The Real News Podcast

In this episode of Rattling the Bars, former political prisoner and Black Panther Mansa Musa speaks with Mike “Cuong” Tran, a first-generation Vietnamese American whose parents immigrated to the U.S. in 1975. At age five, unable to afford store-bought toys, he began crafting action figures from paper and cardboard—using imaginary worlds to escape an abusive environment. Over time, art became central to his healing process, helping him process both childhood trauma and the decades he later spent in prison.Self-taught and working within a 3' x 11' cell at California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo, Cuong transformed discarded and overlooked materials into lifelike sculptures. In an environment where anything unauthorized is deemed contraband, even his creative thinking was treated as a violation because it transcended prison walls. After being released this year, Mike’s art has already been featured at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. Looking forward, he plans to create an art curriculum to work with incarcerated people, helping them foster their own healing and build creative skills.Production/Post-production: Cameron GranadinoBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

On November 3, Democrats secured a historic landslide victory over the Republican Party, securing 54 Senate seats and over 250 House seats. Five governor’s seats were also flipped, including in historically red states like Texas, Kansas, Iowa, and Georgia.According to a New York Times estimate, Americans aged 18-29 voted overwhelmingly Democrat during the Midterms. 70% of voters in the 18-29 age group voted for Democratic candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, a 33-point increase from 2024.Americans aged 18-29 also came out in droves to support Democratic Senate nominees in 2024, with over 30-point differences in every competitive Senate race, including 44-point increases in Mississippi and North Carolina and a whopping 49-point increase in Texas.Social Reporter Ryan Johnson sat down with Jason Stanley, the Bissell-Heyd Chair in American Studies in the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto and author of Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future, to talk through the issues that swayed young people to vote for Democrats, the global anti-fascist wave, and a lasting change in American public opinion on Israel.Production: Ryan JohnsonPost-production: David HebdenBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

On Sunday, October 25, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defeated far-right Senator Flavio Bolsonaro by a margin of three and a half points, and almost 4.5 million votes. It was roughly twice the margin of the 2022 election, when Lula defeated Flavio’s father, Jair Bolsonaro.It was the first time in Brazilian history that a candidate lost the first round of voting and won the second. And it was also one of the first defeats of a far-right Trump ally in several years. As we’ve examined throughout this season of the podcast, Trump’s Donroe Doctrine has overshadowed the region since he came back into power early last year. He’s invaded Venezuela, tightened the screws on Cuba, and twisted arms to get his friends elected in countries up and down the Americas. But in Brazil, he couldn’t. And it’s not because Trump and his Silicon Valley buddies didn’t try. It’s because Lula supporters organized en masse. Students, workers, teachers, retirees, and everyone in between. And they hit the streets to flip the vote, despite the odds.They rallied with weeks of around-the-clock campaigning, marches, and protests. They pamphleted and fliered. They talked to their neighbors and their relatives. Online, Lula supporters responded with creative campaigns to confuse the algorithms that aggressively pushed content promoting Bolsonaro. As many in the crowds told me again and again in recent weeks, this election was a decision that would define the fate of Brazil’s democracy. This wasn’t a vote between two candidates in a democratic system, where one wins and the other accepts their loss. It was a decision between democracy and dictatorship. Or democracy and something else.And democracy won. We began this Season 2 of Under the Shadow in December 2025, in the weeks following the publication of Trump’s National Security Doctrine. We have now come full circle, closing with the shifting tides that helped to lift Lula to reelection.Guests: Alexander AviñaSean T. MitchelResources About Lula’s Election in Brazil:Lula Wins Stunning Upset Over Flávio Bolsonaro in Blow to Far Right & Trump — Democracy Now!Lula wins fourth term in tight run-off against BolsonaroPresident Lula Wins Brazil’s Elections in Surprising VictoryFollow Under the Shadow on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.Under the Shadow is an investigative narrative podcast series that walks back in time, telling the story of the past by visiting momentous places in the present. Season 2 responds in real time to the Trump administration’s onslaught on Latin America. Hosted, written, produced, mixed, and edited by Latin America-based journalist Michael Fox. This podcast is produced in partnership between The Real News Network and NACLA. It is supported, in part, by Global Exchange. Theme music by Michael Fox’s band, Monte Perdido. Monte Perdido's 2024 album Ofrenda is available on Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, YouTube or wherever you listen to music. Other music from Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound. Panamerican DispatchYou can check out Michael Fox's new reporting project on Brazil at panamericandispatch.org. It's called Panamerican Dispatch.  It's a project of The Real News in partnership with Global Exchange. The website is www.panamericandispatch.orgFollow us on social media:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/padispatch.bsky.socialX: x.com/PAdispatchIG: instagram.com/padispatchTiktok: tiktok.com/@padispatchSupport Under the ShadowPlease consider supporting this podcast and Michael Fox’s reporting on his Patreon account: patreon.com/mfox. There you can also see exclusive pictures, video, and interviews.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

In this episode of Rattling the Bars, Mansa Musa speaks with independent journalist Victoria Valenzuela, who reports for a wide range of news outlets on incarceration in California and Louisiana. Victoria’s recent articles shed light on the inhumane conditions at California City Detention Center—specifically its no-contact visitation policy, making it the only detention center in California to enact such a rule. CCDC is operated by the for-profit corporation CoreCivic (formerly Corrections Corporation of America), an organization with a history marred by systemic violence that is currently capitalizing on Trump's mass deportation policies to expand its detention contracts.In the second half of the conversation, Mansa and Victoria discuss the circumstances of incarcerated women domestic violence survivors in California and the potential for prison abolition. They note that the state's incarcerated women population has decreased from roughly 11,000 to 3,700 over two decades.Related link:Families Are Fighting Draconian No-Contact-Visit Policy at California ICE Jail via TruthoutVictoria Valenzuela’s SubstackCredits:Production/Post-production: Cameron GranadinoBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

For the past month—led by students and joined by parents, teachers, labor unions, and more—France has been gripped by one of the largest protest waves in modern history. Protestors have faced violent police repression, a recalcitrant government, and rampant misinformation or skewed coverage from rightwing and corporate media. In this special international edition of Working People, we speak directly with a broad range of students and union members across France who are on the front lines of the current protest movement, and we put them in conversation with union workers and leaders in the US.Editor’s Note: This episode contains an edited-down version of a Zoom webinar panel discussion recorded on Sunday, October 25, organized in partnership with The Real News Network, the Chicago Teachers Union, Haymarket Books, and the French labor union Force Ouvrière. Unless expressed by elected organization leaders, all views shared in this conversation are those of the speakers alone. Additional links/info:Chicago Teachers Union website, Facebook page, Bluesky page, and InstagramForce Ouvrière website, Facebook page, and InstagramHaymarket Books website, YouTube channel, Bluesky page, and InstagramAngelique Chrisafis, The Guardian, “Hundreds of thousands march across France in protests over schools and policing”Featured Music:Jules Taylor, Working People Theme SongCredits:Audio Post-Production: Jules TaylorBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!