Against the Grain (radio program)
Encyclopedia
Against the Grain is a syndicated Pacifica Radio
program of radical ideas and action. The show originates out of the studios of KPFA-FM, the flagship station in the Pacifica Radio Network. Against the Grain focuses on in-depth analysis and commentary by some of the most prominent Left intellectuals today, on a variety of matters—political, economic, social and cultural—important to progressive and radical thinking and activism, such as environmental issues
, political economics
, the global justice movement
, philosophical and cultural ideas, and race and gender
relations.
in the San Francisco Bay Area
by radio journalists C.S. Soong and Sasha Lilley
. The ongoing program was born from a four-part radio series co-hosted and co-produced by Soong and Lilley, entitled Free Radicals, which aimed to challenge conventional wisdom on the Left. C.S. Soong is the program's regular host and producer and Eddie Yuen, co-editor of "Confronting Capitalism: Dispatches from a Global Movement," is currently the show's associate producer. Sasha Lilley
is on leave from Against the Grain to work as KPFA
's acting program director. Lilley and AK Press
founder Ramsey Kanaan
are the program's alternate hosts.
The program can be heard noon to 1 pm PT/ 3pm to 4pm ET, Monday through Wednesday, at kpfa.org, or archived and podcast
at againstthegrain.org. In Northern and Central California, the program can be heard on KPFA
94.1 FM and KFCF
88.1 FM.
Pacifica Radio
Pacifica Radio is the oldest public radio network in the United States. It is a group of five independently operated, non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations that is known for its progressive/liberal political orientation. It is also a program service supplying over 100 affiliated...
program of radical ideas and action. The show originates out of the studios of KPFA-FM, the flagship station in the Pacifica Radio Network. Against the Grain focuses on in-depth analysis and commentary by some of the most prominent Left intellectuals today, on a variety of matters—political, economic, social and cultural—important to progressive and radical thinking and activism, such as environmental issues
Environmental science
Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physical and biological sciences, to the study of the environment, and the solution of environmental problems...
, political economics
Political economy
Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
, the global justice movement
Global Justice Movement
The Global Justice Movement is a network or constellation of globalized social movements opposing what is often known as the “corporate globalization” and promoting equal distribution of economic resources.-Movement of movements:...
, philosophical and cultural ideas, and race and gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
relations.
Overview
Against the Grain was founded in March 2003 at KPFA-FMKPFA
KPFA is a listener-funded progressive talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station signed on-the-air April 15 1949, as the first Pacifica Station...
in the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
by radio journalists C.S. Soong and Sasha Lilley
Sasha Lilley
Sasha Lilley born 1975 is an English-born writer, journalist, and radio broadcaster based in the San Francisco Bay Area, whose work focuses on social movements, intellectual history, and political economy...
. The ongoing program was born from a four-part radio series co-hosted and co-produced by Soong and Lilley, entitled Free Radicals, which aimed to challenge conventional wisdom on the Left. C.S. Soong is the program's regular host and producer and Eddie Yuen, co-editor of "Confronting Capitalism: Dispatches from a Global Movement," is currently the show's associate producer. Sasha Lilley
Sasha Lilley
Sasha Lilley born 1975 is an English-born writer, journalist, and radio broadcaster based in the San Francisco Bay Area, whose work focuses on social movements, intellectual history, and political economy...
is on leave from Against the Grain to work as KPFA
KPFA
KPFA is a listener-funded progressive talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station signed on-the-air April 15 1949, as the first Pacifica Station...
's acting program director. Lilley and AK Press
AK Press
AK Press is a worker-managed independent publisher and book distributor that specialises in radical left and anarchist literature. It is collectively owned and operated.-History:...
founder Ramsey Kanaan
Ramsey Kanaan
Ramsey Kanaan is a Lebanese-Scottish singer and publisher of anarchist literature, best known as the founder of AK Press, one of the largest distributors of anarchist and left-wing books in the world, named after his mother Ann Kanaan. He left AK in 2007 to found a new radical publisher PM Press...
are the program's alternate hosts.
The program can be heard noon to 1 pm PT/ 3pm to 4pm ET, Monday through Wednesday, at kpfa.org, or archived and podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
at againstthegrain.org. In Northern and Central California, the program can be heard on KPFA
KPFA
KPFA is a listener-funded progressive talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station signed on-the-air April 15 1949, as the first Pacifica Station...
94.1 FM and KFCF
KFCF
KFCF is a radio station broadcasting a Variety format. Licensed to Fresno, California, USA, the station is currently owned by the Fresno Free College Foundation...
88.1 FM.
Notable guests, interviews, and on-air debates
- Robin BlackburnRobin BlackburnRobin Blackburn is a British socialist historian, a former editor of New Left Review , an author of essays on Marx, capitalism and socialism, and of books on the history of slavery and on social policy...
- August 10, 2004 - Lisa Duggan - August 24, 2004
- Barbara EpsteinBarbara EpsteinBarbara Epstein was a literary editor and a founding co-editor of the New York Review of Books.Epstein, née Zimmerman, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, to a Jewish-American family, and graduated from Radcliffe College in 1949.Ms...
, Roxanne Dunbar-OrtizRoxanne Dunbar-OrtizRoxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is an American academic, educator, feminist activist, and writer.Born in San Antonio, Texas, Dunbar-Ortiz is of partial American Indian background. She spent most of her youth growing up in the rural community of Piedmont, Oklahoma...
, and John Sanbonmatsu - July 7, 2008 - Jane FondaJane FondaJane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
— April 26, 2005 - John Bellamy FosterJohn Bellamy FosterJohn Bellamy Foster is a professor of sociology at the University of Oregon and also editor of Monthly Review, an independent socialist magazine. His writings have focused on political economy, environmental sociology, and Marxist theory...
- April 13, 2005 - Andrej GrubacicAndrej GrubacicAndrej Grubačić is a US-based anarchist theorist, sociologist, activist and lecturer with a Yugoslavian background who has written on anarchism and the history of the Balkans...
- Robin D.G. KelleyRobin D.G. KelleyRobin Davis Gibran Kelley is a professor of History and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. From 2003 to 2006 he was the William B. Ransford Professor of Cultural and Historical Studies at Columbia University...
— January 17, 2005 - Cindy Millstein - July 7, 2004
- Leo PanitchLeo PanitchLeo Panitch is a Distinguished Research Professor, renowned political economist, Marxist theorist and editor of the Socialist Register. He received a B.A. from the University of Manitoba in 1967 and a M.Sc. and PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1968 and 1974,...
and Sam GindinSam GindinSam Gindin is a Canadian academic and intellectual who served as research director of the Canadian region of the United Auto Workers union and later as chief economist and Assistant to the President of the Canadian Auto Workers union after the latter became independent from its American parent...
- August 17, 2005 - Raj PatelRaj PatelRaj Patel is a British-born American academic, journalist, activist and writer who has lived and worked in Zimbabwe, South Africa and the United States for extended periods. He is best known for his 2008 book, Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System...
- June 2, 2008 - Richard WalkerRichard WalkerRichard Walker may refer to:*Dick Walker , English footballer who played for West Ham United*Richard Walker , English angler and writer on angling*Richard Walker *Richard Walker...
and Daniel BuckDaniel BuckDaniel Buck was a United States Representative from Vermont. Born in Hebron, Connecticut, he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1783 and practiced in Thetford, Vermont. He was prosecuting attorney of Orange County from 1783 to 1785 and was clerk of the court in 1783 and 1784...
June 30, 2008 - Immanuel WallersteinImmanuel WallersteinImmanuel Maurice Wallerstein is a US sociologist, historical social scientist, and world-systems analyst...
— April 28 and 29, 2008 - David HarveyDavid HarveyDavid Harvey is the name of:*David Harvey *David Harvey , geographer and social theorist*David Harvey , American luthier...
— November 15, 2010