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In a vital follow up to our police bias episodes, today we break down a new study that shows police killings were undercounted by MORE THAN HALF. This confirms what many of us have suspected about the "official data" on police violence, and it's only the tip of the iceberg.
Links: Lancet article, Fatal Encounters, Mapping Police Violence, The Counted
Marxism is having a moment; higher workloads, stagnating wages, rising costs of living, a new economic crisis every few years, a warming climate and now almost two years of a worldwide pandemic have all led to a number of people across the world, especially younger people, to self-identify with ideas once thought to be in the dustbin of history. But while people may find Marx’s theories helpful for understanding what’s happening, turning these interpretations into sustained commitments is another thing. What’s more, Marx’s works often turn out to be less definitive than is often imagined, giving us rigorous methods of inquiry that we then need to develop and adapt to other fields. Being a Marxist then is not simply about adopting a particular series of propositions, but a way of interpreting and engaging with the world.
This is one of the animating ideas for my guest today, Ted Stolze, here to discuss his essay collection Becoming Marxist: Studies in Philosophy, Struggle, and Endurance (Haymarket Books, 2020). While Marx occupies a central place throughout the essays, readers will find engagements with a variety of figures, going back as far as Aristotle or the Apostle Paul, all the way up to the present with essays on Zizek and Deleuze. In between these poles are studies of Hobbes, Spinoza, Hegel and many other early modern thinkers. Throughout the essays, Stolze puts Marxist practice in dialogue with philosophy and vice-versa, showing us how political struggle demands philosophical inquiry, not simply for the purpose of political and tactical clarity, but for the same reasons people have turned to philosophy for several millennia now. Socrates famously said the unexamined life is not worth living, kicking off an entire tradition of self-examination. It’s this tradition Stolze believes activists and organizers ought to draw on today to better understand what it might mean to become Marxist.
Published as part of the Historical Materialism book series.
Ted Stolze holds an M.A. in religion and a PhD in philosophy. He is an associate professor of philosophy at Cerritos College. He is the coeditor of The New Spinoza and has published numerous articles on philosophy, politics and religion.
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The Biden administration announced it will overhaul the student loan forgiveness program for public service employees. It was supposed to forgive certain federal loans of people who worked in the public sector or at non-profit jobs for at least 10 years, but about 98 percent of those who applied were denied. The change will help over a half-million borrowers.
Work at all of the Kellogg Company’s U.S. cereal plants came to a halt. As of Tuesday, 1,400 workers across the country went on strike. Workers want better health care, holiday and vacation pay, and more. Before you panic shop, it is not immediately clear how much the supply of Frosted Flakes will be disrupted.
And in headlines: a federal judge blocked the enforcement of Texas’s restrictive anti-abortion law, Mitch McConnell offered to suspend the country’s debt ceiling through December, and the New York Public Library announced no more late fees for overdue material.
Show Notes:
NY Times: “A Guide to Big Changes for Public Service Loan Forgiveness” – https://nyti.ms/3BeWyrI
Vice: “‘People Work 100 Days Straight’: Kellogg’s Workers Shut Down Cereal Factories” – https://bit.ly/3uOA2Ue
The Guardian: “Wave of US labor unrest could see tens of thousands on strike within weeks” – https://bit.ly/3AnCdPz
Jonah Furman from Labor Notes – https://whogetsthebird.substack.com/p/weekly40
The news to know for Thursday, October 7th, 2021!
What to know about a possible compromise on Capitol Hill just days before the U.S. is set to default on its debt. That could trigger a financial crisis.
Also, what a judge just ruled about the abortion ban in Texas.
And a first-of-its-kind vaccine for Malaria.
Plus, we'll explain a student loan overhaul happening soon, how GM is taking on Tesla, and new features on Google to help you go green.
All that and more in around 10 minutes...
Head to www.theNewsWorthy.com/shownotes for sources and to read more about any of the stories mentioned today.
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Northern Virginia continues to be a battleground between school boards and parents over what should be taught in public schools. The latest incident involves a series of books in Fairfax Public School libraries containing graphic depictions of sex between children and adults.
Stacy Langton, a mom from Fairfax County, Virginia, made headlines after she read aloud and showed images from those books, “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe and “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison, during a School Board meeting.
While the books have been temporarily removed from the Fairfax County Public School libraries, Langton is still concerned that a child will be permanently affected by the obscene pictures.
"You're going to accidentally have your child stumble across this and open up. And once you see this, you can't unsee these images," she says.
Langton joins "The Daily Signal Podcast” to talk about that School Board meeting, and the larger issue of such books being in public school libraries in the first place.
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Paris Marx is joined by Ben Wray to discuss the state of the gig economy in Europe, including the Spanish riders law, recent court ruling on employment status in the Netherlands, strikes in Germany and Greece, and the forthcoming platform workers directive from the European Commission.
Ben Wray is a coordinator at the Gig Economy Project and a freelance journalist. Follow Ben on Twitter at @Ben_Wray1989.
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Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.
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