Afleveringen
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In this follow-up to last week’s show, we offer Will’s full interview with Greg Robinson, about Japanese confinement during World War II. Robinson, a historian at the University of Quebec, has studied that tragic chapter and its implications for us today more deeply than just about anyone.
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After the Empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, a racial panic took hold over the United States and its leadership. And President Franklin D. Roosevelt — otherwise known for the progressive policies of his New Deal — approved the mass removal and confinement of Japanese American families, on scant evidence of disloyalty. Our team discusses this shameful chapter in U.S. history, and its legacy, with a daughter of two erstwhile internees and one of the world’s foremost students of the era.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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After a fraudulent election in August 2020, Belarusian riot police cracked down on massive protests. Then demonstrators started vanishing. Many of them would be tortured in custody. But a determined group of activists struck back, outing the names and faces of bad cops. We speak with one of those activists on this “Power of Many” rebroadcast. Plus, Emily explains how Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group, alive and well with Belarusian support, continues to destabilize democracies in far-flung places.
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Félix Maradiaga spent more than 600 days in a jail in Nicaragua. Held in solitary confinement for most of that time, he faced beatings and constant interrogation. Why? Because he stood up against the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega. Since 2007, Ortega has dismantled checks on his power. In 2018, his police cracked down on mass protests, killing some 300 demonstrators and bystanders. Today, Maradiaga lives in exile and campaigns against the use of arbitrary detention in his native country and around the world.
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In 1829, the abolitionist David Walker published a stunning, poignant appeal to “to the colored citizens of the world.” He urged them to fight against a system of racial slavery and oppression, and to expose that system’s moral bankruptcy. Walker’s plea has since taken shape in the work of some of America’s greatest thinkers, like W.E.B. Du Bois, James Baldwin and Billie Holiday. On this episode redux, a political philosopher reflects on their ideas, their art and their struggles against resignation.
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Argentina’s new president is a libertarian populist and, by his own account, an anarcho-capitalist. To tackle his county’s deep economic troubles, Javier Milei wants to dismantle state institutions, implement severe austerity measures and strip protections for workers. He also wants to outlaw abortion. But in a country with a strong tradition of organized labor and women’s movements, so far he has sown mainly chaos. We speak with a journalist and a sociologist who say Milei’s methods are madness.
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Last September, Vote.org and other advocacy groups saw a massive spike in new voter registrations on a one-day nationwide drive. The main reason: Taylor Swift, who has been urging fans to get political. But can she — and other celebrities — move the needle on core matters of social justice, and maybe even save democracy? As usual, we turn to the experts. By which we mean three teenage girls. Plus phenom sociologist Tressie McMillan Cottom keeps it real on this play-it-again-worthy episode from our archives.
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Last May, protestors took to the streets in Pakistan to support Imran Khan, the populist prime minister tossed from office and into the slammer. Now, in a rebuke to the military and political establishment, voters put more candidates from Khan’s circle in parliament than from any other party. But they fell short of a majority last month in an election marred by vote-rigging. Siva speaks with an anthropologist in Karachi who parses the state of Pakistan’s politics and its prospects for real democracy.
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Last year, there were 645 mass shootings in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive. In the latest major tragedy, at the Kansas City Super Bowl parade, one person was killed and 22 others — half of them children — suffered gunshot wounds. But here’s something you may not know: since then, there have been another 26 mass shootings. Historian Andrew McKevitt and sociologist Jennifer Carlson join Will for a conversation about the history, politics and economics of America’s deadly gun culture.
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This season we’ve adopted walls as our loose theme, and architectural historian Louis Nelson joins Will and Siva to help frame the idea. At the University of Virginia, wavy brick walls enclose beautiful gardens. But as Nelson explains those walls once served a more sinister purpose. Drawing on this lesson from the past, our guest and hosts grapple with the meaning and function of walls in a democracy — along borders, in cities and in people’s hearts and minds.
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Before the Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists played a key role in fighting the Japanese during World War II. In the decades after, China’s role as an ally to the West was largely erased from its domestic politics — and all but forgotten everywhere else. Lately, Chinese leaders are revisiting “the Good War” and reframing that past to serve new interests. On this Season 8 debut, Harvard scholar Rana Mitter reminds us that history is always about the present.
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In 1829, the abolitionist David Walker published a stunning, poignant appeal to “to the colored citizens of the world.” He urged them to fight against a system of racial slavery and oppression, and to expose that system’s moral bankruptcy. The essence of Walker’s plea has since taken shape in the work of some of America’s greatest thinkers, like W.E.B. Du Bois, James Baldwin and Billie Holiday. Political philosopher Melvin Rogers reflects on their ideas, their art and their struggles against resignation.
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Ahead of some key state elections this year, Vote.org and other advocacy groups saw a massive spike in new voter registrations on a one-day nationwide drive. The main reason: Taylor Swift. The pop star has been urging fans to get political. But can she — and other celebrities — move the needle on core matters of social justice, and maybe even save democracy? As usual, we turn to the experts. By which we mean, of course, three teenage girls. Plus, phenom sociologist Tressie McMillan Cottom keeps it real.
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After a fraudulent election in August 2020, Belarusian riot police cracked down on massive protests. Then demonstrators started vanishing. Many of them would be tortured in custody. But a determined group of activists struck back, outing the names and faces of bad cops. We speak with one of those activists for a new segment called “The Power of Many.” Plus, Emily explains how Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group, alive and well with Belarusian support, continues to destabilize democracies in far-flung places.
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Coming at you live from Light House Studio’s Vinegar Hill Theatre in Charlottesville, our fair city: Emily and Siva welcome Jennifer Weiss-Wolf and Samhita Sunya to the stage, as part of the Karsh Institute’s Democracy360 forum. Sunya, a cinema expert, and Weiss-Wolf, a pioneering advocate for women’s rights, discuss the power of film and print media to shape global feminism. From Bollywood to Ms. magazine, we look at why the women’s movement and its representation matter for the health of a society.
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For eight years, the nationalist Law and Justice Party has ruled Poland. It set about taking over public media, the courts and cultural institutions, while tightening restrictions on abortion and immigration. But this month Poles said, “Stop.” Voters turned out in record numbers and delivered a rebuke to extremism, electing a centrist coalition to run the government. We welcome feminist scholar and activist Agnieszka Graff to discuss this remarkable turn of events and what lies ahead for her riven country.
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In the 1930s, truckers in Minneapolis went on strike to protest their precarious working conditions. When things got violent, FDR stepped in — and the truckers won. New York Times writer David Leonhardt says this story demonstrates the importance of organized labor to the vitality of the American dream. Today, that dream of a “better, richer, happier life” is in doubt, as inequality grows and progress wanes. Live from the Texas Tribune Festival, Leonhardt makes a case for how to turn the tide.
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Poets, painters, novelists, musicians — it turns out they are as crucial to sustaining self-government as politicians and pundits. In a wide-ranging conversation, our hosts speak with English professor Steve Parks about the likes of Walt Whitman, Woody Guthrie, Sinéad O’Connor and the Malian singer Fatoumata Kouyaté. What does their art have in common? Spoiler: an affective sense of democracy. Plus, Parks shares our plans for a new segment on international activists. We’re calling it “The Power of Many.”
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New season, new questions, new people! This fall, UVa historian Emily Burrill joins our team to fill in for Will while he’s away. Emily chats with Siva and Will about what’s coming up in Season Seven. We’ll be delving into the relationship between expressive culture and democratic practice, putting on a couple of live shows and — of course — serving up our bread and butter: the knowledge you need to help save the rule of the people.
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Let’s face it. Sometimes you can’t stand your neighbor’s guts. Problem is, contempt for people who think differently from you is the death knell of democracy, says writer Anand Giridharadas. He set out in search of the lost art of persuasion, and found it: among activists, cult-deprogrammers, political organizers and deep canvassers. Giridharadas shares what he found and offers some advice on how to talk to your friends — and enemies. Catch up and gear up for a new season of the show, beginning Sept. 6.
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