steve Breedlove

At year'''s end we look at the fires that ravaged California, and the aftermath ''' which as urban theorist Mike Davis reminds us, reinforces the socioeconomic inequalities that already characterize this nation-state of 40 million people. Mike Davis looks at the Paradise and Malibu conflagrations, the Tale of Two Fires first aired on November 18. Then UC Berkeley grad student and activist Meleiza Figueroa, who lives part time in Chico, near Paradise, and Steve Breedlove, social critic, veteran, and permaculturalist active in the Cleanup and Rebuild working group of North Valley Mutual Aid look at day to day survival and recovery since the disaster ''' as well as climate crisis and the role governments must play to avert complete disaster.

Guest: Mike Davis, Meleiza Figueroa, Steve Breedlove

At year'''s end we look at the fires that ravaged California, and the aftermath ''' which as urban theorist Mike Davis reminds us, reinforces the socioeconomic inequalities that already characterize this nation-state of 40 million people. Mike Davis looks at the Paradise and Malibu conflagrations, the Tale of Two Fires first aired on November 18. Then UC Berkeley grad student and activist Meleiza Figueroa, who lives part time in Chico, near Paradise, and Steve Breedlove, social critic, veteran, and permaculturalist active in the Cleanup and Rebuild working group of North Valley Mutual Aid look at day to day survival and recovery since the disaster ''' as well as climate crisis and the role governments must play to avert complete disaster.

Guest: Richard Walker, Alex Caputo-Pearl

Richard Walker on his new book "Pictures of a Gone City," an urban geography of the San Francisco Bay Area, America'''s richest and fastest changing metropolis. Walker explains both the miracle of Silicon Valley ''' including the sometimes delusional ideas behind this new tech boom, and the heavy price being paid for it in terms of unaffordability, traffic paralysis, environmental disruption, as well as the political challenges and movements it has spawned.

Also: we bring back our discussion with UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl on the issues that have led to the union'''s announcement of the January 10 strike date, after twenty months of fruitless bargaining with the LAUSD head Austin Beutner. After 50,000 marched through the streets of LA on December 15 protesting the District'''s underfunding and privatizing of our schools, they say if they strike, it will be a strike for students, with parents for educational and racial justice.

Guest: Sebastian Budgen

Sebastian Budgen is an editor for Verso Books, a contributing editor for Jacobin magazine, and serves on the editorial board of Historical Materialism. He joins us with a report and analysis of the Gilet Jaunes (Yellow Vest) social movement in France that began protesting President Macron's hike in gas prices and the reduction of the speed limit, so called climate change measures on the backs of those who are already increasingly unable to make ends meet. President Macron's neoliberal politics are seen to favor the rich and ultra-rich -- and are based on a thin sliver of the population. His support has plummeted. The Yellow Vest movement began spontaneously on November 24, and has grown tremendously. Two thirds of the population support them. The protestors have blockaded roads, erected barricades, and police have responded with mass arrests and violence. We'll get Sebastian's understanding of this movement, its demands, politics and its potential.

Suzi Weissman