Laura Flanders and Friends Laura Flanders, Curious Communications

When it comes to crime and migration, all sorts of politicians have justified mass detention and incarceration in the name of confronting a dangerous crisis. But what's real and what's fear mongering, and how can reformers counter the rhetoric to advance alternatives? Activists can do their best to call out abuses, but what is really needed is an entirely new approach.
Guests:
• Amir Khafagy (Co-host): Journalist, Report for America Member, Documented
• Silky Shah: Director, Detention Watch Network; Author, Unbuild Walls
• Aron Thorn: Senior Attorney, Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP), Beyond Borders Program

We’re in the midst of our May Day to Memorial Day membership drive. We're asking you to join us in raising $25,000 - the cost to produce one episode.  Please contribute by making a one-time donation or make it monthly, goto https://lauraflanders.org/donate  As Angela says, "when vast numbers of people come together . . . this is how change happens."  Please come together with us now! Thanks for listening and thanks for your continued support.

Thanks for taking the time to listen to the full conversation from our episode “Post-Dobbs Crisis: Visions for Abortion Access & Radical Care.” These full uncut conversations are made possible thanks to our member supporters. We are an independent media organization that is dependent on our member supporters. Please consider becoming a monthly supporter for a few dollars a month… go to https://Patreon.com/LauraFlandersandFriends

Fake clinics are feeding people disinformation, laws are criminalizing doctors and patients, and the climate of stigma and fear has only worsened since the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health in 2022. Laura and guests explore the situation in a so-called safe haven (New York), and the frameworks for care that BIPOC reproductive justice activists are drawing on for strength.
Guests:
• Elizabeth Estrada: NY Field & Advocacy Manager, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice
• Adaku Utah: Senior Manager of Movement Building Programs, Building Movement Project; Organizer, Grassroots Strategist, Politicized Healer
• Chelsea Williams-Diggs: Executive Director, New York Abortion Access Fund

Full Episode Notes are accessible to all at https://Patreon.com/LauraFlandersandFriends

In “ZODIAC: A Graphic Memoir”, the renowned artist Ai Weiwei writes that artists should “ignite stories”, “fight for freedom” and “help us hope.” Over his long and defiant career, he has used his art in a wide variety of media to do just that. In this wide-ranging conversation with Laura Flanders, they discuss the role of the artist and ask why is “Power so afraid of art and poets?”

Guest: Ai Weiwei: Conceptual Artist, Filmmaker & Human Rights Activist; Author, ZODIAC, A Graphic Memoir

April 2024 The Laura Flanders Show is now ‘Laura Flanders & Friends’. This change marks a new era for the award-winning host, Laura Flanders. The upcoming season will introduce a collaborative hosting format, featuring a diverse array of co-hosts from different backgrounds and different regions of the country. Expect new faces, unique perspectives, and impactful conversations that will leave viewers feeling inspired. The show is made possible by our members.

Corporate greenwashing has hijacked Earth Day, but the ideas behind the holiday are more urgent than ever. There are environmental issues all around us, even within new stories like the Baltimore bridge collapse and the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. On Meet the BIPOC Press, journalists of color discuss how the idea of the environment has been siloed and how the media can undo that.

“We are all the victims of unregulated runaway corporate capitalism. The chickens are coming home to roost after 40 years of deregulation, disinvestment, corporate consolidation, and Wall Street takeover of every vital industry.” - Maximilian Alvarez

“We've seen what happens when you report on climate stories. People don't click it. Why? Because it's a bummer. And as a comedian, we have to un-bummer this topic in any way we can.” - Francesca Fiorentini

“If you look at Flint, people got together and to a great degree did it themselves. It wasn't the state of Michigan that was blaring the alarm bells about the water. It was the people who lived in Flint . . . It's going to be that kind of ground-up people power that is going to be the stuff of solutions if we're going to find them at all.” - Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò

Guests:
Maximillian Alvarez: Editor-in-Chief, The Real News Network; Author, The Work of Living
Francesca Fiorentini: Host, The Bitchuation Room Podcast
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò: Associate Professor Philosophy, Georgetown University; Author, Reconsidering Reparations

April 2024 The Laura Flanders Show is now ‘Laura Flanders & Friends’. This change marks a new era for the award-winning host, Laura Flanders. The upcoming season will introduce a collaborative hosting format, featuring a diverse array of co-hosts from different backgrounds and different regions of the country. Expect new faces, unique perspectives, and impactful conversations that will leave viewers feeling inspired. The show is made possible by our members.

Thanks for taking the time to listen to the full conversation from our episode “Not Wanted at Harvard? BIPOC Media on Claudine Gay, Anti-Zionism & Diversity in Education.” These full uncut conversations are made possible thanks to our member supporters. We are an independent media organization that is dependent on our member supporters. Please consider becoming a monthly supporter for a few dollars a month… go to https://Patreon.com/LauraFlandersandFriends

Dr. Claudine Gay made history as the first Black President of Harvard. She faced fierce backlash over the school’s statements on the Israel-Hamas War, which ultimately led to her resignation. We unpack the crusade against Gay, diversity, and the lack of support that students and faculty of color receive from their universities. Hear what the media got right — and wrong — about this story.

“Academia is not an inclusive space. Academia is a hard place for many people, and we have to decide if we want institutions that are diverse and inclusive of multiple viewpoints . . . We belong and we contribute.” - Zaire Dinzey-Flores

“There’s a new age of McCarthyism taking place not only in academic spaces, but also media spaces. We're seeing reporters losing their jobs or being forced to resign if they have a pro-Palestinian stance. In academia, we're seeing regulations on campuses that say that you have to support Israel, almost like in the McCarthy era where you had to denounce communism in order to get a job.” - Amir Khafagy

“If the university is supposed to be the marketplace of ideas, why are Black people and people of color's ideas, advocacy and activism always targeted, surveilled and pushed out?” - Jamiee Swift

Guests:
• Zaire Dinzey-Flores: Associate Professor & Chair of Latino and Caribbean Studies, Rutgers University
• Amir Khafagy (Co-host): Journalist, Report for America Member, Documented
• Jaimee Swift: Founder, Black Women Radicals; Professor of Black Politics

Is 2024 the year of trust-busting? This bipartisan issue of small versus big is a fight taking place on the streets and in the federal and state courts; led by grassroots movements and consumer protest. How have people power and government action together brought about a shift? Is it real? The Biden administration has stepped up anti-trust action, but the number of merger filings is also up.

Guests:
• Stacy Mitchell: Co-Executive Director, Institute for Local Self-Reliance
• Matt Stoller: Research Director, American Economic Liberties Project; Publisher, BIG & Author, Goliath: The Hundred Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy

April 2024 The Laura Flanders Show is now ‘Laura Flanders & Friends’. This change marks a new era for the award-winning host, Laura Flanders. The upcoming season will introduce a collaborative hosting format, featuring a diverse array of co-hosts from different backgrounds and different regions of the country. Expect new faces, unique perspectives, and impactful conversations that will leave viewers feeling inspired. The show is made possible by our members.