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KPFA - Against the Grain

KPFA

Acclaimed program of ideas, in-depth analysis, and commentary on a variety of matters—political, economic, social, and cultural—important to progressive and radical thinking and activism. Against the Grain is produced and hosted by Sasha Lilley.

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46 episodes
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Avg 59 min
English

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Wednesday · 59 min
Exposing Forever Chemicals
There’s not a person on earth who does not have PFAS, or Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, in their blood. Mariah Blake reflects on the how these chemicals came to pollute the world and the remarkable grassroots movement — much of it coming from working class communities in red states — that has arisen to ban them. Mariah Blake, They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals Crown, 2025 Photo by Maria Baranova on Unsplash The post Exposing Forever Chemicals appeared first on KPFA.
Tuesday · 59 min
Criminalizing Protest
Our era is marked both by mass protest and the increasing criminalization of protest — driven by private interests, as well as states and the federal government. Annie Leonard, longtime activist, discusses the rich tradition of protest in this country and why we need to defend it, in the face of SLAPP suits, anti-protest bills, and diktats from the Trump administration. Annie Leonard and Andre Carothers, Protest: Respect It Defend It Use It Patagonia, 2026 Photo credit: Angus McIntyre The post Criminalizing Protest appeared first on KPFA.
Monday · 59 min
Brazil and the Global Far Right
We live in a time, says Brazilian political philosopher Rodrigo Nunes, where it feels like things cannot go on as they are — while at the same time, we can’t imagine anything else. Nunes discusses how such sentiments have fueled the ascendancy of the far right around the world and in Brazil, where the authoritarianism may return to power. Rodrigo Nunes, Anatomy of Disintegration: What Brazil Reveals About the Global Far Right Haymarket, 2026 Photo by Tutz Dias on Unsplash The post Brazil and the Global Far Right appeared first on KPFA.
October 14 · 59 min
The Long Struggle Against Equality
Elites, especially in tech, in recent years have overtly espoused the repugnant idea that extreme social inequality is not only inevitable but desirable. Acclaimed historian Kim Phillips-Fein argues that there is a long US tradition promoting wealth inequality that has once again moved from the shadows into the mainstream. And historian Steve Fraser reflects on the class war of the Gilded Age. (Full-length presentation.) Kim Phillips-Fein, Country of Lords: Neo-Aristocrats, Social Darwinists, Tech Utopians, and the Long Fight against Equality in America W. W. Norton, 2026 The post The Long Struggle Against Equality appeared first on KPFA.
October 13 · 59 min
Organizing in a Time of Emergency
How should we organize while the planet is burning and authoritarianism is intensifying? Chris Dixon reflects on lessons for the present, drawn from decades of activism on the left – for a moment where interest in left politics has grown significantly, yet while the organizational infrastructures of the left are greatly diminished. Chris Dixon, For the Long Haul: How to Stay in the Fight for a Better World AK Press, 2026 Photo credit: Lori Shaull The post Organizing in a Time of Emergency appeared first on KPFA.
October 12 · 59 min
The Yellow School Bus
What was the most powerful technology introduced into schools in the past century? You might answer the computer, or something like Zoom, or even the slide projector. But scholar Antero Garcia argues that it was the humble yellow school bus. Buses have been central to the struggle to desegregate education. And school buses are a zone — and mainly an unnoticed one — in which many working class children and children of color spend a significant part of their day. (Encore presentation.) Resources: Antero Garcia, All through the Town: The School Bus as Educational Technology University of Minnesota Press, 2023 The post The Yellow School Bus appeared first on KPFA.
October 7 · 59 min
Fund Drive Special: The Power of Protest
Longtime activist Annie Leonard discusses the rich tradition of protest in this country and why we need to defend it, in the face of anti-protest laws, SLAPP suits, and diktats from the Trump administration. Donate in support of Against the Grain and KPFA The post Fund Drive Special: The Power of Protest appeared first on KPFA.
October 6 · 59 min
Fund Drive Special: Building the Repressive Machinery of Immigration Control
Historian Kelly Lytle Hernandez argues that our immigration laws were put in place first to protect enslavers, and later elites more broadly, from the insurgent radicalism of migrants, starting with the Haitian Revolution. She looks at the modern construction of immigration control both as a type of counterinsurgency and labor control. Donate in support of Against the Grain and KPFA The post Fund Drive Special: Building the Repressive Machinery of Immigration Control appeared first on KPFA.
October 5 · 59 min
Fund Drive Special: The Black Anti-Fascist Tradition
The history of African American antifascism is often overlooked, from Ida B Wells-Barnett’s struggle against lynchings to activism against police violence and the carceral state today. In our increasingly authoritarian times, scholar Jeanelle Hope discusses what we can learn from the black antifascist tradition. The post Fund Drive Special: The Black Anti-Fascist Tradition appeared first on KPFA.
September 30 · 59 min
Fund Drive Special: Erasing the History of Racism
American education has long been a battleground, but struggles over what students learn has become particularly intense right now, when teaching about racism has been prohibited in multiple states. Sociologist Nikki Khanna reflects on what’s missing, including key episodes from US history – from the United States attempts to starve native people, to the massacre of African Americans in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to the mass deportations of Mexican Americans in the Depression, to the Tuskegee syphilis study, and more. Donate in support of Against the Grain and KPFA The post Fund Drive Special: Erasing the History of Racism appeared first on KPFA.
September 29 · 59 min
Fund Drive Special: Gabor Mate on Capitalism and Health
Canadian physician Gabor Mate discusses the maladies that are the norm in our society — how stress and trauma, accentuated by the divisions of class, gender, and race, damage our lives and bodies. Donate in support of Against the Grain and KPFA The post Fund Drive Special: Gabor Mate on Capitalism and Health appeared first on KPFA.
September 28 · 59 min
Fund Drive Special: Howard Zinn on His Life and Times
Historian and activist, teacher and playwright — Howard Zinn told a different history of the United States, one of struggle between those on the bottom against those on top. Donate in support of Against the Grain and KPFA The post Fund Drive Special: Howard Zinn on His Life and Times appeared first on KPFA.
September 23 · 59 min
Fund Drive Special: Sex and Strength
Are women as strong as men? According to science writer Starre Vartan, in some cases, they are stronger. She argues that scientific research over the last several decades shows that culture shapes strength as much as hormones — and that much of what we presume about sex differences, strength, and athleticism harms all of us. Donate in support of Against the Grain and KPFA Photo by Peter Zhan on Unsplash The post Fund Drive Special: Sex and Strength appeared first on KPFA.
September 22 · 59 min
Fund Drive Special: The Long Struggle Against Equality
Elites, especially in tech, over at least the last decade have espoused repugnant ideas arguing that extreme social inequality is not only inevitable, but desirable. Acclaimed historian Kim Phillips-Fein argues that there is a long US tradition promoting wealth inequality that has once again moved from the shadows into the mainstream. Please donate in support of KPFA and Against the Grain. The post Fund Drive Special: The Long Struggle Against Equality appeared first on KPFA.
September 21 · 59 min
When 911 Calls Go Wrong
Calling 911 can save lives. But all too often phoning the emergency hotline leads to maiming or death at the hands of the police. Rebecca Neusteter describes the origins of the emergency response system as a means of quashing social unrest, out of the urban uprisings of the 1960s. Rebecca Neusteter, 911, What’s Your Emergency? The Promise and Peril of Crisis Response The New Press, 2026 Photo by Yassine Khalfalli on Unsplash The post When 911 Calls Go Wrong appeared first on KPFA.
September 16 · 59 min
New York City and Health Justice
Some of the most important struggles for health justice have taken place in New York City — from the Young Lords to ACT UP, from battles to make school lunches free to the Fight for $15 for low wage workers. Public health scholar Nicholas Freudenberg discusses the lessons he’s gleaned from fifty years of activism, including the need to start with people’s daily living conditions. Nicholas Freudenberg, Fighting for New York: Activism for Health and Social Justice Since the 1960s Columbia University Press, 2026 Photo by CDC on Unsplash The post New York City and Health Justice appeared first on KPFA.
September 15 · 59 min
All Consuming
We live our lives often through the things we buy — presuming the more we have, the happier we’ll be. Have we always thought this way? Economist Mark Joseph Stelzner examines the need for ever more consumption under capitalism — and reflects on what our lives might be like if we exchanged the quest for goods for more leisure. Mark Joseph Stelzner, Growth Machines: On the Hollow Joys of Consumption in the Desert of Economic Life University of Chicago Press, 2026 Photo by Obi on Unsplash The post All Consuming appeared first on KPFA.
September 14 · 59 min
When the State Kills by Lethal Injection
Almost 98% of all state executions in the U.S. are conducted by lethal injection, purportedly a quick and painless death. Corinna Barrett Lain states nothing could be further from the truth — but that it’s in the interests of the killing state that we imagine it that way. Corinna Barrett Lain, Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection NYU Press, 2025 Photo by Raghavendra V. Konkathi on Unsplash The post When the State Kills by Lethal Injection appeared first on KPFA.
September 9 · 59 min
Why Do Rural Poor People Support the GOP?
Why do poor, often sick, rural people vote for Republicans even after they slash funding for Medicaid and close rural hospitals? Michael Shepherd describes how conservative politicians and media have successfully built support for those cuts by claiming programs like Medicaid only help city dwellers, people of color, and immigrants. Michael E. Shepherd, Rural Pain, Republican Gain: How the Republican Party Is Killing Rural America and Why Democrats Are Blamed University of Chicago Press, 2026 Photo by Engin Akyurt on Unsplash The post Why Do Rural Poor People Support the GOP? appeared first on KPFA.
September 8 · 59 min
Unlikely World Makers
When we think of world makers, we’re unlikely to picture a flower. Yet flowers completely transformed our planet, giving us rain forests, altering coastlines, producing the food we eat, and enticing our pre-human ancestors to climb down from the trees. And they did that partially through reshaping the formerly adversarial relationship between plants and insects into one of mutual aid and cooperation most of the time. Biologist David George Haskell enumerates our debt to flowers. (Full-length presentation.) David George Haskell, How Flowers Made Our World: The Story of Nature’s Revolutionaries Viking, 2026 Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash The post Unlikely World Makers appeared first on KPFA.

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