Episodes
The future of Jewish identity is at a crossroads thanks to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. The question facing millions of people is whether to take the path of solidarity with Palestine or the road of Jewish supremacy trodden by the leadership of major Jewish institutions and by the Israeli government itself. Rabbi Cat Davis of Beyt Tikkun joins The Marc Steiner Show for a discussion on how the best of the Jewish tradition equips progressive Jews to opt for solidarity over supremacy. Studio...
Published 11/19/24
Published 11/19/24
Not many people today know about the radical history of the Jewish Labor Bund, the Jewish socialist party founded within the Russian Empire in 1897—but they should. Understanding the Bund is essential for understanding the long and critically relevant tradition of Jewish anti-Zionism. “From the Bund's very earliest days,” artist and author Molly Crabapple says, members “saw that if there was an attempt to create a Jewish ethno-state in Palestine, it would mean a state of eternal war with both...
Published 11/13/24
Donald J. Trump is headed back to the White House for a second term, Republicans will control the Senate, and if they win a majority in the House of Representatives, they will control all three branches of government: the Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary. In the 2024 presidential race, the support holding up Democrats’ “blue wall” in 2020 crumbled, and a MAGA-led “red wave” swept large portions of the electoral map. What the hell happened? And what happens now? How did Democrats...
Published 11/08/24
Voting day has arrived. As millions around the country head to the polls with a clear candidate in mind, millions of others are wondering if voting still means anything. In a special address for The Marc Steiner Show, our host addresses this question with the benefit of more than 60 years of experience in activist struggle. Studio / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino Help us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. Sign up for our...
Published 11/05/24
The MAGA movement didn't disappear after Trump's defeat in the 2020 election. If anything, Republicans and extremists outside the party have learned how to effectively organize and seize power in the intervening years. We can look to Florida and Texas, and even to smaller-scale examples like Shasta County to glean what could come from a Trump victory next Tuesday. The Marc Steiner Show looks back on the past two years of key interviews with journalists, scholars, and activists who've been...
Published 11/01/24
We are now just days away from the 2024 presidential election, and the outcome remains uncertain. With the possibility of a new Trump administration around the corner, the question of how we got here is more pressing than ever. Rick Perlstein and Bill Fletcher Jr. join The Marc Steiner Show for a look back on the mistakes of liberals and leftists that helped nurture the MAGA movement, and what the path to progressive victory in the long-term might look like. Studio Production: David...
Published 10/30/24
The movement in solidarity with Palestine has a sizable presence of progressive Jewish Americans. As an anti-Zionist rabbi, Brant Rosen has made it his life's work to build religious and cultural community for other likeminded Jews whose solidarity with Palestine runs deep. The Marc Steiner Show returns with another edition of 'Not in Our Name.' Studio Production: Cameron Granadino Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich Help us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and...
Published 10/29/24
Young Jewish Americans are playing an outsized role in the movement for Palestine—but not without facing consequences. In a recent article for In These Times, Shane Burley investigates the ways anti-Zionist Jews are facing persecution from community institutions they once called home. Burley joins The Marc Steiner Show for a discussion on the growing divide over Zionism in Jewish communities, and the role of youth in this process. Studio Production: David Hebden Post-Production: Alina...
Published 10/22/24
Israel's genocide in Gaza has now surpassed a year, and is quickly spiraling into a regional war that now includes a ground front in Lebanon. As the world reels from the horrors witnessed in the past year alone, how are members of Israeli society justifying those horrors to themselves? In part two of this two-part episode commemorating the solemn anniversary of Oct. 7, Canada-based Israeli filmmaker and journalist Lia Tarachansky joins The Marc Steiner Show to discuss the dark psychological...
Published 10/09/24
After a year of Israel's genocidal onslaught on Gaza, and after more than 75 years of Israeli occupation, Palestinians like Ashira Prem Rachana Darwish still believe in the hope of a free Palestine. In its murderous rush to flatten Gaza and embroil the Middle East in a large-scale war, "Zionism is breathing its last breath," Darwish says. In Part 1 of this two-part episode of The Marc Steiner Show commemorating the solemn anniversary of Oct. 7, Marc speaks with Darwish, a journalist and...
Published 10/08/24
For Palestinian farmers in the West Bank, land and livelihood are deeply intertwined concerns—and the only way to defend them is through organization. Faced with a hostile legal apparatus, a military occupation, and attacks from violent settlers, Palestinian farmers have banded together under the umbrella of the Palestinian Farmers' Union. The union's executive director, Abbas Milhem, joins The Marc Steiner Show for an explanation of the work of his organization and the land struggle in the...
Published 10/01/24
Israel's almost year-long genocide of Palestinians in Gaza has brought many long-simmering questions of politics and identity within the international Jewish community to the fore. What does it mean to be Jewish? Is 'never again' a statement primarily based in nationalism or in an ethic of universal justice? Speaking from his experience organizing Canada's Jewish community against Israel's genocide, Corey Balsam of Independent Jewish Voices of Canada joins The Marc Steiner Show for an...
Published 09/24/24
France was the birthplace of modern democracy, and it may well be the start of its end. After the surprise victory of the left New Popular Front in this year's elections, President Macron has betrayed democracy in a deal with the right to make Michel Barnier Prime Minister. Axel Persson, General Secretary of France's CGT Railroad Union, joins The Marc Steiner Show for a post-mortem of the election, its aftermath, and how the deterioration of French politics reflects global trends in the rise...
Published 09/17/24
Israel's war on Palestine has now decisively expanded to the West Bank, where the most aggressive IDF military campaign in decades is now underway. Yet not all was well in the West Bank before this most recent invasion. Palestinians in the West Bank have dealt with a protracted war waged by Zionist settlers and the IDF for decades. One method of resistance has been through agriculture, which for many generations in Palestine has revolved around the cultivation of olives. Cyrus Copeland of the...
Published 09/10/24
With Donald Trump continuing to demonize immigrants, especially immigrants from Latin America, and with Republicans calling for "Mass Deportation Now," Latinos in the US find themselves in the crosshairs of a national debate over immigration, border policy, racism, and economic justice. What can the Chicano Movement of the 20th century teach us about how to combat attacks on Latinos and other marginalized groups today? Last week, to mark the 54th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium, The...
Published 09/03/24
On August 29, 1970, the Chicano Moratorium Against the Viet Nam War mobilized the largest Chicano protest and the largest anti-war protest led by a community of color at the time. Combining a critique of US imperialism abroad and racism at home, the Chicano Moratorium was the result of years of organizing and consciousness raising by Chicano liberation activists around the country. Former Brown Beret Bill Gallegos and CSU Northridge professor Theresa Montaño join The Marc Steiner Show for a...
Published 08/27/24
It's a presidential election year, and a deeply divisive imperialist war has split the public. As the Democratic National Convention gathers in Chicago, anti-war organizers vow to be in the streets to protest US responsibility for a genocide overseas. No, this isn't 2024. It's 1968. And the police riot that follows in the city of Chicago has effects on US politics that will reverberate for decades to come. Former member of the Weather Underground Bill Ayers joins The Marc Steiner Show for a...
Published 08/20/24
J.D. Vance's rise to the GOP ticket has opened up scrutiny into the junior senator's past and roots. Before he entered politics, Vance entered the public spotlight as the author of a best-selling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy. While often marketed as an authentic glimpse of Appalachian working class life, what Elegy really offers is a portrait of a man whose roots and life path have been decidedly different from those of Appalachia's working poor. Like the GOP itself, Vance's claims to represent...
Published 08/13/24
The images of members of US Congress giving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu multiple standing ovations during his recent visit to Washington DC are certain to go down in history. While Netanyahu spoke of "finishing the job" in Gaza, to raucous applause, peace activists Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon also recently addressed members of Congress—but with a message of peace and reconciliation, not genocide. Abu Sarah, who is Palestinian, and Inon, who is Israeli, share some things in...
Published 08/06/24
At the University of Toronto, students, faculty, and community members successfully staged one of the longest-standing encampments on any campus, holding out for a total of 63 days. While the People's Circle for Palestine ultimately dismantled itself in response to a court injunction, the movement successfully brought the issue of divestment to the fore, and is far from over. Toronto itself has proven to be one of the most stalwart cities in North America's Palestine solidarity movement, and,...
Published 07/30/24
John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and now Trump. America is no stranger to attempted and successful political assassinations, but something feels different about this time. On July 13, former President Donald J. Trump survived an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, PA, that left one bystander dead and two others seriously injured. The shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, PA, is now dead. While Crooks was a registered...
Published 07/16/24
The twists and turns of France's recent election have ended with a surprise majority for the New Popular Front, a hastily cobbled together left coalition running the gamut from the Communists to the Greens. The NFP's unexpected triumph turned the early success of the far-right National Rally in the first round of the election on its head. But the right in France is far from defeated, and whether the NFP can hold its ground, or expand its influence from here, remains to be seen. Axel Persson,...
Published 07/09/24
In the West Bank, the Palestinian struggle to defend land from the clutches of settlers is a daily battle. Rabbi Arik Ascherman is one of the few Israeli Jews who has dedicated his life to assisting Palestinians in defending their land. Ascherman returns to The Marc Steiner Show to discuss the work of his organization, Torat Tzedek, and the increasing political isolation of Israeli Jews who oppose the occupation. Rabbi Arik Ascherman is a Reform rabbi and executive director of the Israeli...
Published 07/02/24
Jen Perelman challenged incumbent Debbie Wasserman Schultz once before for Florida's 25th congressional seat in the 2022 Democratic primary. Now, Perelman is back, and this time her staunch anti-Zionism is front and center in her campaign to unseat Wasserman Schultz, one of the most dedicated Zionists in Congress. Perelman sits down with The Marc Steiner Show for a tell-all interview, covering everything from her personal journey out of Zionism, to her plans to be a loud and proud "outlier"...
Published 06/25/24