Tag Archives: Labor

Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Urban Flooding its causes and mitigation explored; Book author interview on Land Back Movement in Indonesia – April 7, 2024

We look at how to sustainably mitigate urban flooding in the mist of climate crisis.
Altering how we think of hardscape in urban design to manage water drainage. [ dur: 30mins. ]

Then we look at Land Back movement to repossess land by local farmers taken by corporations and state. Book author David E. Gilbert interview of his book Countering Dispossession, Reclaiming Land – A Social Movement Ethnography. Specifically, looking at Land Back effort in Casiavera village on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. This is one of many Land Back movements in the world. [ dur:28mins. ]

You can find other land back movements at La Via Campesina website, which supports Food Sovereignty among Pheasant Farmers.

  • David Gilbert is postdoctoral research fellow in the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Autonomous University of Barcelonais. He is an environmental anthropologist with a special interest in social movements, ecological change, and post-development theory.

This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Organizing contemporary Labor unions in the US – August 6, 2023

Do High profile cases like the Teamsters, UPS workers, unionization at Starbucks and Amazon signal a new labor awakening in American politics?

Labor organizers are using a large range of issues, including women’s rights, LGBTQ representation and pride, and environmental activism to attract new members. Is this changing the conceptual divide between “culture war” issues and economic issues? [ dur: 58mins. ]

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – French protests explained – April 16, 2023

Amid mass Protests that have rocked France, the country’s constitutional council have approved President Macron’s move to raise the retirement age to 64. What does all of this mean for French politics, and for the future of unions in French politics and the workplace? [ dur: 58mins. ]

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Melissa Chiprin, Mihika Chechi, and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Impact of Union Organizations on Labor Rights in USA – September 4, 2022

In honor of Labor Day weekend, we explore the state of labor in the United States and we take stock in the impact of Union organization in America. We consider some of the high profile labor cases, such as Union organization at Starbucks, Amazon, Apple, and Trader Joe’s.

We also examine labor history and look at the role that race and gender have played in growing the labor movement.[ dur: 58mins. ]

This program is produced by Ankine Aghassian, Doug Becker, Mihika Chechi, Melissa Chiprin, and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Labor Union movement in America -/- Lives affected by Storms and Fires – September 3, 2017

First, we examine the history of labor unions and how they have shaped America today. We are joined by Philip Dray author of There Is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America.

  • Philip Dray is an author, historian, fellow @ New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU.

Then, storms and fires are on the rise in quantity and severity bringing disastrous consequences to lives and livelihood. How will we deal with the storms, particularly with the loss of power?

  • Steve Matthewman, University of Auckland, NZ. Studies and teaches on Social theory, technology studies, the underbelly of modernity, the sociology of accidents and disasters
  • Julie MacArthur, University of Auckland, NZ. Studies and teaches environmental politics & renewable energy policy,

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle- Dark Side of Sharing Economy -/- Politics of Anonymous- December 6th, 2015

First, the dark side of Uber, AirBnB and the rest of the so called “sharing economy”. We speak with Steven Hill, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. [ dur: 30 mins. ]

  • Steven Hill is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation and co-founder of Fair Vote: Center for Voting and Democracy. He’s the author of “Raw Deal: How the Uber Economy and Naked Capitalism are Screwing American Workers“.

Then, in the wake of the attacks on Paris, Anonymous has turned its cyber-weapons onto the Islamic State, we explore the driving political ethos of Anonymous? [ dur: 28 mins. ]

  • Luke Goode (profile page) is Senior Lecturer in Media, Film and Television at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. His research interests focus primarily on the connections between media, technology and democracy. He is the author of “Jurgen Habermas: Democracy and the Public Sphere (Modern European Thinkers)” and has published on a range of topics including public service broadcasting, social media, citizen journalism and hacktivism.

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Speaking & Moderating

Scholars’ Circle-Society’s-Powerful-/-History-of-Labor-Unions-in-America-May 31st, 2015

First, does power lead people to act in an unethical or immoral way? Does power breed hypocrisy and what are the social and political implications? Adam Galinsky joins us, he is the Chair of the Management Department and a Professor of Business at the Columbia Business School at Columbia University. [ dur: 10mins. ]

  • Adam Galinsky is the Chair of Management Department and Professor of Business at the Columbia Business School at Columbia University. He is the co-author of FRIEND AND FOE: When to Cooperate, When to Compete, and How to Succeed at Both​.​

Later, we examine the history of labor unions and how they have shaped America today. We are joined by Philip Dray author of There Is Power in a​ ​Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America. [ dur: 48mins. ]

  • Philip Dray​ is a writer and historian, he is a Fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU, and he was a ​vi​siting ​scholar at the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University​. He​ is the author of There Is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America​,​ Stealing God’s Thunder: Benjamin Franklin’s Lightning Rod and the Invention of America​, ​and At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America, which won the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and made him a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Insighters & Scholars Circle- Nov. 18th, 2012

1) Community gardens are emerging as an antidote to food deserts and the growing health epidemics in children. We focus on one effort in Los Angeles. Joining us is Dr. Nicole M. Gatto, Assistant Researcher in the Department of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. Little Green Fingers – teaching children under 5 about growing food gardens.

2) With labor unions collectively challenging austerity, what might European leaders do? What is Europe’s economic future?

  • Karl Kaltenthaler, is a Professor of Political Science and Director of Research at the University of Akron. He is the author of, “The Politics of Policy-making in the European Central Bank,” and “Germany and the Politics of Europe’s Money.”
  • Chris Tilly is a Professor of Urban Planning and Director at UCLA’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. He is the co-author of, “Stories Employers Tell: Race, Skills, and Hiring in America,” and co-author of “Glass Ceilings and Bottomless Pits: Women’s Work, Women’s Poverty.”

3) Your memory is a political battlefield: Memory entrepreneurs try to reshape our memories to advance their political agendas. Who are they and how are they affecting the US?

  • Ellen Schrecker is a professor of History at Yeshiva University. She is the author of several books, including “Many Are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America” and “The Age of McCarthyism: A Brief History with Documents.”
  • Douglas Becker is a professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California. He is the author of numerous books, including “The Bush Administration’s Campaign Against the International Criminal Court,” “A Bird in the Bush,” and “Justice knows no Boundaries.”
  • Jon Wiener is a professor of History at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of “How We Forgot the Cold War: A Historical Journey Across America,” “Historians in Trouble: Plagiarism, Fraud and Power in the Ivory Tower,” and “Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files.”

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