Ben Burgis is a philosophy instructor at Morehouse College, a columnist for Jacobin Magazine, and the host of the Give Them An Argument podcast. He also writes for The Daily Beast, is co-host of The Dead Pundits Society, and has authored several books (all linked below).

Possessing a flair for rhetoric and debate, as well as a philosopher’s knack for logic (he’s been called a “logician for the left”), Ben does not shy from—and in fact actively welcomes—sparring with prominent right-wing personalities. Highly active in the online and podcast worlds, he is one of the most recognizable voices on the contemporary American left.

Books:

Christopher Hitchens: What He Got Right, How He Went Wrong, and Why He Still Matters - 2022, Zer0 Books

Canceling Comedians While the World Burns: A Critique of the Contemporary Left - 2021, Zer0 Books

Give Them an Argument: Logic for the Left - 2019, Zer0 Books

Media/affiliations:

Ben Burgis/Give Them An Argument Patreon

Jacobin Magazine author page

The Daily Beast author page

Personal website: benburgis.com

Twitter: @BenBurgis

Red Emma’s - worker-owned bookstore, restaurant, and community events space in Baltimore

Music: “Zero” from Trills EP, by Vincent Mazza

Audio engineering: Derek Simpson

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nofaction.substack.com

“School should be about unlocking human potential.” - Jesse Sharkey

Jesse Sharkey is a Chicago schoolteacher who served as Vice President of the Chicago Teachers Union from 2012 to 2014, acting President from 2014 to 2018, and President from 2018 to 2022. A tireless defender of public education and social democracy, Jesse was instrumental in leading the 2012 and 2019 CTU strikes, both of which led to better pay and working conditions for teachers and other rank-and-file education support staff.

Twitter: @SharkeyCTU1

Chicago Teachers Union official Twitter and website

Articles/press coverage/media appearances:

* “What’s Behind the Attack on Public Schools?” - Class Matters Podcast, 23 April 2022

* “The Chicago Teachers’ Strike Ten Years On: Organizing for the Common Good, Then and Now” - Eric Blane, New Labor Forum, 10 August 2022

* “Chicago Teachers Union VP: 10 Years Ago, We Went on Strike and Won” - Jackson Potter, Jacobin, 10 August 2022

* “Karen Lewis’ Replacement at the CTU Has a Message for Rahm Emanuel” - Miles Kampf-Lassin, In These Times, 22 October 2014

* “Chicago Teachers Union president Jesse Sharkey to step down in June” - Mila Koumpilova, Chalkbeat Chicago, 2 February 2022

Music: “Zero” from Trills EP, by Vincent Mazza

Audio engineering: Derek Simpson

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nofaction.substack.com

Walter Benn Michaels is Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago. An original and uncompromising polemicist, he has authored numerous books—all linked below—and writes about literature, photography, aesthetics, race, and class politics.

Books:

No Politics But Class Politics, co-authored with Adolph Reed, Jr. - forthcoming summer 2022, ERIS Press

The Beauty of a Social Problem: Photography, Autonomy, Economy - 2015, University of Chicago Press

The Trouble With Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity and Ignore Inequality - 2007, Macmillan

The Shape of the Signifier: 1967 to the End of History - 2004, Princeton University Press

Our America: Nativism, Modernism, Pluralism - 1995, Duke University Press

Articles/lectures:

“The Political Economy of Anti-Racism” - 11 February 2018, Nonsite.org

Presentation: The Trouble with Diversity - May 2019, Lone Star College-Kingwood

Other writing can be found at:

Nonsite.org author page: Walter Benn Michaels

Music: “Zero” from Trills EP, by Vincent Mazza

Audio engineering: Derek Simpson

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nofaction.substack.com