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Empathy Media Lab’s is a multi-brand podcast exploring labor, political economy, art, and culture. Producer and host Evan Papp seeks to build solidarity by universalizing the struggles of our human condition while outlining policy solutions that address the most intractable challenges of today. Union Solidarity Forever.
Episodes
Wednesday Jul 20, 2022
Wednesday Jul 20, 2022
“They've had the electricity come on every time they've hit the switch for the last 40 years. So why would they worry about tomorrow the light not coming on?”
Isaac Orr, Policy Fellow at Center of the American Experiment
You can watch the full interview here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSY79RqsAeY
The Power Hungry podcast spotlights energy, power, innovation, and politics. Author and journalist Robert Bryce talks with top thinkers, writers, and influencers — as well as regular citizens. Subscribe at https://robertbryce.com/power-hungry-podcast/ and follow Robert’s work https://twitter.com/pwrhungry.
Isaac Orr is a policy fellow at the Center of the American Experiment, where he writes about environmental issues, mining, and electricity. In his second appearance on the podcast (his first was on August 10, 2021), Orr talks about the importance of the Supreme Court’s West Virginia v. EPA ruling, why utilities are keeping their coal plants open this summer, how renewables are undermining the integrity of the electric grid, and the looming shortfalls of generation capacity in the Midwest. You can follow Issac’s work at: https://twitter.com/TheFrackingGuy.
Transcript
Energy 101 definition of energy is energy is the ability to do work.
And when you make energy more difficult to get or make it more expensive, you're making it more difficult to do work or more expensive to do work, whether that's heating your house, plowing a field, growing your food.
So when we enact all these energy policies that intentionally make energy more scarce or more expensive, it ripples through every aspect of the economy.
In some ways you can write it off as rational ignorance.
They've had the electricity come on every time they've hit the switch for the last 40 years. So why would they worry about tomorrow the light not coming on?
It's the milk comes from the store philosophy, right?
I think it boils down to some sort of afluenza.
I really like the concept of thinking about energy, food, production, mining in terms of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
You've got your basic needs, which is food, water, then you want security and safety and then you've got your self actualization triangle at the top.
We've had the bottom rungs of our needs satisfied for so long that we can only focus on the self-actualization tip of the triangle.
And we've been undermining the base of the pyramid, in order to attain these tertiary goals.
And that's exactly what's happening with the grid.
For energy, you need a secure supply. Russia showed us that that needs to be the base of the pyramid.
Then you need reliability, then you need affordability.
And then at the very tip, you can have carbon free.
You need to find a way to satisfy security, reliability, affordability, and being carbon free. That's gotta be the fourth and final consideration on your energy hierarchy of needs, because if you try to invert that pyramid like Germany did, we're seeing that it has really disastrous consequences.
Thursday Jul 21, 2022
Thursday Jul 21, 2022
"We will shape and mold this country or it will not be shaped and molded at all any more."
Nina Simone was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, civil rights activist, and a revolutionary artist. I love her work. Rest in peace, dear Nina.
Transcript:
An artist's duty as far as I'm concerned is to reflect the times.
I think that is true of painters, sculptors, poets, musicians.
As far as I'm concerned it's their choice.
But I choose to reflect the times and situations in which I find myself.
That to me is my duty.
And at this crucial time in our lives when everything is so desperate, when every day is a matter of survival, I don't think you can help but be involved.
Young people, black and white, know this.
We will shape and mold this country or it will not be shaped and molded at all any more.
So I don't think you have a choice.
How can you be an artist and not reflect the times?
About EMLab’s Artist Works
Artist Works is an EMLab brand that explores the labor, concepts, and inspiration behind the artists illuminating and shaping our world.
EMLab is produced by Evan Matthew Papp and we are a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Support media, authors, artists, historians, and journalists, and laborers who are fighting for a brighter day for everyone, everywhere. Union solidarity forever.
All Links: https://wlo.link/@empathymedialab
#ArtistWorks
#EMLab
#EMLStudio
#NinaSimone
#SoulMusic #soulmusiclives #SoulMusicForever #soulmusiclovers #soulmusicart #soulmusicfamily #soulmusicfestival #soulmusician #SoulMusicLegend
Monday Jul 25, 2022
Monday Jul 25, 2022
“China is building more reactors than the rest of the world has built over the past 35 years.”
Energy is Everything. It sustains all life.
Without securing reliable and affordable energy, a nation will perish.
A political economy oriented to promote universal prosperity and defend the general welfare for a more perfect union, must orient policy goals to produce surplus food, water and energy.
Dear friends, the question of our values is at hand. Show me your budget and how you allocate resources, and we’ll see what your values are in practice.
In the face of a global shortage of energy, China’s leadership understands this, as reflected in their policies increasing energy generation, transmission, and distribution.
Nuclear energy is a key pillar for China’s national security.
China is building more reactors than the rest of the world has built over the past 35 years. China is currently building 19 reactors, with 43 reactors in the permitting stage, and an additional 166 reactors in planning.
The combined capacity of these 228 reactors will produce over 245 gigawatts, which is more than the entire electricity generation capacity of Germany and is close to the 289 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity the rest of the world is planning to build.
Although nuclear power is the future of Chinese energy, coal remains the most important energy source for China today.
In 2020, China built over three times as much new coal power capacity as all other countries in the world combined – the equivalent of more than one large coal plant per week.
So what are we doing in the United States to secure reliable and affordable clean energy?
Over the past two generations, the US has canceled over 163 nuclear power plants.
The United States nuclear electricity generation capacity peaked in 2012 around 102 gigawatts when there were 104 operating nuclear reactors.
This once leading nuclear energy nation has prematurely shut down 12 nuclear power generators in the past decade alone, before their licenses expired, including the early shutdown of Michigan’s Palisades nuclear power plant in May 2022 that had a license to operate until 2031.
Ironically, on the same day as this 811-megawatt nuclear plant was shut down, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation issued a report saying the United States electric grid doesn’t have enough generation capacity and that blackouts are almost certain to occur across the country this summer.
Why are our policies increasing scarcity and austerity for our people? Where are the leaders to be found?
Our current trajectory guarantees failure for us while condemning future generations to energy insecurity and immiseration. Our collective security, prosperity, and peace is more threatened than ever before.
It is time to produce more energy, America.
Sources
- Another nuclear plant closes: Get ready for electricity shortages
- List of cancelled nuclear reactors in the United States
- China’s nuclear pipeline as big as the rest of the world’s combined
- China Dominates 2020 Coal Plant Development
- China is building more than half of the world's new coal power plants
- China starts building 33 GW of coal power in 2021, most since 2016
- China Is Planning to Build 43 New Coal-Fired Power Plants. Can It Still Keep Its Promises to Cut Emissions?
- Despite Pledges to Cut Emissions, China Goes on a Coal Spree
- How many nuclear power plants are there in the U.S.?
- Nuclear explained U.S. nuclear industry
- Biden launches $6B effort to save distressed nuclear plants
- Palisades bows out after record operation run
- Palisades nuclear power plant plans for 19 year decommissioning
B-roll
About The Political Economy Project
The Political Economy Project is creating a blueprint to unify our fellow humans to work together and create a new renaissance and a harmony of interests of the human spirit.
The Political Economy Project is an EMLab brand produced by Evan Matthew Papp and we are a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Support media, authors, artists, historians, and journalists, who are fighting to improve the prosperity of the working class.
Follow our work on Substack at: www.politicaleconomyproject.substack.com.
#china #energy #energyhealing #energywork #energyEfficient #EnergyEfficiency #energypro #energyflow #EnergySaving #energymedicine #energyfood #energyworker #energyiseverything #energybalance #energyindustry #nuclearpower #NuclearMedicine #NuclearPhysics #nuclearwastestore #nuclear1 #nuclearenvelope #nuclearpowerplant #nuclearenergy #nuclearplant #NuclearDeal #Palisades
Tuesday Jul 26, 2022
Tuesday Jul 26, 2022
“I'm a humanitarian at heart. So I see nuclear as a vehicle that will deliver prosperity to the African continent.”
Princy Mthombeni
Princy Mthombeni is an award winning communications specialist, nuclear energy advocate, entrepreneur, philanthropist and thought leader.
As a former Board Member of Women in Nuclear South Africa, an African Young Generation in Nuclear Communication Head, Editor-In-Chief of Nuclear Energy Workers Newsletter and a Stand Up For Nuclear South Africa Coordinator, she focuses on addressing the socio-economic issues of the African continent through promoting the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology.
Princy also founded a Nuclear Energy Youtube Series named “Africa4Nuclear,” which Princy hosts covering the socio-economic benefits and technical aspects of nuclear science and technology for education and information.
Follower Princy’s work
- Twitter - https://twitter.com/princymthombeni
- Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/princess-mthombeni-50aa592a/
Follow Africa 4 Nuclear
- Twitter - https://twitter.com/africa4n
- Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQZmA_Zryw077ModGyDEKpw
Watch Princy at COP26 on Decouple Media - Is African Poverty a Climate Solution? Western Hypocrisy Exposed on the Floor of COP26 - ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjbvxwSy3O8
About The Political Economy Project
The Political Economy Project is creating a blueprint seeking to unify our fellow humans to work together and create a new renaissance and a harmony of interests of the human spirit.
The Political Economy Project is an EMLab brand produced by Evan Matthew Papp and we are a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Support media, authors, artists, historians, and journalists, who are fighting to improve the prosperity of the working class.
Follow our work on Substack at: https://politicaleconomyproject.substack.com/.
#nuclear #nuclearenergy #atomicenergy #Africa #southafrica #powergrid #power #electricalengineering #engineering #energy #electricity #powerlines #renewableenergy #electrical #substation #nuclear #solarenergy #powerdistribution #smartgrid #powerplant #cleanenergy #powersystems #gogreen #gosolar #simplygosolar #ee #electricgrid #electric #infrastructure #microgrid #transmissionlines #gate #sunset #greenenergy #climatechange
Wednesday Jul 27, 2022
Wednesday Jul 27, 2022
“We want 'em to know that we went down, standing up!”
Morgan Freeman delivers a powerful prayer during one of my favorite scenes in the movie Glory, when the soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment gather for prayer on the eve of the tragic Battle of Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863 during the U.S. Civil War.
Transcript
Tomorrow we have to meet the judgment day.
Heavenly father, we want you to let our folks know that we died facing the enemy.
We want 'em to know that we went down, standing up!
Amongst those that are fighting against our oppression.
We want 'em to know heavenly father that we died for freedom.
About EMLab’s Artist Works
Artist Works is an EMLab brand that explores the labor, concepts, and inspiration behind the artists illuminating and shaping our world.
EMLab is produced by Evan Matthew Papp and we are a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Support media, authors, artists, historians, and journalists, and laborers who are fighting for a brighter day for everyone, everywhere. Union solidarity forever.
All Links: https://wlo.link/@empathymedialab
#ArtistWorks
#EMLab
#EMLStudio
#Glory
#Morgan Freeman
Friday Jul 29, 2022
Friday Jul 29, 2022
“Being an artist is a constant chase. But most importantly, never sell out. Because once you sell your soul, you can never get it back.”
Michael Gene Sullivan is an actor, writer, director, blogger, and teacher committed to developing theater of social and economic justice, of political self-determination, and, of course, musical comedy. Michael is also a Collective Member and Resident Director of the Tony and OBIE award-winning, always revolutionary, and never, ever silent San Francisco Mime Troupe, where he has written, acted in, and/or directed over thirty plays.
Playwright's Foundation, and was awarded an Artist Fellowship from the Djerassi Arts Center, and in 2022 was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.
About the San Francisco Mime Troupe
The mission of the San Francisco Mime Troupe is to create and produce theater that presents a working-class analysis of the events that shape our society, that exposes social and economic injustice, that demands revolutionary change on behalf of working people, and to present this analysis before the broadest possible audience with artistry and humor.
The collective of the San Francisco Mime Troupe exists not only to create this activist art but also to embody our ideals of combating the fragmentation of the working class: we are a democratically run, multi-ethnic, multi-generational, multi-cultural, gender-balanced theater of social justice that by its very existence sustains a vision of community governance of, by, and for the people.
Learn More about the San Francisco Mime Troupe
- Website - www.sfmt.org
- Youtube - www.youtube.com/c/TheSanFranciscoMimeTroupe
- Facebook - www.facebook.com/sfmimetroupe
Learn more about Michael’s work at:
- Website - www.michaelgenesullivan.com
About EMLab’s Artist Works
Artist Works is an EMLab brand that explores the labor, concepts, and inspiration behind the artists illuminating and shaping our world.
EMLab is produced by Evan Matthew Papp and we are a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Support media, authors, artists, historians, and journalists, and laborers who are fighting for a brighter day for everyone, everywhere. Union solidarity forever.
All Links: https://wlo.link/@empathymedialab
#ArtistWorks
#Improv #theater #art #artist #artwork #arte #artoftheday #artistic #artsy #artofvisuals #artistsoninstagram #arts #artgallery #artists #artistsofinstagram #artlife #artlovers #artstagram #artista #artisan #artistoninstagram #artworks #artshow #artcollector #artforsale #artshub #artlover #artofinstagram #artphotography #Artstudio #artcollective #artdeco
Tuesday Aug 02, 2022
Tuesday Aug 02, 2022
“These [nuclear energy jobs] provided good family sustaining wages with good benefits. And a lot of people put their kids through college, bought a home, paid it off and during the sixties, through the eighties, it was one of highest paying jobs in the regions where these [nuclear] plants are located.”
Jim Key President Atomic Energy Workers Council
Jim Key is the President of the United Steel Workers (USW) Atomic Energy Workers Council (AEWC) and former Vice President At Large of USW Local 8-550, which represents the highly skilled, well trained workers at the Department of Energy (DOE)’s Paducah Federal Enclave Site Reservation in Kentucky.
The United Steelworkers Atomic Energy Workers Council consists of presidents and vice presidents from all United Steel Workers local unions that have contracts with DOE across the nation.
Learn more at: https://www.usw.org/union/mission/industries/atomic.
During this conversation we discuss:
- The United Steelworkers Atomic Energy Workers Council;
- How the nuclear energy economy supports high skilled, high wage union jobs;
- The 2019 conference in Turkey that brought together nuclear workers building union power;
- The need to reindustrialize our nuclear energy sector and restart nuclear processing and recycling; and
- The future of union led nuclear energy in America.
About The Political Economy Project
The Political Economy Project is creating a blueprint seeking to unify our fellow humans to work together and create a new renaissance and a harmony of interests of the human spirit.
The Political Economy Project is an EMLab brand produced by Evan Matthew Papp and we are a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Support media, authors, artists, historians, and journalists, who are fighting to improve the prosperity of the working class.
Follow our work on Substack at: https://politicaleconomyproject.substack.com/.
#UnitedSteelWorkers #1U #LaborRadioPod #UnionStrong #nuclear #nuclearenergy #atomicenergy #greennewdeal #greennucleardeal #powergrid #power #electricalengineering #engineering #energy #electricity #powerlines #renewableenergy #electrical #substation #nuclear #solarenergy #powerdistribution #smartgrid #powerplant #cleanenergy #powersystems #gogreen #solar #esg #wind #ee #electricgrid #electric #infrastructure #microgrid #transmissionlines #gate #greenenergy #climatechange
Wednesday Aug 03, 2022
Wednesday Aug 03, 2022
“We needed something for our nuclear workers because we have so many sectors at the United Steel Workers…So I decided to start this newsletter [Nuclear Times] because our Atomic Energy Workers Council is incredible. Those folks know more about their plants than a lot of the contractor management does because they've been there for years.”
Lynn Hancock is part of the United Steel Workers (USW) Communications Department and helped found the Nuclear Times newsletter and administers the USW Atomic Workers Facebook page.
The USW Atomic Energy Workers Council consists of presidents and vice presidents from all USW local unions that have contracts with the Department Of Energy across the nation.
Learn more at: https://www.usw.org/union/mission/industries/atomic.
Also, I want to note a correction around six minutes and thirty seconds in which I misstated that the amount of energy in one uranium fuel pellet is equal to two tons of coal and 200 hundred gallons of oil. The correct equivalent of one uranium fuel pellet is one ton of coal, 149 gallons of oil, or 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas.
About The Political Economy Project
The Political Economy Project is creating a blueprint seeking to unify our fellow humans to work together and create a new renaissance and a harmony of interests of the human spirit.
The Political Economy Project is an EMLab brand produced by Evan Matthew Papp and we are a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Support media, authors, artists, historians, and journalists, who are fighting to improve the prosperity of the working class.
Follow our work on Substack at: https://politicaleconomyproject.substack.com/.
#UnitedSteelWorkers #1U #LaborRadioPod #UnionStrong #nuclear #nuclearenergy #atomicenergy #greennewdeal #greennucleardeal #powergrid #power #electricalengineering #engineering #energy #electricity #powerlines #renewableenergy #electrical #substation #nuclear #solarenergy #powerdistribution #smartgrid #powerplant #cleanenergy #powersystems #gogreen #solar #esg #wind #ee #electricgrid #electric #infrastructure #microgrid #transmissionlines #gate #greenenergy #climatechange
Thursday Aug 04, 2022
Thursday Aug 04, 2022
“That goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills…And new hopes for knowledge and peace are there.”
"We choose to go to the Moon", officially titled the Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort, is a September 12, 1962, speech by United States President John F. Kennedy to further inform the public about his plan to land a man on the Moon before 1970. Kennedy gave the speech, largely written by presidential advisor and speechwriter Ted Sorensen, to a large crowd at Rice University Stadium in Houston, Texas. (wikipedia)
#nasa #universe #astronomy #science #cosmos #exo #chen #chanyeol #lay #sehun #urdesa #guayaquil #alborada #ceibos #samborondon #moon #art #physics #galaxy #stars #weareone #kyungsoo #memeexo #exo_sc #fyikorea #mars #astrophysics #astrophotography #kokobop #planets
Friday Aug 12, 2022
Friday Aug 12, 2022
“One coal operator quite explicitly said that you need a judicious mixture of white mountaineers, black workers from the Jim Crow south, and immigrant workers in order to maintain division. So the effort was very intentional to divide workers along the lines of immigration status, language, and race..”
Barbara Ellen Smith, Professor Emerita of Virginia Tech
Board member of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum
The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum is at the site of a historic battle which erupted in May of 1920, setting into motion a chain of events that led to the largest armed uprising in the United States since the civil war, and offers the largest exhibition of Mine Wars history anywhere in the United States.
It is a people's history museum based in Matewan, WV, where they tell the story of the deadly, decades-long labor struggle between coal miners seeking unionization and the powerful industrialists who opposed them in the early 20th century.
The museum seeks to ensure this history doesn’t miss another generation, but will instead inspire new ones. You can stay connected and keep up-to-date on Museum happenings on their social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) or their e-newsletter (sign up for updates here).
Learn more about the museum, become a member, and plan a visit: https://wvminewars.org
Barbara Ellen Smith is an American author, activist, and educator. In 2017 she was named professor emerita of Virginia Tech. Barbara is known for her involvement and writing about social justice in Appalachia, particularly the black lung movement and advocacy for coal miners. Barbara is also a board member of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum and Chair of the Museum Fundraising Committee.
About the Labor Solidarity Podcast
The Labor Solidarity Podcast highlights the work of labor leaders, organizers, and labor journalists while discussing historic struggles and the importance of organizing with the goal of building international labor solidarity. Learn more at: https://www.empathymedialab.com/laborsolidarity
The Labor Solidarity Podcast is an EMLab production and we are a proud member of The Labor Radio Podcast Network. All links: https://wlo.link/@empathymedialab
#LaborRadioPod
#1U
#UnionStrong
Friday Aug 19, 2022
Friday Aug 19, 2022
"And if you let these motherf*****s think that they have that leverage, it's only gonna grow above you. So it's just people understanding their worth."
Luke Rockhold is an American professional mixed martial artist (MMA). Rockhold is currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he competes in the Light Heavyweight division. Rockhold is a former UFC Middleweight Champion.
The UFC is notorious for being anti-union. Based on records made available through an ongoing class action lawsuit from numerous ex-UFC fighters, the promotion has approximately paid out 16 to 20 percent of the revenue to the athletes. Most other major sports leagues — including the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball — pay out around 50 percent of the revenue to the athletes. (source)
Nearly 80 percent of MMA athletes said they would be in favor of organizing a union (source).
Kobe Bryant even suggested the UFC should have a union. In May of 2017 Bryant was invited to speak to UFC fighters at an athlete’s retreat and was asked by labor organizer and featherweight contender Leslie Smith about the importance of collective bargaining and labor unions to NBA athletes like him.
Kobe answered as follows:
“Even us as players, where we have our union meetings and things of that nature, we’re normally at each other’s throats competing against each other. But we understand completely that a rising tide raises all boats,” Bryant continued. “When you guys have this unity and you guys are operating together on the same page together, it does nothing but simply fortify the sport, make the sport better. Not just for the present, but also for future generations that are coming. So, it’s extremely important.” (source).
-------------------------------------------
Edited Transcript of Luke Rockhold’s Press Conference for UFC 278 on August 17, 2022.
(Full video here)
(Question)
Over the past few weeks you've been very vocal about fighter to pay. Do you worry that maybe the promotion will sort of be rooting against you if you continue to talk out about that subject?
Root against me for what? What are they gonna do?
I mean, root against me, go for it, do your thing, dude, I'm here to fight.
I'm not saying anything that's not real.
Everything I'm saying is justified and truthful.
Just because like, I should be in a position of power before I say this shit? Fuck off, I got nothing to lose. I don't need this business.
I love the fighting and I'm here to fight the best motherfuckers and this happens to be the place where it's done, you know?
They need to grow this whole fucking thing needs to grow together.
Our lives are on the fucking line.
Healthcare needs to be taken care of, our fucking health needs to be taken care of.
Mine has not been taken care of, you know what I mean?
Like, yeah, this is business, every business is like this, it's about leverage, it's a game of leverage and life.
And it's about fucking, always keeping the upper hand.
It's it's not just here, it's everywhere.
And if you let these motherfuckers think that they have that leverage, it's only gonna grow above you. So it's just people understanding their worth.
(Question)
And when you say your health hasn't been taken care of, can you elaborate on that?
I don't, I don't need to, I mean, it's just, it. things should be easier. You know what I mean?
Insurance should be fucking year round.
The giant is growing and it's like, there's one thing that should be fucking paramount is these fighters health, you know?
It's fucking our lives and our bodies are on the line every fucking time I step into that cage, and if we're not fucking protected, it's like, fuck, come on, wake up.
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About the Labor Solidarity Podcast
The Labor Solidarity Podcast highlights the work of labor leaders while discussing historic struggles and the importance of organizing with the goal of building international labor solidarity. The Labor Podcast is hosted by Elise Bryant and Evan Papp.
Learn more at: https://www.empathymedialab.com/laborsolidarity
The Labor Solidarity Podcast is an Empathy Media Lab production and we are a proud member of The Labor Radio Podcast Network. Learn more: https://wlo.link/@empathymedialab
#LaborRadioPod
#1U
#UnionStrong
#ufc #boxing #bjj #muaythai #jiujitsu #mma #kickboxing #wrestling #fitness #fight #training #sport #judo #martialarts #fighter #karate #gym #grappling #conormcgregor #wwe #workout #motivation #bellator #champion #russia #brazilianjiujitsu #repost #mmafighter #mixedmartialarts #knockout
Tuesday Aug 23, 2022
Tuesday Aug 23, 2022
“Thousands of journalists across the country have been through their own union drives in the past five years or so. And it changes people…I mean, it obviously educates people and opens their eyes to how important labor is. And also you have people who are going through their own union busting campaigns. They're going through having to negotiate contracts with their own boss. And so it really has elevated the profile of unions in the news.”
Hamilton Nolan
American Labor Journalist
Hamilton Nolan is an American journalist who writes on labor and politics in The Guardian (@Guardian), In These Times (@InTheseTimesMag), and the Columbia Journalism Review (@CJR). He previously wrote for Gawker and was part of the organizing efforts to win unionization. He is also writing his first book titled, Year of the Hammer that will be published in early 2024 by Hachette Books (hachettebooks.com).
We discuss:
- How Hamilton got interested in organized labor;
- Organizing the newsroom at Gawker before Peter Thiel sued it into bankruptcy;
- The 2022 AFL-CIO Convention in Philadelphia where he wrote an article titled: The AFL-CIO's Official New Goal: Continued Decline;
- His recent article in the Guardian titled: “If Democrats want votes, they should rain fury on union-busting corporations; and
- What Hamilton sees as the strategy for organizing labor today.
You can follow his work on Twitter at https://twitter.com/hamiltonnolan.
Union Solidarity Forever.
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About the Labor Solidarity Podcast
The Labor Solidarity Podcast highlights the work of labor leaders while discussing historic struggles and the importance of organizing with the goal of building international labor solidarity. The Labor Podcast is hosted by Elise Bryant and Evan Papp.
Learn more at: https://www.empathymedialab.com/laborsolidarity
The Labor Solidarity Podcast is an EML Publishing production and we are a proud member of The Labor Radio Podcast Network. Learn more: https://wlo.link/@empathymedialab
#LaborRadioPod
#1U
#UnionStrong
Saturday Sep 03, 2022
Saturday Sep 03, 2022
Saturday Sep 10, 2022
Saturday Sep 10, 2022
“Our world is really all we got. This planet, at least right now, this planet Earth. So I'm like, I'm just trying to have the power within my community, build, breathe and do more with our imagination to create, you know, to be intentional with that, and Swap DC is a part of that.”
Zsameria, Founder of SwapDC
Last month, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Zsameria to discuss SwapDC, which is a creative recycling event in Washington, DC that fosters a fun and diverse community around swapping for residents who want to reduce, reuse and live a more sustainable lifestyle.
SwapDC aims to bring awareness to the consequences of consumerism on our environment and our culture. Since its debut in 2015, SwapDC has successfully recycled over 5 tons of clothing and donated even more to local shelters, that’s over 10,000 lbs.
Taking the “POP UP” approach, SwapDC has been cited all over the DC area hosting collaborations with local businesses such as Marvin’s, Black Cat and Pen Arts Building. This also includes, yet is not limited to, various nonprofit and national organizations such as Martha’s Table, DPR, The DC Sustainable Fashion Collective and DC’s Art All Night.
Learn more at https://swapdc.com.
And follow SwapDC’s social media:
And you can follow Zsameria’s work on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/zsameria.
About EML Studio
EML Studio is based in Riverdale, Maryland just outside Washington, D.C. We are a podcast space, music recording studio, and we host live stream events. Learn more at: https://www.empathymedialab.com/emlstudio.
EML Studio is produced by Evan Matthew Papp and we are a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Support media, authors, artists, historians, and journalists, and laborers who are fighting for a brighter day for everyone, everywhere. Union solidarity forever.
All Links: https://wlo.link/@empathymedialab
Wednesday Sep 14, 2022
Wednesday Sep 14, 2022
“Power is a good thing for people to have. It can be misused by ugly cliques who take over governments or who exercise some coercion on people or make people degrade themselves and help them to do that. But power in history is what we're aiming for, the power of human beings to do good.”
Anton Chaitkin
Historian and Author of Who We Are: America's Fight for Universal Progress, from Franklin to Kennedy: Volume I - 1750s to 1850s
Anton Chaitkin is a historian and author and we discuss his newest book Who We Are: America's Fight for Universal Progress, from Franklin to Kennedy: Volume I - 1750s to 1850s, which provides a new understanding of the industrial revolution and the strategic context for America’s founding.
Anton Chaitkin has been an activist since his childhood in the 1950s. In the early 1930s, his father, Jacob Chaitkin, a pro-Franklin Roosevelt lawyer, had blocked some of the Wall Street financial arrangements with Hitler, and was legal counsel for the American Jewish Congress boycott against Germany. Anton grew up committed to justice, with a strong sense of the realities of power politics.
Chaitkin has provided original historical analysis of American history, in hundreds of articles and in two books, Treason in America, from Aaron Burr to Averell Harriman -- a 600-page unveiling of the Eastern Establishment as the tory-British-racist-imperialist faction -- and George Bush, the Unauthorized Biography
Learn more at: https://www.antonchaitkin.com.
About Who We Are: America's Fight for Universal Progress, from Franklin to Kennedy: Volume I - 1750s to 1850s
A half century ago, the Anglo-American Establishment reversed the policies that made America rich, powerful, and humane. They erased our former way of thinking from public memory. They took away from us our original national mission: gaining scientific control over nature to uplift mankind. They falsely inserted their own goal – power for the few over the many – into our history, so that no remedy from our real heritage seemed possible.
This explosive book by the masterful investigative historian, Anton Chaitkin, restores that stolen American legacy. The secret to modern history is that all the great breakthroughs in technology were deliberate projects for the improvement of humanity. Chaitkin takes you behind the scenes, to see the two sides struggling to control American policy: nationalist statesmen and industrial innovators, versus the British empire, Wall Street and the southern slave owners.
Book content include:
- Benjamin Franklin guides his friends in England who develop the steam engine, canals and steelmaking -- and discover bio-chemical laws of nature.
- Lord Shelburne’s British Intelligence system acts to prevent other countries from acquiring the new technical powers, by fake insurrections and the “free trade” dogma.
- Franklin and his close allies guide America’s revolt against the empire, write the Constitution, and strategize for a strong industrial nation-state.
- Thomas Jefferson betrays his ideals, joins the enemy Shelburne apparatus, defends southern slavery and British interests, and sabotages Alexander Hamilton’s founding development program.
- The British turn the French Revolution to anarchy and mass bloodshed -- the first documented account of that regime-change intervention.
- America’s founding program is blocked, until a new generation of nationalist leaders fight the British again and start industrialization.
- Acting as a team in government and the military, an idealistic core group builds U.S. canals, coal and iron industries, and railroads . They bring on modern times, and actively aid other countries’ industrial progress -- all this against the violent opposition of the Anglo-American imperial interest.
Volume 1 takes us to the Civil War. Volume 2 (planned for 2022-3) carries the story of progress, versus empire, from Abraham Lincoln to John F. Kennedy.
You can buy Who We Are: America's Fight for Universal Progress, from Franklin to Kennedy: Volume I - 1750s to 1850s on Amazon.
About The Political Economy Project
The Political Economy Project is creating a blueprint seeking to unify our fellow humans to work together and create a new renaissance and a harmony of interests of the human spirit.
The Political Economy Project is an EML Publishing brand produced by Evan Matthew Papp and we are a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Support media, authors, artists, historians, and journalists, who are fighting to improve the prosperity of the working class.
Follow our work on Substack at: https://politicaleconomyproject.substack.com/.
Thursday Sep 15, 2022
Thursday Sep 15, 2022
“Depoliticize it, cuz it's not about that. If there is a chance to utilize these rights to create better conditions and don't worry about the dues part of it because you'll get to see the contract and do the math. If the dues are worth it, sign the contract, right? If they aren't, you don't have to sign for it. As long as the workers are on the same page.”
Billy Jarboe, AppleCore Member and Organizer
In June 2022, more than 100 Apple store employees in Towson, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore, voted to unionize by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. Their union is called the Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (or AppleCORE) and they have joined the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). AppleCORE and IAM sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook in May 2022 informing him of the decision to organize their union, listing “access to rights we do not currently have” as a driving reason for the move, which has strong support from a majority of the workers.
According to Apple CORE’s statement, “Apple workers across the country are joining together to help the company live up to its values…Our commitment remains enriching lives by providing customers the best service possible. It’s time Apple and our managers acknowledge that commitment by respecting our rights and sitting down with us to negotiate over the issues that matter to us – scheduling, professional development and more. Joining together in union will provide us more power to make Apple better!”
EML Publishing had the opportunity to interview Billy Jarboe who is a member of AppleCORE and a key organizer at the Apple store in Towson where he has worked over a decade.
During this interview, we discussed:
- Why employees wanted to organize a union at the Apple store;
- How organizing began and why people should care, especially those who have never been in a union;
- Where AppleCore is at in organizing for a contract;
- Labor restlessness in other Apple stores;
- Thoughts and lessons learned for others who may want to unionize their workplace; and
- How people can support the AppleCore efforts.
You can learn more about AppleCore at their website (https://acoreunion.org/ and follow them on Twitter (https://twitter.com/acoreunion) and instagram (https://www.instagram.com/acoreunion/).
And you can follow Billy’s band Samskara on instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/samskaraband/.
Union Solidarity Forever.
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About the Labor Solidarity Podcast
The Labor Solidarity Podcast highlights the work of labor leaders while discussing historic struggles and the importance of organizing with the goal of building international labor solidarity. Learn more at: https://www.empathymedialab.com/laborsolidarity
The Labor Solidarity Podcast is a part of the EML Publishing brands and we are a proud member of The Labor Radio Podcast Network. Learn more: https://wlo.link/@empathymedialab
#LaborRadioPod
#1U
#UnionStrong
#AppleCore
Saturday Oct 01, 2022
Saturday Oct 01, 2022
“You could basically do anything. And so I took that one step further and I was like, okay, let me make a movie on my own or at least get it as far as I can get it, without a huge production crew. And so, that's been a labor of love.”
Patrick Hale, Author, Director, and Producer of Body.Electric.
Body. Electric. is a genre-spanning anthology series that examines humanity's best and worst instincts as we explore the universe and discover, and create, new forms of intelligence.
Set in the distant future, Body. Electric. depicts the multi-generational fallout following the creation of the worldʻs first space elevator, an industrial supply pipeline, created by United Adams Corporation, to support exploration and mining off-world.
A world-weary detective ordered to retrieve an escaped synthetic humanoid must unravel a web of lies, and learn what it really means to be human, before it is too late.
Learn more at https://www.bodyelectricseries.com/about.
About Patrick Hale
Patrick Hale is an award-winning commercial and short film director based in Los Angeles, CA and Washington, DC. He brings his love of world-building and innovative production design to help clients tell cinematic stories that connect with diverse audiences and move people to action.
Patrick is the lead filmmaker and producer behind Rooks Productions. Previously, he built and ran the in-house studio for American Councils for International Education, and held a number of roles at Discovery, Inc. and Discovery Studios.
Learn More about Body.Electric.
- Website - https://www.bodyelectricseries.com/
- Gaming - https://www.indiedb.com/games/bodyelectric
Learn more about Patrick’s work at:
- Website - https://www.rooksproductions.com
- Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rookspro/
- Children’s Book: OH! So Many MEs! - https://www.rooksproductions.com/product-page/oh-so-many-mes
- Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/c/Patrickhale84
About EMLab’s Artist Works
Artist Works is an EMLab brand that explores the labor, concepts, and inspiration behind the artists illuminating and shaping our world.
EMLab is produced by Evan Matthew Papp and we are a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Support media, authors, artists, historians, and journalists, and laborers who are fighting for a brighter day for everyone, everywhere. Union solidarity forever.
All Links: https://wlo.link/@empathymedialab
#ArtistWorks #art #artist #artwork #artistic #artsy #artofvisuals #artistsoninstagram #arts #artists #artlife #artlovers #artstagram #artista #artisan #artistoninstagram #artworks #artshow #artcollector #artforsale #artshub #artlover #artofinstagram #artphotography #Artstudio #artcollective #artdeco
#scifi #scifiart #scifimovies #scifibooks #scifimovie #scifidaily #scifiworld #scififilm #scifihorror #scififantasy #scifiartwork #scifigeek #scifinow #scifiinside #scififan #scififashion #scififilms #scifigame #scifiphilosophy #scificomics #scifigirl #scifitattoo #scifibook #scificomic #scifilabs #scifinerd #SciFiNovel #scifiSaturday #scifit #scifiactio
Sunday Oct 02, 2022
Sunday Oct 02, 2022
“Workers increase their standard of living and increase their wages through the class struggle, but there's limits to what that can bear if the economy in which that class struggle is happening isn't growing and isn't producing surplus.”
Christian Parenti
Professor of Political Economy and Author of Radical Hamilton - Economic Lessons from a Misunderstood Founder
Christian Parenti is Associate Professor of Economics at John Jay College, CUNY (City University of New York). His books include “Radical Hamilton: Economic Lessons from a Misunderstood Founder" (Verso 2020), "Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence" (2011); "The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq" (2004); "The Soft Cage: Surveillance in America from Slavery to the War on Terror" (2002); and "Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis" (2000/second edition 2008). As a journalist he reported extensively from Afghanistan, Iraq, and various parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America for The Nation, Fortune, The London Review of Books, The New York Times, and other publications.
Learn more at: https://www.jjay.cuny.edu/faculty/christian-parenti.
About Radical Hamilton: Economic Lessons from a Misunderstood Founder
A dramatic re-evaluation of the founding of the United States and the history of capitalism--In retelling the story of the radical Alexander Hamilton, Parenti rewrites the history of early America and the global economy. For much of the twentieth century, Hamilton—sometimes seen as the bad boy of the founding fathers or portrayed as the patron saint of bankers—was out of fashion. In contrast his rival Thomas Jefferson, the patrician democrat and slave owner who feared government overreach, was claimed by all. But more recently, Hamilton has become a subject of serious interest again.
He was a contradictory mix: a tough soldier, austere workaholic, exacting bureaucrat, sexual libertine, glory-obsessed romantic with suicidal tendencies—and pioneer of industrialisation. As Parenti argues, we have yet to fully appreciate Hamilton as the primary architect of American capitalism and the developmental state. In exploring his life and work, Parenti rediscovers this gadfly as a pathbreaking political thinker and institution builder. In this vivid portrait, Hamilton emerges as a singularly important historical figure: a thinker and politico who laid the foundation for America’s ascent to global supremacy and mass industrialization—for better or worse.
You can buy Radical Hamilton: Economic Lessons from a Misunderstood Founder from your favorite bookseller.
About The Political Economy Project
The Political Economy Project is creating a blueprint seeking to unify our fellow humans on a common purpose to work together and create a new cultural and economic renaissance based on the harmony of interests of the human spirit.
The Political Economy Project is an EML Publishing brand produced by Evan Matthew Papp and we are a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Support media, authors, artists, historians, and journalists, who are fighting to improve the prosperity of the working class everywhere.
Follow our work on Substack at: https://politicaleconomyproject.substack.com or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/PolEconProject.
#PoliticalEconomyProject
#LaborRadioPod
#PoliticalEconomy
Monday Oct 03, 2022
Monday Oct 03, 2022
“There's still people on social media who say, ‘You know, we should just shut up and suck it up. We can get through the winter, even if it's a bit colder.’ But it won't be a bit colder. It might end up being a lot colder and there might be energy rationing, which is the worst case scenario. I think it will be a brutal wake up call for those people.”
Irina Slav, Energy Journalist
Irina Slav is an energy journalist who writes about energy, mining, and geopolitics for Oilprice.com with occasional gigs for Seeking Alpha and other news outlets. She also has one of the best Substack columns writing on energy. During this interview, we discussed her essay titled, Life with Energy Scarcity 101 (https://irinaslav.substack.com/p/life-with-energy-scarcity-101).
Follow Irina’s work on Substack (https://irinaslav.substack.com) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/SlavEnergy).
About The Political Economy Project
The Political Economy Project is seeking to create a blueprint to unify our fellow humans on a common purpose to work together based on a harmony of interests of the human spirit leading to a new cultural and economic renaissance.
The Political Economy Project is an EML Publishing brand produced by Evan Matthew Papp and we are a proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network. Support media, authors, artists, historians, and journalists, who are fighting to improve the prosperity of the working class everywhere.
Follow our work on Substack at: https://politicaleconomyproject.substack.com or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/PolEconProject.
#PoliticalEconomyProject
#LaborRadioPod
#PoliticalEconomy
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
“If you do look at the renewable industry today, it's very hostile to unions. They're very hard jobs to organize. They're spread out, they're dispersed, very transient workplaces and so they're very low density unions. And also, renewable energy projects because of the tax credit system in our country, are owned by Wall Street. Some of the wealthiest people in the whole economy are the ones that have financing and stakes in these renewable energy projects. So, renewable energy right now is a very anti-labor, pro-Wall Street kind of regime.”
Matt Huber, Author and Professor of Geography
During this interview, we discuss Matt’s new book, Climate Change as Class War - The climate crisis will take a class struggle to solve. In this book, Matthew T. Huber argues that the carbon-intensive capitalist class must be confronted with its disproportionate effect on the climate. Yet, at present the climate movement is unpopular and rooted in the professional class, where it remains incapable of meeting this dizzying challenge. As an alternative, Huber proposes a climate politics to appeal to the majority—the working class—and he evaluates the Green New Deal as a first attempt to channel working-class material and ecological interests. He advocates building union power in the very energy system that must be transformed. In the end, winning the climate struggle will require an internationalist approach based on planetary working-class solidarity.
You can buy Climate Change as Class War - The climate crisis will take a class struggle to solve from Verso Books.
About Matt T. Huber
Matthew T. Huber is Professor of Geography in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He is also the author of Lifeblood Lifeblood (2013) that uses oil to retell twentieth-century American political history and finds a deeper and more complex explanation in everyday practices of oil consumption in American culture.
You can follow him on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/Matthuber78.
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About the Labor Solidarity Podcast
The Labor Solidarity Podcast highlights the work of labor leaders while discussing historic struggles and the importance of organizing with the goal of building international labor solidarity. Learn more at: https://www.empathymedialab.com/laborsolidarity/
The Labor Solidarity Podcast is a part of the EML Publishing brands and we are a proud member of The Labor Radio Podcast Network. Learn more: https://wlo.link/@empathymedialab
#LaborRadioPod
#1U
#UnionStrong