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Activism, politics, and beer from PA-based Raging Chicken Press
Episodes
Monday Dec 14, 2020
Monday Dec 14, 2020
On this week's show I'm joined by Paris Marx, creator and host of the Tech Won't Save Us podcast. Paris is a socialist writer whose critical perspectives on technology have been published by NBC News, Jacobin, Tribune, In These Times, OneZero, Recode, Citymetric, Salon, and more. Paris is a PhD student at the University of Auckland researching tech futures, and completed a Master’s in urban geography from McGill University. They are also writing a book about transportation and technology for Verso Books.
The podcast Tech Won’t Save Us challenges the notion that tech alone can drive our world forward by showing that separating tech from politics has consequences for us all, especially the most vulnerable. The show isn't simply about tearing down tech. It also presents radical ideas for a better world and better technology.
Recent shows have included
- Emma Kinema a former tech and games worker who is a Campaign Lead with the Communications Workers of America on the Campaign to Organize Digital Employees. She also co-founded Game Workers Unite
- Freelance writer and critic, Liz Pelly, discusses how the Spotify model of streaming music continues a long trend of exploitation in the music industry and why musicians need to organize around a vision for a different world of music.
- And, Will Evans, a reporter at Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting discussing his investigative reporting on how excessive productivity targets are causing high rates of injury at Amazon warehouses, how executives have misled the public about the problem, and what that suggests about the impacts of the company’s “customer obsession.”
- You can check out the show at https://techwontsave.us/ and you can subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts.
On today’s show we’ll be talking about the need to take on the tech utopianism of Silicon Valley from a Left perspective. We'll also get into the push by the billionaire class for the kind of free-market, galactic capitalism we've discussed on the podcast.
You can follow Paris on Twitter @parismarx. Follow Tech Won't Save us: @techwontsaveus. You can support his podcast, too: https://www.patreon.com/techwontsaveus/
Monday Dec 07, 2020
Monday Dec 07, 2020
On today's show, I am joined by Shanna Danielson and Tara Shakespeare. Danielson was a candidate for PA State Senate in SD-31 and Shakespeare was a candidate for PA State Representative in the 88th district. Both of these districts are in PA’s Capital region - a region that has been all but written off the mainstream Democrats in recent years. But thanks to the grassroots, power-building campaigns by Danielson and Shakespeare and a number of other progressive women in the Capital region, Republicans and conservatives are not feeling so comfortable in that area. While Danielson and Shakespeare did not win the election this cycle, the region they ran in saw some of the largest shifts toward Democrats in the entire state.
We'll be talking about running unapologetically progressive, grassroots campaigns in areas of the state considered out of reach for Democrats All that is changing as a wave of progressive women dug in and built powerful campaigns in 2020.
A special shout out to Jonathan Mann who wrote our intro song, “There Are No People in the Future.” Check out all is great stuff on his YouTube page and follow him on Twitter @songadaymann
Monday Nov 16, 2020
Monday Nov 16, 2020
On today's Out d'Coup LIVE, we talk to Lev Hirschhorn, the Deputy Organizing Director at PA Stands Up about the road forward following the election. PA Stands Up backed progressive candidates from across the Commonwealth and has built a powerful model for grassroots political organizing.
Find out more about PA Stands Up and become a member: https://pastandsup.org/
A special shout out to Jonathan Mann who wrote our intro song, “There Are No People in the Future.” Check out all is great stuff on his YouTube page and follow him on Twitter @songadaymann
Monday Nov 02, 2020
Monday Nov 02, 2020
It’s been a harrowing several months...well, OK, several years. But this election season has been run through with racial violence, mass uprisings, unprecedented climate-driven disasters, and a freaking pandemic. And that’s all on top of the Trump administration’s active measures to suppress the vote. Oh, yeah, there’s that steady march toward fascism too. Pretty heavy stuff.
At the same time, we are seeing unprecedented organing - the likes of which I have never seen in our lifetime. For every challenge it seems there has been a corresponding, progressive/left, grassroots movement to meet it. Think about it. From the day that Trump was inaugurated, there have been people in the streets, building power. In 2018, we had huge progressive/left electoral wins at the national level, most notably with AOC, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar. Right here in PA, there were also huge victories by the left with the election of Summer Lee, Elizabeth Fiedler, and Sarah Innamorato. And, it looks like we could double...maybe even triple the numbers of progressives heading to Harrisburg after tomorrow’s elections. Beyond elections, we’ve seen organizations like DSA and the Sunrise Movement lead the way showing the world how movements can build power and change the horizon of our politics.
I wanted to change up our format a bit, today. I wanted to bring in a panel of great folks to give us their take on what we can expect when the polls close tomorrow. But, more importantly, I wanted to look ahead to the organizing that will need to happen as soon as those polls close. We will no doubt see people in the streets this week. On Out d’Coup, Sean and I have talked about preparations being made to defend democracy if Republicans try to steal this election. But we can look ahead to a longer horizon too. We will need strategies for a Trump win, for sure. But, perhaps even more so, we need strategies for a Biden administration.
So, today we’ll have a little pre-election roundtable to unpack some of this and to just have a sane conversation in the midst of all the chaos. To help me with this, I welcome:
- Sean Kitchen, Out d'Coup co-host. Sean is also doing awesome work with PA Spotlight and is a fantastic freelance photographer
- Shana Rose, creator and host of Sustaining with Shana podcast, sustainability professional, and a member of PASSHE's new Sustainability Development Task Force
- Leo Atkinson, Co-Chair of Lehigh Valley DSA, long-time Lehigh Valley resident, and former Fountain Hill council member. co-chair of Lehigh Valley DSA.
We'll give our final takes on Election Day and the kind of organizing that will be necessary as soon as the polls close.
Special shout out to Jonathan Mann, who wrote our theme song, "There Are No People in the Future." Check out all his great work and follow him on Twitter at @songadaymann.
Monday Oct 26, 2020
Monday Oct 26, 2020
On today’s show, I am thrilled to welcome Tara Zrinski to the show. Tara is the Democratic party candidate for State Rep in the Lehigh Valley's 138th State House district in Northampton County. If you haven’t been paying attention to this race yet, now is the time. Tara is campaigning on health care for all, protecting our environment, and protecting our democracy from corruption and the influence of big money. But more than that, she has consulted with workers, nurses, environmentalists, and community organizations to craft integrated policies that put the health of working families and our communities first. (Tara will bring the strength of these organizations to Harrisburg).
Born and raised in Bethlehem, Tara was elected to Northampton County Councilwoman in 2017. She has been an advocate for clean energy and sustainability. She worked as a Solar Energy Consultant for SunPulse Solar, supplementing her adjunct faculty career teaching Philosophy at Northampton Community College, Lehigh County Community College, and Lehigh University. Any Out d’Coup listener will be well acquainted with the challenges faced by adjunct faculty.
Tara is the Chair of the Energy, Environment, and Land Use Committee in Northampton County and a member of the committee of the same name at the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania. In 2018, she formed the Industrial Hemp Ad Hoc Committee for Industrial Hemp to explore the economic development potential of the emerging crop and identify areas necessitating government support for farmers and industrial hemp business entrepreneurs.
In 2015, she self-published her first children's book, "All Ducks Are Birds, But, Not All Birds Are Ducks," a logic book for children which she wrote and illustrated.
Tara just got a big endorsement from Bernie Sanders as part of a battalion of candidates progressives are organizing behind to help take control of the PA House and Senate.
A special shout out to Jonathan Mann who wrote our theme song, “There Are No People in the Future.” Check out all is great stuff on his YouTube page and follow him on Twitter @songadaymann
Monday Oct 19, 2020
Monday Oct 19, 2020
On today’s show, I welcome Rick Krajewski to the show. Rick is a candidate for State Representative in the 188th State House District in West Philadelphia. Rick has worked for criminal justice reform and access to public education. Since 2016, Rick has been an organizer with Reclaim Philadelphia, fighting to put working-class people at the forefront. In the 2017 general election, Rick led a team of 200 volunteers in our neighborhoods to elect Larry Krasner, the most progressive District Attorney in the country.
Rick’s is running on a platform of a Dignified Education for All; Decarceration; Affordable Housing for All; Health Care for All; Ending the War on Drugs; Defending Workers Rights and the Right to Organize; and, a Green New Deal for Pennsylvania. Rick won the Democratic primary this past summer by a margin of nearly 20 points, defeating Rep. James Roebuck Jr., one of the longest-serving members of the PA State House and the ranking Democrat on the House Education Committee.
It is no wonder that Rick earned an early endorsement from Bernie Sanders. Rick faces no Republican challenger in the general election, so he is all but assured to join the growing ranks of progressive state legislators including Summer Lee, Sara Innamorato, and Elizabeth Fiedler - PA’s own version of the Squad elected in 2018.
A special shout out to Jonathan Mann who wrote our intro song, “There Are No People in the Future.” Check out all is great stuff on his YouTube page and follow him on Twitter @songadaymann
Rick Krajewski links:
Monday Sep 21, 2020
Monday Sep 21, 2020
Out d'Coup LIVE for Monday, September 21, 2020. Today we talked about the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Trump's move to appoint another justice to the Supreme Court.
Intro music, "There are No People in the Future," by Jonathan Mann. Follow him on YouTube and Twitter. Let him know that Raging Chicken sent you.
Monday Aug 24, 2020
Monday Aug 24, 2020
[TFW you've got the wrong mic selected. Sorry about that]
On tonight’s show, we’ll be talking with three students who are organizing because of and in spite of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Nick Thatcher is a political science and philosophy major at Kutztown University. Nick is one of the founding student organizers with the Healthy Campus Bill of Rights at Kutztown University. Nick was also the student leader of Kutztown’s chapter of Students for Bernie where he cut his teeth in organizing, phone-backing, and political action. Kutztown faculty and students held a protest against KU’s reopening plans in which students and faculty donned plague doctor masks.
Kyle Nelson is organizing with East Stroudsburg's Student Solidarity Committee. Kyle is a senior at ESU from Philadelphia. He is the Events Chair for the African Student Association and the Public Relations Chair of the Political Science Club. Kyle is double majoring in political science and philosophy with the hopes of going to law school. He plans on continuing his advocacy through civil rights law, criminal defense law, and human rights law. The Student Solidarity Committee is organizing in solidarity with food service workers on campus who are in the middle of an organizing drive. The solidarity committee released what they are calling the SWORD Plan (Students and Workers Organizing for Real Defenses) which is a model for how we should be building solidarity in the wake of the pandemic. - JUST GOT CARD CHECK NEUTRALITY!!!
And, Jack Fletcher is the co-founder of the Student Coalition for Change at Temple University. Kyle is a junior pre-law major at Temple and the co-founder of the Temple Coalition for Change. If you’ve been following the news, you know that students and faculty at Temple have been on fire with their organizing against the administration’s decision to return to face-to-face classes this fall. Last week, students, faculty, parents, staff, and community members held a car caravan, urging the university’s administration to cancel their plans to return to face-to-face classes. Protests are now a pretty standard feature on campus.
Monday Aug 17, 2020
Monday Aug 17, 2020
On tonight’s show, I’m joined by two organizers from the Racial Justice Organizing Committee in Philadelphia: Tamara Anderson and Dana Carter. Tamara Anderson is an advocate for children and teens, a professional artist, singer, director, editor, freelance writer, and blogger with over 20 years of experience as an educator. Click on the link in the show notes for her long list of credits...I know I saw her on The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Just sayin.’ She is one of the founding steering committee members of the National Black Lives Matter Week of Action at Schools.
Dana Carter is a Racial and Social Justice Advocate for urban learners and a PA Level II Elementary Education K-6 certified teacher. In addition to organizing with the Racial Justice Organizing Committee, Dana is an Education Policy Advisor with the Melanated Educators Collective. She’s been involved with Philly education as a K-12 teacher, an adjunct faculty member, and as an educational activist since the turn of the 21st century...I love to be able to say that.
I think it’s worthwhile to read the Mission Statement of the Racial Justice Organizing Committee and their 10 demands for Radial Education Transformation to help set the tone for tonight’s conversation.
Mission: The Racial Justice Organizing Committee exists as a space for educators and allies to engage in collective learning and action for racial justice to make our schools and as a result the city, places that allow for Black and brown students, educators, and families to thrive.
Check out the 10 Demands of the Racial Justice Organizing Committee and their excellent Resource Guide for Educators Responding to Nationwide Uprisings.
For some of the history of the Racial Justice Organizing Committee, see Tamara Anderson and Shira Cohen, “How Black Lives Matter Came to Philadelphia’s Schools” in Labor Notes.
Monday Aug 10, 2020
Monday Aug 10, 2020
Welcome to this week's Out d'Coup LLIVE podcast. On this week's show we're talking about sending K-12 students into the COVID-19 laboratory. Yes, back-to-school in the pandemic.
My guest tonight is a public school teacher and activist, Steven Singer. Steven is an 8th grade Language Arts teacher in western Pennsylvania. He is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher and has an MAT from the University of Pittsburgh. He is Director of the Research and Blogging Committee for the Badass Teachers Association. He is co-founder of the Pennsylvania-based education budget advocacy group T.E.A.C.H. (Tell Everyone All Cuts Hurt). He ran a successful campaign through Moveon.org against the since repealed Voter ID law in the Keystone State.
Steven's writing on education and civil rights issues has appeared in the Washington Post, Education Week, the LA Progressive, Commondreams.org, Portside Navigator and has been featured on Diane Ravitch’s Education Blog Site. He blogs regularly at gadflyonthewallblog.wordpress.com and is the author of "Gadfly on the Wall: A Public School Teacher Speaks Out on Racism and Reform."