The Socialist Program with Brian Becker

Brian and Prof. Ken Hammond discuss U.S.-China relations, China’s role in Africa and the new Cold War. In a stunning display of hypocrisy, western powers are decrying China for alleged “colonialism” in Africa. What is the true nature of China’s economic and diplomatic engagement with the continent, and how does the corporate media try to twist reality? Prof. Hammond explains the vital historical context to understand the China-Africa relationship, and how the United States has Africa in the crosshairs as it pursues its new Cold War.

Watch the NEW video edition of “The Real Story” on BreakThrough News!

Dr. Ken Hammond, professor of East Asian and Global History at New Mexico State University, founding director of the Confucius Institute at New Mexico State University, and activist with Pivot to Peace.

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.

On today's episode Brian and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss how the Omicron variant is causing panic in global financial markets, with huge stock sell-offs taking place worldwide. What can we learn about how different countries have handled the pandemic, and the radically different outcomes they produced?

Professor Richard  Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at  Work. You can check out 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.

In this November 2021 patrons-only seminar, Brian and the crew discuss the big picture of global class struggle and its history, the movement  for justice in the U.S. where the national question is central, and how a revolution is possible in the U.S., how socialism can be built in the U.S. and how it is being built in countries like China, as well as existential crises that only socialism can solve; climate change, war, and fascism. Brian also shares some of his personal experiences as a young activist during the tumultuous period of the late 1960's. Check out the preview now and subscribe at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram to hear the rest!

On today's In the News roundtable, Brian Becker, Esther Iverem, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss how the three men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery have been convicted of murder in a major victory for the struggle against racism, but at the same time the Rittenhouse verdict reveals a grave danger. They also discuss the emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID due to global vaccine apartheid, efforts to rig the U.S. electoral map, the historic victory  of the left in the Honduran presidential election, and more.

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.

Karl Marx wrote in Capital that capitalism came into the world “dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt.” The Thanksgiving holiday is built around an insidious and false creation myth -- that the so-called “settling” of North America was a peaceful and amicable process. But in reality, the genocidal expansion of colonialism across the continent led to unspeakable suffering and death for Indigenous peoples. What is the real story of the birth of U.S. capitalism?

Dr. Gerald Horne holds the Moores Professorship of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston and the author of many books, including “The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century”.

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.

On today's episode Walter Smolarek and Prof. Richard  Wolff discuss the Biden administration's announcement that Federal  Reserve chairman Jerome Powell would be renominated for a second term.  Powell, a former finance capitalist who has headed the Fed since 2018,  was the Wall Street favorite for the job. What role has Powell played in  the management of U.S. capitalism?

Professor Richard Wolff is an  author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can  check out 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.

On today's In the News roundtable, Esther Iverem, Nicole  Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss how the menace of racist vigilante  violence received a dramatic boost by the U.S. court system with the  acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse on all charges. They also discuss how  protesters took to the streets in outraged response to the verdict, the  victory of pro-Revolution candidates in the Venezuelan election, the  latest Jan. 6 attack court developments, demonstrations worldwide  against U.S. intervention in Ethiopia, resistance to the coup in Sudan,  and more.

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.

How does the relentless U.S. war machine sell its operations to the public? Dr. Nazia Kazi, an activist and professor of Anthropology at Stockton University, explains how the managers of the U.S. empire foment Islamophobia and other racist ideas at home as an integral part of waging war abroad. Dr. Kazi challenges theories of racism that ignore U.S. foreign policy, and discusses how Islamophobia has played a central role in justifying U.S. acts of aggression, in excusing military atrocities, and in creating a massive new surveillance apparatus at home.  That surveillance has been turned on Muslim and Arab Americans, along with social movements from Occupy Wall Street to Standing Rock to Black Lives Matter.

Watch the NEW video edition of “The Real Story” on BreakThrough News!

Dr. Nazia Kazi is author of the book “Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics,” which has just been republished in a second edition.

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.

On today's episode Brian and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss  the steepest rise in prices in the last 30 years, which has set off  alarm bells and handed politicians like Joe Manchin a convenient excuse  to deepen their opposition to pro-worker social programs. Where does  inflation come from in a capitalist economy? What effect does it have on  the working class and on the capitalist class?

Professor Richard  Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at  Work. You can check out 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.

On today's In the News roundtable, Brian Becker, Esther Iverem, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss a newly-revealed US war crime in Syria that took the lives of over 60 civilians, causing  shock and outrage around the world. They also discuss the trials of Kyle Rittenhouse and the killers of Ahmaud Arbery, CIA-orchestrated efforts to destabilize Cuba, the dangerous rise of the violent far right, the social program budget being pushed to the side in favor of military spending, and more.

The following articles are referenced in this episode:

How the U.S. Hid an Airstrike That Killed Dozens of Civilians in Syria https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/13/us/us-airstrikes-civilian-deaths.html

How a School District Got Caught in Virginia’s Political Maelstrom https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/14/us/loudoun-county-school-board-va.html

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.