Patricia Kullberg hosts this episode of the Old Mole, which includes the following segments:
Marxism and Degrowth: Joe Clement talks with local activist and anarchist scholar, Paul Messersmith-Glavin about degrowth broadly and particularly in the work of Japanese Marxist philosopher Kohei Saito. Paul's review of Saito's book "Marx in the Anthropocene: toward the idea of degrowth communism" will appears in this summer's edition of New Politics, an independent socialist journal.
Makdisi Street: Last month on the Old Mole Laurie Mercier spoke with Ussama Makdisi, professor of modern Midde East history at UC Berkeley, who along with brothers Saree and Karim Makdisi co-host the podcast Makdisi Street. (The original segment can be heard here: Podcasting for Palestine). On this episode, we play excerpts from a recent Makdisi Street podcast, titled “Israel is a Dependent Empire,” in which they discuss shifting public opinion of Israel’s brutal genocide and the daily horrific images from Gaza that will haunt us forever.
Palestine, ICE and Resistance: On July 7th, a federal judge in Boston began hearing arguments by several academic associations in a trial that will be decided by the judge. Lawyers in the case argue that the Trump administration abused its power in arresting and pursuing deportations of pro-Palestinian students who are in the US on Green Cards or student visas. One area of legal dispute concerns Homeland Security's extensive use of social media posts as evidence to detain students. In their Left & the Law segment, Jan Haaken and Mike Snedeker talk about the significance of this case. They also take up the broader context of increased funding for ICE enforcement and deportations as well as the growing resistance to these same reactionary policies.