Last year the Garfield Park Aldi closed after 30 years, leaving thousands of West Siders without a nearby grocery store where they can buy affordable, fresh produce or other staples. Now, the City of Chicago is considering purchasing the Aldi property to ensure it remains a grocery store. WBEZ reporter Linda Lutton and Curious City intern Asia Singleton head to the West Side neighborhood to find how the store’s closing is impacting residents — and what they’re doing about it.
Author Maeve Higgins starts her new book, Tell Everyone on This Train I Love Them, by saying she hopes the pandemic doesn't impart any lessons. This kind of dark humor persists throughout Higgins' book, which is a reflection on America and its many flaws. But, as an immigrant, she can see this country in a way others cannot — with a fresh pair of perhaps more forgiving eyes. Higgins told NPR's Tamara Keith that because she loves this country she wants it to be the best it can be.
The gang takes on two stories from dark history of the Chicago police department: the Burge torture ring and the police's murder of Laquan McDonald and Rahm Emanuel's subsequent coverup.
Continuing our radical tech worker occasional series, we’re pleased to be joined by Bjorn Westergard—senior software engineer at NPR and Marxist union organizer—for a wide-ranging discussion about his own journey into tech and politics, the influence of Occupy Wall Street, his experiences involved with unionization efforts, what the label “tech worker” even means, and the need for labor to go on the offensive against capital.
Info for Jathan’s open PhD position: https://supervisorconnect.it.monash.edu/projects/research/social-political-economic-studies-technology-and-fire-finance-insurance-real
Check out Bjorn’s blog: https://socialistplanning.org/
Organizing resources:
••• Collective Action in Tech https://collectiveaction.tech/
••• Tech Workers Coalition https://techworkerscoalition.org/
Some stuff we reference:
••• A Collective Bargain: Unions, Organizing, and the Fight for Democracy | Jane McAlevey https://janemcalevey.com/book/a-collective-bargain-unions-organizing-and-the-fight-for-democracy/
••• Beyond Liberal Egalitarianism: Marx and Normative Social Theory in the Twenty-First Century | Tony Smith https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1190-beyond-liberal-egalitarianism
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Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)
Hormel Foods makes SPAM, and for generations, the company also created jobs for families in Austin, Minnesota. Today, the story of a labor strike that threatened to tear one small town apart. (This episode was made in collaboration with The Experiment podcast.) | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
San Francisco has recalled three school board members, as voters found no comfort in their efforts to rename, re-paint, and rid schools of merit-based admissions…instead of just opening them. Plus, it's Vexillology Corner with Ted Kaye, and an eye-opening nugget of Disney Princess trivia.
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs is celebrating 100 years of helping Chicagoans understand what’s happening in the world and Chicago’s place in it. Reset gets the latest on the Ukrainian crisis and discusses whether diplomacy is still an option to avoid war.
GUEST: Ivo Daalder, President, Chicago Council on Global Affairs
On this episode of The Federalist Radio Hour, Benjamin Weingarten, a senior contributor at The Federalist and deputy editor of RealClearInvestigations, joins Federalist Culture Editor Emily Jashinsky to break down why Special Counsel John Durham's findings exposing Democrats' role in the Russian collusion hoax dwarf the Watergate scandal.
Despite reports that Russia may have withdrawn some troops from the Ukraine border, NATO says there's no evidence of de-escalation and forces remain ready to attack. But it's not just the border that is at risk.
NPR correspondent Frank Langfitt reports on hybrid war tactics like cyberattacks that Russia can, and may already be using to spark unrest in Ukraine.
And Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Russian journalist Vladimir Pozner about how the crisis feels in his country.
