The Dissidents

Welcome to the latest episode of the Free Speech Forward podcast in which hosts Joia and Chris engage with Ilana Cohen, the Community Engagement Director at the Alliance for Constructive Ethnic Studies. They discuss Ilana's background as a child refugee from the Soviet Union and her journey towards advocating for free speech and critical thinking in education. The conversation highlights the importance of free speech in fostering a healthy free society as well as the challenges faced in the current educational environment. Ilana emphasizes the critical role of education in promoting discourse and understanding among diverse perspectives.

Find out more about Ilana’s work with the Alliance for Constructive Ethnic Studies at: https://www.calethstudies.org/

This podcast features a recording of a live-stream event hosted by Maccabi Lec-Ari and Mike Burke. The discussion focuses on Israel, liberal democracy and rising Antisemitism, particularly within the UK.

Chocolate is the top-selling Halloween candy and is considered a must-have treat for the trick-or-treaters and eaters of leftovers alike.  But do you think about where your chocolate comes from?  Listen to this week's podcast to find out!

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This week's episode is part of an occasional series about coffee,  and this week we actually take time to discuss a closely related commodity--chocolate. Our guest, James Hayes-Bohanan, has been doing research on political, social, cultural, and environmental geography of coffee for 20 years and by extension has learned a fair amount about cacao. In this episode James gives us an overview of growing, harvesting and processing, including an open secret of child exploitation and slave labor. We learn that the manufacturers of the most popular store brands are the worst offenders. James helps us understand the complexities of fair trade, small farms, and large cacao traders, as well as what we can do to find and support more socially responsible producers of chocolate.  

Podcast Notes

Supreme Court decision in support of Nestle and Cargill regarding slave labor: 
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/17/supreme-court-ruling-child-slave-labor-495022

An overview from Equal Exchange with embedded links to company scorecards and more: 
https://www.info.equalexchange.coop/articles/who-grows-your-chocolate

Newspaper article Burdick Chocolate:  https://www.sentinelsource.com/news/local/burdick-clears-the-air-on-rumors-of-walpole-chocolate-company-sale/article_1aa500d3-b4fe-518a-8c1e-2010b1b7a45b.html 

Burdick chocolate partnership with Grenada farmers: https://www.jouvaychocolate.com/about-us  

An industry site: https://worldcocoafoundation.org/

Living Earth Festival Symposium on Chocolate from Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCw5OE_2sgo  

In this episode of the Free Speech Forward podcast, host Chris Bush engages with Frank Xu, President of Californians for Equal Rights Foundation (CFER) and Founding President of San Diego Asian Americans for Equality (SDAAFE). Frank shares his journey as an activist, highlighting the interconnectedness of free speech and equal opportunity. He discusses his experiences in California and the importance of effective communication in public advocacy. Frank also emphasizes the need for youth activism and the role of community support in standing up for free speech rights. He concludes with a vision for investing in initiatives to promote free speech on a global scale, drawing lessons from countries with restrictive regimes.

In this week's episode Elizabeth and Matt Watson discuss ideology in his field of social work. A recently published survey study confirmed that a trend toward liberalism in higher education faculty is even stronger in social work and the researchers expressed less concern about this than we'd hoped. We consider what the findings and the tone of the article mean for the field.  We also discuss the social work code of ethics and potential conflicts created by the preponderance of progressive faculty and elaborate on the importance of diversity of thought in both social work education and social work itself.  We also reached out to the author and Dr. Stephen Stoeffler joined us for a follow up. We asked Stephen about provisions for protecting religious and political views, and how social work faculty can avoid alienating their less progressive students at a time when the field needs more good candidates.  Stephen expressed an openness and commitment to viewpoint diversity in social work classrooms and practice. He also reiterated his beliefs that the field's alignment with the progressive left is appropriate and that social work education should maintain that focus.  We all agreed that these are the kind of difficult conversations we need in the fields of social work and social work education.

Podcast notes

Stoeffler, S., Young, B. & Hassler, M. (2023).  Embracing our values: Social work faculty progressivism in a conservative world. International Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics, 20, 194-219

LSW Matt Watson from our ILV partner, ProSocial Workers is co host this week.

ProSocial Workers is committed to creating a viewpoint inclusive and politically diverse environment for social workers and other helping professionals.  Professionals can find support and continuing education at ProSocialWorkers.com.  

Get access the full author Q&A here: https://prosocialworkers.com/courses/the-case-for-and-against-political-orthodoxy-in-social-work/

First part of the series: Critical vs. Classical Social Justice in Social Work

In this week’s Dissidents Podcast, Jennifer Richmond and Winkfield Twyman, Jr. talk about the meaning of life through the eyes of black sheep and non-conformists. Like Martin Buber in I and Thou, we find meaning in relationships. When we can see each other as they are, and make room for that, we end up expanding ourselves. Unlike social media that constrains us to a narrow lens that boxes us into collectivist and cynical ideologies, we find hope in the more expansive idea that “we are all just here to walk each other home”. We move beyond the shallowness of the many ways we, as a society, interact, honing an internal locus of control and seeking for depth in a search for “something more”.

Welcome to another episode in which co-hosts and co-founders of 1776 Forward, Joia & Chris, speak with one of the Board Members of the Institute of Liberal Values, David Bernstein. David shares his experiences growing up in a politically liberal environment and how his belief in free speech was shaped by personal and historical events. He also emphasizes the importance of free speech in society, the challenges posed by cancel culture, the need for a cultural shift to support open dialogue, and the critical role of education in shaping future generations' understanding of liberal values.

Get your copy of David’s book “Woke Antisemitism” at https://jilv.org/book/

This week's episode is the first in an occasional series about coffee and chocolate. Our guest, James Hayes-Bohanan, has been doing research on political, social, cultural, and environmental geography of coffee for 20 years. In this episode James gives us an overview of historical and contemporary coffee culture and the sociopolitical impact of coffee shops. He describes the growing process, introduces us to growers, and helps us understand the complexities of social justice in the context of fair trade, small farms, and large coffee traders. We talk about coffee tasters' impact on price and quality, coffee rituals, and Frank Sinatra's coffee song.

Podcast Notes:

Stafford, T. (2003). Psychology in the coffee shop. The Psychologist, 16(7), 358–359.

In this week’s Dissidents Podcast, Jennifer Richmond and Winkfield Twyman, Jr. speak with Ian Rowe. Ian recently wrote a review of their book (Letters in Black and White: A New Correspondence on Race in America), which he entitled Three Cheers for Colorblindness.

In this episode of the Free Speech Forward podcast, your hosts Joia and Chris interview Mars Cheung, an advocate for free speech and enlightenment values. Mars shares his journey into the realm of free speech advocacy, emphasizing the importance of free speech for societal flourishing. He discusses the nuances of communication, effective interview techniques, and the significance of critical thinking. Mars envisions projects that promote teaching street epistemology and critical thinking skills, encouraging listeners to find their voice and speak out for their values. Mars believes that if individuals do not speak on controversial topics, others will do so irresponsibly.