Coming From Left Field (Audio)

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Welcome to Coming From Left Field, a conversation about politics, books, and current events.

  1. Sep 2

    “Can Grand Strategy Save the Left?” (Backbone Campaign / Solutionary Rail) with Bill Moyer

    Bill Moyer has spent over two decades turning protest into an art form — literally. As co-founder and executive director of the Backbone Campaign, he's behind the giant "We the People" banners, the overpass bannering, the light projections, and the inflatables that have shown up at marches from Seattle to Washington D.C. In this conversation, he joins us to talk about where that all started, the "grand strategy" framework that guides Backbone's tactics, and how a dare from a rail-industry labor rep thirteen years ago led him to co-author with Patrick Mazza Solutionary Rail: A People-Powered Campaign to Electrify America's Railroads and Open Corridors to a Clean Energy Future. The book proposes electrifying U.S. freight and passenger rail, shifting long-haul freight from trucks to trains, and using rail rights-of-way to carry renewable energy transmission — financed through public "Steel Interstate Development Authorities" that would keep the infrastructure under public ownership even as private and public operators run trains on it.   We cover Bill's personal origin story (including a fall from a tree that gave the "backbone" metaphor its resonance), the mentorship of Pentagon strategist Chuck Spinney and Colonel John Boyd's theories of conflict, a debate about whether "unassailable" movement messaging is even possible in today's media environment, and a deep dive into why America's privately owned rail system might be, as Bill puts it, a "peculiar institution."   About Bill Moyer Bill Moyer is the co-founder and executive director of the Backbone Campaign, a progressive movement-building organization based on Vashon Island, Washington. A fourth-generation Washingtonian and lifelong musician and activist, he co-founded Backbone in 2003 with a circle of artist friends responding to the post-9/11 political climate, and has served as its executive director since 2004. Moyer now leads Solutionary Rail as a project of the Backbone Campaign and hosts the Reconnect America podcast, which extends the book's ideas into ongoing conversations with rail experts, policymakers, and advocates.   Follow Bill Moyer: Backbone Campaign: http://BackboneCampaign.org  Flickr albums link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/backbone_campaign/albums The Reconnect America Podcast (Episode 1 is a good overview): https://www.solutionaryrail.org/podcast  Substack: https://solutionaryrail.substack.com/p/1-reconnect-america Solutionary Rail Website:  http://SolutionaryRail.org Mentioned Book: Solutionary Rail: A People-Powered Campaign to Electrify America's Railroads and Open Corridors to a Clean Energy Future by Bill Moyer and Patrick Mazza: https://www.solutionaryrail.org/sr_book   Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/   #BillMoyer#BackboneCampaign#SolutionaryRail#ReconnectAmericapodcast#artfulactivism#nonviolentdirectaction#kayaktivism#WethePeoplebanner#overpassbanner#protesttactics#JohnBoydstrategy#ChuckSpinney#movementbuilding#politicalinterview#activistinterview#USpolitics2026#corporatepower#capitalismcritique#infrastructurepolicy#transportationpolicy#populism#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

  2. Aug 19

    “Everything the West Gets Wrong About Vietnam” with Luna Oi

    Communist writer, educator, creator, and translator Luna Oi (Luna Nguyen) joins us from her home in Vietnam for a conversation that dismantles just about everything the West thinks it knows about her country. Luna has spent six years translating Vietnam's official university Marxism-Leninism curriculum into English — an annotated, diagram-rich series with contributions from Vijay Prashad, Gerald Horne, and Taimur Rahman. We dig into why dialectical materialism is taught to every Vietnamese college student, how idealism still quietly shapes Western thinking, and why Marxism is the philosophy that teaches you to change the world rather than just interpret it. Luna cuts through the propaganda about life "under communism" — from the myth that Vietnam is striving to exchange its economy for a “free market” to what Vietnam's National Assembly actually looks like — and lays out the country's trajectory: free healthcare and education, a plan to become a high-income socialist nation by 2045, and quiet, decades-long solidarity work with Cuba. She doesn't dodge the hard stuff either — the agonizing logic of Doi Moi, translated literally as "restoration," the corruption that came with opening the economy, and a deeply personal family story from the 1950s land reforms that ends with Ho Chi Minh weeping and apologizing on national radio.   About Luna Oi Luna Oi (Luna Nguyen) is a Vietnamese writer, communist educator, and content creator, born in 1991 and raised in Vietnam — under the comprehensive U.S. embargo that shaped her childhood. She studied business administration and worked for years in the corporate world before turning to content creation. What began in 2019 as a travel-and-cooking channel became something else entirely when viewers flooded her with political questions, and she saw the scale of anti-communist misinformation behind them. Today she runs the Luna Oi channel as part of the Non-Compete cooperative alongside her partner EJ, and both rank among the top tier of political creators on the platform Follow Luna Oi: Luna’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/LunaOi EJ’s NonCompete YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/NonCompete/ X/Twitter: https://x.com/LunaOi_VN Website: https://www.lunaoi.com Mentioned Books: Part 1: The Worldview and Philosophical Methodology of Marxism-Leninism: https://www.lunaoi.com/product/ebook-the-worldview-and-philosophical-methodology-of-marxism-leninism/ Part 2 Historical Materialism: https://www.lunaoi.com/product/ebook-historical-materialism/   Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/  LunaOi#LunaNguyen#Vietnamesecommunism#non-compete#Marxism#Marxism-Leninism#dialecticalmaterialism#historicalmaterialism#communisteducator#HoChiMinh#DoiMoi#Vietnameconomy#anti-imperialism#classstruggle#Cubasolidarity#EJNon-Compete#Vietnamwarhistory#landreformVietnam#Marxistphilosophy#NationalAssemblyVietnam#VijayPrashad#GeraldHorne#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

  3. Aug 6

    “Illinois Coal Country: Immigrants, Unions & the Fight for Justice” with Jackie Dana

    In this episode, we talk with St. Louis historian Jackie Dana, author of “The Unseen History of St. Louis,” about the hidden history of central and southern Illinois coal mining. Jackie traces how immigrant workers and their families, including her own Croatian relatives in Benld, Illinois, were drawn to the mines that helped power St. Louis industry and the American economy. We explore the rich ethnic communities that grew around the mines, the realities of company power and debt, child labor, black lung, mine disasters, and the daily dangers faced by workers who went underground to earn a living. The conversation is also personal. Greg and Pat reflect on their own coal-mining family histories while Jackie discusses labor organizing, the Battle of Virden, Mother Jones, the United Mine Workers, and the militant tradition that produced the Progressive Mine Workers of America. This is a story about exploitation, solidarity, immigration, race, working-class struggle, and the long afterlife of coal beneath the fields and towns of Illinois.   About Jackie Dana Jackie Dana is a St. Louis native, historian, freelance writer, editor, and novelist. She holds an MA in history from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and pursued doctoral work at the University of Texas. Through her Substack newsletter, “The Unseen History of St. Louis,” Jackie investigates the lesser-known stories that have shaped St. Louis and the surrounding region, including labor, immigration, architecture, race, industry, and local communities. Her work begins with the questions people encounter in everyday life: Who lived here? What happened in this building? Why does this place matter?.   Jackie’s Substack: https://substack.com/@jackiedana Mentioned articles: PART-1- https://unseenstlouis.substack.com/p/fuel-for-the-fire-illinois-coal-mining    PART-2- https://unseenstlouis.substack.com/p/forged-in-rebellion-organized-labor-illinois-coal-mines   Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/  #Illinoiscoalmining#coalminers#Illinoislaborhistory#laborhistory#unionhistory#UnitedMineWorkers#UMWA#ProgressiveMineWorkersofAmerica#MotherJones#BattleofVirden#Illinoiscoalcountry#centralIllinoishistory#southernIllinoishistory#BenldIllinois#GillespieIllinois#UnionMinersCemetery#St.Louishistory#St.Louislaborhistory#immigrantworkers#industrialhistory#coalminedisasters#blacklungdisease#childlabor#labororganizing#laborunions#labormovement#mininghistory#JackieDana#TheUnseenHistoryofSt.Louis#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

  4. Jul 10

    “Chomsky and Me: A Memoir” with Bev Boisseau Stohl

    This conversation with Bev Stohl, author of “Chomsky and Me,” takes you inside Noam Chomsky’s office and daily life in a way few people have ever seen. Drawing on nearly 25 years as Chomsky’s assistant at MIT, Bev shares intimate, funny, and moving stories about his work habits, his chaotic “checkerboard” office, his deep kindness toward ordinary people, and the emotional toll of spending a lifetime confronting war, propaganda, and injustice. Along the way we talk about Chomsky’s impact on linguistics, cognitive science, and radical politics, why he was shut out of mainstream media for telling the truth, and how he managed to keep going “by action, by moving” instead of being overwhelmed by despair. The episode is also a love letter to the broader ecosystem of radical thinkers and organizers around Chomsky: Howard Zinn and the emotional power of his memorial, civil rights legend Dorie Ladner, union lawyer and Central America activist Dan Kovalik, and the many students, filmmakers, and musicians who passed through that cramped MIT office. Bev’s memoir and stories show Chomsky not as an abstract icon but as a complicated, sometimes awkward, always deeply principled human being—and highlight her own role using humor, care, and good judgment to keep him grounded.   About Bev Stohl Bev Stohl is a writer, former MIT administrator, and longtime personal assistant to Noam Chomsky, whose memoir Chomsky and Me chronicles their quarter century working relationship. She came to Chomsky’s office from other administrative roles at MIT—including graduate programs in economics and ocean engineering—while completing her master’s degree in psychology, expecting an easier job and instead finding herself at the center of Chomsky’s intellectual and political life. Over the years she managed his chaotic schedule, coordinated visits from students, activists, and documentary crews, and became a kind of social buffer and comic counterweight to his intense focus and often somber work. Beyond the Chomsky memoir, Bev has written extensively on wider political questions on Substack, has experience doing stand-up comedy, and recently completed an audiobook edition of Chomsky and Me with a Spanish translation forthcoming. Order the book: https://orbooks.com/catalog/chomsky-and-me/ Bev’s substack: https://substack.com/@bevstohl Mentioned articles: I'm no longer waiting for the storm to pass (Bev Stohl): https://substack.com/home/post/p-190768008 “Ensnared” and “Manipulated” (Valéria Chomsky): https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/02/09/ensnared-and-manipulated-official-statement-by-valeria-chomsky-regarding-jeffrey-epstein/ Cross-Examining The Tabloid Left Show Trial of Chomsky w/ Rameez Rahman (Tara Van Duik): https://morbidsymptom.substack.com/p/cross-examining-the-tabloid-left   Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/  #chomskyandme#memoir#bevstohl#BevBoisseauStohl#progressivepoliticspodcast#ValériaChomsky#CarolChomsky#howardzinn#normanfinkelstein#chrishedges#alanmacleod#vijahprashad#christianparenti#jefferyepstein#dankovalik#mitlinguistics#mediapropaganda#manufacturingconsent#antiwarmovement#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

  5. Jun 26

    “Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund” with Molly Crabapple

    This episode, artist, writer, and journalist Molly Crabapple discusses her new book, “Here Where We Live Is Our Country.” Through the conversation, she explores how art, memory, and reportage can challenge borders, social movements, and official narratives, focusing on the lives of workers, migrants, and resisters who carve out solidarity and dignity in hostile conditions. The discussion highlights the politics of looking—who is seen, who is erased—and how visual storytelling can expose injustice while honoring the full humanity of people living on the front lines of crisis and conflict. Across the episode, Crabapple reflects on her own trajectory from artist to collaborator with radical journalists documenting war, incarceration, and economic exploitation. She talks about the responsibilities of depicting suffering, the intersections of culture and organizing, and why “Here Where We Live Is Our Country” reframes “country” as the networks of care and struggle we build together rather than flags or passports. If you’re interested in labor history, social movements, and the role of art in political resistance, this conversation offers a sharp, visually rich lens on the world we live in and the worlds we’re trying to create. Molly Crabapple is an artist, writer, and journalist whose work sits at the intersection of illustration and political reportage. She first gained prominence for her intricate, densely detailed drawings and has since become known for visual essays and collaborations that address topics such as war, authoritarianism, incarceration, and economic inequality. Her illustrations and writing have appeared alongside investigative journalism and essays in major outlets, and she has worked extensively with reporters documenting events in the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. Crabapple is also the author of the memoir “Drawing Blood: A Radical Artist's Memoir of NYC Nightlife, Occupy, and Witness Journalism,” (2015), which examines her own life, work, and the political awakenings that informed her art and “Brothers of the Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War,”(2018), a ground-level reflection on revolution and war. With “Here Where We Live Is Our Country,” she continues this trajectory, using image and text to honor the people and places that rarely make it into official histories, but whose lives and struggles define the world we actually inhabit.   Order the book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646320/here-where-we-live-is-our-country-by-molly-crabapple/          Molly’s Website: https://www.mollycrabapple.com   Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/  #MollyCrabapple#HereWhereWeLiveIsOurCountry#politicalart#Bund#JewishBundism#laborhistory#workingclassstruggles#warandresistance#migrationandborders#solidaritymovements#leftistpodcast#Zionism#SamRothbort#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

  6. Jun 17

    “Getting Shot At: Essays on War, Conflict & Culture Clash” with Bill Ehrhart

    Vietnam veteran, poet, educator, and essayist Bill (W.D.) Ehrhart joins our podcast to discuss his new collection, “Getting Shot At: Essays on War, Conflict and Culture Clash.” Drawing on more than fifty years of writing and activism, Ehrhart reflects on how Vietnam shattered his belief in American good intentions and how that disillusionment informs his sharp, plain-spoken essays on U.S. militarism, culture wars, and historical amnesia. The conversation ranges from controversial poems and “snowflake” politics on both the left and the right to the corrosive impact of technology on education and to his relationships with truth-tellers like Daniel Ellsberg and H. Bruce Franklin. Thoughtful, funny, and unsparing, this episode is essential listening for anyone trying to understand how past wars shape our present conflicts—and what it means to keep telling the truth in a country that keeps trying to forget.   About Bill Ehrhart Bill Ehrhart was born in Pennsylvania in 1948 and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps straight out of high school, serving 13 months in Vietnam during some of the war’s heaviest fighting. After returning home, he became one of the most widely recognized Vietnam veteran poets, publishing numerous collections of poetry, several volumes of memoir—including “Vietnam-Perkasie” and “Passing Time”—and multiple books of essays on war, politics, and American culture. Ehrhart earned a Ph.D. in American Studies and spent decades teaching, most notably at the Haverford School, where his work in the classroom paralleled his public writing as a critic of U.S. militarism and historical myth-making. His poems and essays are known for their plain-spoken language, narrative clarity, and unflinching moral engagement, qualities that have led scholars and fellow writers to describe him as “the dean of Vietnam War poetry” and a persistent voice of conscience.   Order the book: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/getting-shot-at/         Bill’s Website: https://wdehrhart.com/ Follow Bill online: LA Progressive: https://www.laprogressive.com/author/w-d-ehrhart  The New Hampshire Gazette: https://www.nhgazette.com/author/w-d-ehrhart/  Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/    #W.D.Ehrhart#BillEhrhart#GettingShotAt#EssaysonWarConflictandCultureClash#Vietnam#veteranpoet#VietnamWarliterature#Antiwarveteran#Progressivepolitics#U.S.militarism#DanielEllsbergPentagonPapers#BruceFranklinVietnammyth#Snowflakeculture#Free#Technologyandeducation#Warmemoirandessays#LAProgressivewriter#NewHampshireGazette#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

  7. Jun 2

    “"When the Revolution Comes: A Fight for the Future of the Working Class" with Chris Smalls

    In this episode, our guest is Chris Smalls, discussing his new book, “When the Revolution Comes: A Fight for the Future of the Working Class.” Smalls, best known as the co-founder and former president of the Amazon Labor Union, led the first successful union drive at an Amazon warehouse in the United States. Smalls traces his path from growing up working class in Hackensack, New Jersey, to becoming a warehouse worker and supervisor at Amazon, leading a COVID walkout over unsafe conditions, and being fired and smeared from the very top of the company. From there, we get into the nuts and bolts of how a small group of workers with a shoe-string budget, a table at the bus stop, and a lot of persistence built enough trust and solidarity to beat a trillion-dollar corporation at its own facility. Along the way, we talk about the broken NLRB, Amazon’s years long strategy of appeals to avoid bargaining, and why Smalls believes strikes and independent, worker led organizing are the only way to force the company to negotiate in good faith. We conclude our conversation with Smalls connecting his fight at the fulfillment warehouse to a broader internationalist politics, talking about meeting Amazon workers and militant unions in Europe and tying Amazon and Google’s cloud and AI contracts for the Israeli military directly to the same surveillance infrastructure used on workers at home. He’s candid about the cost of taking a public stand for Palestine including lost followers, speaking invitations, even a potential movie deals—and about how quickly liberal politicians and union leadership disappear when a labor struggle becomes explicitly anti-imperialist. If you’re interested in what serious, unapologetic working-class politics looks like in practice, you will enjoy this conversation.   About Chris Smalls Chris Smalls (born July 4, 1988) is an American labor organizer and prominent voice for worker rights, racial justice, and economic democracy.  He has been widely profiled in major media outlets and was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, while continuing to support union drives and picket lines. Order the book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/724036/when-the-revolution-comes-by-chris-smalls/ Chris’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chris.smalls_/ Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/  #AmazonLaborUnion#ChrisSmalls#WhentheRevolutionComes#labormovement#labororganizing#Amazonunion#Amazonwarehouse#JFK8#AmazonStatenIsland#ProjectNimbus#Palestinesolidarity#COVIDwhistleblower#JeffBezos#unionbusting#NLRB#DemocraticPartyandlabor#anticapitalism#Times100ChrisSmalls#radicalpolitics#Teamsters#Palestineandlabor#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

  8. Jun 2

    “When the Revolution Comes" with Chris Smalls

    In this episode, our guest is Chris Smalls, discussing his new book, “When the Revolution Comes: A Fight for the Future of the Working Class.” Smalls, best known as the co-founder and former president of the Amazon Labor Union, led the first successful union drive at an Amazon warehouse in the United States. Smalls traces his path from growing up working class in Hackensack, New Jersey, to becoming a warehouse worker and supervisor at Amazon, leading a COVID walkout over unsafe conditions, and being fired and smeared from the very top of the company. From there, we get into the nuts and bolts of how a small group of workers with a shoe-string budget, a table at the bus stop, and a lot of persistence built enough trust and solidarity to beat a trillion-dollar corporation at its own facility. Along the way, we talk about the broken NLRB, Amazon’s years-long strategy of appeals to avoid bargaining, and why Smalls believes strikes and independent, worker-led organizing are the only way to force the company to negotiate in good faith. We conclude our conversation with Smalls connecting his fight at the fulfillment warehouse to a broader internationalist politics, talking about meeting Amazon workers and militant unions in Europe and tying Amazon and Google’s cloud and AI contracts for the Israeli military directly to the same surveillance infrastructure used on workers at home. He’s candid about the cost of taking a public stand for Palestine including lost followers, speaking invitations, even a potential movie deals—and about how quickly liberal politicians and union leadership disappear when a labor struggle becomes explicitly anti-imperialist. If you’re interested in what serious, unapologetic working-class politics looks like in practice, you will enjoy this conversation.   About Chris Smalls Chris Smalls (born July 4, 1988) is an American labor organizer and prominent voice for worker rights, racial justice, and economic democracy.  He has been widely profiled in major media outlets and was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, while continuing to support union drives and picket lines. Order the book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/724036/when-the-revolution-comes-by-chris-smalls/ Chris’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chris.smalls_/ Greg’s Blog: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/ Pat’s Substack: https://patcummings.substack.com/  #AmazonLaborUnion#ChrisSmalls#WhentheRevolutionComes#labormovement#labororganizing#Amazonunion#Amazonwarehouse#JFK8#AmazonStatenIsland#ProjectNimbus#Palestinesolidarity#COVIDwhistleblower#JeffBezos#unionbusting#NLRB#DemocraticPartyandlabor#anticapitalism#Times100ChrisSmalls#radicalpolitics#Teamsters#Palestineandlabor#PatCummings#PatrickCummings#GregGodels#ZZBlog#ComingFromLeftField#Podcast#zzblog#mltoday

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Welcome to Coming From Left Field, a conversation about politics, books, and current events.

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  • Creator
    info@comingfromleftfield.com
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Explicit
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    Coming From Left Field (Audio)

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