Political Eh-conomy Radio
25 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 6 years ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingA lefty take on politics and economics in Canada and beyond. Catch journalist Michal Rozworski interview leading left economists, journalists and other figures on topics of the day.
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Episodes
Labour’s fate and revival in the US and Canada
July 26, 2018 18:42 - 58 minutes - 59.3 MBThis week, two labour historians talk about their new books on Canadian and US workers’ movements in the 20th century, books which offer important and practical lessons for unions today. First up, I speak with Barry Eidlin, Assistant Professor of Sociology at McGill University, about his just-published book, Labor and the Class Idea in the […]
How Doug Ford won and how to challenge him
June 14, 2018 08:56 - 59 minutes - 59.5 MBLast Thursday was a dark day in Ontario as the Conservative Party led by businessman-bully-bullshitter Doug Ford won a majority in the provincial election. Two guests assess the factors behind the Ford’s win and the chances for building an effective opposition to the coming right-wing agenda for Canada’s most populous province. First up, Doug Nesbitt, […]
West Virginia teachers strike to win
March 23, 2018 18:27 - 1 hour - 67.6 MBThis episode is dedicated to the recent, inspiring and victorious teachers’ strike in West Virginia. West Virginia teachers went out on strike in late February over low pay and continued attacks on the health insurance plan they share with all other state workers. They stayed out despite an initial deal signed by the Governor and […]
The problems with progressive free trade and a divided labour movement
February 20, 2018 18:32 - 49 minutes - 48.9 MB…And we’re back to regularly-scheduled programming. Apologies for the podcasting hiatus to (now really faithful) listeners; I hope to be back to regular episodes once again. I’m restarting the show this week with two great guests. First up, I speak with Angella MacEwen about the on-going NAFTA re-negotiations and whether Trudeau’s much-vaunted “progressive free trade” […]
What do we do when we Fight for $15
July 20, 2017 15:50 - 52 minutes - 27.3 MBOn this episode, three guests provide some perspective on the politics and the economics of the Fight for $15. First, I speak with Jonathan Rosenblum, campaign director at the first Fight for $15 at SeaTac Airport, just outside Seattle, Washington. Workers there won an immediate raise to $15 via a municipal ordinance in 2015. Jon is also an […]
Jeremy Corbyn is Prime Minister
June 26, 2017 15:00 - 42 minutes - 21.6 MBLooking to the UK, it definitely feels like a series of those weeks where decades happen. Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour narrowly lost but really won the election, its vote share up by the most since 1945. Corbyn himself looks more like the Prime-Minister-in-waiting than leader-of-the-opposition; “Jeremy Corbyn is Prime Minister” is now a popular dig at […]
Neoliberalism restructures work and pensions
April 28, 2017 15:12 - 47 minutes - 43.8 MBOn today’s show, two sociologists talk about aspects of neoliberal restructuring. First, Nicole Aschoff, sociologist, author of The New Prophets of Capital and until very recently managing editor of Jacobin magazine speaks with me about the auto industry, Trump and why globalization shouldn’t be solely blamed for the destruction of good jobs even while it […]
Budgeting for the oil bust in Saskatchewan and Alberta
April 05, 2017 16:55 - 44 minutes - 41.1 MBThe resource price bust is already a few years old but it’s still hitting parts of Canada hard. Two guests talk about the impact of the downturn on fiscal policy in the Canadian prairies and what this augers for the bigger question of a transformation of the economy away from fossil fuels. First I speak with […]
Women on strike in the US and Poland
March 08, 2017 21:12 - 45 minutes - 41.3 MBFor International Women’s Day, two interviews on women’s protests and strikes, in the USA and in Poland. My first guest is Barbara Smith. Barbara is an icon of the US women’s movement, particularly it’s Black radical wing. She helped establish Black women’s studies as a discipline, was a founding member of the Combahee River Collective […]
Ours to own, not theirs to profit
February 16, 2017 18:21 - 44 minutes - 35.9 MBIt seems the public sector is under attack from all directions these days. Despite historically low public financing costs, despite proven efficiency and innovation, the public sector gets a bad rap in the public eye—something all manner of politicians from hardened right-wingers to cosmpolitan neoliberals take advantage of, letting markets further seep into the very […]
Learning from the rise of the right in the global South
January 18, 2017 16:59 - 48 minutes - 38.8 MBWith only two days left until Donald Trump’s inauguration, today’s two guests look at the turn to the right that’s already well under way across parts of the global South. First, I speak with the historian, journalist and author Vijay Prashad about the nationalist Narendra Modi’s economic agenda in India. Vijay’s books include The Darker Nations A People’s History […]
#RealChange wearing thin: A look back at Trudeau’s first year
December 22, 2016 17:11 - 46 minutes - 37 MBWe’re one year into Justin Trudeau’s government of #RealChange, yet it’s mostly the rhetoric not the policies that have changed. Some of the shine is finally wearing off. Whether approving pipelines, settting electoral reform up to fail or privatizing airports and transit, the Liberals are showing themselves to be the good capitalist managers they’ve always been, […]
No shortcuts: Jane McAlevey on organizing that can transform unions and society
December 05, 2016 17:15 - 1 hour - 52.9 MBToday’s epsiode was recorded live at an event with union organizer and author Jane McAlevey in Toronto last week to launch her new book, No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age. I was honoured to share the stage with Jane and Stephanie Ross, who teaches in labour studies at McMaster, to discuss this important and […]
Don’t mourn, organize! Sarah Jaffe on organizing before and after Trump
November 10, 2016 16:05 - 28 minutes - 22.6 MBYou could almost hear the whole world hold its breath as the night of November 8th dragged on and Donald Trump’s march towards the presidency became clearer. While it may be trite, Joe Hill’s famous dictum “Don’t mourn; organize!” rings true today. My guest, journalist and author Sarah Jaffe, is very well placed to help […]
Focus on Latin America: Colombia’s rejected peace and the Pink Tide in trouble
October 19, 2016 16:39 - 41 minutes - 32.9 MBPolitical Eh-conomy Radio returns with a new logo, new life and a new episode focused on Latin America. First up: Aaron Tauss, assistant professor of International Political Economy at the Universidad National in Medellin, Colombia. I spoke with Aaron to better understand the devastating and unexpected “No” vote in Colombia’s referendum on a peace deal […]
When the left takes the city
August 17, 2016 13:51 - 40 minutes - 36.8 MBThis week, the focus is on experience of left parties and organizations at the municipal level. Although the left has still exercised only limited political power in many places since the financial crisis, some cities have seen left projects come to power or build new institutions in interesting ways. My two guests shed light on two […]
The improbable rise of Jeremy Corbyn
July 07, 2016 13:38 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MBSo far this week, Jeremy Corbyn has caused over 100,000 new members to join the UK Labour Party he leads, has apologized for a war he opposed from the beginning and appears to have survived a coup attempt on his leadership. And despite his backstabbing MPs, he’s one of the few party leaders left standing […]
Canada’s spring of occupations
June 07, 2016 15:10 - 42 minutes - 39.1 MBWelcome back to the first podcast episode after a two-month hiatus! This week, three guests talk about two significant occupations of public space that have happened in Canada in the interim: the Black Lives Matter occupation of police headquarters plaza in Toronto and the occupations of Indigenous and Northern Affairs offices across the country. In this first […]
Defending Bernie-nomics and debunking the housing market
February 29, 2016 15:55 - 36 minutes - 33.8 MBThis week, I interview two guests on fairly different topics linked by the fact that they both give very effective debunkings of some mainstream economic thinking. First, I speak with JW Mason, economics professor at John Jay College in New York City, about the debate that has erupted around Bernie Sanders’ economic program. JW argues convincingly […]
Where is Quebec going after the strikes, where is Canada’s economy going after the oil crash?
February 10, 2016 15:45 - 36 minutes - 33.6 MBI have two Canadian updates this week. The first is from Nora Loreto on what’s happening in Quebec after the fall’s anti-austerity strikes. Nora is a Quebec City-based journalist and labour activist. She gives an account not only of what happened during the strikes in Quebec, but also what to expect in their wake (see the previous […]
The return of the modernist left
January 21, 2016 04:58 - 28 minutes - 25.7 MBIn the past few years, what has been loosely called the modernist left has seen some revival. Whether coming out of the ultimate failures of the Occupy movement, dissatisfaction with moralistic lifestyle politics or an attempt to analyze the current conundrum of moribound but hegemonic capitalism, some have returned to the idea of the left […]
2015: Podcasting year in review
December 30, 2015 16:30 - 25 minutes - 23.2 MBAs 2015 comes to a close, here’s a podcast and a post that’s something in between a best of and a year in review. It’s a look back at some of my interviews from 2015, both in terms of significant subjects and personal favourites. First up, it is interesting to follow my sequence of interviews with […]
COP21, climate inaction and corporate power
December 02, 2015 16:26 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MBThis week marks the beginning of the COP21 climate talks in Paris, the latest episode in a UN framework that has been trying, and failing, to reduce global carbon emission for over two decades now. For my first interview, I caught up with Oscar Reyes, Barcelona-based climate policy researcher, to get an overview of what to […]
Climate and the state – refugees in Europe
November 17, 2015 15:40 - 33 minutes - 30.3 MBTwo interviews this week on two human-made crises: first, my conversation author and academic Christian Parenti on the climate crisis and the role of the state followed by journalist Jesse Rosenfeld with an update on the refugee crisis in Europe. Christian Parenti is author of numerous books, most recently Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of […]
What’s next for anti-austerity in Portugal and Greece?
October 28, 2015 14:15 - 45 minutes - 42 MBTwo updates from Southern Europe this week: Catarina Principe brings us up-to-date on the situation in Portugal and Andreas Karitzis recounts the search for a new politics in Greece after (and under the rule of) Syriza. My first guest, Catarina Principe, is an prominent activist in Portugal’s Bloco, or Left Bloc, the country’s new broad […]