A Public Affair

Douglas Haynes, Ali Muldrow, Carousel Bayrd, Allen Ruff, & Esty Dinur
  • 4.9 (13)
  • NEWS
  • UPDATED SEMIWEEKLY

Listener Sponsored Community Radio in Madison, WI

  1. 2D AGO

    How to Make Tyrants and Cement Power

    On today’s show, host Esty Dinur is in conversation with Killian Clarke about his new book, Return of Tyranny: Why Counterrevolutions Emerge and Succeed. He researches moments of democratic liberation brought about by mass struggle and why some succeed and others fail. Though he did not write about the US, he’s seen his research become surprising and tragically poignant in the second Trump presidency. Clarke says that democratic backsliding like we’re seeing in the US, has happened in other democracies around the world. But elected leaders who systematically dismantle institutions of democracy and then install an authoritarian regime is far more common in young democracies than in places like the US. It’s shocking how quickly Trump and his team are succeeding. There are resonances between tyrants everywhere in how they cement their rule and gain popularity. They also discuss comparisons between Trump and Hitler’s rise to power, political polarization in the US, Clarke’s research on Egypt, and the vulnerability of other unarmed revolutions. Clarke says that there are downsides to the prevalence of technology in today’s social movements and says that grassroots organizing is needed to sustain a movement. He recommends Zeynep Tufekci’s book, Twitter and Tear Gas and says it’s possible to pressure the Democratic Party to stand for something, like was done during the Civil Rights Movement.  Killian Clarke is an Assistant Professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, affiliated with the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. His research examines revolution, protest, democratization, and authoritarianism with a regional focus on the Middle East. He is the author of Return of Tyranny: Why Counterrevolutions Emerge and Succeed (Cambridge University Press, 2025), as well as peer-reviewed articles in the American Political Science Review, Annual Review of Political Science, British Journal of Political Science, and World Politics. Featured image of the cover of Return of Tyranny: Why Counterrevolutions Emerge and Succeed, available from Cambridge University Press. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here The post How to Make Tyrants and Cement Power appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

    53 min

  2. 4D AGO

    The World Won’t Crumble If We Hold Abusers Accountable

    As the Justice Department releases new documents from the Epstein files, more and more high-profile and powerful men are being exposed as having ties to the financier, child sex offender, serial rapist, and sex trafficker. There are also serious concerns about how the files are being released and what information is or isn’t being redacted for the safety of the survivors. Today, host Ali Muldrow tackles this challenging topic with two guests, Prenicia Clifton, a Madison-based child advocate and founder of Seein’ is Believin’, and Grace Panetta, a journalist with The 19th. Panetta joins us from Capitol Hill where Attorney General Pam Bondi is testifying about the Justice Department’s release of the Epstein files and where survivors are gathering to demand accountability. Panetta says that Democratic lawmakers are pressing Bondi about why survivors’ information wasn’t properly redacted and why some perpetrators’ names were.  Clifton describes several problems with how the Epstein files are being handled. First, is the adultification and therefore re-victimization of the survivors when officials and the press fail to treat them as children, as minors, who cannot consent to their abuse. Another problem is that white supremacy and wealth underpin our justice system such that when Epstein was first convicted in 2009, he received a short sentence and after that his powerful allies maintained their ties. Abuse happens when people have access, privacy, and control of others, says Clifton. She advises parents to have conversations with their children about consent and to know who their kids spend time with, including online.  They also discuss the “tough on crime” rhetoric of the Trump administration in comparison to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwells’ crimes, the power dynamics between adults and children, and prioritizing abuse prevention in our communities by observing, interrupting, and creating policies to hold people accountable.  Prenicia Clifton is the founder of Seein’ is Believin’ where she works to address the needs of youth, including mental health, life readiness, and suicide prevention. Her goal is to make a difference in the lives of 1 million kids through culturally infused programming, policy creation, and community advocacy. She is a certified Praesidium Youth Protection Guardian and a certified Youth Mental Health First Aid trainer. Grace Panetta is a Washington, DC-based politics reporter at The 19th, a nonprofit independent newsroom covering the intersection of gender, politics and policy. Featured image of Jeffrey Epstein’s private island via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here The post The World Won’t Crumble If We Hold Abusers Accountable appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

    53 min

  3. 6D AGO

    How Veterans Can Reduce Polarization

    On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes is in conversation with Chris Purdy, the Founder and CEO of the Chamberlain Network, an organization dedicated to mobilizing veterans to protect democratic values and institutions. They discuss the changing civilian-military relations in the second Trump presidency, the tradition of the military as an apolitical institution, and the militarization of ICE. Purdy is himself a veteran and says his story is an American one: his family migrated to the US due to violence in Belfast and he joined the army to serve his country. He’s noticed that after their service ends, veterans often “don’t feel comfortable in their veteran-ness.” So he founded his organization with the goal of creating a non-partisan but political space for veterans to work for their communities. Purdy is concerned about the misuse of active duty forces through the Insurrection Act and he breaks down what the law says about when the military can be used for law enforcement.  He says that because veterans are often credible members of their communities, they can be champions of democracy. Contrary to the way the Trump administration is “laundering military credibility for their agenda” The Chamberlain Network is organizing retired veterans, business and church leaders, and others to help their communities feel safe to vote during elections. They also discuss Trump’s restructuring of military leadership, Purdy’s article about the misuse of the National Guard, how ICE is acting recklessly by enforcing a political agenda, and the longstanding practice of ICE and other law enforcement recruiting from the military and the “warrior class.” Purdy insists that active duty service members and veterans aren’t ICE, DHS, or other federal law enforcement agencies.  Chris Purdy is the Founder and CEO of The Chamberlain Network, an organization dedicated to mobilizing veterans to protect democratic values and institutions. A former Combat Engineer in the Army National Guard and an Iraq War veteran, Chris also has extensive experience supporting immigrant communities, having previously led veterans’ initiatives at an international human rights organization. He also has a background in education, serving as a Special Education teacher and school administrator. Featured image: photo of Chris Purdy courtesy of The Chamberlain Network. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here The post How Veterans Can Reduce Polarization appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

    52 min

  4. FEB 6

    Why We Need to Complain About Democrats

    On today’s show, host Esty Dinur is joined by friend of the program, Norman Solomon, to discuss the status of the Democratic Party. His new book is The Blue Road to Trump Hell: How Corporate Democrats Paved the Way for Autocracy and it is available for free online. Solomon says we need a stronger Democratic Party–a progressive Democratic Party–to stop fascism and prevent a Vance presidency. It’s not feasible to stop xenophobia and misogyny with neoliberal centrism, as with Biden and Harris’s campaigns, says Solomon. At the top, the Democratic Party is pro-military, pro-corporations. Too often, centrist Democrats work against progressives, as with NAFTA and the Crime Bill that  accelerated mass incarceration. Though Biden did some good work while in office, he ultimately folded when it came to the Build Back Better Act. Instead, we need strong Democratic leadership “that fights like hell for working people, children, the elderly, and the infirm.” They also discuss how corporate paywalls keep information inaccessible to regular people, how RFK is “viciously anti-Palestinian” and anti-democratic, Bernie Sander’s success in calling out plutocracy and corporate greed, Mamdani’s success in New York City, and the status of the DHS budget. Norman Solomon is a journalist, media critic, author and activist. He’s the National Director of RootsAction and the Executive Director of the Institute for Public Accuracy.  His book War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine was published in 2023. In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews called the book “a powerful, necessary indictment of efforts to disguise the human toll of American foreign policy.” Norman’s dozen other books include War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death. Featured image of the cover of Norman Solomon’s most recent book, The Blue Road to Trump Hell: How Corporate Democrats Paved the Way for Autocracy. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here The post Why We Need to Complain About Democrats appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

    53 min

  5. FEB 5

    On the Ground in Minneapolis with John Nichols

    On today’s show, host Allen Ruff is joined by friend of the program, John Nichols, who is on the ground reporting from Minneapolis. He says that ICE is sowing a great deal of chaos; restaurants are empty and the atmosphere is tense. However, thousands are showing up to daily demonstrations creating a remarkable moment of dissent.  They discuss Nichol’s latest article, co-written with Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel, “The ‘Donroe’ Doctrine: Trump Unleashes the Dogs of War.” Nichols says that our contemporary struggles have deep roots in earlier moments of US imperialism. He calls the US’s aggression in Venezuela an act of war, not simply a police action as it has been described. The fact that Congress has not been given a say in these actions, effectively makes Trump a king. Unlike Trump’s first term in office, this time around he’s very focused on international affairs, from kidnapping foreign leaders to threatening to bomb nations and more, says Nichols.  From Venezuela to Minneapolis, we’re seeing invasion abroad and at home, says Nichols. He sees hope in the number of folks, especially young people, who are talking about and engaging in general strikes. More and more people are dissatisfied with the Democratic Party and are looking for ways to counter a political system that is infused with money. They also discuss war tax resistance, mutual aid groups, and the role of religious leaders in political movements. John Nichols is the executive editor of The Nation, and previously the magazine’s long-time national affairs correspondent. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of more than a dozen books on media, democracy, and American political history. His latest, cowritten with Senator Bernie Sanders, is the New York Times bestseller It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism. Featured image of an anti-ICE protest sign from a January 2026 protest in Minneapolis via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here The post On the Ground in Minneapolis with John Nichols appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

    52 min

  6. FEB 4

    The Music of Caribbean Witness

    In 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean to find an Edenic scene that has since been mythologized. Today on A Public Affair, host Ali Muldrow is in conversation with Tao Leigh Goffe who charts this mythology in her new book, Dark Laboratory: On Columbus, the Caribbean, and the Origins of the Climate Crisis. She writes about the legacy of slavery, indentured labor, and the forced toil of Chinese and enslaved Black people who mined the Caribbean islands for the benefit of European powers at the expense of the islands’ sacred ecologies.  Goffe bridges climate justice and racial justice in order to meet the demands of the present, from the pandemic and the Global Black Lives Matter movement to celebrity environmentalists buying private islands and the everyday complicity of owning an iPhone. She interrogates the colonial imagination that leads people to fantasize about island spaces as secretive, private, or grounds for experimentation. And she wants to turn away from notions of property and ownership, making the main characters in her book the Caribbean islands themselves, marijuana buds, mongooses, rocks, and more.  They also talk about who experiences the burden of climate change versus who is presented as environmental saviors, having reverence for land, plants, and animals, and the legacy of Toni Morrison’s Playing in the Dark. Goffe’s next project picks up with the theme of maternity and breastfeeding in the context of resource extraction and racialization.  Tao Leigh Goffe is a London-born, Black British award-winning writer, theorist, and interdisciplinary artist who grew up between the UK and New York. Her research explores Black diasporic intellectual histories, political, and ecological life. She studied English literature at Princeton University before pursuing a PhD at Yale University. She lives and works in Manhattan where she is currently an Associate Professor at Hunter College, CUNY. Dr. Goffe has held academic positions and fellowships at Leiden University in the Netherlands and Princeton University in New Jersey. She is the author of Dark Laboratory: On Columbus, the Caribbean, and the Origins of the Climate Crisis. Featured image of the cover of Dark Laboratory, available from Vintage. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here The post The Music of Caribbean Witness appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

    53 min

  7. FEB 3

    Everstrong Housing Program Sets Up Youth for Success

    On today’s show, host Dana Pellebon is in conversation with SkyeGia Garcia and DaMontae January who work for OutReach LGBTQ+ Community Center. They discuss their work and the larger issue of housing in Dane County, especially for disenfranchised youth.  OutReach works for the equity and quality of life for all LGBTQ+ people through community building, health and human services, and economic, social, and racial justice advocacy. Garcia and January work for the program, Everstrong, that provides resources for 17-24 year olds who are at risk of experiencing homelessness. January says that the program empowers young folks to find stable housing and jobs, sign up for insurance, and take on other adult responsibilities with confidence. Young people in the program should be given a second chance and they just want to be heard, says January. In addition to the Everstrong program, they talk about OutReach’s food pantry, meditation sessions, and anti-colonial yoga classes where folks can “get back in touch with their sovereignty and autonomy,” says Garcia. She says that the LGBTQ+ community has a strong culture of taking care of people and has consistently led with compassion, empathy, and support.  SkyeGia Garcia has been a community organizer since 2016. Her work has focused on anti-colonial awareness that connects to Indigenous struggles and liberation. SkyeGia currently works at OutReach LGBTQ+ Community Center for a project that focuses on youth empowerment and housing justice. DaMontae January comes from a background of social work and counseling and has been working for housing justice since 2020. Currently January works as Program Director for EverStrong at OutReach LGBTQ+ Community Center and has been there since 2023. Featured image: of DaMonte January, Dana Pellebon, and SkyeGia Garcia. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here The post Everstrong Housing Program Sets Up Youth for Success appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

    55 min

  8. FEB 2

    Microcolleges Build Resilient and Responsible Students

    On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes is in conversation with Jacob Hundt of Thoreau College in Viroqua and Grace Greenwald of the Springboard Foundation. They explore how the growing microcollege movement is becoming the antidote to the crisis in higher education. Contrary to the transactional, consumer-oriented nature of traditional education, microcolleges are place-based with small student bodies where students’ education includes manual labor and community building.  Founded in 2015, Thoreau College offers immersive gap year programs, internships, and short courses for young adults that integrate academic studies, hands-on manual work, wilderness expeditions, arts and crafts, and engaged community life. Thoreau College is Wisconsin’s only microcollege, but there is a growing interest in this phenomena in the state. The school offers semester-length programs and admits around 8-15 students with several interns learning about teaching. It’s broad, holistic, and immersive, says Hundt. Microcolleges offer accessible entry into higher education for students, says Greenwald. She’s seen the movement growing in two ways: there’s a growing interest in founding microcolleges around the country, particularly in rural areas and existing colleges are increasingly connecting with each other on issues like decision making.  More and more, students are choosing not to go to college because they don’t see college as offering a path to a purposeful life. Greenwald says that microcolleges are great at engaging students in resilient relationships and offering them real opportunities to be responsible to each other and their communities. Students work on self-governance and communal living and conflict is a feature, not a bug, says Hundt. Grace Greenwald is the Director of Research for the Springboard Foundation, which helps support the movement of microcolleges. She served on the early team building Outer Coast, a microcollege in the rural island community of Sitka, Alaska.  Jacob Hundt is Executive Director of Thoreau College, a microcollege located in Viroqua, Wisconsin. In addition to his teaching and leadership roles, he is the host of the Microcollege Podcast, a key platform for documenting this growing movement. He lives on a 10 acre farm with his wife and 4 children. Featured image of farmland in the Driftless region of Wisconsin via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here The post Microcolleges Build Resilient and Responsible Students appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

    54 min

  9. JAN 30

    Refusing Eviction from the House of Feminism

    On the day of a national anti-ICE general strike, host Esty Dinur is in conversation with writer Sophie Lewis about her book, Enemy Feminisms: TERFs, Policewomen, and Girlbosses Against Liberation.  Lewis reckons with the white supremacy of bourgeois feminism but refuses to “be evicted from the house of feminism” because she doesn’t want to cede ground to TERFS, femonationalists, and other enemy feminisms. Meanwhile, Lewis wants to recover histories of anti-fascist, anti-colonial, insurgent, and undercommons feminism. Dinur points to women like Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, Caroline Levitt, Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice, Hillary Clinton, and even Kamala Harris who have supported wars all over the world, and wonders, “are these the women I’ve fought for?” Lewis also discusses the right to pleasure within the gender liberation struggle, the mythology of feminist figures like Mary Wollstonecraft and May French Sheldon, “feminist misogyny,” and family liberation. Sophie Lewis is a self described ex-academic, writer, left activist and adoptive Philadelphian (transplanted from Europe). She is the author of several books, including Full Surrogacy Now, Abolish the Family, Enemy Feminisms, and the forthcoming essay collection FEMMEPHILIA. Sophie’s essays also appear everywhere from the New York Times to n+1 and the London Review of Books. She teaches short courses on social philosophy and theory online at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, and you can find her newsletter at patreon.com/reproutopia or browse her archive at lasophielle.org/. Sophie is currently working on a book for Penguin, The Liberation of Children (2027). Featured image of the cover of Enemy Feminisms, available from Haymarket Books.  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here The post Refusing Eviction from the House of Feminism appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

    53 min

  10. JAN 29

    The General Rubric of Idiocy

    Marking the first anniversary of Trump’s presidency, the White House released a statement, “365 Wins in 365 Days,” celebrating the success and prosperity that Donald Trump has brought to the nation. To reflect on Trump’s first year back in the White House, host Allen Ruff is joined by journalist Chris Walker, who says that the President has certainly transformed things but for the worse. Walker says that he’s most concerned about the rising authoritarianism of the administration and how Republicans in Congress seem to be OK with this. We have limited checks in terms of the judiciary, and no checks in the legislature, says Walker. Additionally, Trump is increasingly transparent about his intentions of being a dictator and desire to cancel the midterm elections. They also talk about the terror that ICE is bringing to Minneapolis, the general strike called by Rep. Jaime Raskin of Maryland, the resurgence of measles outbreaks under RFK, and Trump’s use of the term “environmental insurrectionists.” While it has been common in the past for elected officials to defend law enforcement, Walker notes that now ICE’s victims are being cast as “domestic terrorists” and described as “readying for a massacre” against DHS without any proof. Chris Walker is a news writer at Truthout, based in Madison, Wisconsin. Focusing on both national and local topics since the early 2000s, he has produced thousands of articles analyzing the issues of the day and their impact on people. He can be found on most social media platforms under the handle @thatchriswalker. Featured image of Donald Trump via Picryl. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here The post The General Rubric of Idiocy appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

    53 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.9
out of 5
13 Ratings

About

Listener Sponsored Community Radio in Madison, WI

Information

  • Creator
    Douglas Haynes, Ali Muldrow, Carousel Bayrd, Allen Ruff, & Esty Dinur
  • Years Active
    2015 - 2026
  • Episodes
    12
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Back Porch Broadcasting, Inc.
  • Show Website
    A Public Affair

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