The Dig
The Dig is Daniel Denvir's Jacobin podcast on politics, history, and economics everywhere. Please support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4839800
Thu, April 10, 2025
Settler Empire w/ Aziz Rana
Featuring Aziz Rana on the making of the American capitalist, imperialist project and its legitimation through popular worship of the US Constitution. This episode, the first in a three-part series, traces the foundation of the American settler empire from the revolutionary generation up to the eve of World War I. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy White City, Black City at Plutobooks.com Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15— a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin
Wed, April 02, 2025
Blue Collar Empire w/ Jeff Schuhrke
Jeff Schuhrke on his book Blue Collar Empire: The Untold Story of US Labor’s Global Anticommunist Crusade . During the Cold War, organized labor’s top leadership acted as an agent of the US national security state abroad: undermining left-wing unions, fomenting right-wing coups, and promoting the US-led capitalist order. At home, those same forces destroyed left-wing unions and organizers. That history goes a long way in explaining the weakened, conservative, and ineffectual workers’ movement we still confront today. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig [don’t sign up using the Patreon iPhone app because the ghouls at Apple are now requiring a fee! use a web browser or non-iPhone app] Register for the Socialism Conference at Socialismconference.org before April 25th for an early bird discount! Buy Hidden San Francisco at Plutobooks.com
Mon, March 24, 2025
New World Order w/ Ilias Alami and Tim Sahay
Featuring more analysis from Ilias Alami and Tim Sahay on the shape of global geopolitics and geoeconomics. We discuss: the fault lines of the green energy transition; the US and China battle for dominance while the rest of the world seeks advantage and opportunities for leverage; the US and Russia’s full-throttle commitment to fossil capitalism; the IMF’s ongoing imposition of neoliberal austerity on the world’s poorest countries, which, in opposition to these plans, want to remake the entire world capitalist system. Plus: Why the economic weapon failed against China and Russia, and a lot more. The second in a two-part series. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Subscribe to The Polycrisis newsletter phenomenalworld.org/series/the-polycrisis Download a free copy of The Spectre of State Capitalism by Ilias Alami and Adam Dixon academic.oup.com/book/57552 Transnational Institute reports: The New Frontline: The US-China Battle for Control of Global Networks tni.org/en/article/the-new-frontline Geopolitics of Capitalism: State of Power 2025 tni.org/en/publication/geopolitics-of-capitalism Get 50% off Pirate Care and other books in your first order from plutobooks.com with code ‘DIG50′.
Wed, March 19, 2025
Global Conjuncture w/ Ilias Alami and Tim Sahay
Featuring Ilias Alami and Tim Sahay on a global conjuncture defined by Washington’s shredding of the liberal international order’s legitimacy amid a panic over decline: the escalating Cold War with China; Gaza genocide; Trump’s tariff wars and militarism, and his pivot toward Putin on Ukraine; European defense buildup and fiscal revolution; what this all means for the poor majority of the Global South, and more. Part one of a two-part series. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Subscribe to The Polycrisis newsletter phenomenalworld.org/series/the-polycrisis Download a free copy of The Spectre of State Capitalism by Ilias Alami and Adam Dixon academic.oup.com/book/57552 Transnational Institute reports: The New Frontline: The US-China Battle for Control of Global Networks tni.org/en/article/the-new-frontline Geopolitics of Capitalism: State of Power 2025 tni.org/en/publication/geopolitics-of-capitalism Buy Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal at Haymarketbooks.com Buy Nuclear Is Not The Solution at Versobooks.com
Wed, March 12, 2025
Workers Organizing Workers w/ Eric Blanc
Featuring Eric Blanc on We Are the Union: How Worker-to-Worker Organizing Is Revitalizing Labor and Winning Big . Interview conducted by guest host Gabriel Winant. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Defend federal workers and federal services: actionnetwork.org/forms/let-us-work/ Contact the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) for help organizing your workplace: workerorganizing.org Contact Workers Organizing Workers (WOW) if you are interested in taking a job in a strategic industry to unionize it: form.jotform.com/250337473301045 Buy All Our Trials: Prisons, Policing, and the Feminist Fight to End Violence at Haymarketbooks.com Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15— a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin
Wed, March 05, 2025
Slopworld w/ Brace Belden and Liz Franczak
Featuring TrueAnon hosts Brace Belden and Liz Franczak on our freakish and reactionary tech oligarchy. Musk and friends built a technological infrastructure that has warped everyone’s minds, including their own. Now they’re seizing the state. The hideous AI “art” we discuss: https://bit.ly/4ksG1aM http://bit.ly/3DmDfTD Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Register for the Socialism Conference at Socialismconference.org before April 25th for an early bird discount! Use code “DIG” for 30% off a subscription to The-Syllabus.com
Wed, February 26, 2025
Woke Wars w/ Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor & Mike McCarthy
Featuring Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and Mike McCarthy on the MAGA and DOGE war on woke; the complicity of bankrupt liberal identity politics; and the centrality of various oppressions to the class domination of capital and struggles against it. Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig Read Mike’s article “The Problem of Class Abstractionism” epublications.marquette.edu/socs_fac/356 Buy Enemy Feminisms at Haymarketbooks.com Buy Solidarity Betrayed at Plutobooks.com
Mon, February 17, 2025
Psychiatric Struggle w/ Danielle Carr
Featuring Danielle Carr on the history and present state of American unwellness and how that’s been shaped by psychiatry, prescription drugs, neuroscience, popular culture, smartphones and social media. We trace the rise of psychiatry as a Gilded Age human science, the disastrous contradictions of asylum deinstitutionalization, the invention of neuroscience and deep brain stimulation, Elon Musk’s Neuralink fraudulence, how Adderall made the Internet run, the liberal gospel of traumatic literalism recounted in The Body Keeps the Score, and the scientific Bonapartism of RFK Jr.’s medical freedom movement. Buy Empire of Normality at Plutobooks.com Buy Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal at Haymarketbooks.com Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our vast archives and newsletters at thedigradio.com
Sun, February 09, 2025
Deportation Nation w/ Chris Newman
Featuring Chris Newman on Trump’s far-right anti-migrant agenda and Democrats’ cruel and stupid complicity. Read All-American Nativism versobooks.com/products/704-all-american-nativism Read Dan’s essay on Gaza and migration politics in n+1 nplusonemag.com/issue-48/politics/do-border Trump’s immigration executive orders propublica.org/article/donald-trump-immigration-executive-orders Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy After Accountability at Haymarketbooks.com Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15— a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin
Sat, February 01, 2025
Building the Union w/ Hannah Srajer
Featuring Hannah Srajer on building tenant unions by applying labor organizing models. The Connecticut Tenants Union is partnered with SEIU 1199NE to organize fighting super majority tenant unions that win collectively bargained leases and wield working class political power. It’s a model that’s spreading nationwide. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Peruse The Dig’s vast archives at thedigradio.com Support Reclaim RI https://secure.actblue.com/donate/reclaimri Buy Not Your Rescue Project at Haymarketbooks.com Buy My Country, Africa at Versobooks.com
Mon, January 27, 2025
Abolish Rent w/ Leonardo Vilchis and Tracy Rosenthal
Featuring Leonardo Vilchis and Tracy Rosenthal on their book Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis. Tenant unions fighting to transform Los Angeles, the country, and the world. Support Reclaim RI https://secure.actblue.com/donate/reclaimri Buy Abolish Rent haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent Subscribe to Dissent at dissentmagazine.org/subscribe Use code 'DIG50' for 50% off your first order at Plutobooks.com
Sun, January 19, 2025
Policing the Crisis w/ Michael Denning
Featuring Michael Denning on Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State and Law and Order, collectively authored by Stuart Hall and his colleagues at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham. Hall’s method of Marxist conjunctural analysis applied to the generalized crisis that paved the way for neoliberalism's rise; a model for how we should ask questions about our world that will provide us with knowledge we need to change it. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our vast archives and newsletters thedigradio.com Support Atlantic Mills Tenants Union Legal Fund https://bit.ly/4jg4D61 Buy Dead Cities and Other Tales at haymarketbooks.com Donate to Jacobin Magazine at jacobin.com/donate
Sat, January 11, 2025
Stuart Hall’s Marxism w/ Michael Denning
Featuring Michael Denning on Stuart Hall’s Marxism—a Marxism without guarantees. This is a comprehensive introduction to Marxism as a method to analyze historically specific, complex and contradictory capitalist social formations, and what that means for making, rather than assuming the existence of, a working-class socialist politics. Next week Dan interviews Denning on Policing the Crisis, a 1978 book collectively authored by Hall and his colleagues; it’s a remarkable project that anticipates today’s politics around anti-immigrant xenophobia, mass incarceration, and Trumpism. Listen to Hall’s full 1983 Inaugural Karl Marx Memorial Lecture in Sheffield youtube.com/watch?v=IP_OWahR-Gc Our two-part series on Gramsci with Denning: thedigradio.com/podcast/gramsci-hegemony-w-michael-denning/ thedigradio.com/podcast/gramsci-organization-crisis-w-michael-denning/ Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Set the Earth on Fire at Haymarketbooks.com Use code "DIG" for 30% off a subscription to The-Syllabus.com
Sun, December 22, 2024
Rise and Fall of Assad’s Syria w/ Bassam Haddad
Featuring Bassam Haddad on the historical and geopolitical origins of Assad’s rise and fall—and what might happen next. We think through the contradictions: honoring the joy felt by Syrians at Assad’s ouster while simultaneously taking stock of a truly bad geopolitical outcome. Want to learn more? Listen to Thawra, our series on the 20th century political history of the Arab East thedigradio.com/Thawra Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Palestine in a World on Fire at Haymarketbooks.com Buy Against the Crisis at Versobooks.com
Wed, December 18, 2024
Assassin Nation w/ Patrick Blanchfield
Featuring Patrick Blanchfield on assassination and political violence: from the routine to the extraordinary; authored by the state, capital, the left, the right, the unwell and alienated; as an anxiety, in our fantasies, as a morbid symptom and repetition compulsion; and as expressing distinctively American logics of domination and human disposability. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Listen to the Ordinary Unhappiness podcast at ordinaryunhappiness.buzzsprout.com/ Read Patrick's essay on the death drive late-light.com/issues/issue-1/death-drive-nation Buy China in Global Capitalism at Haymarketbooks.com Use code "DIG" for 30% off a subscription to The-Syllabus.com
Fri, November 29, 2024
MAGA 2.0 w/ Quinn Slobodian & Wendy Brown
Featuring Quinn Slobodian and Wendy Brown on Trump’s triumphant return to power and the freakish, obscene, billionaire-dominated, capitalist reactionary, Christian nationalist, contradiction-ridden MAGA movement that surrounds him. A comprehensive early assessment of what is going on, where it’s coming from, and where it all might be heading. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Share Thawra with a friend thedigradio.com/Thawra Use code "DIG" for 30% off a subscription to The-Syllabus.com Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15— a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin
Sat, November 23, 2024
Crypto Dystopia or Popular Democracy w/ Hilary Goodfriend & Jorge Cuéllar
Featuring Hilary Goodfriend and Jorge Cuéllar in the final installment of a three-part series on Central America. This episode picks up with Nayib Bukele’s authoritarian crypto enthusiasm in El Salvador; Daniel Ortega’s perversion of Sandinismo’s revolutionary legacy in Nicaragua; anti-mining movements in Panama; Honduras and Guatemala, where popular social movements have elected left presidents to confront entrenched power structures. We conclude by discussing mass migration from the region that’s taken on a mystified form in US politics as the MAGA far right’s principal scapegoat. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Share Thawra with a friend thedigradio.com/Thawra Check out nacla.org for in-depth coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean Buy Defund: Conversations Toward Abolition at haymarketbooks.com
Mon, November 18, 2024
Neoliberalism, Violence, Migration w/ Hilary Goodfriend & Jorge Cuéllar
Featuring Hilary Goodfriend & Jorge Cuéllar in the second of a three (not two!) part series on the history and present of Central America. This interview picks up our discussion of revolutionary armed struggles against brutal US-backed military-oligarchic regimes in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. Then, the peace accords and postwar transitions accompanied by the imposition of neoliberal economic restructuring. Finally, the rise of mass migration, new transnational gangs, and the regime of El Salvador’s authoritarian Bitcoin enthusiast Nayib Bukele. And more. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Want to learn more? Greg Grandin on The Dig: thedigradio.com/podcast/empires-workshop-with-greg-grandin We now have a special feed dedicated entirely to our Thawra series. Listen and spread the word: thedigradio.com/Thawra Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15— a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin Buy Abolish Rent at Haymarketbooks.com
Sat, November 09, 2024
Democratic Dealignment w/ Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Featuring Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor on Trump’s decisive victory, Harris’s catastrophic loss, multi-racial working-class dealignment, and where the left might go from here. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig We now have a special feed dedicated entirely to our Thawra series. Listen and spread the word: thedigradio.com/Thawra Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15— a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin Buy Solidarity is the Political Version of Love at haymarketbooks.com
Sun, November 03, 2024
Oligarchy, Empire, Revolution w/ Hilary Goodfriend & Jorge Cuéllar
Featuring Hilary Goodfriend and Jorge Cuéllar on the history of Central America. This is the first episode in a two-part series covering the late-19th and early-20th century rise of export-crop oligarchies and constant US intervention, the US-backed separation of Panama from Colombia to take control of the Canal, the CIA's 1954 Guatemala coup, the rise of armed revolutionary movements in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador, and the US-backed dirty wars that were prosecuted in response—that and so much more. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Want to learn more? Greg Grandin on The Dig: thedigradio.com/podcast/empires-workshop-with-greg-grandin We now have a special feed dedicated entirely to our Thawra series. Listen and spread the word: thedigradio.com/Thawra Buy Mastering the Universe at haymarketbooks.com Buy Disaster Nationalism at versobooks.com
Mon, October 28, 2024
Solidarity w/ Astra Taylor & Leah Hunt-Hendrix
Featuring Astra Taylor and Leah Hunt-Hendrix on their book Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea. Guest hosted by Micah Uetricht. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Get 40% off The Years of Theory with code "DIG" at Versobooks.com Buy Our History is the Future at Haymarketbooks.com
Fri, October 18, 2024
Down the Rabbit Hole w/ Naomi Klein
Featuring Naomi Klein on how the pandemic turbocharged a far-right conspiracist politics that’s sweeping into power. This strange new world, however, is a product of an old contradiction: the need to disavow and deny a long history and awful present; the inability to make sense of the extreme violence and oppression that makes everyday Western capitalist society possible. We discuss Klein’s book Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World and her Guardian essay "How Israel has made trauma a weapon of war": theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/oct/05/israel-gaza-october-7-memorials Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Subscribe to Dissent magazine at Dissentmagazine.org/subscribe Buy Rosa Luxemburg at Haymarketbooks.com
Fri, October 11, 2024
Thawra Epilogue: Genocide and Resistance
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the third and final part of the epilogue to Thawra (Revolution), our epic series on the history of revolutionary Arab politics. This episode takes us from Hamas’s victory in the 2006 legislative elections, through the siege on Gaza, to October 7, the Gaza genocide, the Axis of Resistance, and Israel’s attempt to draw Iran into a massive regional war with the US. Share Thawra with a friend thedigradio.com/Thawra Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy The Wannabe Fascists at UCPress.edu Buy Visualizing Palestine at haymarketbooks.org
Fri, October 04, 2024
Ending the New Cold War w/ Jake Werner
Featuring Jake Werner on how the US and China entered into a New Cold War and why the whole world urgently needs an alternative international order that fosters great power cooperation. Read Jake’s report A Program for Progressive China Policy quincyinst.org/research/a-program-for-progressive-china-policy/#executive-summary Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Our History is the Future at Haymarketbooks.com Use code "DIG" for 30% off a subscription to The-Syllabus.com
Wed, September 25, 2024
Third Worldism w/ Aslı Bâli & Aziz Rana
Featuring Aslı Bâli and Aziz Rana on the history of left-wing internationalism from the Third Worldist currents that powered decolonization and struggles against neocolonialism through today’s renewed politics in solidarity with the Palestinian national liberation movement. Recorded in New York at Jewish Currents Live. Support The Dig now at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Center of the World at UCPress.edu Buy Abolish Rent at Haymarketbooks.com
Thu, September 19, 2024
Thawra Epilogue: Decades of American Destruction
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the second of what has become a three-part epilogue to Thawra (Revolution), our series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. This episode takes us from the disastrous Oslo Accords through the 2000 Camp David Summit and the eruption of the Second Palestinian Intifada. Then the 9/11 attacks, the War on Terror, the US destruction of Iraq, the Arab Spring, the Syrian Civil War, and the rise of Islamic State. A century of Western imperialism had undermined Arab revolutionary movements and governments; the new millennium brought two decades of US-led war that destroyed the Arab state system. Atop its wreckage was the explosion of sectarian violence and murderous authoritarianism across the Arab East. Hope still resides in the power of popular renewal. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Visualizing Palestine at haymarketbooks.org Buy Exit Wounds at UCPress.edu
Mon, September 09, 2024
Morbid Symptoms w/ Amna Akbar, Gabe Winant, Thea Riofrancos
Featuring Amna Akbar, Gabe Winant, and Thea Riofrancos on the American political conjuncture: the centrality of Palestine, the contradictions of left electoralism, renewed liberal militarism, the return of Obama-ism, the state of the labor and climate movements—and more. Recorded live at Socialism 2024 in Chicago. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Unbuild Walls at haymarketbooks.org Subscribe to Jacobin in print for $15/yr at bit.ly/digjacobin and Catalyst in print for $20/yr at bit.ly/digcatalyst
Fri, August 30, 2024
Thawra Epilogue: Islamic Revolution and Gulf Wars
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the first of a two-part epilogue to Thawra (Revolution), our series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. Today’s installment covers the Iranian Islamic Revolution’s huge impact across the Arab East alongside Saudi and Egyptian efforts to foster religious conservative movements in an effort to supplant and suppress the secular nationalist left. Plus the Iran-Iraq War, the mujahideen in Afghanistan, the First Intifada, Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the first US-led invasion of Iraq, and the PLO’s march toward the Oslo Accords–and how Hamas and Islamic Jihad stepped into the resulting vacuum, picking up a Palestinian armed struggle the PLO had renounced. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Nuclear Is Not The Solution at versobooks.com Buy The Wannabe Fascists at UCPress.edu
Fri, August 16, 2024
Beasts of Burden w/ Sunaura Taylor
Featuring Sunaura Taylor on her book Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation. What does it mean to rethink socialism and Marxism through the frameworks of disability liberation and animal liberation? How do we relate to human difference and also to non-human animals? Where does the struggle against industrial agriculture fit into the fight against capitalism? Sunaura is interviewed by her sister, Dig guest host Astra Taylor. Read about Daniel Denvir and The Dig in The Guardian theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/aug/13/dig-podcast-daniel-denvir Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Take 25% off a subscription to n+1 at nplusonemag.com/thedig Buy Unite and Win at haymarketbooks.org/books/2434-unite-and-win
Mon, August 05, 2024
Solidarity w/ Jeremy Corbyn and Laleh Khalili
Featuring Jeremy Corbyn and Laleh Khalili on internationalism and left-wing politics. A special Dig co-hosted with the Verso Podcast in front of a live London audience. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig The Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago from Aug 30 - Sept 2. Learn more and register at socialismconference.org Buy Twilight Prisoners at Haymarketbooks.com
Fri, August 02, 2024
Macrodose! The Future of Global Capitalism
Dan just did a live Dig in London with Jeremy Corbyn and Laleh Khalili. It was part of a podcast doubleheader that included this recording of the economics podcast Macrodose featuring Asad Rehman, James Meadway, and Thea Riofrancos. The live Dig with Corbyn and Khalili on internationalist and anti-imperialist politics will be posted in a few days. Subscribe to Macrodose at linktr.ee/macrodosepodcast or wherever you get podcasts Support Macrodose at patreon.com/Macrodose The Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago from Aug 30 - Sept 2. Learn more and register at socialismconference.org
Tue, July 30, 2024
Thawra Ep. 16 – Siege of Beirut
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the SIXTEENTH and final episode of Thawra (Revolution), our series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. Today’s installment traces a massive defeat for the Palestinian Revolution: Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon and brutal siege of Beirut. Under severe pressure and isolated in the wake of Egypt’s normalization with Israel, the PLO evacuated its headquarters. What followed was a giant massacre of Palestinian civilians and the end of the decades-long era of Arab revolutionary politics to which this series has been dedicated. A substantial epilogue is coming soon. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Spread the word about Thawra thedigradio.com/Thawra Check out the Palestinian Revolution website! learnpalestine.qeh.ox.ac.uk/teach Take 25% off a subscription to n+1 at nplusonemag.com/thedig. Enter THEDIG for discount.
Wed, July 17, 2024
Thawra Ep. 15 – Black September
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the FIFTEENTH episode of Thawra (Revolution), our series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. Today’s installment addresses the Palestinian Revolution’s project in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan—leading up to the 1970 conflict with the Jordanian state and the violent expulsion of PLO guerrillas during Black September. Then, Egypt and Syria checked Israel’s power in the October War of 1973—only for Anwar Sadat to lead Egypt into Kissinger’s plan to pacify Arab revolution. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Spread the word about Thawra thedigradio.com/Thawra The Palestinian Revolution website is live! learnpalestine.qeh.ox.ac.uk/teach Buy tickets for live Dig with Corbyn in London unionchapel.org.uk/venue/whats-on/versothe-dig-live-podcast-with-jeremy-corbyn-laleh-khalili The Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago from Aug 30 - Sept 2. Learn more and register at socialismconference.org Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15— a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin
Sun, July 07, 2024
Thawra Ep. 14 – The Palestinian Revolution
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the FOURTEENTH episode of Thawra (Revolution), our series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. Today’s installment covers the rise of the Palestinian Revolution and then its explosion after the Arab defeat in the June War of 1967 with Israel. Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation and Palestine, and other factions launched an armed guerrilla struggle against Israel, engaging the Palestinian people in a full-scale mobilization for their liberation. Also: Ba'athists Aḥmad Ḥasan al-Bakr and Saddam Hussein seized power in Iraq, as did Muammar Gaddafi’s Free Officers in Libya. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Spread the word about Thawra thedigradio.com/Thawra Buy Happy Apocalypse at versobooks.com Buy Love in the Time of Self-Publishing at princeton.press/love
Wed, June 19, 2024
Thawra Ep. 13 – Revolutionary Arabia
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the THIRTEENTH episode of Thawra (Revolution), our mini-series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. Today’s installment covers the armed left-wing revolutionary movements that challenged British imperial power across Southern Arabia, with the National Liberation Front taking over South Yemen and Dhufari rebels in Oman waging a liberation war against the Sultan. Today’s alliance of reactionary Gulf monarchies was not inevitable; they were made by colonial power, and Arab revolutionaries in the 1960s and 70s mounted a major effort to overthrow them. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy tickets for live Dig with Jeremy Corbyn in London: unionchapel.org.uk/venue/whats-on/versothe-dig-live-podcast-with-jeremy-corbyn-laleh-khalili Buy The Last Human Job at Princeton.press/job Buy How to Abolish Prisons: Lessons from the Movement against Imprisonment at haymarketbooks.org
Sun, June 09, 2024
Thawra Ep. 12 – Origins of Saudi Reaction
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the TWELFTH episode of Thawra (Revolution), our mini-series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. Today’s installment tells the story of Saudi Arabia, a country whose reactionary, US-aligned trajectory was throughout the 1950s and 60s challenged by labor strikes, dissident currents, rebellious princes, and an anticolonial oil minister. But Saudi royal conservatism asserted itself and a friendship with Nasser’s Egypt turned into conflict. Ultimately both countries got drawn into North Yemen’s civil war, which sapped Egypt’s military strength ahead of the 1967 war with Israel. Plus: radical politics against British colonial power in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the Trucial States. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy tickets for live Dig with Jeremy Corbyn in London: unionchapel.org.uk/venue/whats-on/versothe-dig-live-podcast-with-jeremy-corbyn-laleh-khalili Buy Twilight Prisoners at haymarketbooks.com Buy Automatic Fetish at versobooks.com
Fri, May 31, 2024
Gaza and the US Conjuncture w/ Dylan Saba and Waleed Shahid
Featuring Dylan Saba and Waleed Shahid on how Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the mass solidarity movement opposing it are transforming US politics. This anti-imperialist internationalist moment marks a profound turning point for the American left. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy tickets for live Dig with Jeremy Corbyn in London: unionchapel.org.uk/venue/whats-on/versothe-dig-live-podcast-with-jeremy-corbyn-laleh-khalili The Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago from Aug 30 - Sept 2. Learn more and register at socialismconference.org (early bird discount until 6/28!) Buy Unbuild Walls at haymarketbooks.org
Thu, May 23, 2024
Thawra Ep. 11 – Ba’ath Seize Power
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the ELEVENTH episode of Thawra (Revolution), our rolling mini-series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. Today’s installment tells the story of the destruction of the two giant revolutionary projects of 1958: the union of Egypt and Syria under Nasser’s United Arab Republic and Iraq’s July Revolution that brought Qasim alongside communist allies to power. The rival radical projects of pan-Arabism and communism suffered huge blows. So did Nasser and Qasim, the era’s most significant Arab anti-imperialist leaders. Meanwhile, the Ba’ath, once ideological and idealistic, became increasingly dominated by military men who made the party into an instrument for raw domination. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy tickets for live Dig with Jeremy Corbyn in London: unionchapel.org.uk/venue/whats-on/versothe-dig-live-podcast-with-jeremy-corbyn-laleh-khalili Buy Towers of Ivory and Steel: How Israeli Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom at Versobooks.com Subscribe to Dissent magazine in print or online at dissentmagazine.org/subscribe
Sat, May 11, 2024
Thawra Ep. 10 – Iraqi Revolution, Communist Power
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the TENTH episode of Thawra (Revolution), our rolling mini-series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. Today’s installment tells the story of Iraq’s 1958 July Revolution: a Free Officers’ coup overthrew the imperialist-aligned Hashemite monarchy and brought nationalist Abdul-Karim Qasim to power alongside a surging Communist Party. Revolutionary currents soon turned against one another, however, as did Qasim and Nasser. Conflict stemmed from serious political and strategic differences, but also petty rivalries and bitter feuds. And in Iraq, class conflict often appeared dressed up in the sectarian and ethnic modalities through which class was lived. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15— a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin Buy The Black Antifascist Tradition at haymarketbooks.org
Fri, May 03, 2024
Thawra Ep. 9 – Palestine on the Road to Revolution
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the NINTH episode of Thawra (Revolution), our rolling mini-series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. Today’s installment covers the creation of a Palestinian national liberation movement throughout the 1950s by a people dispersed by the Nakba: organizations, alliances, and theories of change assembled in the universities, cities, and refugee camps surrounding Palestine. We end with the 1959 foundation of Fatah, the first organization for Palestinians led by Palestinians focused first and foremost on Palestinian liberation. This is the story of the beginning of the Palestinian national liberation movement as we have come to know it today. Buy How to Abolish Prisons: Lessons from the Movement against Imprisonment at haymarketbooks.org Buy States of the Earth: An Ecological and Racial History of Secularization at Versobooks.com Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Spread the word about Thawra thedigradio.com/Thawra
Fri, April 26, 2024
Thawra Ep. 8 – Origins of the Arab New Left
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the EIGHTH episode of Thawra (Revolution), our rolling mini-series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. A compact introduction to the Movement of Arab Nationalists, which in the 1950s built a presence that stretched across the region, from Beirut and Jordan to Cairo and the Gulf—becoming a truly powerful force in Kuwait. Led in significant part by Palestinians, its early history offers a ground-level look at the organizational and theoretical currents shaping radical Arab politics. It is also the backstory for key Marxist groups that later grew out of the Movement: the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, South Yemen’s National Liberation Front, and the Dhofar Liberation Front. Buy Future of Denial at versobooks.com On May 1st, subscribe to a year of Jacobin's digital publication for just $1, or a year of Jacobin in print for only $10: jacobin.com/subscribe/?code=MAYDAYDIG Or this link for a gift: jacobin.com/subscribe/?type=gift&level=standard-digital&?code=MAYDAYDIG Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Spread the word about Thawra thedigradio.com/Thawra
Fri, April 19, 2024
Scholars Against Genocide
Featuring Noura Erakat, Avi Shlaim, Ussama Makdisi, Ilan Pappé, Ghada Ageel Hamdan, and Abdel Razzaq Takriti on the ongoing Israeli genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Recorded at the World Academic Forum for Palestine in Houston. We’ll be back next week with episode eight of Thawra, our rolling series on 20th century Arab radicalisms. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Donate to Palestine Legal palestinelegal.org/donate Watch more from the World Academic Forum for Palestine youtube.com/c/haymarketbooks Check out our vast archives and newsletters at thedigradio.com Buy An Enemy Such As This at haymarketbooks.org Buy The Jail is Everywhere at versobooks.com
Wed, April 10, 2024
Thawra Ep. 7 – United Arab Republic Against Eisenhower
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the SEVENTH episode of Thawra (Revolution), our rolling mini-series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. Today’s installment lays out the the US’s Eisenhower Doctrine, which in 1957 inaugurated a new era of imperialism in the Middle East; the Ba’ath Party driving Syria and Egypt into the United Arab Republic, a superstate under Nasser’s rule, in 1958; and, later that year, Eisenhower landing US Marines in Lebanon, the first American combat operation in the region. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy Burnout: The Emotional Experience of Political Defeat at versobooks.com Subscribe to Jacobin bit.ly/digjacobin
Tue, April 02, 2024
Thawra Ep. 6 – Cold War Heats Up
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the SIXTH episode of Thawra (Revolution), our rolling mini-series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. Today’s installment lays out the intensification of the Cold War across the Middle East. Western imperialist powers attempted to recruit Arab countries to the Baghdad Pact, a Middle Eastern NATO. Nasser rallied the Arab masses in opposition, becoming an anti-imperialist icon. In 1956, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. In response, the British, French, and Israelis attacked Egypt. But Nasser and Arab anti-imperialism won the day. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy What Was Neoliberalism at haymarketbooks.org Buy Abolition: Politics, Practices, Promises, Vol. 1 at haymarketbooks.org
Sat, March 23, 2024
Thawra Ep. 5 – The Struggle for Syria
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the FIFTH episode of Thawra (Revolution), our rolling mini-series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. Today’s installment lays out the early years of a struggle for Syria that would decisively shape the Arab world: the fight for independence from France, the first (CIA-backed) coup of 1949, and the rise of the Ba’ath and Communist movements. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Wont Save the Planet at versobooks.com Buy Care: The Highest Stage of Capitalism at haymarketbooks.org
Mon, March 11, 2024
Thawra Ep. 4 – From the Nakba to Nasser
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the FOURTH episode of Thawra (Revolution), our rolling mini-series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. Today’s installment lays out the politics surrounding the Zionist settler colonial destruction of Palestine, the Nakba of 1948, and the ground-shifting event that followed in its wake: the Nasser-led 1952 Egyptian Free Officers Movement coup that would set the tone for two decades of revolutionary nationalism across the region. Also: the Soviet camp’s support for the colonial partition of Palestine and its calamitous impact on powerful Arab communist parties. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15— a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin Buy Abolition: Politics, Practices, Promises, Vol. 1 at haymarketbooks.org/books/2096-abolition
Mon, March 04, 2024
Thawra Ep. 3 – The Post-Colonial Arab State System
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the THIRD episode of Thawra (Revolution), our rolling mini-series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. Today’s installment is a comprehensive overview of the Middle Eastern Arab state system that crystalizes with the end of British and French colonial rule. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy Environmentalism from Below: How Global People’s Movements are Leading the Fight for our Planet at haymarketbooks.org/books/2101-environmentalism-from-below
Tue, February 27, 2024
Thawra Ep. 2 – Birth of Arab Nationalism
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the second episode of Thawra (Revolution), our rolling mini-series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. Today’s installment lays out early 20th-century anti-colonialism: from the Iraqi, Syrian, and Palestinian Great Revolts, to the birth of Arab nationalism, Islamic resistance, Ba'athism, and communism. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Subscribe to a year of Jewish Currents at 50% off with special code DIG2024 secure.jewishcurrents.org/forms/subscribe Buy Towers of Ivory and Steel: How Israeli Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom at versobooks.com
Wed, February 21, 2024
Thawra Ep. 1 – Europe’s Imperial Juggernaut
Featuring Abdel Razzaq Takriti, this is the first episode of Thawra (Revolution), our rolling mini-series on Arab radicalism in the 20th century. Today’s installment sets the stage: European imperialism in the Arab Mashriq from the late 18th century through the early 20th. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Subscribe to a year of Jewish Currents at 50% off with special code DIG2024 secure.jewishcurrents.org/forms/subscribe Buy A Short History of Trans Misogyny at versobooks.com
Thu, February 08, 2024
Your Money Or Your Life w/ Luke Messac
Featuring Luke Messac on Your Money or Your Life: Debt Collection in American Medicine. An estimated 100 million people in the US are in debt because they sought medical treatment. Medical debt exacerbates poor and working-class people's physical and psychological suffering while undermining their financial well-being and freedom. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Subscribe to a year of Jewish Currents at secure.jewishcurrents.org/forms/subscribe50% off with special code DIG2024 Buy What Was Neoliberalism at haymarketbooks.org/books/2056-what-was-neoliberalism
Thu, February 01, 2024
The German Question w/ Emily Dische-Becker
Featuring Emily Dische-Becker on how Germany became attached to a wildly narcissistic anti-antisemitism and Israeli proxy nationalism that have made it one of the most anti-Palestinian governments on earth. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletters and vast archives at thedigradio.com Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15— a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin Buy Against Erasure: A Photographic Memory of Palestine before the Nakba at haymarketbooks.org/books/2325-against-erasure
Tue, January 23, 2024
Yemen and the Houthis w/ Helen Lackner
Featuring Helen Lackner on the Houthis, the politics of their attacks on Red Sea shipping, and the long history of Yemen from British colonial Aden through the current civil war. Read Helen's articles for Jacobin jacobin.com/author/helen-lackner Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Environmentalism from Below: How Global People’s Movements are Leading the Fight for our Planet at haymarketbooks.org/books/2101-environmentalism-from-below Buy The Good Die Young: The Verdict on Henry Kissinger at versobooks.com
Sat, January 13, 2024
Very Important People w/ Ashley Mears
Featuring Ashley Mears on her book Very Important People: Status and Beauty in the Global Party Circuit. Mears, a sociologist and former fashion model, explores the super-elite "models and bottles" party scene where beautiful young women and conspicuous consumption heighten the status of rich men. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Contact Spotify and tell them: stop hiding The Dig! Why is The Dig so hard to find on Spotify? support.spotify.com/contact-spotify-support Buy Against Erasure: A Photographic Memory of Palestine before the Nakba at haymarketbooks.org/books/2325-against-erasure Subscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15. A special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobin
Sat, January 06, 2024
Colonialism, Zionism, Sectarianism w/ Ussama Makdisi
Featuring Ussama Makdisi on how Western colonialism and Zionism exploited, exacerbated, and imposed sectarianism across the Arab Middle East. This is the SECOND of a two-part interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Contact Spotify and tell them: stop hiding The Dig! Why is The Dig so hard to find on Spotify? support.spotify.com/contact-spotify-support/ Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy The Good Die Young: The Verdict on Henry Kissinger at versobooks.com Buy War Made Invisible thenewpress.com/books/war-made-invisible
Sat, December 30, 2023
Seasons Greetings: Peruse our vast archives!
We are OFF this week. In the meantime, peruse our vast archives at thedigradio.com. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig.
Sat, December 23, 2023
Age of Coexistence w/ Ussama Makdisi
Featuring Ussama Makdisi on the late Ottoman Empire's Arab culture of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish coexistence—an ecumenical frame that was interrupted by European colonialism and Zionism, which exacerbated and exploited sectarianism. This is the first of a two-part interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Shop Haymarket's ALL 40% off Holiday sale at haymarketbooks.org Buy Let Them Eat Crypto at plutobooks.com
Fri, December 15, 2023
Zionism vs. Anti-Zionism Ep. 2 w/ Shaul Magid
Featuring Shaul Magid on post-1948 Jewish Zionism and Jewish anti-Zionism—including today's new generation of young, militant, left-wing, anti-Zionist American Jews and the Jewish establishment's quixotic efforts to deny and disavow them. PART TWO of a two-part interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Join Jewish Voice for Peace jewishvoiceforpeace.org/join-us Buy The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation at Versobooks.com Buy Let Them Eat Crypto at plutobooks.com
Thu, December 07, 2023
Zionism vs. Anti-Zionism Ep. 1 w/ Shaul Magid
Featuring Shaul Magid on the long history of Jewish Zionism and its antagonist, Jewish anti-Zionism. Defenders of Israel defame anti-Zionists as antisemites. In fact, today's growing ranks of anti-Zionist Jews draw on a powerful and diverse tradition. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Ireland, Colonialism, and the Unfinished Revolution at haymarketbooks.org/books/2111-ireland-colonialism-and-the-unfinished-revolution Use code DIG2023 for 50% off a subscription to Jewish Currents at secure.jewishcurrents.org/forms/subscribe
Mon, November 27, 2023
Palestine w/ Mohammed el-Kurd
Featuring Mohammed el-Kurd on Palestine. A short but expansive interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletters and vast archives at thedigradio.com Shop Haymarket's ALL 40% off Holiday sale at haymarketbooks.org Take the Bookmatch quiz nplusonemag.com
Tue, November 21, 2023
Global Palestine Politics Ep. 2 w/ Richard Seymour
Featuring Richard Seymour on the global politics of the Palestinian struggle and Israel’s war on Gaza. The *second* of a two-part interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy Going for Broke haymarketbooks.org/books/2097-going-for-broke Take the Bookmatch quiz nplusonemag.com
Wed, November 15, 2023
Global Palestine Politics Ep. 1 w/ Richard Seymour
Featuring Richard Seymour on the global politics of the Palestinian struggle and Israel's war on Gaza. The first of a two-part interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Ireland, Colonialism, and the Unfinished Revolution at haymarketbooks.org/books/2111-ireland-colonialism-and-the-unfinished-revolution Buy Care: The Highest Stage of Capitalism at haymarketbooks.org/books/2098-care
Mon, November 06, 2023
J. Edgar Hoover’s America w/ Beverly Gage
Featuring Beverly Gage on her masterful biography G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century. Guest hosted by Micah Uetricht. The Dig is an essential political education project. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig. Subscribe to Jacobin bit.ly/digjacobin Buy War Made Invisible thenewpress.com/books/war-made-invisible
Fri, October 27, 2023
Hamas w/ Tareq Baconi
Featuring Tareq Baconi on the history of Hamas. This is the context we need. And it is precisely what mainstream discourse mystifies, denies, and disavows. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Contribute to Palestinian relief: pcrf.net map.org.uk anera.org Buy Light in Gaza at haymarketbooks.org/books/1885-light-in-gaza Buy Palestine: A Socialist Introduction at haymarketbooks.org/books/1558-palestine-a-socialist-introduction
Fri, October 20, 2023
Palestine Teach-In
This episode is The Dig's Palestine Teach-In. The most informative clips from our archives on Palestine and Israel. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our excellent newsletters—sent to you by email if you support us on Patreon thedigradio.com/newsletter Donate now to support Gaza relief pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/forms/gaza-relief Buy Ten Myths About Israel at versobooks.com/products/370-ten-myths-about-israel Buy An Enemy Such As This at haymarketbooks.org/books/2106-an-enemy-such-as-this
Thu, October 19, 2023
War on Gaza w/ Noura Erakat & Arielle Angel
Featuring Noura Erakat and Arielle Angel on the apartheid system and the violence it drives in Palestine. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our excellent newsletters—sent to you by email if you support us on Patreon thedigradio.com/newsletter Donate now to support Gaza relief pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/forms/gaza-relief Buy On Edward Said haymarketbooks.org/books/1556-on-edward-said Buy Palestine: A Socialist Introduction haymarketbooks.org/books/1558-palestine-a-socialist-introduction
Mon, October 16, 2023
The Missing Revolution w/ Vincent Bevins
Featuring Vincent Bevins on If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution. The second of a two-part interview on this important new book. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our excellent newsletters—sent to you by email if you support us on Patreon thedigradio.com/newsletter Check out The Dig's vast archives on Palestine thedigradio.com/category/palestine Donate now to support Gaza relief pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/forms/gaza-relief Subscribe to Jacobin bit.ly/digjacobin Learn more about Haymarket’s Book Clubs at haymarketbooks.org
Mon, October 09, 2023
If We Burn w/ Vincent Bevins
Featuring Vincent Bevins on If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution. The first of a two-part interview on this important new book. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig and ask Vincent a follow-up question. Buy Reform, Revolution, and Opportunism: Debates in the Second International, 1900-1910 haymarketbooks.org/books/2109-reform-revolution-and-opportunism Buy War Made Invisible thenewpress.com/books/war-made-invisible
Fri, September 29, 2023
Long Land War w/ Jo Guldi
Featuring Jo Guldi on the global history of the long land war—a war over everything from agrarian reform to tenant rights, from India and China to England and Ireland, from the late 19th century through the present—and into the future. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Blood Red Lines at haymarketbooks.org/books/1519-blood-red-lines Buy Abolition for the People at haymarketbooks.org/books/2095-abolition-for-the-people
Fri, September 22, 2023
Organizing and Socialist Strategy
Featuring Alex Han, Astra Taylor, and Rachel Gilmer on how we build powerful organizations that win both short-term fights and the long-term struggle for socialism. A live Dig recorded at the Socialism 2023 conference in Chicago. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig and ask Dig guests follow-up questions! Buy Our History Has Always Been Contraband at haymarketbooks.org Buy To Build a Black Future princeton.press/blackfuture
Thu, September 14, 2023
The Dig Presents: Alien Jerky Sold Here
If you look, you'll see. Most people don't look. Produced by Stephen Cassidy Jones and Liza Yeager. Edited by Mitchell Johnson, with editorial oversight from Daniel Denvir. Featuring Mark Pilkington, Valerie Kuletz, and Trevor Paglen. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Blood Red Lines at haymarketbooks.org Subscribe to Jacobin at bit.ly/digjacobin
Sat, September 09, 2023
Seizing Labor’s Moment w/ Alex Press & Eric Blanc
Featuring Alex Press and Eric Blanc on surging labor militancy and why US unions must seize this historic moment. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig and ask our guests follow-up questions! Learn more about Haymarket’s Book Clubs at haymarketbooks.org Subscribe to Jacobin bit.ly/digjacobin and Catalyst bit.ly/digcatalyst
Thu, August 31, 2023
AOC on US Hegemony and Latin American Sovereignty
Featuring Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the Latin American left and the long history of US intervention in the region. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy War Made Invisible thenewpress.com/books/war-made-invisible Buy Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge versobooks.com/products/2981-quick-fixes
Thu, August 24, 2023
Emergent Terrain w/ Akbar, Winant, & Riofrancos
Featuring Amna Akbar, Gabriel Winant, and Thea Riofrancos on the emerging terrain of struggle. Is American liberalism exhausted or revitalized? What are the successes and limits of the new US left electoral strategy? Is there a new anti-electoral mood amongst socialists? Why don't we have a powerful climate movement? What forces are making and remaking the American working class today? The second and final part of a very wide-ranging interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy Reform, Revolution, and Opportunism: Debates in the Second International, 1900-1910 haymarketbooks.org/books/2109-reform-revolution-and-opportunism
Sun, August 13, 2023
Conjuncture w/ Akbar, Winant, & Riofrancos
Featuring Amna Akbar, Gabriel Winant, and Thea Riofrancos on the American conjuncture. Did an era that began with Occupy and Ferguson—marked by teachers strikes, two Bernie campaigns, the explosive growth of DSA, Standing Rock, and summer 2020 rebellions—just end? What social, political, and economic terrain is emerging in the wake of the pandemic, and how should the left navigate it? The first of a two-part and wide-ranging interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig All Haymarket books are 40% off! Shop at haymarketbooks.org Buy After Work by Helen Hester and Nick Srnicek versobooks.com/products/496-after-work
Tue, August 01, 2023
The Dig Presents: Power Struggle
Reporter Dharna Noor learns about the Tennessee Valley Authority: the good, the bad, the past, and the future. This is the 5th episode of The Dig Presents. Produced by Dharna Noor. Edited by Liza Yeager and Mitchell Johnson. Support The Dig at patreon.com/thedig All Haymarket books are 40% off! Shop at haymarketbooks.org
Fri, July 21, 2023
Bidenomics w/ Daniela Gabor, Ted Fertik, & Tim Sahay
Featuring Daniela Gabor, Ted Fertik, and Tim Sahay on Bidenomics. We define and debate the new American industrial policy, the energy transition, the New Cold War with China—and more. Support this podcast with a contribution at Patreon.com/TheDig Subscribe to The Polycrisis newsletter phenomenalworld.org/series/the-polycrisis Buy Travellers of the World Revolution versobooks.com/products/2938-travellers-of-the-world-revolution Buy War Made Invisible thenewpress.com/books/war-made-invisible
Sun, July 09, 2023
The Manifesto w/ China Miéville
Featuring China Miéville on The Communist Manifesto. Miéville is the author of A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Register for Dan's event with Miéville eventbrite.com/e/digressions-china-mieville-on-the-communist-manifesto-tickets-674432434567 Subscribe to Jacobin bit.ly/digjacobin Buy A Different Trek: Radical Geographies of Deep Space Nine by David K. Seitz nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496227997
Thu, June 29, 2023
Counting in Chinese
Writer and critic Andrea Long Chu wanted to ask her family one simple question. The Dig Presents is edited by Liza Yeager and Mitchell Johnson, with editorial oversight from Daniel Denvir and Alex Lewis. Support The Dig at https://www.patreon.com/thedig. Listen the episode of Al Jazeera's The Take featuring Dig Presents reporter Omar Etman and his story, A Garden in Cairo, here.
Sun, June 25, 2023
AI Hype Machine w/ Meredith Whittaker, Ed Ongweso, and Sarah West
Featuring Meredith Whittaker, Edward Ongweso Jr., and Sarah Myers West on the mundane dystopia concealed beneath the AI hype machine. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Subscribe to New Left Review newleftreview.org Register for the Socialism 2023 Conference socialismconference.org
Sun, June 18, 2023
The Fall of OPEC w/ Giuliano Garavini
Featuring Giuliano Garavini on his book The Rise and Fall of OPEC in the Twentieth Century. The second in a two-part series on the 20th-century history of petrostates, petrocapitalists, and the world system. Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig Subscribe to n+1. Go to nplusonemag.com/thedig and enter THEDIG at checkout Learn more about Haymarket's Book Clubs at haymarketbooks.org
Sun, June 11, 2023
The Rise of OPEC w/ Giuliano Garavini
Featuring Giuliano Garavini on his book The Rise and Fall of OPEC in the Twentieth Century. The first of a two-part series on the 20th-century history of petrostates, petrocapitalists, and the world system. Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig Subscribe to n+1. Go to nplusonemag.com/thedig and enter THEDIG at checkout
Sun, June 04, 2023
Colonial Lives of Property w/ Brenna Bhandar
Featuring Brenna Bhandar on Colonial Lives of Property: Law, Land and Racial Regimes of Ownership. The centuries-long history of how dominant conceptions of private property were (and are) made alongside race and racial hierarchies in colonial encounters stretching from Ireland and British Columbia to Australia and Palestine. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Register for the Socialism Conference at socialismconference.org Buy Let This Radicalize You by Mariame Kaba and Kelly Hayes haymarketbooks.org/books/1922-let-this-radicalize-you
Sat, May 27, 2023
Transmissions from Jonestown
A sonic memorial to the Black women of the Peoples Temple. Produced and reported by Babette Thomas. Edited by Liza Yeager and Mitchell Johnson, with editorial oversight from Daniel Denvir and Alex Lewis. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/thedig. Subscribe to The Dig Presents to find all of our documentary stories on one feed.
Sat, May 20, 2023
Crack-Up Capitalism w/ Quinn Slobodian
Featuring Quinn Slobodian on Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy. Radical libertarians, including anarcho-capitalists like Murray Rothbard, envision a world of micro-polities governed by private property and contract. In fact, we already live in their world, a world of zones—places where special rules tailor-made for capitalists prevail over the ordinary laws of the nation-state. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Listen to Quinn's interview on Globalists thedigradio.com/podcast/a-history-of-neoliberalism-with-quinn-slobodian Buy Angela Davis: An Autobiography haymarketbooks.org/books/2001-angela-davis Buy Let This Radicalize You by Mariame Kaba and Kelly Hayes haymarketbooks.org/books/1922-let-this-radicalize-you
Sat, May 13, 2023
Trans Children w/ Jules Gill-Peterson
Featuring Jules Gill-Peterson on Histories of the Transgender Child. Amid this right-wing reaction, a discussion of the history of trans medicine and trans children—and also trans politics more generally. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Register for Socialism 2023 at socialismconference.org. Register before July 7 for the early bird discount rate! Subscribe to n+1 at nplusonemag.com/thedig. Enter THEDIG at checkout.
Mon, May 08, 2023
The Chicago Model w/ Stacy Davis Gates, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, and Alex Han
Featuring Stacy Davis Gates, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, and Alex Han on how Chicago's labor left took over City Hall. Brandon Johnson's mayoral victory, the product of a decade-plus of social movement union struggle, is a model for the left everywhere in the United States. Guest hosted by Micah Uetricht. Subscribe to n+1. Go to nplusonemag.com/thedig and enter THEDIG at checkout Buy Occupation: Organizer by Clément Petitjean haymarketbooks.org/books/2054-occupation-organizer
Fri, May 05, 2023
Philly’s Left Turn w/ Helen Gym & Nikil Saval
Featuring Nikil Saval and Helen Gym on how the history of Philadelphia social movements brought Nikil into the state senate and has made Helen, a long-time public education organizer, a frontrunner in the mayoral race. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Subscribe to Dissent dissentmagazine.org/subscribe Buy Angela Davis: An Autobiography haymarketbooks.org/books/2001-angela-davis
Fri, April 28, 2023
Superhighway!
We have as many roads in the United States as we have streams and rivers. Produced by Caroline Kanner and Jackson Roach, with original music by Jackson Roach. Edited by Liza Yeager and Mitchell Johnson. Subscribe to The Dig Presents, and support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig. Bibliography (in order of appearance): A Field Guide to Roadside Wildflowers at Full Speed - Chris Helzer Car Country: An Environmental History - Christopher W. Wells On Trails: An Exploration - Robert Moor Snell-Rood Lab Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet - Ben Goldfarb A Short History of the Blockade: Giant Beavers, Diplomacy, and Regeneration in Nishnaabewin - Leanne Betasamosake Simpson Who Belongs to the Land: An Essay on Camps, Blockades, and Indigenous Models of Remaking the World - Lou Cornum Further reading available here.
Sun, April 23, 2023
Teach the Children Well w/ Jennifer Berkshire & Jack Schneider
Featuring Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider on the politics of public education. The authors of A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling of Education and the Future of School and co-hosts of the education policy podcast Have You Heard discuss everything from charters and vouchers to teacher social movement unionism and the right-wing cultural wars against "woke" educators. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Sat, April 15, 2023
How to Build a Fighting Labor Movement w/ Jane McAlevey
Featuring Jane McAlevey on how to organize mass numbers of new workers into unions that wage mass strikes to fight employers and revive the labor movement. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Dan's 2019 interview with McAlevey thedigradio.com/podcast/strike-with-jane-mcalevey Buy Set Fear on Fire by LASTESIS versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2853-set-fear-on-fire Buy The New Cold War by Gilbert Achcar haymarketbooks.org/books/2007-the-new-cold-war
Sat, April 08, 2023
Zionism’s Civil War w/ Edo Konrad & Joshua Leifer
Featuring Edo Konrad and Joshua Leifer on how Zionism's long-running contradictions led to the current political crisis in Israel. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out +972 Magazine at 972mag.com Subscribe to Jewish Currents' Israel/Palestine newsletter at jewishcurrents.org/newsletter Buy The New Cold War: The United States, Russia, and China from Kosovo to Ukraine by Gilbert Achcar haymarketbooks.org/books/2007-the-new-cold-war
Fri, March 31, 2023
The Dig Presents: A Garden in Cairo
It started with a few cones and a cryptic sign. Produced by Omar Etman. Edited by Liza Yeager, Mitchell Johnson, and Daniel Denvir. Special thanks to Alan Dean, Alex Lewis, and Nihal El Aasar. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Sat, March 25, 2023
Sexual Hegemony w/ Max Fox and Chris Nealon
Featuring Max Fox and Chris Nealon on the late Christopher Chitty's book Sexual Hegemony: Statecraft, Sodomy, and Capital in the Rise of the World System. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletters and vast archive at thedigradio.com Further reading: libcom.org/article/after-fall-communiques-occupied-california viewpointmag.com/2012/09/12/towards-a-socialist-art-of-government-michel-foucaults-the-mesh-of-power thenewinquiry.com/blog/in-love-and-memory Buy Abolition Geography versobooks.com/books/3785-abolition-geography
Tue, March 21, 2023
Trailer: The Dig Presents
Coming Soon: The Dig Presents is a new monthly series that features original documentary reporting, personal narrative, and other sonic experiments from a wide range of contributors.
Sun, March 19, 2023
Racism, Class, and the Opioid Crisis
Featuring Helena Hansen, Jules Netherland, and David Herzberg on how American capitalism and its illusions of whiteness both created the opioid crisis and shaped the response to it. We are discussing their book Whiteout: How Racial Capitalism Changed the Color of Opioids in America. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletters and vast archives at thedigradio.com Subscribe to Jacobin bit.ly/digjacobin and Catalyst bit.ly/digcatalyst
Mon, March 13, 2023
Labor Histories w/ Nelson Lichtenstein
Featuring Nelson Lichtenstein on his life and scholarship, from membership in the International Socialists and studies of the early United Auto Workers and CIO to his later turn to studying Walmart and international supply chains. Guest host Micah Uetricht interviews one of the greatest living labor historians. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletters and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy Keywords for Capitalism by John Patrick Leary haymarketbooks.org/books/1886-keywords-for-capitalism
Sun, March 12, 2023
Labor Histories w/ Nelson Lichtenstein
Featuring Nelson Lichtenstein on his life and scholarship, from membership in the International Socialists and studies of the early United Auto Workers and CIO to his later turn to studying Walmart and international supply chains. Guest host Micah Uetricht interviews one of the greatest living labor historians. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletters and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy Keywords for Capitalism by John Patrick Leary haymarketbooks.org/books/1886-keywords-for-capitalism
Sun, March 05, 2023
American Militarism w/ Nadia Abu El-Haj
Featuring Nadia Abu El-Haj on Combat Trauma: Imaginaries of War and Citizenship in Post-9/11 America. How the civil-military divide makes troops into super citizens and what it means that agents of state violence are turning to the grammar of identity politics—and more. The second in a two-part interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Subscribe to New Left Review newleftreview.org/subscriptions/new Buy My Country is the World: Staughton Lynd’s Writings, Speeches, and Statements Against the Vietnam War haymarketbooks.org/books/1956-my-country-is-the-world
Sun, February 26, 2023
Combat Trauma w/ Nadia Abu El-Haj
Featuring Nadia Abu El-Haj on Combat Trauma: Imaginaries of War and Citizenship in Post-9/11 America. A truly remarkable book about the unseen ideological foundations of American militarism: American civilians are enjoined to venerate troops, deferring to their traumatized positionality. The first in a two-part interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy: Fighting in a World on Fire by Andreas Malm versobooks.com/books/4138-fighting-in-a-world-on-fire The Sinking Middle Class: A Political History of Debt, Misery, and the Drift to the Right by David Roediger haymarketbooks.org/books/1879-the-sinking-middle-class
Fri, February 17, 2023
Higher Ed Industrial Unionism w/ Donna Murch and Todd Wolfson
Featuring Donna Murch and Todd Wolfson on Rutgers University workers' industrial unionism strategy. The second in a two-part series on the crisis in American higher education. Check out Dan's interview in The Nation: thenation.com/article/world/qa-daniel-denvir/ Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out The Dig's newsletters and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy Haunted by Slavery: haymarketbooks.org/books/1557-haunted-by-slavery Buy David Harvey’s Companion to Marx’s Grundrisse: versobooks.com/books/4145-a-companion-to-marx-s-grundrisse
Fri, February 10, 2023
Higher Ed Crisis w/ Dennis Hogan
Featuring Dennis Hogan on the crisis in higher education. The first in a two-part series. Next up: Donna Murch and Todd Wolfson on how university workers can fight back through industrial unionism. Read Dan's interview in The Nation thenation.com/article/world/qa-daniel-denvir Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletters and vast archives at thedigradio.com Buy On Shedding an Obsolete Past: Bidding Farewell to the American Century by Andrew Bacevich haymarketbooks.org/books/1949-on-shedding-an-obsolete-past
Sun, February 05, 2023
The Politics and Practice of Tenant Organizing
Featuring Shanti Singh, Tracy Rosenthal, René Moya, and Cea Weaver on the politics and practice of organizing tenants. Please donate generously to support Pioneer Tenants United zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/0ae18bb1-5cb9-475a-af13-aedbbd890497 Peruse our vast archives and weekly newsletters at thedigradio.com
Fri, January 27, 2023
Freedom Dreams w/ Robin D.G. Kelley
Featuring Robin D.G. Kelley on Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig and get our weekly newsletter by email Peruse our newsletters and vast archives at thedigradio.com Check out America as Overlord haymarketbooks.org/books/1958-america-as-overlord The Men With the Pink Triangle haymarketbooks.org/books/1935-the-men-with-the-pink-triangle
Sat, January 21, 2023
Gramsci, Organization, Crisis w/ Michael Denning
Featuring Michael Denning on Antonio Gramsci. The second of a two-part interview. Read the passages of Selections from the Prison Notebooks that Dan read to prepare: thedigradio.com/gramscinotebooks Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig and get our weekly newsletter by email Peruse our newsletters and vast archives at thedigradio.com Check out Socialism...Seriously: A Brief Guide to Surviving the 21st Century by Danny Katch haymarketbooks.org/books/1943-socialism-seriously Check out Black Women Writers at Work haymarketbooks.org/books/1926-black-women-writers-at-work
Sat, January 14, 2023
Gramsci & Hegemony w/ Michael Denning
Featuring Michael Denning on Antonio Gramsci. Part one of an expansive two-part interview. Read the passages of Selections from the Prison Notebooks that Dan read to prepare: thedigradio.com/gramscinotebooks Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig and get our weekly newsletter by email Check out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com
Sat, December 31, 2022
The Capitalist Conjuncture w/ Tim Barker
Featuring historian Tim Barker on monetary politics, inflation, and the general capitalist conjuncture. The second of a two-part interview. Check out my July 2021 interview with Barker if you want a more expansive primer on inflation thedigradio.com/podcast/inflation-politics-with-tim-barker Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our brilliant newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com Get After Life: A Collective History of Loss and Redemption in Pandemic America haymarketbooks.org/books/1927-after-life
Thu, December 22, 2022
Monetary Politics w/ Tim Barker
Featuring historian Tim Barker on the state of monetary politics amid the current fight over inflation. Check out my July 2021 interview with Barker if you want a more expansive primer on inflation thedigradio.com/podcast/inflation-politics-with-tim-barker Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our brilliant newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.com
Sat, December 17, 2022
New Deal Ruins w/ Edward Goetz
Featuring Edward Goetz on his book New Deal Ruins: Race, Economic Justice, and Public Housing Policy. Goetz tells the story of American public housing and then its destruction and dismantling, which took off in the 1980s and accelerated during the 90s under the Clinton Administration’s Hope VI program. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig and get our weekly newsletter by email plus swag. Check out Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire haymarketbooks.org/books/1861-light-in-gaza
Sun, December 11, 2022
Modern Housing w/ Gail Radford
Featuring Gail Radford on her classic book Modern Housing for America: Policy Struggles in the New Deal Era. Radford tells the story of Catherine Bauer, the Labor Housing Conference, and the struggle to make the American housing system a radically social one. In place of the two-tier system that won out, Bauer and her allies proposed a massive federally-backed system of noncommercial housing that would appeal to and house the majority of Americans. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out Revolutionary Social Democracy: Working-Class Politics Across the Russian Empire (1882-1917) by Eric Blanc haymarketbooks.org/books/1907-revolutionary-social-democracy
Fri, December 02, 2022
Founding Finance with William Hogeland
Astra Taylor interviews William Hogeland on his book Founding Finance: How Debt, Speculation, Foreclosures, Protests, and Crackdowns Made Us a Nation. Hogeland recovers a fascinating crop of mostly-forgotten rebels, the movements they led, and their radical demands that put the landlords and lenders of their day on edge. He also recounts the complex and sometimes deadly machinations that went into suppressing them in order to create a nation that was safe for the owning and investing classes. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Wed, November 23, 2022
The “Woke Mob” Made Them MAGA?
Featuring Daniel Denvir on the Citations Needed podcast (as guest, not host) debunking the argument that "woke mobs" (liberal or left identity politics) drove white working-class men into MAGA's arms. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our vast archives and newsletters at thedigradio.com
Fri, November 18, 2022
Iran, 1997-2022: Reform, Reaction, and Crisis
Featuring Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi and Golnar Nikpour on the history of modern Iran. This is the fifth and final episode in what is now a FIVE-part series. We begin this episode in 1997, with reformist cleric Mohammad Khatami’s surprise landslide election to the presidency. Then we cover the reformists running into hardliner repression and George W. Bush's War on Terror, the 2005 election of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, his 2009 reelection and Green Movement protests, Hassan Rouhani and the nuclear accord that Trump then tore up, the 2019 mass working-class protests, and the election (but really more coronation) of right-winger Ebrahim Raisi. We end with the death of Zhina Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police and the current mass protest movement that erupted in response. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our vast archives and the rest of this series at thedigradio.com Buy Daring to Struggle, Daring to Win by Helen Shiller haymarketbooks.org/books/1952-daring-to-struggle-daring-to-win
Tue, November 15, 2022
Iran, 1979-1997: Islamic Republic, War, and Thermidor
Featuring Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi and Golnar Nikpour on the history of modern Iran. This is the fourth episode in what is now a FIVE-part series. We pick up in the wake of the Islamic Revolution as Khomeini consolidates power, represses his rivals, and confronts an invasion from Saddam Hussein's Iraq. We continue through the Iran-Iraq War, the mass execution of thousands of leftist prisoners, and Khamenei and Rafsanjani's rise to power after Khomeini's death. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our vast archives and newsletter at thedigradio.com
Mon, November 07, 2022
Iran, 1953-1979: From the Shah to Islamic Revolution
Featuring Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi and Golnar Nikpour on the history of modern Iran. This is the third episode in our four-part series. We pick up in the wake of the US-British 1953 coup against Mossadegh, assess the Shah's repression and attempts to manufacture consent through passive revolution, and then close by laying out the 1979 Islamic Revolution in all of its wild complexity. If you love The Dig, support the podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our newsletter and archives at thedigradio.com
Tue, November 01, 2022
Iran, 1941-1953: Tudeh, Mosaddegh, Oil, and the CIA-MI6 Coup
Featuring Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi and Golnar Nikpour on the history of modern Iran. This is the second episode in our four-part series. We begin in 1941 with the British-Soviet occupation of Iran, the ouster of Reza Shah and his replacement by his son, Mohammad Reza Shah. We continue with the rise of the Tudeh communist party, the nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, Mohammad Mosaddegh's National Party coming to power, and the 1953 US-British coup that overthrew Mosaddegh and reinstalled Mohammad Reza Shah as dictator. His brutal reign continued until the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which is where we will pick up in episode three. Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out The Sinking Middle Class by David Roediger haymarketbooks.org/books/1879-the-sinking-middle-class
Thu, October 27, 2022
Iran: 1906-1941 w/ Eskandar Sadeghi & Golnar Nikpour
Featuring Eskandar Sadeghi and Golnar Nikpour on the history of modern Iran, from 1906 through the present. This episode is the first in a four-part series, covering the period from 1906 until 1941, from the Constitutional Revolution that imposed constitutional limits on the Qajar dynasty through the 1921 coup that brought to power Reza Khan—who then in 1925 deposed the Qajars and became Reza Shah, the first shah of the Pahlavi dynasty. We end just before the 1941 occupation of Iran by longtime imperial powers, Britain and the Soviet Union, which forced Reza Shah out and replaced him with his son, Muhammad Reza Shah—which is where we will pick up in episode two. RIP Mike Davis. Listen to his Dig interviews here: thedigradio.com/tag/mike-davis Please support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig Read our newsletters and explore our vast archives at thedigradio.com
Tue, October 18, 2022
Conspiracy of Equals w/ Laura Mason
Featuring Laura Mason on her book The Last Revolutionaries: The Conspiracy Trial of Gracchus Babeuf and the Equals. Mason discusses Babeuf's call to abolish property, his radically egalitarian conspiracy against the Directory government, and the end of the French Revolution. How a centrist government turned its back on popular democracy, presided over growing inequality and working-class poverty, and abetted the rise of the reactionary right that would ultimately overthrow it. Check out the newsletter and our vast archives at thedigradio.com Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Mon, October 10, 2022
Europe w/ Anton Jäger & Dominik Leusder
Featuring Anton Jäger and Dominik Leusder on Europe and the European Union from the crises of social democratic welfare states in the 1970s and 80s, the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, through the eurozone crisis, to the present moment of war in Ukraine, renewed NATO expansion, and a resurgent far right. Listen to Anton and Dominik's Eurotrash podcast patreon.com/eurotrash Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig to get our weekly newsletter by email Check out those newsletters and our vast archives at thedigradio.com
Sun, October 02, 2022
On the Line w/ Daisy Pitkin
Featuring Daisy Pitkin on her book On the Line: A Story of Class, Solidarity, and Two Women's Epic Fight to Build a Union, a memoir that powerfully captures the drama of an organizing drive—and so much more. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out The Dig newsletter at thedigradio.com Subscribe to n+1 at nplusonemag.com/thedig. Enter THEDIG at checkout for a discount.
Sun, September 25, 2022
Taming Free Speech w/ Laura Weinrib
Featuring Laura Weinrib on The Taming of Free Speech: America’s Civil Liberties Compromise. Did you know that the ACLU was founded as a radical labor organization allied with the IWW? Weinrib traces the rise of the modern civil liberties movement, and modern constitutional liberalism more broadly, from World War I through the New Deal. She explains how the ACLU went from defending free speech as a means to revolutionary ends to a liberal position exalting free speech as an end unto itself—including the anti-union speech of bosses and the political speech of corporations. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out Atomic Days: The Untold Story of the Most Toxic Place in America by Joshua Frank haymarketbooks.org/books/1940-atomic-days Abolishing State Violence: A World Beyond Bombs, Borders, and Cages by Ray Acheson haymarketbooks.org/books/1883-abolishing-state-violence
Sun, September 18, 2022
Emancipation Circuit w/ Thulani Davis
Featuring Thulani Davis on The Emancipation Circuit: Black Activism Forging a Culture of Freedom, a monumental history of freedpeople organizing amid the Civl War and Reconstruction. Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto by China Miéville haymarketbooks.org/books/1990-a-spectre-haunting
Sat, September 10, 2022
Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Robin Kelley, and Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò
Featuring Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Robin D.G. Kelley, and Ruth Wilson Gilmore on racial capitalism, intergenerational organizing, internationalism, and a whole lot more. Dan's live Dig interview from the Socialism 2022 conference in Chicago. Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out our archives and weekly newsletter at thedigradio.com Check out Breaking the Impasse by Kim Moody haymarketbooks.org/books/1873-breaking-the-impasse
Fri, September 02, 2022
The Sahel w/ Rahmane Idrissa
Featuring Rahmane Idrissa on Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. The region has been beset by jihadist insurgencies and, in the case of Mali and Burkina Faso, recent military coups. This is a comprehensive interview that puts the present conflict—which has drawn in French military and then Russian mercenary intervention—into deep historical and political-economic context from struggles over the slave trade, through French colonialism, to the neocolonial imposition of neoliberalism. Idrissa’s work: newleftreview.org/issues/ii132/articles/rahmane-idrissa-the-sahel-a-cognitive-mapping newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/kabores-defeat nybooks.com/daily/2022/05/25/potent-policies-of-empire lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n04/rahmane-idrissa/coup-contrecouplrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n23/rahmane-idrissa/countries-without-currency Special outro music from Ali Farka Touré. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out Inside the Second Wave of Feminism: haymarketbooks.org/books/1887-inside-the-second-wave-of-feminism
Sat, August 27, 2022
A History of Neoliberalism w/ Quinn Slobodian
Featuring Quinn Slobodian on his book Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism. The story of neoliberalism’s Geneva School—including Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and Wilhelm Röpke—and their vision for a new global order to protect the market from democratic forces in the metropole and across the decolonizing world. An interview from archives first conducted in November 2018. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out these Haymarket titles: Keywords for Capitalism by John Patrick Leary haymarketbooks.org/books/1886-keywords-for-capitalism Struggle Makes Us Human by Vijay Prashad haymarketbooks.org/books/1869-struggle-makes-us-human
Fri, August 19, 2022
Worldmaking after Empire w/ Adom Getachew
Featuring Adom Getachew on the story of how decolonization struggles across the Black Atlantic tried to not only cast off European rule but also to remake the entire world system. An October 2019 episode from the archives. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Fri, August 12, 2022
Britain After Empire w/ Kojo Koram
Featuring Kojo Koram on his brilliant book Uncommon Wealth: Britain and the Aftermath of Empire. How neoliberalism reorganized colonial capitalist plunder to survive the Third Worldist challenge, and then boomeranged back into the British metropole—a history obscured by rendering “decolonization” into a symbolic culture war battle. Check out How to Sell a Poison: The Rise, Fall, and Toxic Return of DDT by Elena Conis hachettebookgroup.com/titles/elena-conis/how-to-sell-a-poison/9781645036753/ Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Sat, July 30, 2022
Dead Generations w/ Matt Christman
Featuring Matt Christman on how American history brought us to this awful present. Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig
Mon, July 18, 2022
How Capitalism Works w/ Nancy Fraser
Featuring Nancy Fraser on why a total analysis of capitalism requires taking Marxism beyond a narrowly economistic view: what everyday labor exploitation requires from politics, care work, war-making, borders, appropriation of nature, sexism, racism, and more. Dan's 2018 interview from the archives. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Fri, July 08, 2022
It’s Still Capitalism w/ Evgeny Morozov
Featuring Evgeny Morozov on his essay "Critique of Techno-Feudal Reason." Thinkers from the Marxist left all the way to the neoliberal and even neo-reactionary right are convinced that we’ve exited capitalism entirely and entered neo-feudalism. Morozov argues that our bleak moment is in fact still a thoroughly capitalist one. Evgeny's essay: newleftreview.org/issues/ii133/articles/evgeny-morozov-critique-of-techno-feudal-reason Evgeny's website: evgenymorozov.com The Syllabus: the-syllabus.com Register for Socialism 2022: socialismconference.org Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig Read our newsletter and explore the archives at thedigradio.com
Fri, July 01, 2022
Identity, Power, and Speech with Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò
Featuring Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò on his essay "Being-in-the-Room Privilege: Elite Capture and Epistemic Deference," an interview first posted in December 2020. This pairs well with last week's Jared Clemons interview on In This House We Believe antiracism. Since 2020, Táíwò has published a book expanding on these ideas: Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else). Read Táíwò's essay: thephilosopher1923.org/post/being-in-the-room-privilege-elite-capture-and-epistemic-deference Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Read our newsletter at thedigradio.com
Fri, June 24, 2022
In This House w/ Jared Clemons
Political scientist Jared Clemons on feckless liberal anti-racism: how In This House We Believe racial liberalism leaves racial capitalism's inequalities in place and why, drawing on Martin Luther King and A. Philip Randolph, the Black Freedom Movement instead needs solidarity with the multi-racial working class. Read Jared's article: jaredkclemons.weebly.com/uploads/1/1/7/5/117532940/clemons_2022_-_from_freedom_now_to_blm.pdf Interview with Matt Sitman and Sam Adler-Bell from February 2021: thedigradio.com/podcast/conservative-intelligentsia-with-sam-adler-bell-matt-sitman/ Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Sat, June 18, 2022
The American Right w/ Matthew Sitman and Sam Adler-Bell
Know Your Enemy hosts Matthew Sitman and Sam Adler-Bell on terrifyingly protean right-wing American politics. Check out our newsletter: thedigradio.com/newsletter Read James Pogue on the New Right: vanityfair.com/news/2022/04/inside-the-new-right-where-peter-thiel-is-placing-his-biggest-bets Read Mie Inouye's Boston Review article on union salts: bostonreview.net/articles/labors-militant-minority/
Fri, June 10, 2022
Gunpower Death Drive w/ Patrick Blanchfield
Patrick Blanchfield analyzes the long history of US gun violence and the American death drive. Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig and get our weekly newsletter by email. Check out our most recent newsletter on the Progressive Era roots of Clintonism's conception of the "deserving poor" thedigradio.com/newsletter32 Register for Socialism 2022 socialismconference.org
Sun, June 05, 2022
The New Democrats w/ Lily Geismer
Dan's second episode with historian Lily Geismer, who he interviewed in 2019 about Don't Blame Us: Suburban Liberals and the Transformation of the Democratic Party. This interview is on Left Behind: The Democrats' Failed Attempt to Solve Inequality, which details the long history of Clintonism and the Democrats’ neoliberal turn. Read the latest newsletter. It's on what Ruthie meant when she said abolition was another word for communism: thedigradio.com/newsletter31 Listen to Geismer's first Dig interview: thedigradio.com/podcast/race-and-class-in-the-liberal-suburbs-with-lily-geismer Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Sat, May 28, 2022
Ruth Wilson Gilmore w/ Alberto Toscano and Brenna Bhandar
What role does mass incarceration play in American political economy? What does that reveal about what sort of politics are required to overcome it? Ruth Wilson Gilmore with Alberto Toscano and Brenna Bhandar, who edited the new collection Abolition Geography: Essays Towards Liberation. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Assata Taught Me: State Violence, Racial Capitalism, and the Movement for Black Lives by Donna Murch haymarketbooks.org/books/1650-assata-taught-me
Sat, May 21, 2022
Center and Periphery w/ Margarita Fajardo
Historian Margarita Fajardo on her book The World That Latin America Created: The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America in the Development Era. Fajardo discusses the Latin American economists at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) who conceptualized the division of the global economy between center and periphery, and how that later gave rise to dependency theory and world systems theory. Plus Cuban Revolution and the Alliance for Progress, Allende's democratic road to socialism and right-wing coups in Chile and Brazil—and more. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Fri, May 13, 2022
The Return of Labor Militancy
Live from New York: Dan interviews Amazon Labor Union president Chris Smalls, Jaz Brisack of Starbucks Workers United, SEIU Local 1199NE president Rob Baril, Jacobin writer Alex Press, and Labor Notes writer Luis Feliz Leon on the return of labor militancy that we see sweeping Amazon, Starbucks, and workplaces all around the US. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Sat, May 07, 2022
SCOTUS, Politics, and the Law w/ Aziz Rana, Amna Akbar, & Marbre Stahly-Butts
A timely interview from the archives: legal scholars Aziz Rana and Amna Akbar, and Movement for Black Lives lawyer Marbre Stahly-Butts, on SCOTUS, liberal court veneration, and other big questions on the law and politics facing the left. Find Eslanda at haymarketbooks.org/books/1769-eslanda Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Thu, April 28, 2022
Before the West w/ Ayşe Zarakol
Ayşe Zarakol on her book Before the West: The Rise and Fall of Eastern World Orders. How centuries of Asian empires from Genghis Khan to Timur and the early Ming Dynasty through the Ottomans and Mughals built dominant world orders and, ultimately, shaped the rise of Europe—and how that all might shape how we think about the crisis in the world order today. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out phenomenalworld.org
Thu, April 21, 2022
Bonds of Inequality w/ Destin Jenkins
Destin Jenkins on his book The Bonds of Inequality: Debt and the Making of the American City, which makes a powerful argument about how the ubiquitous and in many ways invisible dependence of American cities on municipal debt to fund basic infrastructure has devastating consequences for democracy and entrenches spatial, racial, and wealth disparities. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Tickets for live NYC show on The Return of Labor Militancy: eventbrite.com/e/the-return-of-labor-militancy-with-the-dig-and-jacobin-tickets-320732338057
Fri, April 15, 2022
Police w/ Mariame Kaba and Geo Maher
Mariame Kaba and Geo Maher discuss police, the politics of policing, abolition, reform—and more. Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig
Fri, April 08, 2022
Price Wars w/ Rupert Russell & Isabella Weber
Rupert Russell and Isabella Weber discuss Russell's book Price Wars: How the Commodities Markets Made Our Chaotic World and also the current politics of inflation. Listen to Weber discuss her book How China Escaped Shock Therapy: thedigradio.com/podcast/how-china-escaped-shock-therapy-w-isabella-weber/ Look at Rupert's precious puppy: twitter.com/rupert_russell/status/1511428696409837573?s=20&t=OPVNgfXuokFY6ZQYRkxe4g Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig
Fri, April 01, 2022
Vaccine Apartheid Endures w/ Achal Prabhala
Astra interviews Achal Prabhala on the lethal persistence of global vaccine apartheid. Moderna is selfishly refusing to share or even sell (license) its mRNA technology, leaving much of the world unprotected from the pandemic and incubating new variants. Moderna's annual shareholder meeting is April 28th. Join Justice is Global, Boston DSA, and others to challenge vaccine profiteering at their Cambridge headquarters. Sign up at bitly.com/modernaaction Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig
Wed, March 23, 2022
Clash of Empires w/ Ho-fung Hung
The second of our two-part interview with sociologist Ho-fung Hung on Chinese political and economic history. This episode covers the 2008 financial crisis, how China’s response deepened global and domestic economic imbalances and (alongside the US) heightened geopolitical conflict, the current situation—including Russia’s invasion—and a lot more. Listen to part one first if you haven't already. Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig
Fri, March 18, 2022
China Boom w/ Ho-fung Hung
Part one of a two-part interview with sociologist Ho-fung Hung on Chinese political economic history from the 18th century to 2008: why capitalism took off in England and then elsewhere but not in China; and then, how Maoist policy laid the groundwork for China’s ultimate capitalist takeoff and boom. Episode two will focus on the 2008 financial crisis, the deepening imbalances and heightened geopolitical conflict that resulted, and the current situation—including the impact of the crises surrounding Russia’s invasion. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Thu, March 10, 2022
War w/ Sophie Pinkham and Nick Mulder
Sophie Pinkham and Nick Mulder on the war, its origins, how it’s being experienced by Ukrainians, Russians, Europeans, and Americans—and also its geopolitical and global economic ramifications, particularly sanctions. Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Angela Davis: An Autobiography haymarketbooks.org/books/1741-angela-davis
Tue, March 01, 2022
Russia Invades w/ Tony Wood
Tony Wood returns to The Dig to discuss Russia’s invasion, what it reflects about Russian politics and geopolitics today and historically, and how the Left should be thinking about it all. Tony's LRB essay: lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n04/tony-wood2/why-didn-t-they-stop-it Listen to past Dig eps for context on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: Tony Wood on Russia and Putin: thedigradio.com/podcast/russia-beyond-putin-with-tony-wood Volodymyr Ishchenko on Ukraine: thedigradio.com/podcast/ukraine-w-volodymyr-ishchenko Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Sat, February 26, 2022
Invisible Hands w/ Kim Phillips-Fein
Dan interviews historian Kim Phillips-Fein on Invisible Hands: The Making of the Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan. Listen to Kim's Dig interview on Fear City: New York’s Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics thedigradio.com/podcast/fear-city-with-kim-phillips-fein/ Listen to past Dig eps for context on Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Tony Wood on Russia and Putin: thedigradio.com/podcast/russia-beyond-putin-with-tony-wood Volodymyr Ishchenko on Ukraine: thedigradio.com/podcast/ukraine-w-volodymyr-ishchenko Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig
Sat, February 19, 2022
Feminist International w/ Verónica Gago
Feminist political theorist and organizer Verónica Gago on Argentina’s massive feminist movement and strike, the ties that bind domestic labor and financial exploitation, neoliberalism from below, and more. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Check out Coup: A Story of Violence and Resistance in Bolivia haymarketbooks.org/books/1745-coup
Fri, February 11, 2022
Inflamed w/ Raj Patel and Rupa Marya
Industrial capitalism and colonialism are literally making us sick. Raj Patel and Rupa Marya on Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice. Support this podcast at Patreon.com/TheDig
Fri, February 04, 2022
Financial Empire w/ Daniela Gabor & Ndongo Samba Sylla
Olúfẹmi Táíwò guest hosts an interview with Daniela Gabor and Ndongo Samba Sylla on how financial power has shaped the global economic order from colonialism through Bretton Woods, the Washington Consensus, and today's Wall Street Consensus. Read Daniela's work: people.uwe.ac.uk/Person/DanielaGabor Read Ndongo's work: rosalux.de/en/profile/es_detail/N8SVHTS8SA/ndongo-samba-sylla?cHash=ccf0c8d371bde0fecbac8337bbc6f832 Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy The Border Crossed Us by Justin Akers Chacón: haymarketbooks.org/books/1655-the-border-crossed-us
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