The Socialist Program

More than 14,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, and this week Israel and Palestine came to an agreement for a four-day pause in the war. Will the pause extend into a permanent ceasefire? How did this agreement come about when this deal has been available since October?

Brian Becker is joined by Yara Shoufani, a member of the Palestinian Youth Movement and a PhD student in Political Science at York University, and Mohammed Nabulsi, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement and an attorney based out of Houston.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at https://www.patreon.com/TheSocialistProgram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

On today's episode Walter Smolarek and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss the number of people in the U.S. living paycheck to paycheck and the level of disconnect the elites in government have from the working class.

Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Israeli forces raided Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, including the emergency department, the surgical department, and the maternity ward in their ongoing assault that has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians. On Friday, people all over the world are walking out, striking, and protesting the genocide—read more at shutitdown4palestine.org.

Brian Becker is joined by Layan Sima Fuleihan, a popular educator, organizer, the Education Director at The People’s Forum, and an editor at 1804 Books.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at https://www.patreon.com/TheSocialistProgram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

On today's episode Brian and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss how inflation is hitting our paychecks—despite financial reports stating good news.

Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

More than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel as countries around the world withdraw their ambassadors from Israel. But when the one Palestinian member of Congress, Rashida Tlaib, speaks in support of the Palestinian people, she is censured by the House of Representatives.

Brian Becker is joined by Vijay Prashad, the Executive Director of the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, Chief Editor of LeftWord Books, and a prolific author, most recently publishing a new book with Noam Chomsky called “The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power.” He also spoke at the biggest march for Palestine in U.S. history last week, the November 4th National March on Washington.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at https://www.patreon.com/TheSocialistProgram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

On today's episode Brian and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss why people all over the country are finding out at the checkout counter that their bank accounts aren't working. Banks are suddenly closing accounts—sometimes without any notice—in what bankers are calling "de-risking," despite the individuals, families, and small businesses that are hit not doing anything wrong.

Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

After Israel bombed a refugee camp in Gaza for a second time, the global tide is turning against the genocidal campaign and apartheid state.

Brian Becker is joined by Rania Khalek of BreakThrough’s own news show Dispatches. Rania is a journalist based in the Middle East, she hosts Dispatches, and she’s also the co-host of The Freedom Side Live, both of which you can find on YouTube at BreakThroughNews. You can also find her prodigious reporting on social media @RaniaKhalek.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at https://www.patreon.com/TheSocialistProgram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

In this patrons-only Q&A seminar, Brian discusses why Netanyahu has called for "a long war," what it would take for the US to cease its support of Israel's genocide, what we can be doing right now to support Palestine, how to discuss this within other campaigns, what motivates the CIA's anti-communist witchhunts, the housing bubble in China, Modi's government's crackdowns, and more.

Link to November 4th National March On Washington for Palestine referenced in this show: https://www.answercoalition.org/national_march_for_palestine_saturday_nov_4

This episode is a preview of a longer seminar for Patrons in the TSP community. Subscribe at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram to hear the rest of this seminar, support the show, register for next time, and access the highly valuable archive of years of socialist analysis.

On today's episode Brian and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss Biden's push to spend $106 billion on Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan, rather than on housing, bridges, or schools.

Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Prof. Marandi of the University of Tehran says a larger war, involving Iran, Hezbollah and others, is becoming more likely by the day as Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza. President Biden is now visiting Israel, doubling down on the United States’ unconditional support of the apartheid regime. Days after the Un documented how Israel had struck schools and hospitals where Palestinians had taken refuge, a major hospital suffered a direct hit, killing more than 500.

Brian Becker is joined by Professor Mohammad Marandi. He is an expert on American studies and postcolonial literature who teaches at the University of Tehran.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at https://www.patreon.com/TheSocialistProgram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.