In the wake of the October 7 massacre in Israel, we have seen pro-Hamas activists on the political left celebrate the atrocities. The problem of left antisemitism seems worse now than ever before, or perhaps it has always been lurking just beneath the surface and now the mask has finally slipped. This week, I spoke with the British sociologist David Hirsh, a senior lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London, who literally wrote the book on the subject—Contemporary Left Antisemitism,...

There can be no more essential reading now than the 2018 book Contemporary Left Antisemitism by the British sociologist David Hirsh, whose brings to the subject the level of academic rigor required to truly unpack and understand the issue. It is astonishing to see how perfectly Hirsh outlined everything we see before us now. For anyone paying attention to the protests in the West and pro-Hamas rhetoric on the left, this is an absolute must-read. And stay tuned as I plan to publish a two-hour...

Geoffrey Cain is an award-winning foreign correspondent and scholar of East Asia. His first book, Samsung Rising: The Inside Story of the South Korean Giant That Set Out to Beat Apple and Conquer Tech, is the definitive text on the world’s largest tech conglomerate. His second book, The Perfect Police State: An Undercover Odyssey into China's Terrifying Surveillance Dystopia of the Future, is the best available book on the subject. He is a former correspondent for The Economist, a regular...

Arash Azizi is a writer and historian whose commentary has been published in The New York Times, New York Review of Books, The Washington Post, Newsweek, BBC, Haaretz, The Daily Beast, Guardian, Vanity Fair, The Nation,  Al-Jazeera, and more. He holds a PhD in history and Middle Eastern studies from NYU, where his dissertation examined the communist movement in the Middle East during the Cold War. He is a lecturer in political science and history at Clemson University, and a fellow at the...

In this episode, I brought Razib Khan, writer in population genetics and consumer genomics, back on the show to discuss the genetics of Israelis and Palestinians. Razib explains the genetic differences between various Jewish communities as well as the differences between people from the West Bank and from Gaza. We discuss which groups are most closely tied to the region, where other groups involved actually come from, and what the map would look like today if Europe had never interfered. ...

In this episode, I explain my personal connection to Israel, discuss how recent events prove the argument I made that got me fired from The Seattle Times, reflect on my feelings of betrayal by those on the left who have celebrated atrocity in recent weeks, and by those in journalism who helped bring us to this moment. This is an improvised episode with no notes, and my unprepared thoughts wander a bit, but that’s because I wanted to offer something informal and authentic. Thanks for...

Chloé Valdary is a writer and founder of the company Theory of Enchantment, which provides an innovative form of diversity and inclusion training to companies and government agencies without the toxic ideology that has given mainstream DEI a bad name. Rather than treat people's racial or gender identities as political abstractions, she focuses on the individual and uses and combination of classical philosophy and pop music to work on character development and interpersonal growth. Her writing...

Kevin Ray is a generative theater director and teaching artist. For over 20 years, he has delivered arts education programs to students pre-K to 12th grade as a teaching artist for a variety of arts organizations in New York City. Under the name Kevin Ray | Works, Kevin has produced and directed original theater in collaboration with actors and designers. Most recently, he produced and directed Unearthly Visitants, based on ghost stories written by Edith Wharton, and The Machine Stops, based...

Bradley W. Hart is an academic, historian, professor of media and journalism at California State University, Fresno and the author of “Hitler’s American Friends: The Third Reich's Supporters in the United States,” which tells the story of Nazi sympathizers in America during the 1930s and 1940s. In this conversation, we talk about major Nazi American move… This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit...

This begins my letter exchange with Margaret Anna Alice on fascism, censorship and humor. Margaret Anna writes about propaganda, psychology and health with a focus on COVID at Margaret Anna Alice Through the Looking Glass. Enjoy. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit volodzko.substack.com/subscribe

He is the author of the The Cult of Smart, a book about meritocracy, education and the potential for a more humane society. He also has a popular and extremely insightful newsletter on Substack. DeBoer often strays from orthodoxy to offer lucid insights and fresh perspective. New York Times columnist Pamela Paul, writes he is “a Marxist, activist and […] one of the sharpest and funniest writers on the internet. I don’t agree with everything he says, but he’s always thoughtful and he pushes me...

The morning after Russia invaded Ukraine, news reports emerged of African and Indian refugees being turned back by Ukrainian border guards for no reason other than sheer racism. I was at the border as those reports were coming out, and as is often the case with such claims, I found there was more to the story. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit volodzko.substack.com/subscribe

Folks tend to resist oppression, which is why totalitarianism requires the indoctrination of children. Think of the Hitler Youth. Or the Great Japan Youth Party. Think of the Communist Youth League of China. Or the Komsomol, the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League. Part of this indoctrination process includes doing away with classic children’s stories but then you need to replace those stories with new ones that will impart new values. Proper communist and fascist values. So today,...

Is Vladimir Putin a fascist? Is China fascist? Is my neighbor who supports mandatory Covid vaccinations a fascist? What is fascism? This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit volodzko.substack.com/subscribe

Florida's new school curriculum on slavery is making headlines and part of the discussion has included the claim that the practice of slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation, the conclusion of the Civil War or the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Today on The Radicalist, David reads “We Had Only Our Ignorance,” the personal story of an anonymous former Georgia slave that was originally published in Independent magazine on February 25, 1904. The essay...

On my bookshelf there is a copy of “Ten Poems & Lyrics by Mao Tse-tung,” translated by Wang Hui-Ming with images of each poem written in Mao’s own brushstrokes. None of the poems are any good. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit volodzko.substack.com/subscribe