Laura Flanders & Friends

Explore the top headlines of the month — and stories you won’t find in mainstream media — in this timely episode of Meet the BIPOC Press. From New York City, hear how BIPOC journalists are covering mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. And from the U.S. South, we discuss new legislation from the United States Department of Agriculture that will have devastating impacts on Black farmers.

Sara Nelson knows how to leverage worker power — and so do the 55,000 flight attendants she represents. She’s been the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO since 2014. In this episode, Nelson and Flanders explore labor movement tactics and strategies, wins and losses, and why general strikes and cross-industry worker solidarity are critical in this moment.

Military spending around the world is soaring, while spending on meeting social needs is on the chopping block. Governments often justify spending public money this way by saying it will create jobs, but what if the workers had a say? Fifty years ago, employees at Lucas Aerospace, a military contractor in the United Kingdom came up with an alternative plan. Laura heads to the UK to investigate.

The United States is moving towards authoritarianism, but there is still a window of opportunity to reverse course. What could improve the chances of re-balancing power in the nation, and advancing towards that multiracial democracy that many still dream of? The answer is worker organizing, say Alex Han and Tarso Luís Ramos.

On this Pride Month edition of “Meet the BIPOC Press”, we’re celebrating Marsha P. Johnson with two activists carrying her story forward. We also unpack the media’s coverage of transphobia and the recent Tennessee ruling that restricts gender-affirming care for minors. In the face of backlash and repression, how are artists and activists reframing media narratives for queer and trans liberation?

What is “solidarity” and what does it require? Giving up on perfection, for one thing, says Sarah Schulman, author of “Conflict is Not Abuse,” and so much more. Award-winning writer, teacher, playwright and activist, Schulman’s latest book is “The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity”, in which she reflects on years of experiments and learning, from the 1980s to today.

Renowned actor, writer and director Liev Schreiber recently released “Meeting Zelenskyy”, a feature documentary in which he sits down with Ukraine’s embattled leader. In this exclusive interview with Laura Flanders, Schreiber discusses how the documentary came to be, how he personally became involved, and how technology could shape the outcome of the Russia-Ukraine war.

“They targeted me because I'm the mayor of the city,” says Newark, New Jersey mayor and gubernatorial candidate Ras Baraka. In this tell-all interview, he discusses his arrest at Delaney Hall, a new private immigration detention facility in Newark. Baraka is a frontrunner in the gubernatorial race and could make history as the first Black governor in New Jersey.

Labor organizing is critical to any anti-fascist movement, but labor unions and worker education are feeling the impact of Republican attacks and cuts. How are workers and educators responding? In this report, from a conference at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies (SLU), Laura speaks with scholars and organizers from around the country to hear how they’re pushing back against fascism.

The timely new documentary “The Encampments” brings viewers into the Columbia University encampments and captures the spirit of the student protests, without the media spin we see so often in commercial reporting. Laura sits down with the co-director and two students featured in the film to discuss how the film came to be, and where the situation stands today.

James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Muhammad Ali, Nina Simone — these are a few of the artists featured in the new film “Meanwhile”, from National Book Award-winner Jacqueline Woodson and Emmy-nominated producer & director Catherine Gund. Their meditations on grief, art, breath and more are beautifully woven together as the film poses the question, how do you keep breathing amidst the chaos?

Today's billionaires know our planet can't sustain their business models or lifestyles, but they don't care. Find out why, in this chilling conversation with Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor, co-authors of a revelatory essay on "End Times Fascism" in the Guardian. As the Right prepares for the end of life as we know it, can we build a movement to counter their apocalyptic, fascist ideology?