Manufacturing Dissent Since 1996
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No kings  protest at the minnesota state capitol  june 14  2025   19

The actual stated demands of the protests may not necessarily be met or be successful. I think of things like the Occupy Wall Street protests and others where the idea of reforming how Wall Street works or maybe putting more breaks on the way in which income inequality occurs in the United States. Like those goals of course never really happened or materialized out of some of those protests. I think people getting disillusioned that you go to a protest like No Kings and it's large and you feel good and you feel the sense of community. But then the next day this hasn't really moved the needle on policy. It hasn't moved the needle on the practice of governance. And I think that's where in the book I try to push people a little and say, ‘Well, yeah, that's because it can’t. It can't end there, right?’ That and the same with elections, right? People of course get disappointed and disillusioned with the way elections have gone and the way even when supposedly better candidates win things still don't change either. I think one of the points of the book is that you have to kind of drive past those two traditional techniques for social change when they're not really doing the job that you need to create a more inclusive and sustainable society.

Writer and researcher Sasha Davis speaks to This Is Hell! to talk about his new book “Replace The State: How To Change The World When Elections And Protests Fail”, published by University of Minnesota Press. The book talks about bringing new hope for social justice movements by looking to progressive campaigns that have found success by unconventional, and more direct, means since elections and protests might have become stagnated in regards to bring forth societal change. 


We will have new installments of Rotten History and Hangover Cure. We will also be sharing your answers to this week's Question from Hell!... read more

 


Oct 14 2019
Oct 11 2019
Posted by Matthew Boedy

Here's what we read this week.

 

For Saturday's show:

 

Waste Only: How the Plastics Industry is Fighting to Keep Polluting the World - Sharon Lerner / The Intercept

Situational Breakdowns: Understanding Protest Violence and other Surprising Outcomes - Anne Nassauer / University of California Press

Law Without Future: Anti-Constitutional Politics and the American Right - Jack Jackson / University of Pennsylvania Press.

 

Extra Reading:

 

Can you hear me? - Greta Thunberg / Communists in Situ

Immigrants as a Weapon: Global Nationalism and American Power - Yasha Levine / Substack

The Reactionary Heartland Is a Myth - Matthew E. Stanley and Paul M. Renfro / Dissent

Basic income bows to the master - Ana Cecilia Dinerstein / openDemocracy

The voice from the black hole - Sam Kriss /

More Than A Wall Corporate Profiteering and the Militarization of US borders - Todd Miller / Transnational Institute

Everything Must Go - Whitney Curry Wimbish / The Baffler

 

 

 

 

Episode 1074

Wasted

Sep 21 2019
Posted by Matthew Boedy
1075lineup

Listen live from 9AM - 1:00PM Central on WNUR 89.3FM / stream at www.thisishell.com / subscribe to the podcast

 

9:20 - Journalist Sharon Lerner investigates the global environmental disaster of plastic waste.

Sharon wrote the article Waste Only: How the Plastics Industry is Fighting to Keep Polluting the World for The Intercept

 

10:05 - Sociologist Anne Nassauer examines power and violence in political protests.

Anne wrote the book Situational Breakdowns: Understanding Protest Violence and other Surprising Outcomes for Oxford University Press.

 

11:05 - Law scholar Jack Jackson explains how the American right seized power beyond law.

Jack is author of the book Law Without Future: Anti-Constitutional Politics and the American Right from University of Pennsylvania Press.

 

12:10 - Former autoworker Thomas Adams explores a history of concession and class betrayal from UAW leadership.

Thomas wrote the article A tale of corruption by the United Auto Workers and the Big Three American automakers for Monthly Review.

 

12:45 - In a Moment of Truth, Jeff Dorchen wonders if it's worth having heroes.

Episode 1073

People in Cages

Sep 14 2019
Episode 1072

Young Living

Sep 7 2019