KPFA - Against the Grain

We often are told there is no other way to organize society — that by our very natures, we’re destined to dominate each other. But are such assumptions merited? Primatologist Agustin Fuentes pulls apart the supposedly evolutionary case that humans are hardwired for war. And the late anthropologist David Graeber discusses the active cultivation of pessimism about our ability to organize society in a more egalitarian way. To celebrate KPFA Radio’s 77th birthday, please donate to Against the Grain and KPFA! Photo by Egor Myznik on Unsplash The post Fuentes on Aggression; Graeber on Egalitarianism appeared first on KPFA.

It’s widely recognized that vast amounts of wealth are now concentrated in the hands of the very few. But less well understood, scholar Ray Madoff argues, is how the U.S. tax code played a key role in that process. She delineates how progressive taxation and the estate tax — designed to tax the inherited wealth of the rich — have been eviscerated. And she also argues that philanthropy, perversely, has increased the wealth of the 1%. Ray D. Madoff, The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy University of Chicago Press, 2025 Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash The post (Not) Taxing the Rich appeared first on KPFA.

A radio and web media project whose aim is to provide in-depth analysis and commentary on a variety of matters — political, economic, social and cultural — important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. The post Against the Grain – April 13, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

Many in our society are struggling to provide care for their families or communities. Often they don’t have time to do it and can’t afford to pay for it. The right realizes this and has tried to woo women with a glorified vision of domestic life. Economist Nancy Folbre discusses the early fight for the recognition of unpaid care work as real work, while the economics profession has mainly ignored it, despite its crucial importance for capitalism. Nancy Folbre, Making Care Work: Why Our Economy Should Put People First UC Press, 2026 Photo by Jill Brand on Unsplash The post Counting Care Work appeared first on KPFA.

Capitalism has generated vast amounts of wealth by spreading around the world. But as Timothy Mitchell argues, profits are made not just across space but also time, by stealing from future generations, including through military spending. The political theorist and historian of the Middle East reflects on the ways that capitalism consumes the future. Timothy Mitchell, The Alibi of Capital: How We Broke the Earth to Steal the Future on the Promise of a Better Tomorrow Verso, 2026 Photo by Curioso Photography on Unsplash The post Consuming the Future appeared first on KPFA.

What has the far right learned from the Frankfurt School – and, in turn, what can we learn from Frankfurt School thinkers like Theodore Adorno and Herbert Marcuse to understand the appeal of the right? Paul Fleming sheds light on the fixation of conservatives like Christopher Rufo — who has set about remaking higher education — with cultural Marxism. He also discusses Adorno’s insights into the attraction of authoritarian leaders. Theodore Adorno, “Anti-Semitism and Fascist Propaganda” New German Critique The post The Frankfurt School, Authoritarianism, and the U.S. Right appeared first on KPFA.

A radio and web media project whose aim is to provide in-depth analysis and commentary on a variety of matters — political, economic, social and cultural — important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. The post Against the Grain – April 1, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

Revelations that the much-lionized United Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez raped women and young girls has rightly horrified many. But Chavez has long been a controversial figure and the union that he headed was deeply divided. Radical writer and former farm worker Frank Bardacke discusses the two souls of the UFW, between the union staff and the militant rank and file. Frank Bardacke, Trampling Out the Vintage: Cesar Chavez and the Two Souls of the United Farm Workers Verso, 2011 “The United Farm Workers Was More Than Cesar Chavez: Sasha Lilley Interviews Frank Bardacke,” Jacobin September 29, 2021 The post United Farm Worker Rank and File appeared first on KPFA.

The ramifications of the US attack on Iran have been a harsh reminder of the centrality of oil to the global economy – and not just for fuel and transport. Political economist Adam Hanieh reflects on the rise of crude oil in the 20th century. He argues that the blockage in the Gulf threatens to set off a more serious global crisis than seen in the 1970s. Adam Hanieh, Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market Verso, 2025 The post Oil and Global Capitalism appeared first on KPFA.

As global warming accelerates, what would it take to reclaim our future? Malcolm Harris describes the obstacles to moving beyond fossil fuels — not just from elites, but also from below. He lays out three interlocking paths out of the climate crisis. Malcolm Harris, What’s Left: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis Little, Brown and Company, 2025 The post Fighting for the Future appeared first on KPFA.

The Trump administration has been unabashed in its intention to criminalize dissent, labeling protestors “domestic terrorists.” A recent verdict against anti-ICE protestors in Texas promises to be consequential in that effort. Scholar Thomas Zeitzoff reflects on the administration’s widespread attempts to quash opposition, from targeting fundraising by liberal nonprofits, knocking on the doors of former activists, or charging people with conspiracy for communicating on Signal about protests. Thomas Zeitzoff, No Option But Sabotage: The Radical Environmental Movement and the Climate Crisis Oxford University Press, 2026 The post Criminalizing Dissent appeared first on KPFA.

It’s often observed that Democratic Party paved the way for Trump’s rise. Historian Lily Geismer discusses how we got here, examining the remaking of liberalism and the Democratic Party, populated by a professionally-trained, technocratic elite who did what technocrats do: tweaking the system, not fundamentally changing it. Brent Cebul and Lily Geismer (eds), Mastery and Drift: Professional-Class Liberals since the 1960s University of Chicago Press, 2025 The post The Shaping of Professional Class Liberalism appeared first on KPFA.

“Smart” devices like TVs, speakers, and thermostats; our cars; DNA tests we might take to learn about our ancestry; our searches online. Along with Flock cameras and other forms of big data policing contracted by local governments, we are unwittingly surveilling ourselves at every turn. Legal scholar Andrew Guthrie Ferguson describes how sensor-driven digital technology tracks our daily lives – whether we’re seeking an abortion or protesting our government — and are only, at best, a warrant away from being used against us. The post Surveilling Ourselves appeared first on KPFA.

In 2024 the world, for a year, exceeded 1.5C – the line in the sand we weren’t supposed to cross or risk runaway global warming. We’re now in an era of overshoot, in which elites are depending upon untested technologies for managing the heating which they refused to halt. Political ecologist Wim Carton contends that there is no substitute for slashing carbon emissions and shutting down the fossil fuel industry. He discusses the perils of continuing to emit carbon dioxide with the plan of capturing it later or eventually harnessing geoengineering to cool the planet by spraying aerosols to block the sun. Wim Carton and Andreas Malm, The Long Heat: Climate Politics When It’s Too Late Verso, 2025 The post Emit Now, Reverse Global Warming Later? appeared first on KPFA.

Journalist David Graham reflects on Project 2025, the blueprint that the Heritage Foundation drafted for Trump’s second term, and if its goals have been achieved so far – on the environment and economy, attacking trans rights and diversity policies, and projecting military might abroad. He also discusses what may come next. David A. Graham, The Project: How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America Random House, 2025 The post Project 2025, A Year In appeared first on KPFA.

Food affects all of us — but while it’s a necessity for our survival, it’s also a vast, sprawling industry spanning the globe, which generates enormous profits as well as significant damage to public health and the environment. Nutritionist and molecular biologist Marion Nestle sheds light on the choices we all must navigate when we enter the grocery store. Marion Nestle, What to Eat Now: The Indispensable Guide to Good Food, How to Find It, and Why It Matters North Point Press, 2025 The post Marion Nestle on Food Choices and Food Politics appeared first on KPFA.

Our modern world was born from destruction — and no more so than in North America, which historian Clifton Crais describes as the most violent place on the planet in the 18th and 19th centuries. Crais describes what he calls the Mortecene against humans and the rest of nature. Clifton Crais, The Killing Age: How Violence Made the Modern World University of Chicago Press, 2025 The post Violence and the Making of Our World appeared first on KPFA.

The global rise of the authoritarian right has confounded classification and led to contentious debates on the left. Do politicians like Modi, Bolsonaro, Orban, and Trump represent an extreme form of right-wing populism? Or are they fascists, as some claim? Historian and scholar of populism and fascism Federico Finchelstein argues that we’re seeing something new — a phenomenon that blurs the lines between the two. (Encore presentation.) Federico Finchelstein, The Wannabe Fascists: A Guide to Understanding the Greatest Threat to Democracy UC Press, 2024 The post The Populist-Fascist Hybrid appeared first on KPFA.

For as long as we’ve known, humans have revered ancient trees. We have also destroyed them, especially since the advent of colonialism and fossil fuel capitalism. Historian Jared Farmer reflects on what trees illuminate about our past and potential future. The post Fund Drive Special: Humans and Ancient Trees appeared first on KPFA.

It’s been called a new gold rush, but not of our external environment, which continues to be plundered, but of our internal environment — of our psyches. Historian of science D. Graham Burnett, one of the Friends of Attention, lays out what’s at stake — and how they’re organizing a movement to reclaim our attention. Please donate in support of KPFA and Against the Grain — which celebrates its 23rd birthday today! The post Fund Drive Special: Fighting the Fracking of Our Attention appeared first on KPFA.