KQED's Forum

Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, recently described what he calls the "post-American Middle East." Citing the U.S.' withdrawal from Syria and tepid response to Iran's attack on Saudi Arabian oil installations, Haass sees a clear pivot to a reduced role for the U.S. in the Middle East, even without the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops. Haass joins Forum to discuss the Trump administration’s approach to foreign policy in the region.

With people today living decades past the age of 60, UCSF geriatrician Louise Aronson says that we need to stop looking at aging as if it’s a disease or a chronic deterioration. Elderhood, according to Aronson, should be viewed as a life stage, like childhood or adulthood, with its own benefits and challenges. Dr. Aronson joins us to discuss misconceptions about aging and her new book “Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life.” We want to hear from you: what opportunities or challenges have you encountered as you grow older?

According to journalist Adam Minter, we're experiencing a global "crisis of stuff." Americans discard more than 100 billion pounds of unwanted items annually, from electronics to textiles to furniture. Meanwhile, demand for our castoffs is shrinking: Twenty years ago, China was a major importer of used clothing.  Now it's a major exporter. We'll talk to Minter about what he calls "the rising tide of unwanted secondhand" and what we can do to stem it. His new book is "Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale."

California leaders want the state to build half a million new homes each year until 2025 — a rate of housing construction that has never happened before. Some legislators think we could help reach this goal by easing the path for single-family homeowners to build accessory dwelling units, often called “in-law” or “granny flats,” on their property. To that end, the state just approved a number of bills that allow construction of backyard units and garage conversions. We’ll hear about the bills, and find out why some residents are worried that the changes will negatively impact the character of single-family neighborhoods.

It's not enough to be against racism, or to not consider ourselves racists, argues American University professor Ibram X. Kendi. Instead, we must actively be "antiracist" and fight for racial equality. Kendi's new book, "How to Be an Antiracist," examines what he's learned from the Antiracist Research & Policy Center at American University, of which he is founding director, as well as from his own life as a black man. Kendi puts personal and contemporary racism in conversation with national and historical racism, creating an instructive guide to follow his 2017 National Book Award-winning "Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America." Kendi joins us to share his philosophy of "antiracism."

The homeless mothers who have been occupying a West Oakland house are set to attend a hearing on Monday regarding their right of possession claim. Dominique Walker and Sameerah Karim, part of the collective "Moms 4 Housing," entered the house without permission in November to seek shelter and raise awareness of vacant properties amidst Oakland's housing crisis. They received an eviction notice from the house's owner, real estate investment company Wedgewood LLC, in early December but the notice has yet to be carried out by law enforcement. We'll hear from both parties and bring you the latest news in the case.

When NYU vice provost Charlton McIlwain set out to understand how the Black Lives Matter movement energized broad national support, he found a long tradition of black activists connecting their communities through the internet. McIlwain’s new book “Black Software” tells the story of the black internet pioneers — from the 1970s onward — who used the web to amplify their communities' voices. McIlwain joins Forum to discuss the book and share why the stories he uncovered are often excluded from official histories of the internet.

In Dave Eggers' latest book "The Captain and the Glory: An Entertainment," an inexperienced and dishonest man becomes the captain of a storied ship. Hired to "shake things up," the captain discards all of the ship's books and terrorizes its once-welcome refugees. Eggers joins Forum to talk about the book, an allegory of the Trump era, and the role of satire in contemporary politics.

Tough new tenant protections. Revamped rules for gig workers. And a boost in the minimum wage. These are among the hundreds of new California laws set to go into effect in 2020. We'll talk about some of the most noteworthy changes with KQED politics reporter Guy Marzorati.

Earlier this month, Mina Kim interviewed Nastia Voynovskaya about the KQED Arts series “Our Turbulent Decade,” which looked back at some of the biggest Bay Area stories over the last 10 years. Today, we want to share an episode of The Bay podcast from KQED, which takes us through that series year by year with Nastia and other members of the arts team. The Bay is a podcast that features the best Bay Area reporters, who share stories and meaning behind the news.