Manufacturing Dissent Since 1996
New interviews throughout the week
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

 


Posted by Matthew Boedy

Listen live tomorrow 9AM - 10AM Central on WNUR 89.3FM or stream here at thisishell.com

9:10AM - Economist John Kay proposes a new framework for a post-crisis financial system.

John is author of the new book Other People's Money: The Real Business of Finance from Public Affairs.

Sep 26 2015
Posted by Matthew Boedy

Here's what Chuck is reading this week to prepare for Saturday's show:

John Kay - Other People's Money: The Real Business of Finance [Public Affairs Books]

John Cassidy - Five Things Jeremy Corbyn Has Right [New Yorker]

Morten Jerven - Africa: Why Economists Get it Wrong [Zed Books]

Alice Dreger - Galileo's Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and the Search for Justice in Science [Penguin]

Episode 867

Revolution Brewing

Sep 19 2015
Posted by Matthew Boedy

Listen live tomorrow 9AM - 10:30AM Central on WNUR 89.3FM or stream here at thisishell.com

9:10 - Historian Ray Raphael explores the politics behind America's revolutionary moment.

Ray is co-author (along with Marie Raphael) of the book The Spirit of 74: How the American Revolution Began from the New Press.

9:50 -  Filmmaker Leslee Udwin follows a rape, a backlash, and a political movement in India.

Leslee is the director of the documentary India's Daughter. She'll be screening and talking about the film on Wednesday night at the Siskel Film Center. Listen live to win tickets!

Episode 866

Childhood's Endstage

Sep 12 2015
Posted by Matthew Boedy

Listen live tomorrow 9AM - 1PM Central on WNUR 89.3FM or stream here at thisishell.com

 

9:15 - Economist Michael Hudson explains how finance became capitalism's driving force.

Michael is author of the new book Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Destroy the Global Economy

 

10:05 - Jacobin editor Megan Erickson explores childhood in an age of austerity and division.

Megan's new book is Class War: The Privatization of Childhood from Verso Books.

 

11:05 - Sociologist Javier Auyero profiles daily life in Argentina's most dangerous neighborhood.

Javier is co-author (along with María Fernanda Berti) of In Harm's Way: The Dynamics of Urban Violence from Princeton University Press.

 

12:05 - Writer Michelle Chen looks to the present and future of digital labor organizing.

Michelle wrote the article The Unionization of Digital Media for The Nation.

 

12:45 - Jeff Dorchen bashes (from the left) a left-basher bashing from the left.

We're worried that many left turns puts Jeff on the right.

Posted by Matthew Boedy

Here's what Chuck is reading this week to prepare for Saturday's show:

Michael Hudson - Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Destroy the Global Economy

Megan Erickson - Class War: The Privatization of Childhood

Javier Auyero & María Fernanda Berti - In Harm's Way: The Dynamics of Urban Violence

Michelle Chen - The Unionization of Digital Media

Episode 865

The Arctic Line

Sep 5 2015
Posted by Matthew Boedy

Heather Exner-Pirot explains how a melting Arctic and international politics threaten indigenous land and political autonomy.

Heather wrote the chapter Whose Arctic Is it? in the Worldwatch Institute's report State of the World 2015: Confronting Hidden Threats to Sustainability.