Podcasts by Better Off Red
Haven’t you heard? People are feeling socialism these days--almost as much as they’re feeling the crushing anxiety of mounting debt, climate catastrophe and the rising tide of bigotry and racism. But what exactly does socialism mean today? Jen Roesch and Danny Katch talk politics and protest with a range of guests to uncover the path to a better world from the wreckage of this dung heap. If the daily struggle with capitalism has you teetering on the edge of existential despair, then this is your indispensable dose of socialist wisdom and hope.
Further podcasts by Socialists Talking About Socialism
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45: Women in tech talk organizing from 2019-03-06T18:34:11
In this episode, Kristen and Zakiya join us to talk about recent developments in technology worker organizing. From walkouts at Google over sexual harassment to demands that companies like Microsof...
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44: Here comes Bernie, Joseph Graves Jr. on the scientific fiction of race from 2019-02-28T16:57:29
We’re joined this week by Joseph Graves Jr., a genetics professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and author of The Emperor's New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Mille...
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43: Wyomia Tyus takes no prisoners; socialism is coming to the USA from 2019-02-22T16:19:12
In this episode, we talk to three-time gold medalist Wyomia Tyus about her memoir Tigerbelle: The Wyomia Tyus Story. We are also joined by her co-author Elizabeth Terzakis. In our intro, we discuss...
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42: Tacos 4 Teachers; Indigenous People’s March; Anand Gopal on troop withdrawals from 2019-02-06T16:56:30
In this episode, Eric talks to Anand Gopal about what’s behind the Trump administration’s plans — which have since been partially walked back — to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan. Anand ...
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41: LA Teachers’ Strike; Helen Scott on Rosa Luxemburg’s Legacy from 2019-01-24T21:31:48
In this episode, we talk to Helen Scott about the life and legacy of Rosa Luxemburg on the 100th anniversary of Luxemburg’s murder. We discuss her most essential works, The Mass Strike and Reform o...
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40: LA Teachers; Women’s March; Holly Lewis on The Politics of Everybody from 2019-01-16T17:57:37
In this episode, we talk to Holly Lewis about her book the The Politics of Everybody: Feminism, Queer Theory and Marxism at the Intersection (http://bit.ly/LewisEverybody). We talk about what Holly...
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39: Yellow Vests; The Red Nation’s Melanie Yazzie & Nick Estes from 2018-12-20T16:15:58
Great show this week! We talk with Melanie Yazzie and Nick Estes of The Red Nation, an important new revolutionary organization fighting for Indigenous liberation.
Melanie is a Diné schol...
38: Socialists in Congress; David Renton on Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League from 2018-12-10T21:58:23
This week we talk to British socialist David Renton about the history of Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League. RaR and the ANL were a cultural and protest movement against the rise of the N...
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37: The migrant and refugee caravan needs our solidarity now from 2018-12-05T10:47:11
We have an especially powerful episode this week about the increasingly desperate situation facing the migrant and refugee caravan that is now spread all the way from Mexico City to Tijuana.
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36: Sean Larson on history’s lost revolution; the return of anti-Semitism from 2018-11-27T15:59:26
This month marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the German Revolution. Never heard of it? Don’t worry, most people haven’t, even though the revolution—or rather its failure—is arguably one o...
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35: Sumaya A. on the fight for socialism; Thanksgiving thoughts from 2018-11-20T18:07:28
We’re taking a partial break this week for the holiday, but that doesn’t mean we’re leaving you hanging. Sumaya A., who joined us in Episode 8 to discuss anti-imperialism and Palestine, gave a bril...
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34: Lance Selfa, the midterms and the meaning of life from 2018-11-12T20:36:19
Lance Selfa comes on the pod this week to discuss what midterms tell us about the state of U.S. politics. In addition to being an associate editor of the International Socialist Review and a freque...
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33: Solidarity with the caravan; Leandros Fischer on Die Linke’s strategy from 2018-11-06T16:32:27
33: Solidarity with the caravan; Leandros Fischer on Die Linke’s strategy
This week, we talk to Leandros Fischer of Germany’s Die Linke (The Left Party). In the wake of a wave of refugee m...
32: Right turn in US politics, Aldo Cordeiro Sauda on Bolsonaro’s Brazil from 2018-10-30T04:15:03
32: Right turn in US politics, Aldo Cordeiro Sauda on Bolsonaro’s Brazil
In this week’s episode, we discuss Brazil’s President-elect Jair Bolsonaro with Brazilian socialist Aldo Cordeiro S...
31: Building fighting unions at UPS and Delta from 2018-10-24T19:29:15
The U.S. labor movement is in an interesting place. The strikes of first teachers and now hotel workers are showing the depths of anger among workers about years of disrespect and stagnant wages—an...
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30: Todd St. Hill and Jesse Hagopian on fighting for Black lives in Chicago and beyond from 2018-10-17T18:31:18
This week we discuss the conviction of Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke for the murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald—the first conviction of a Chicago cop for an on-duty shooting in 50 years....
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29: #MeToo with Emily Comer, Jen Roesch, Sherry Wolf and Elizabeth Wrigley-Field from 2018-10-08T17:24:12
29: #MeToo with Emily Comer, Jen Roesch, Sherry Wolf and Elizabeth Wrigley-Field
This week is all about #MeToo and the tremendous struggle against Kavanaugh. We recorded before the confirm...
28: Hadas Thier explains how capitalism doesn’t work from 2018-10-03T14:18:02
In the opener to episode 26 we discussed the political impact of the Great Recession and promised to soon have a guest to help explain the economic side of the story. We take our promises very seri...
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27: #MeToo vs Kavanaugh; Ashley Dawson on Climate Change and Capitalism from 2018-09-26T17:44:15
This week we talk to Ashley Dawson about capitalism and climate change. In our intro, we talk about the unfolding and cascading allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh — and what ...
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26: The Great Recession’s legacy; Daphna Thier on Israel’s working class from 2018-09-18T20:24:47
This week we speak to Daphna Thier on the theme of “What’s the matter with the Israeli working class?”
That’s the provocative title of Daphna’s new article in the International Socialist ...
25: Attack on Jeremy Corbyn; Justin Akers Chacón on Radicals in the Barrio from 2018-09-11T07:19:51
This week we bring out a bonus conversation with author and immigrant justice activist Justin Akers Chacón (who talked with us about border politics in episode 18) about his new book Radicals in th...
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24: Capitalism’s Climate Catastrophe; Marx and Colonialism with Pranav Jani from 2018-08-27T17:53:56
In a wide-ranging conversation, we talk to Pranav Jani about Marxism and colonialism. Pranav is an associate professor of English at Ohio State University and a long-time activist and organizer wit...
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23: We love nurses; we hate fascists from 2018-08-21T19:23:31
This week we interview two badass nurses who are on the cutting edge of one of the most dynamic sectors of the labor movement. Tristin Adie is a nurse practitioner at University of Vermont Medical ...
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22: Kevin Cooper Live From Death Row from 2018-08-14T20:24:55
22: Kevin Cooper Live From Death Row
This week we interview Kevin Cooper, who has lived for more than three decades on death row in San Quentin prison for a quadruple homicide, despite cl...
21: Tariffs and racism: Héctor Rivera on AMLO’s Mexico from 2018-08-07T15:54:37
Jen is off this week so our producer Eric Ruder joins Danny to speak with Héctor Rivera about the momentous election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (known as AMLO) as the new president of Mexico. H...
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20: Stop the far right; Danny Katch on American (un)democracy from 2018-07-30T15:16:09
This week we turn the tables on one of our co-hosts and interview Danny about his latest book, Why Bad Governments Happen to Good People, published by Haymarket Books.
Danny talks about h...
19: SCOTUS vs Roe; Sharon Smith on intersectionality from 2018-07-23T20:12:37
19: SCOTUS vs Roe; Sharon Smith on intersectionality
This week, Sharon Smith joins us to talk about a Marxist approach to intersectionality, why socialists should embrace the concept, and...
18: Justin Akers Chacón on the violence of borders from 2018-07-16T15:55:53
18: Justin Akers Chacón on the violence of borders
With Jen out of town, Episode 3 guest Lupita Romero steps in to join Danny in a conversation with Justin Akers Chacón, a San Diego-based ...
17: Ocasio-Cortez victory; Alex Vitale on the end of policing from 2018-07-03T04:01:04
In our intro, we talk about DSA member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ stunning defeat of Democratic incumbent and party boss Joseph Crowley in the June 26 NY primaries. We discuss how Cortez’ victory sh...
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16: Sherry Wolf on LGBT politics from ACT UP to Trump from 2018-06-25T16:54:35
16: Sherry Wolf on LGBT politics from ACT UP to Trump
We celebrate Pride month by sitting down with Sherry Wolf, organizer of the 2009 National Equality March and author of Sexuality and ...
15: The Trump nightmare; Fighting the right with Mukund Rathi from 2018-06-18T03:53:24
After Trump’s election, Berkeley became the epicenter of far-right organizing and resistance to it. Mukund talks to us about that experience, the strategic debates and lessons learned. In our intro...
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14: Naomi Klein on the battle for Puerto Rico and life under Trump from 2018-06-12T04:01:04
The author of The Shock Doctrine, No is Not Enough, and This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate sits down with us to discuss her new book The Battle for Paradise: Puerto Rico Takes on t...
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13: Trump’s Border Terror; Abortion Without Apology with Megan Dey Lessard and Michelle Farber from 2018-06-05T01:33:50
We talk to abortion rights activists Megan Dey Lessard of NYC for Abortion Rights and Michelle Farber of Seattle Clinic Defense about the fight to defend the clinics - and for abortion without apol...
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12: Save Kevin Cooper; Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Syria with Anand Gopal and Yasser Munif from 2018-05-28T05:06:38
We talk to Anand Gopal and Yasser Munif about the revolution and counter-revolution in Syria. Anand has travelled to Syria multiple times as an unembedded journalist starting in 2011 and returning ...
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11: Trump To Iran: "This Is America" from 2018-05-21T04:01:02
11: Trump to Iran: “This is America,” with Frieda Afary and Ashley Smith
Donald Trump has ended the Iran nuclear deal. Our guests explain both the method and the madness behind the decisio...
10: Sarah Jaffe, #MeToo, Gender, and the Working Class from 2018-05-14T12:05:24
This week we talked to socialist journalist Sarah Jaffe about the U.S. working class—real and perceived. Sarah is the author of Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt (http://bit.ly/Jaffebook) and ...
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09: Happy B'day, Karl Marx; The New Scramble for Africa with Lee Wengraf from 2018-05-07T05:00:16
*Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts (bit.ly/BetterOffRediTunes) and share with friends. If you like Better Off Red, consider donating on Patreon. (bit.ly/PatreonRedPod)*
This week we talk ...
08: Anti-imperialism, Internationalism, and Palestine with Sumaya Awad from 2018-04-30T03:27:25
08: Anti-imperialism, Internationalism, and Palestine with Sumaya Awad
In this week’s episode, we speak with Sumaya Awad, a Palestinian activist who has been active in Students for Justice...
07: Trump’s Lies and Dominique Morisseau’s Truths about Race and Class from 2018-04-23T04:59:44
07: Trump’s Lies and Dominique Morisseau’s Truths about Race and Class
***Please subscribe to us on iTunes (bit.ly/BetterOffRediTunes) and leave us a rating and review. It helps us reach a...
06: Cops are bad for mental health, Paul Heideman on Class Struggle and the Color Line from 2018-04-16T04:03:05
06: Cops are bad for mental health, Paul Heideman on Class Struggle and the Color Line
In this week’s episode we talk to activist and author Paul Heideman about his new book, Class Strugg...
05: Teachers’ Rebellion-Strike Wave Edition from 2018-04-09T18:30:34
05: Teachers’ Rebellion-Strike Wave Edition
***Please subscribe to us on iTunes (bit.ly/BetterOffRediTunes) and leave us a rating and review. It helps us reach a wider audience with these ...
04: Undocumented and Unafraid with Lupita Romero from 2018-04-05T09:00
04: Undocumented and Unafraid with Lupita Romero
In this bonus episode, we talk to immigrant rights activist Lupita Romero about her experiences growing up as an undocumented immigrant an...
03 Dave Zirin On Justice For Michael Bennett from 2018-04-02T04:38:47
03: Sportswriter Dave Zirin on justice for Michael Bennett
We talk to The Nation’s sports editor, Dave Zirin, about NFL player Michael Bennett’s new book Things That Make White People Uncomfort...
02: Brian Jones on the epic class(room) struggle / Bonus episode! from 2018-03-27T04:41:31
In this bonus episode, we talk to Brian Jones about how public schools have historically been a place where ruling-class goals of instilling conformity have clashed with working-class goals of secu...
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01: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor: Gun Violence, Black Lives Matter and Striking Teachers from 2018-03-27T01:24:52
Resources and links mentioned in this episode:
We start this episode with a clip from Edna Chavez at the March for Our Lives, but the whole video is a must watch.
Danny talks abou...
00: Welcome to Better off Red from 2018-03-20T04:42:12
Haven’t you heard? People are feeling socialism these days--almost as much as they’re feeling the crushing anxiety of mounting debt, climate catastrophe and the rising tide of bigotry and racism. B...
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