What accounts for worker injuries and fatalities in the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota? Should they be viewed as localized phenomena, or are larger socioeconomic processes at work? In his effort to explain oil-boom representations and calamities, Bruce Braun considers and extends Lauren Berlant’s analysis of worker precarity, “crisis ordinariness,” and “slow death.”
Braun and Thomas, eds., Settling the Boom: The Sites and Subjects of Bakken Oil University of Minnesota Press, 2023
The post Oil & Capital appeared first on KPFA.

Oil & Capital

Acclaimed program of ideas, 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.

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What does May Day, as an anarchist and socialist political project, commemorate? Nicolas Lampert and Paul Buhle share historical background; Cindy Milstein reviews anarchist principles; Richard Lichtman considers what Marx called alienation; and Paul C. Gray discusses the importance of identifying workers’ issues of concern and creating democratic structures. (Encore presentation.)
(Image on main page by Washington Area Spark.)
The post May Day Meanings appeared first on KPFA.

May Day Meanings

What did the abrupt transition from socialism to capitalism in the former Soviet Bloc mean for residents, radicals, and the social order? Helena Sheehan, a Marxist thinker, educator, and activist, devotes a portion of her latest book to the impact and legacy of the momentous events of 1989 and 1990.
Helena Sheehan, Until We Fall: Long Distance Life on the Left Monthly Review Press, 2023
The post Socialism to Capitalism appeared first on KPFA.

Socialism to Capitalism

Over the last forty years, bottled water consumption has exploded. Once a rarefied item, global sales of bottled water dwarf every other beverage — totaling $300 billion a year. Environmental sociologist Daniel Jaffee argues that packaged water doesn’t only imperil our oceans and bodies with plastic waste, but undermines safe public water even more than water privatization. (Encore presentation.)
Resources:
Daniel Jaffee, Unbottled: The Fight against Plastic Water and for Water Justice UC Press, 2023
The post Commodifying Water appeared first on KPFA.

Commodifying Water

What insights into Israel/Palestine, and what visions for the region, were articulated by Edward Said? Under what conditions did the Palestinian-American scholar, critic, and activist believe reconciliation and a just coexistence are possible? Jonathan Graubart considers a number of Said’s assertions; he also brings up Ella Shohat’s claims about Zionism’s impact on Mizrahi Jews. (Encore presentation.)
Jonathan Graubart, Jewish Self-Determination beyond Zionism: Lessons from Hannah Arendt and Other Pariahs Temple University Press, 2023
The post Edward Said’s Vision appeared first on KPFA.

Edward Said’s Vision

As the plight of the Palestinians, many of them refugees in their native lands, dominates world headlines, a look at the ways that international policy, though entities like the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has not been driven by altruistic motives. Instead, as historian Laura Robson argues, much of what takes place under the guise of humanitarian assistance has served to keep a lid on displaced populations, while profiting from their captive labor.  
Resources:
Laura Robson, Human Capital: A History of Putting Refugees to Work Verso, 2023
Photo credit: Mrbrfast
The post Exploiting Refugees appeared first on KPFA.

Oil & Capital

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