Jacobin Radio

We’ve now entered the second week of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Donald Trump’s War Secretary Pete Hegseth has boasted about the US military machine bringing “death and destruction” to the country. Afshin Matin-Asgari joined Long Reads on Monday, March 9, to discuss the war. Afshin is a professor of Middle East history at California State University in Los Angeles. His most recent book is Axis of Empire: A History of Iran–US Relations. Read Afshin’s coverage of the protests from January: https://jacobin.com/2026/01/iran-protests-khamenei-trump-israel And an edited transcript of this podcast interview here: https://jacobin.com/2026/03/trump-iran-regime-war-israel 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.

What are Iranians actually experiencing right now? Suzi speaks with Yassamine Mather, an Iranian socialist who has been in direct contact with relatives, colleagues, and comrades inside Iran throughout the bombing. Yassamine is chair of Hands Off the People of Iran, editor of Critique, and researcher at Oxford's Middle East Centre. She describes near-hourly strikes, hospitals hit, internet cut, and a propaganda war in which state TV claims nothing happened while satellite channels say nothing is left. She explains why Trump’s promise to 'liberate' Iran has had opposite effects: People who were in January’s anti-regime protests are now joining pro-government demonstrations — not for the regime, but out of rage at foreign attack. She assesses Khamenei's death, the removal of his brake on IRGC adventurism, Netanyahu’s real objective (to destroy Iran as a country, not just its nuclear program), and why this war makes 2003 look well planned. She also addresses dangerous illusions some on the Left hold about Russia or China as potential saviors. She closes with a new initiative: Nur, a project for regional solidarity across Iran, Palestine, and the Arab world, launched with veteran socialist Moshé Machover. Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Featuring Ben Mabie and Salar Mohandesi on what the war on Iran tells us about US imperialism, and why the US doesn’t have a massive anti-war movement even amid historic anti-war public sentiment. Capitalist states have changed war-making in ways that insulate imperialism against popular resistance. We must make movements that can thrive and win under new conditions. Find Venezuela in Crisis at haymarketbooks.org Find Anti-Eviction at UCPress.edu Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Dig party in London with Equator magazine this Friday March 13. Tickets all claimed but sign up for the waitlist and you can probably come anyhow. Info here: eventbrite.com/e/the-dig-x-equator-party-tickets-1982694479561? The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

Behrooz Ghamari, author of The Long War on Iran, looks at the politics and culture of the country. Anatol Lieven analyzes the effects of the war on Iran on the region and world. 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 Geoff Simpson on Justice Democrats’ massive 2026 slate of insurgent House candidates taking on AIPAC/Big Tech money. Also: the history of post-Bernie 2016 primary challenges, the Israel lobby’s legitimacy crisis, radicalizing liberals, and the role of electoral politics in the larger left project. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Dig party in London with Equator magazine on March 13. Info and RSVP here: eventbrite.com/e/the-dig-x-equator-party-tickets-1982694479561? Subscribe to Heat the Ground Up from Haymarket Originals: tinyurl.com/heatthegroundup Find Leave if You Can: Migration and Violence in Bordered Worlds at UCPress.edu The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

Why does every new technology seem to make work harder and not easier? In 1974, Harry Braverman published a seminal text Labor and Monopoly Capital to answer that question. Combining a careful study of scientific management and technological innovation with several of Marx’s key concepts, Braverman explained why workers under capitalism are gradually transformed into mere cogs in the machine. On the latest episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber and Melissa Naschek discuss the process of managers breaking down workers’ skills and why work under capitalism tends to degrade rather than fulfill us. Join Confronting Capitalism for a live recording in Brooklyn on April 6! Find more details and RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jacobin-who-speaks-for-the-working-class-majority-tickets-1984301239423 TICKETS: $10 solidarity rate. $20 standard entry. Seats are first come, first served. 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.

Featuring Peter Linebaugh on the Luddites’ machine-breaking revolt against the enclosure of handicraft production, the central role played by capital punishment in the consolidation of the capitalist state, and remaking the struggle against enclosure for the 21st century. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Dig party in London with Equator magazine on March 13. Info and RSVP here: eventbrite.com/e/the-dig-x-equator-party-tickets-1982694479561? Find Solidarity With Children: An Essay Against Adult Supremacy at Haymarketbooks.org Find Revolutions: A New History at Versobooks.com The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

Tessa West, professor of psychology at NYU, examines the social dynamics that kept the Epstein gang together. Nick Srnicek, author of Silicon Empires, discusses AI. And Wanda Bertram breaks down the costs of mass incarceration following a new report from the Prison Policy Initiative: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/money2026.html Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.

Last October, the war in Sudan took a new turn with the capture of El Fasher by the Rapid Support Forces. The city in western Sudan had been under siege by the RSF for more than two years before the Sudanese armed forces suddenly withdrew. After taking control of El Fasher, the RSF began to carry out a massacre of civilians. A UN fact-finding mission recently found that the crimes in El Fasher bore “hallmarks of genocide.” The Sudanese catastrophe is all the more depressing because it comes after a brief moment of greater political openness and optimism after the ousting of a dictator in 2019. Joshua Craze joins Long Reads to discuss the evolution of the conflict in Sudan and its likely future. Joshua has written many articles about the politics of Sudan and South Sudan for publications such as the New Statesman, the New York Review of Books, and Jacobin. Read Joshua’s 2023 essay for Jacobin, “Only You Can Save Darfur”: https://jacobin.com/2023/07/only-you-can-save-darfur And find other work on his personal website: https://www.joshuacraze.com/essays Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies with music by Knxwledge.

Suzi speaks to Ukrainian socialist Oleksandr Kyselov, who says the current “peace process” is a dangerous illusion. Russia’s goal, he argues, is not compromise but subjugation — and any ceasefire that doesn’t confront that reality only postpones the next war. We discuss the Witkoff-Dmitriev 28-point plan (critics call it the “DimWit plan”), exhaustion inside Ukraine, and why calls from the Western left for immediate, unconditional ceasefire, without a single protest outside a Russian embassy, are, as Kyselov puts it, “beyond naive.” Ksenia Kagarlitskaya then joins us from her exile in Montenegro. Her father, Marxist sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky, has now spent two years in Penal Colony No. 4 for opposing Putin’s war. She discusses her father’s imprisonment and the explosion of political prisoners inside Russia since 2022. Ksenia runs Freedom Zone, an organization that raises funds and organizes events globally to support political prisoners and their families. Ksenia reminds us that political prisoners don’t appear in any of the current peace negotiations, because Russia doesn't acknowledge that they exist. Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

Naomi Hossain analyzes politics in Bangladesh generally and the recent election specifically. Stuart Schrader discusses “authoritarianism from below” — the role of local cops in the Trump crackdowns. Read Stuart’s article: https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/02/14/authoritarianism-from-below-trump-city-takeovers-police/ 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 developments in artificial intelligence appear to promise a radical transformation of modern work. But what happens if AI turns out to be much more like previous waves of technological change? In this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber and Melissa Naschek discuss the history of automation, the effects of technology on employment and wages, and why socialists should want to harness AI to create human flourishing. Join Confronting Capitalism for a live recording in Brooklyn on April 6! Find more details and RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jacobin-who-speaks-for-the-working-class-majority-tickets-1984301239423 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.

Stacy Horn, author of The Killing Fields of East New York, on the damage mortgage fraud did to that neighborhood. David Backer, author of As Public as Possible, on how we finance schools and how we could do better. Behind the News, hosted by Doug Henwood, covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.

Last October, the Trump administration announced a ceasefire deal in Gaza after two years of relentless carnage. Since the deal was announced, Israel has continued to occupy much of Gaza, and its forces have killed hundreds of Palestinian civilians. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has launched his so-called Board of Peace to administer Gaza without any input from Palestinians. Having received a blank check for his scheme from the UN Security Council, Trump now presents the Board of Peace as an alternative to the UN itself. Yara Hawari joins Long Reads for an update on conditions in Gaza and the wider international context. Yara is the co-director of Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network. Read her analysis of Palestinian politics here: https://al-shabaka.org/authors/yara-hawari/ Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies with music by Knxwledge.

Featuring Peter Linebaugh on the long histories of commons and commoning, connections between enclosures in Europe and imperial conquest abroad, and writing history from below. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Engineered Conflict: Structural Violence and the Future of Black Life in Chicago at Haymarketbooks.org Buy Global Casino: How Wall Street Gambles with People and the Planet at Versobooks.com Dig party in London with Equator magazine on March 13. Info and RSVP here: eventbrite.com/e/the-dig-x-equator-party-tickets-1982694479561? The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.

When federal immigration raids went from brutal to deadly in Minneapolis, the epicenter of Trump’s escalating war on immigrants and Blue cities, residents responded with coordinated “no work, no school, no shopping” shutdowns that drew tens of thousands into the streets there and around the country. It wasn’t technically a general strike — but it demonstrated how unions, clergy, and community networks could create the organizing infrastructure to transform outrage into collective power, building a movement and a new strike culture. We explore how all this happened and what organizers believe comes next with labor journalist Luis Feliz Leon and President of Minneapolis CWA Local 7250 Kieran Knutson, who bring us stories of daily life under ICE occupation. Feliz Leon situates this Minneapolis moment in the history and theory of mass strikes. Knutson explains the role of mutual aid, the strategic targeting of corporations, and the push toward a worker assembly to shape the next steps. They show how ordinary people organized democratically to vanquish fear, turning moral shock into power. Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.

David Harvey speaks about his new book The Story of Capital. We hear an excerpt from Mark Carney’s Davos speech. Adam Federman discusses Trump’s Greenland obsession. 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 Trump administration has ramped up its bellicose rhetoric against the Iranian regime after it clamped down on the latest wave of protests. Is the regime teetering on the edge of collapse? In this episode of Confronting Capitalism, Vivek Chibber and Melissa Naschek contrast the Iranian Revolution of 1979 with the current protests, and discuss what makes a revolution possible. Join Confronting Capitalism for a live recording in Brooklyn on April 6! Find more details and RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jacobin-who-speaks-for-the-working-class-majority-tickets-1984301239423 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.

David Austin Walsh, author of Taking America Back, looks at the relationship between the kooks and respectables on the Right. Laura Field, author of Furious Minds, examines the intellectual wing of Trumpism. 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 Emilia González Avalos, Greg Nammacher, and JaNaé Bates Imari on how Minneapolis achieved its fight back against ICE/Border Patrol occupation. A decade building aligned mass movements has made Minneapolis among the best-organized cities in the country. Those carefully built structures, however, had to be nimble in confronting the federal onslaught. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Listen to Unruly Subjects, a new podcast from Chenjerai Kumanyika and The Dig’s producer, Alex Lewis https://pod.link/1849696769 Check out equator.org for long-form articles, public events, and reading groups The Dig goes deep into politics everywhere, from labor struggles and political economy to imperialism and immigration. Hosted by Daniel Denvir.