A Public Affair

Douglas Haynes, Ali Muldrow, Carousel Bayrd, Allen Ruff, & Esty Dinur
  • 5.0 (12)
  • NEWS
  • UPDATED SEMIWEEKLY
A Public Affair

A Public Affair is WORT's daily hour-long talk program. It aims to engage listeners in a conversation on social, cultural, and political issues of importance. The guests range from local activists and scholars to notable national and international figures.

  1. 14H AGO

    Rebroadcast: L’Eau Est La Vie Camp And Standing Rock

    This week the climate advocacy group Greenpeace was ordered to pay $660 million in damages to Energy Transfer, the oil company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline. The protests against DAPL in 2016 and 2017 were organized by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Indigenous water protectors. Greenpeace peacefully supported the protests but was charged with defamation by Energy Transfer.  Now, a North Dakota ruling in favor of Energy Transfer could have far reaching effects on first-amendment rights and is an alarming instance of a corporation using a lawsuit to intimidate activists. Greenpeace is appealing the verdict.  In light of these developments, on today’s show we’re re-airing a conversation from October 5, 2018 in which host Esty Dinur speaks with women on the front lines of oil pipeline protests. Anne White Hat is an activist and water protector who was arrested for protesting the Bayou Bridge Pipeline at the L’Eau Est La Vie Camp, a resistance camp in Louisiana. Paulette Moore is the director of the new film The Eagle and the Condor: From Standing Rock With Love. They discuss Standing Rock and the making of the film with Germaine Tremmel, Manju Dhat, and Rebecca Kemble. Featured image of a pipeline protest via Leslie Peterson on Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

    52 min

  2. 1D AGO

    Engaging Youth in the Legislative Process

    In a time when public trust in government is near historic lows, today’s show highlights regional efforts to revamp civics education. Host Douglas Haynes is joined by Kate Ullman and Adah Lambeck to talk about two initiatives to educate and engage young people in the political process. Ullman and Lambeck discuss how focusing on policies not “politics” is the key to engaging young folks. Lambeck says that young people are motivated by local issues that impact them, like gun violence.  The Legislative Semester is a nonpartisan civics and government curriculum that engages students in the legislative process. Students explore their own perspectives on a variety of current political issues, learn to use civil discourse in discussing controversial topics, assume leadership roles among their peers. This student-centered and research-based curriculum is expanding rapidly in Dane County and beyond. Ulman says teachers continue to feel confident in this approach to teaching about current policy issues in a non-partisan way.  And at the same time, Madison high school students are organizing a coalition to advocate for a state constitutional amendment to allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote in school board elections. Though school board elections are nonpartisan, this issue is seen as partisan by the Republican controlled state legislature. But if passed, it would create a direct connection between school boards and students.  Adah Lambeck is a senior at Madison West High School. Lambeck testified at a Dane County Youth Commission, calling on their support on an initiative proposed by the West High School Civics Club to let 16 and 17 year olds in Dane County vote in school board elections.  Kate Ullman was a member of the education faculty at Northland College, and a former Middleton High School government teacher. She founded a non-profit organization and now works with teachers interested in using the Legislative Semester government curriculum in their classrooms. She also coordinates the Wisconsin Civic Learning Coalition and serves on the steering group for the Wisconsin Civic Health Initiative. Featured image, remix of The Legislative Semester. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

    54 min

  3. 4D AGO

    Colonialism and the Weather

    On today’s show, Carlos Dávalos is joined by two atmospheric scientists, Mayra Oyola-Merced and Ángel Adames Corraliza from the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They discuss how weather systems differ across tropical and mid-latitude regions, how meteorological data is in question under the Trump presidency, and the politicization of weather agencies. And they advise people to pay attention to weather issues from around the world like the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), the potential collapse of the rainforest, and the increasing number of aerosols in the atmosphere from wildfires. The history of modern meteorology is a Western history, but people around the world have had complex understandings of the weather for much longer than our modern data systems. Adames Corraliza explains the Taino hurricane cemi, a pre-colonial numinous object that represents the counter-clockwise circulation of hurricane winds.  Oyola-Merced describes the inequities in weather system research, which lies primarily in the northern hemisphere. But there are open access sources of satellite weather data that counteract the dominance of the Global North in weather science.  Featured image of Ángel Adames Corraliza, Mayra Oyola-Merced, and Carlos Dávalos courtesy of Sara Gabler/WORT. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

    53 min

  4. 5D AGO

    The Warfare State with Norman Solomon

    On today’s show, host Allen Ruff speaks with journalist, media critic, author, and activist Norman Solomon about his article, “How the Warfare State Paved the Way for a Trumpist Autocracy.” Solomon says that so many military projects are being undertaken under the name of “defense,” but this is a smokescreen for vast amounts of spending that support the “warfare state.” He writes that “militarism has been integral to the rise of the billionaire tech barons who are now teaming up with an increasingly fascistic Donald Trump.” When Trump first ran for president in 2015, he understood that the nation’s thrill for the War on Terror had wanted, says Solomon. But Hillary Clinton’s campaign was set on the status quo when it came to military spending. That’s why, Solomon says, that Trump could simultaneously call democrats “wimps and warmongers.”  The reality is that both parties are war parties. And now Trump can say he wants peace in Ukraine meanwhile supporting Israel’s renewed genocide in Gaza.  Solomon will be part of a teach-in tonight on how to organize against authoritarianism.  Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. The paperback edition of his latest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, includes an afterword about the Gaza war.  Featured image: remix of the cover of War Made Invisible by Sara Gabler/WORT. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

    53 min

  5. 6D AGO

    Is It Love or Unpaid Labor?

    On today’s show, host Ali Muldrow speaks with Emily Callaci, author of Wages for Housework: The Feminist Fight Against Unpaid Labor. In it, Callaci writes about the second-wave feminist movement, Wages for Housework, and the important questions about unpaid labor, gender, economy, and social reproduction that it raised. Muldrow calls the book “immensely relevant for this moment.”  Callaci describes the 1970s as a time when social movements were focused on expanding people’s rights. But the Wages for Housework movement tried to address what they thought was a fundamental source of inequality: the economic inequality in the home due to the invisible, unrecognized, and unpaid labor of women. She says that this movement was asking for two things: a paycheck and a change in thinking about how we organize our society.  They talk about how love becomes a mechanism of exploitation, and how women are oppressed by the expectation of their care work. Callaci says that men lose out by being told that care work isn’t for them. One response is to distribute labor equally across partnerships and genders as well as across the community. Callaci says that the Left needs to claim the terrain of supporting domestic labor, care, and mothering, so that the value of this work isn’t based on the misogynist rhetoric of childrearing being the natural domain of women.  Emily Callaci is Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin Madison, where she teaches courses on African History, Reproductive Politics and Global Feminism. Her most recent book is Wages for Housework: The Feminist Fight Against Unpaid Labor, which is now available at bookstores. She is a mother of 2 and lives in Madison, Wisconsin. Featured image: remix of the cover of Wages for Housework by Sara Gabler/WORT. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

    53 min

  6. MAR 18

    White Supremacy in Law Enforcement

    On today’s show, host Christina Lieffring, news and politics editor at Tone Madison, speaks with Mike German about his new book, Policing White Supremacy. German is a former FBI agent who worked undercover in white supremacist and militia groups, and his book documents the threat that violent far-right groups pose to the public and how the FBI ignores that threat. White supremacy and white supremacist violence are foundational in the US, German says. Law enforcement agencies are more likely to focus on leftist social movements than white supremacists groups even though white supremacists groups are more violent and more deadly. Even the FBI downplays white supremacy and refuses to see it as a national security issue, despite German’s reporting, “Hidden in Plain Sight,” which shows explicit racism within law enforcement. He says that white supremacists are actually a threat to law enforcement officers, but somehow this is tolerated. Lieffring and German talk about how white supremacy informs the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11, and the January 6 insurrection. Despite the fact that white supremacist groups enact more violence than foreign groups, the FBI uses language that mischaracterizes what’s going on. And no one at the federal level tracks the number of people that white supremacists kill. German says that the pardoning of the January 6 insurrectionists sends a message that they can get away with future violence. And those pardons send a message to the FBI that they do not have an imperative to investigate these groups.  Mike German is a fellow with the Liberty and National Security program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School. He has worked at the ACLU and served sixteen years as an FBI special agent. He is the author of Thinking Like a Terrorist as well as Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide: How the New FBI Damages Our Democracy and Policing White Supremacy (The New Press). Featured image: remix of the cover of Policing White Supremacy by Sara Gabler/WORT. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

    50 min

  7. MAR 17

    Working Shoulder-to-Shoulder with Immigrants

    On today’s multi-lingual show, host Douglas Haynes checks in with two representatives from Voces de la Frontera and Voces de la Frontera Action, Wisconsin’s leading immigrants rights organization. Luis Velasquez and Nindik Figueredo discuss the daily realities of immigrants and migrants in Wisconsin. They share their stories of joining Voces and talk about the status of DACA and Assembly Bill 24 which, if passed, would force county sheriffs to work with ICE. Figueredo says she has been busy with community education projects because it’s more important than ever to inform and organize. She says that it’s inspiring and encouraging to see people so engaged with Voces, even though there is still much fear and uncertainty. Velasquez says Voces has been expanding their reach to the Wisconsin Dells, Sparta, and beyond. Voces is working “shoulder-to-shoulder” with immigrants to organize and mobilize their voices. Since November 6, they have adopted a strategy of protect and defend via their “Know Your Rights” program. Voces is organizing a special May day action, A Day Without Immigrants and Workers, across the state on May 1-2. They encourage folks who want to support immigrants to attend a rally or to volunteer on their emergency line. Nindik Figueredo is the logistic coordinator for Voces de la Frontera & Voces de la Frontera Action. Luis Velasquez is the statewide coordinator for Voces de la Frontera & Voces de la Frontera Action. Featured image of a “Know Your Rights” card in Spanish, courtesy of Voces de la Frontera. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

    54 min

  8. MAR 14

    A Crisis of Conspirituality

    From the high costs of insurance and issues of quality of care, the US’s healthcare system leaves a lot to be desired. Here in Wisconsin, the maternal mortality rate is higher for Black women than white women. And about one third of hospitals in the state are run by Catholic groups who can select which reproductive procedures they’ll provide based on the Catholic Church’s directives.  But instead of coming to the conclusion that we need more and better healthcare, too many folks seem to be eagerly abandoning evidence-based medicine for the lavender haze of soul astrology and cod liver oil. Social media hucksters, grifters, and cons have a track record of funneling real fears about the world into health conspiracies, some even becoming a gateway to the far-right QAnon realm. Host Sara Gabler is joined by Julian Walker to talk about the world of conspirituality, where New Age spirituality and QAnon meet. Conspirituality is also the name of Walker’s podcast and book co-hosted and co-authored by Derek Beres and Matthew Remksi. On today’s show, Gabler and Walker discuss the history of yogaworld and its connection to eugenics, the Make America Healthy Again plan, metaphysics verses materialism, and “health libertarianism.” Julian Walker grew up in Zimbabwe and South Africa and has lived in LA since 1990. He has written extensively on cults and gurus, spiritual bypass and quantum woo in New Age circles, trauma and the body, and neuroscience and somatic psychology informing the practice and teaching of yoga. He teaches yoga and is the ecstatic dance DJ/facilitator for his Dance Tribe events. Featured image: remix of the cover of Conspirituality by Sara Gabler/WORT. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

    54 min

  9. MAR 13

    Capitalism, Corporations, and Co-ops with Richard D. Wolff

    On today’s show, host Allen Ruff talks about the state of the US in the world economy with economist Richard D. Wolff. They discuss the sweeping cuts in the federal workforce, how the US is isolating itself through Trump’s tariffs, the value of the dollar, Trump’s threat to Social Security, and the 2017 tax cuts to the rich that lead to the US government’s borrowing from corporations and the wealthy. Wolff says that we’re seeing the end of the American Empire. From WWII to the early twenty-first century, the US enjoyed global dominance. But all empires fall, though Americans have a bad habit of pretending this isn’t true, says Wolff. Now, China is in ascendance in the Global South, and other countries are rethinking the financial standing of the US. Wolff says that this doesn’t mean the world is coming to an end, but it is a powerful reality that we have to face. Richard D. Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he taught economics from 1973 to 2008. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the New School University, New York City. Wolff is the co-founder of Democracy at Work and host of their nationally syndicated show “Economic Update.” His most recent book is Understanding Capitalism. Featured image remix of photo of Richard D. Wolff from 2025 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

    54 min

  10. MAR 12

    A Hopeful Conversation to End Gun Violence

    In December the Madison community was rocked by a mass shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School. It was just one of 330 school shooting incidents in 2024, as documented by the K-12 School Shooting Database. On today’s show, host Ali Muldrow is joined by two gun violence advocates–Tyler Kelly and Darrell Lofton– to talk about their work to change the narrative about school safety and power.  Kelly and Lofton work for WAVE Educational Fund, and they’re planning a Day of Action on May 20, and urging folks to speak directly with their representatives about this issue. They encourage everyone to participate in person, but Lofton says folks can email him with their testimonies if they are unable to attend. Kelly, who is part of the generation of kids who practice active shooter drills at school, says he wants to change how we talk about school safety and students feeling safe at school. Part of the problem is how schools have designed prevention work. Lofton says that not only are active shooter trainings not effective, they’re actually stressing kids out. He says we need to work on empowering young people and teach them that they have political power.  Tyler Kelly is a Policy and Engagement Associate at the WAVE Educational Fund. After the Parkland high school shooting, Tyler joined the gun violence prevention movement, leading Milwaukee’s chapter of March For Our Lives, and WAVE Educational Fund’s 2020 get out the vote initiatives.  Darrell Lofton is the youth coordinator for WAVE. He told WORT after the Abundant Life Christian School shooting, that “It is up to us grown folks to stand up for our kids.” Featured image of a stop gun violence poster via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

    53 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
12 Ratings

About

A Public Affair is WORT's daily hour-long talk program. It aims to engage listeners in a conversation on social, cultural, and political issues of importance. The guests range from local activists and scholars to notable national and international figures.

Information

  • Creator
    Douglas Haynes, Ali Muldrow, Carousel Bayrd, Allen Ruff, & Esty Dinur
  • Years Active
    2015 - 2025
  • Episodes
    12
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Back Porch Broadcasting, Inc.
  • Show Website
    A Public Affair

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