Jacobin Radio

It’s all too common for people to associate the mere existence of markets with capitalism. But because we know markets had a life before capitalism, we can also imagine them having a life after. On this latest episode of Confronting Capitalism , Vivek Chibber and Melissa Naschek compare how markets operated in pre-capitalist economies versus modern capitalist economies to see if markets may prove useful in future socialist societies. The latest issue of Catalyst is out and you can subscribe for just $20 using the code CONFRONTINGCAPITALISM: https://catalyst-journal.com/subscribe/?code=CONFRONTINGCAPITALISM Have a question for us? Write to us by email: confronting.capitalism@jacobin.com Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy , and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.

A prisoner is held, in theory, for something they did. The people inside America’s roughly 250 immigration detention camps are held for who they are, or where they’re from. That distinction anchors journalist John Washington’s new book, How to Close a Camp: Dispatches from the Fight Against Immigrant Detention . He joins Suzi to trace the bipartisan machinery behind ICE detention — from the reservation system to today's $240 billion buildout — and the local permits, contracts, and licenses that make these camps more vulnerable than they look. In Surprise, Arizona, a thousand residents showed up to block a $70 million warehouse conversion. “The opposite of a camp is community,” Washington argues — and closing one, keeping it closed, depends on exactly that. Plus: Meleiza Figueroa remembers David Cobb, who died on Labor Day. Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Garrison Lovely, author of Obsolete , discusses the terrors and possible promise of artificial intelligence. Dave Zirin looks back on the life and work of Howard Zinn, the subject of his new biography . Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.

The US Federal Reserve appointed a new chair earlier this year. Kevin Warsh replaced Jerome Powell, who had been under constant fire from the Trump administration. For many, Warsh’s appointment represented a turn towards the overt politicization of monetary policy. Is the age of central bank independence coming to an end? And is it something that the Left should mourn or celebrate? Martijn Konings, professor of political economy at the University of Sydney and author of The Bailout State: Why Governments Rescue Banks, Not People , joins Long Reads to discuss the state of central banking. Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies with music by Knxwledge.

Featuring Daniel Denvir and Ben Mabie answering questions posed by you, our listeners. Submit a question for our next mailbag: speakpipe.com/ListenerMailbag Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Read the piece Ben mentioned, “From the Camp to the Picket: Reflections from the UC Strike for Palestine”: longhaulmag.com/uc-strike-for-palestine Learn more about The Shadow Court and Disability Revolution at UCPress.edu The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

Alejandro Velasco looks at Trump’s oil grab in Venezuela. Alex Vitale imagines a post-carceral future. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.

Unions have more public support than just about anything else in the US, and yet, their membership has cratered. This poses an immense challenge to left-wing politicians, who won't be able to enact lasting change without a robust labor movement beside them. On this latest episode of Confronting Capitalism , Vivek Chibber addresses the age-old question of whether unions are inherently political, the importance (and limits) of internal democracy within unions, and why socialists have always been at the heart of the labor movement. The latest issue of Catalyst is out and you can subscribe for just $20 using the code CONFRONTINGCAPITALISM: https://catalyst-journal.com/subscribe/?code=CONFRONTINGCAPITALISM Have a question for us? Write to us by email: confronting.capitalism@jacobin.com Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy , and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.

Producer and guest host Mel Figueroa speaks with economist Michael Roberts about the teetering house of cards that is the US and global economy, and how it is all connected to the Iran war and more: Scott Bessent, bond markets, the crisis in private credit, the AI bubble, de-dollarization, and inflation. Is a recession or a depression imminent? The media financial and economic discourse is wildly different from what we experience in our day-to-day struggles; we unpack why that is, and how anxiety at the top of this K-shaped economy will still have real consequences for the US working class. Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Featuring David Wallace-Wells, Madison Condon, and Moira Birss on how insurance companies profit off climate catastrophe — and, in doing so, ensure that people and the planet suffer the consequences. Guest hosted by Astra Taylor. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Read “National Disaster Insurance for All: Single-Payer Disaster Insurance and Community Resilience Investments for Safer and More Affordable Housing”: climateandcommunity.org/research/national-disaster-insurance-for-all-single-payer-disaster-insurance-and-community-resilience-investments-for-safer-and-more-affordable-housing/ Find out more about the Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World reading group here: equator.org/events/late-victorian-holocausts Find When We Are Kin and The Veiled Prophet at Haymarketbooks.org The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

David McNally, author of Slavery and Capitalism , discusses the political economy of the institution. Plus: Billy Fleming, author of Building Postcarbon Futures , explains how we might get from here to there. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.

Mike Davis died in 2022, but his work is more urgent than ever. As record temperatures, fires, floods, El Niño, and megadroughts threaten the planet, we hear his prescient 1995 talk, “Reconceptualizing the Environment.” Mike challenged the idea of “natural disaster,” showing how market-driven development put Los Angeles in harm’s way while shifting costs onto the public and the poor. Our sponsor Equator magazine is running an online reading group of Mike’s Late Victorian Holocausts , his landmark study of how climate shocks, empire, and the world market combined to produce mass famine and deepen global inequality. Check it out at equator.org/events Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Aurélie Daher, author of a piece for Responsible Statecraft , looks at the destruction Israel is visiting upon southern Lebanon. Annie McClanahan, author of Beneath the Wage , discusses nonstandard forms of work and compensation. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.

Advanced capitalist countries have recently rediscovered the role of industrial policy to build out key economic sectors like semiconductors and AI. But what happens if business is the one calling all the shots? On this latest episode of Confronting Capitalism , we’re sharing Vivek Chibber’s keynote address from the 2026 IFAR Consortium Conference, hosted by the Indonesian International Islamic University. He discusses how developing countries used industrial policy in the past, why the US and Europe are now turning to greater state intervention, and how one could build a new social-democratic alliance between the state and labor. The latest issue of Catalyst is out and you can subscribe for just $20 using the code CONFRONTINGCAPITALISM: https://catalyst-journal.com/subscribe/?code=CONFRONTINGCAPITALISM Have a question for us? Write to us by email: confronting.capitalism@jacobin.com Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy , and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.

Jodi Dean, who has a new Substack on the issue, surveys how AI has been terrible. Anatol Lieven, author of a new article for New Left Review ’s Sidecar blog, looks at the bloody stalemate that is the Russia–Ukraine war. Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.

Featuring Molly Crabapple on her book Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund . The second in a two-part interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Decolonizing Money at Plutobooks.com Buy Femmephilia at Haymarketbooks.org The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

From the very start of the Gaza genocide, Western media outlets were happy to repeat the most outlandish claims from Israeli government officials. One of the most notorious examples was the allegation that dozens of Israeli babies were beheaded on October 7, 2023, a story amplified by CNN and promoted by the former US president, Joe Biden, who claimed to have seen “pictures of terrorists beheading children.” Of course, Biden was lying — it never happened. This failure to ask any serious questions before reporting the most inflammatory claims set the tone for media coverage of Gaza, right up to the present day. Adam Johnson joins Long Reads to discuss a pattern of journalistic malpractice by some of the world’s most prestigious newspapers and broadcasters. Adam is a media critic and the author of a new book about Gaza and the US media, How to Sell A Genocide . It chronicles how influential media outlets, instead of reporting on the crimes Israel was committing in Gaza, helped the Biden administration whitewash them. Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies with music by Knxwledge.

“Men in hard hats were once the heart of America’s working class. Now it is women in scrubs,” says historian Gabriel Winant, author of The Next Shift , who joins Suzi to explain how deindustrialization made health care the country’s largest employer, but the jobs are lower paid, understaffed, and more precarious. That’s playing out now at UVM Medical Center, where Vermont's own regulator found the nonprofit hospital was over-earning. Its response? Cut union jobs while nineteen top executives split $3 million in bonuses. Three union leaders — Melissa LaVallee, Teagan Cook, and Emma Galvin — from AFT Vermont, a branch of the American Federation of Teachers, describe the fight from inside for safe staffing and common-good demands. Their contract expires midnight on August 13th. The stakes are national. Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Aditya Nigam looks at the “Cockroach” protest movement in India. Then, Gerald Epstein and Juliet Schor outline a detailed set of proposals to transform the US economy. Read their papers here: https://peri.umass.edu/gamechangers/ Behind the News , hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.

Featuring Molly Crabapple on her book Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund . The first episode of a two-part interview. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig . Buy Unions of Our Own and Femmephilia at Haymarketbooks.org . The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

Libertarian thinkers like Milton Friedman like to say that capitalism not only gave birth to democracy but also is the ideal economic system to complement democracy. But while capitalism may have created the conditions for democracy, it’s actually the main obstacle to securing full democratic rights. On this latest episode of Confronting Capitalism , Vivek Chibber and Melissa Naschek examine the worker struggles central to the rise of democracy, and why, in a system built around profit, the ruling class opposes it. The latest issue of Catalyst is out and you can subscribe for just $20 using the code CONFRONTINGCAPITALISM: https://catalyst-journal.com/subscribe/?code=CONFRONTINGCAPITALISM Have a question for us? Write to us by email: confronting.capitalism@jacobin.com Confronting Capitalism with Vivek Chibber is produced by Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy , and published by Jacobin. Music by Zonkey.