Old Mole Variety Hour

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Libraries as Grammar Schools of the Commons

Airs at: Mon, 04/08/2024 at 9:00am - 10:00am
Produced for:  Old Mole Variety Hour
Joe Clement shares commentary and news on the political significance of libraries, examining the material context of social attacks on them and the utopian potential of their sharing ethos.  We hear audio from Mariame Kabe on the podcast Death Panel speaking to how librarie... Read more

Climate Change and NeoFascism

Produced for:  Old Mole Variety Hour
  A shorter version of this was broadcast on the Old Mole for October 22, 2018 In the most recent report from the IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, those conservative scientists have finally sounded the alarm, though  many commenters have noted that the ... Read more

Capitalist Realism

Produced for:  Old Mole Variety Hour
  [For the Old Mole Variety Hour June 28, 2010].      The British blogger and theorist Mark Fisher recently published a slim little volume from Zer0 books titled Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? By "Capitalist Realism" he means, roughly, the notion that, as M... Read more

Against Teach for America

 For the Old Mole Variety Hour January 12, 2015 (audio here) It has come to my attention that not everyone has heard the criticisms of Teach for America that have been raised in recent years. Since the end of this month marks one of their due dates for applications, I want ... Read more

Happy Bastille Day

For the Old Mole Variety Hour, July 14, 2014. The fourteenth of July marks a key event of the French Revolution in 1789; and the French Revolution, in turn, is generally seen as a key turning point in the transition from feudalism to capitalism. The storming of the prison ... Read more

Medicare for All Oregon

This Memorial Day, we might pause to remember those who have died in Oregon for lack of health insurance. As Chris Lowe notes on the Health Care for All Oregon webpage, "A 2009 estimate by Physicians for a National Health Program- connected doctors was that there were abo... Read more

Reviewing Capital 21

Produced for:  Old Mole Variety Hour
For the Old Mole Variety Hour, April 7, 2014 Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century has been called the book that every economist is taking to the beach this summer, the Harry Potter of economic policy, and, if not one of the best books in economics, at l... Read more

neoliberal higher education, part two

For The Old Mole Variety Hour February 17, 2014. Henry Giroux reminds us what neoliberalism is about: it tells us that     Government is the problem; Society is a fiction; Sovereignty is market-driven; Deregulation and commodification are vehicles for freedom; and Highe... Read more

in the edufactory

A briefer version of this appears on the February 3, 2013 Old Mole Variety Hour. You may already know that No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top and Common Core have been detrimental to K through 12 education. You may know that the Portland Association of Teachers has b... Read more

20 Years of Zapatista resistance to neoliberalism

A slightly shorter version of this appeared on the Jan 6, 2014 Old Mole Variety Hour. The well-read red considers Zapatista resistance to neoliberalism. This month marks "the 20th anniversary of the Zapatista uprising in . . . Mexico, a short moment with a long legacy of st... Read more