The Socialist Program with Brian Becker

Lula da Silva has returned as Brazil's president. This will cause a major geopolitical shift. Meanwhile, far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro fled to Florida, fearing legal consequences for his corruption.

Brazil-based journalist Brian Mier joins to discuss what a third Lula government means for Latin America and the world.

VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=CQq1kTubYQQ

Follow Brian at https://twitter.com/BrianMteleSUR

Brazil's President Lula is back - and Bolsonaro fled to Florida

We are excited to announce the creation of the independent media outlet Geopolitical Economy Report - an evolution and expansion of Multipolarista.

Our team will be growing, and we have exciting new projects planned, including a regular show with economists Michael Hudson and Radhika Desai.

Editor-in-chief Ben Norton explains the changes (and the continuity).

VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=v8h8viUeDr4

Introducing Geopolitical Economy Report: Multipolarista is evolving

The United States is adding even more money and capacity into its cache of nuclear weapons, the detonation of which would mean tens of millions of people dying. What's behind the estimated $10 trillion in spending on a product that the government will hopefully never use?

Brian is joined by Greg Mello, co-founder and Executive Director of the Los Alamos Study Group.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

$10 Trillion for Nuclear War: Racing to the Nuclear Cliff

Even a film screening of a North Korean family drama is getting South Korean organizers in trouble under the administration of right-wing President Yoon, as he takes the country back toward the oppressive regime of the 1980s when reading certain books could result in jail time.

Brian is joined by K.J. Noh, a peace activist, organizer with Pivot to Peace, scholar on the geopolitics of Asia, and a frequent contributor to Counterpunch and Dissident Voice.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

U.S. Game Plan for South Korea

The BRICS bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) is “developing a fairer system of monetary exchange” to challenge the “dominance of the dollar”. Saudi Arabia is considering selling oil in other currencies. Economist Zoltan Pozsar says the US “unipolar era” is over.

VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ryKuoB9JEBE

Sources and more information here: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/01/21/brics-us-dollar-saudi-oil-currency-multipolar

China ‘counters US dollar hegemony’ with gold reserves, Argentina yuan currency swap deal: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/01/08/china-dollar-gold-reserves-argentina-yuan

BRICS challenges US dollar, Saudi considers selling oil in other currencies: Financial multipolarity

This week on the Global Research News Hour, we take a look at Ukraine and the war being waged within it through two unlikely sources. In our first half hour, Ajamu Baraka of the Black Alliance For Peace joins us to explain the stance of his group toward the nearly year long fight within Ukraine’s borders., and toward NATO generally, revealing how it is consistent with anti-racist principles. Then in our second half hour, we are joined by a young Ukrainian woman who emigrated to Winnipeg nearly 15 years ago and shares some of her thoughts about the country she left, the role of the United States and Russia, and the current conflict that is threatening her country of birth

The Ukraine Conflict. Two Uncommon Perspectives on the Great Tragedy

On today's episode Brian and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, among others, that has caused widespread panic. The federal government has bailed out these banks, which will make hard-felt U.S. inflation even worse. Are we headed for another economic crisis?

Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Collapsing Banks & A Weakening U.S. Empire

In this patrons-only seminar, Brian discusses the media's take that the U.S. industrial base is inadequate to feed the war machine, Israel's hidden history of nuclear weapons, the best way to study the lessons of history, the varied roles that nonprofits play in people's struggles, and more.

This episode is a preview of a longer seminar for Patrons in the TSP community. Subscribe at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram to hear the rest of this seminar, support the show, register for next time, and access the highly valuable archive of years of socialist analysis.

The New Stage of the U.S. Military-Industrial Complex

On today's episode Brian and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss the three months of protests and 11 days of strikes in France against President Macron's attempt to roll back residents' full rights to retirement pensions.

Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Why France Is In the Streets

Women leaders from all over the Global South came together in China in 1949 to strategize about building an anti-imperialist, anti-colonial women’s movement at The Revolutionary Feminist Conference. The conference worked to overcome the fact that imperialists and colonialists were sharing materials, ideas, and plans among themselves, while working to prevent the people’s movements leaders from communicating. 

While the event has long been little known, historian Dr. Lisa Armstrong spent years tracking down documentation and talking to attendees all over the world. Here’s what she found.

Brian is joined by Prof. Armstrong, a professor and department chair of the study of women and gender at Smith College and an author, most recently of the book “Bury the Corpse of Colonialism: The Revolutionary Feminist Conference of 1949,” which you can find here: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520390911/bury-the-corpse-of-colonialism. 

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Hidden History: When Communism and Feminism Came Together in China, 1949

Collaboration with the extra rapper JoaGymShoe

"Umilani Inspi"  feat JoaGymshoe   #TR023

Charles and Alex catch up on OK Go's cereal lawsuit, Rivers Cuomo's visit to the Rock Hall of Fame, and guys who still talk about Bored Apes every day. Fortune Kit on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fortunekit

165 - Perfect Score

NATO leaders met in Lithuania this week, and Finland and Sweden are now joining NATO, continuing the vast expansion of the military alliance. Ukraine was promised a path to NATO membership — despite the risk of further widening the war in Ukraine. Where is the newly emerging world order headed? How will the increasing contradictions resolve? And how can we better understand this historical moment to bring about an end to the scourge of imperialist war?

Brian Becker is joined by Vijay Prashad, the Executive Director of the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, Chief Editor of LeftWord Books, and a prolific author, most recently with Noam Chomsky of “The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power.”

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at https://patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

NATO Expands, Again. Will the Ukraine War Spread? w/ Vijay Prashad

On today's episode Walter Smolarek and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss the historic strike of SAG-AFTRA actors and WGA writers and what's at stake. 160,000 actors are now joining the Writers Guild on strike. They're challenging who gets to decide how to install artificial intelligence in the entertainment industry.

Professor Richard Wolff is an author & co-founder of the organization Democracy at Work. You can find his work at rdwolff.com.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at patreon.com/thesocialistprogram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

Showdown Over AI: SAG-AFTRA Actors Join WGA Writers on Strike

US government documents admit that the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not necessary to end WWII. Japan was on the verge of surrendering. The nuclear attack was the first strike in Washington's Cold War on the Soviet Union.

VIDEO: https://youtube.com/watch?v=5vMEgneKF10

Links to sources and more information here: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/08/07/atomic-bombing-japan-not-necessary

US-backed fascism in Japan - How Shinzo Abe whitewashed genocidal imperial crimes: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2022/07/09/fascism-japan-shinzo-abe-empire

After nuking Japan, US gov’t lied about radioactive fallout as civilians died: https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2022/08/16/japan-us-lied-radioactive-fallout

Atomic bombing of Japan was NOT necessary to end WWII. US gov't documents admit it

As world leaders from the Global South convene in South Africa for the BRICS Summit this week, the West is watching closely. 23 countries have applied to join Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa in the grouping, which is focused on trade and development in their regions — typically dominated by colonizing powers in Europe and the United States. Where is BRICS headed and what unifies the grouping?

Brian Becker is joined by Mikaela Nhondo Erskog, member of secretariat of Pan Africanism Today, researcher at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, member of No Cold War, and host of the podcast The Crane: An Africa-China podcast coming from the DongSheng News collective.

Please make an urgently-needed contribution to The Socialist Program by joining our Patreon community at https://www.patreon.com/TheSocialistProgram. We rely on the generous support of our listeners to keep bringing you consistent, high-quality shows. All Patreon donors of $5 a month or more are invited to join the monthly Q&A seminar with Brian.

BRICS Summit: China, Africa, Russia and the 23 New Applicants

News and views about the world for those who want to change it, with Brian Becker

U.S. Game Plan for South Korea

The Socialist Program with Brian Becker

Related tracks