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Talking Strategy, Making HistoryAuthor: Richard Flacks
Each episode will focus on a different aspect or example of the general theme. Our kick-off frame is the awkward position that progressives find themselves in. It seems obvious, at least to a significant portion of Leftists, that working within the Democratic Party has to be part of any realistic strategy for making substantive, social democratic or radical change in the United States. What is far less clear is what this means practically, in terms of organization and elections. For many years, the slogan of the Left has been to work both inside and outside the Democratic Party. But what does that inside part actually look like? The podcast project comes from our experience as progressive activists--and from the urgency of now. Dick Flacks taught sociology at UC Santa Barbara and Umiversity of Chicago for 60 years. He's of the founding generation of Students for a Democratic Society and helped write the Port Huron Statement (along with Tom Hayden and the big Lebowski). He and his late wife Mickey recntly published a memoir of their lives--political and personal. It's called MAKING HISTORY/MAKING BLINTZES: HOW TWO RED DIAPER BABIES FOUND EACH OTHER AND DISCOVERED AMERICA. He's written a lot about the American Left--most notably MAKING HISTORY: THE AMERICAN LEFT AND THE AMERICAN MIND. His weekly radio show called'The Culture of Protest' can be heard 6 pm Thursdays on www.kcsb.org. Daraka Larimore-Hall is vice-chair of the Democratic Party of California and a political and organizational consultant working primarily for social democratic parties and trade unions abroad. A lifelong political activist, Daraka first met Dick when he was in Jr High School, and first getting involved in local progressive politics in Santa Barbara. Since then, Daraka has been a national leader and staffer for DSA, a board member of the International Union of Socialist Youth, an activist and elected officer of United Auto Workers Local 2865, as well as active in the Democratic Party at all le Language: en Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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#55: Daraka & Dick Talk About the State of California Democrats
Friday, 27 March, 2026
#55: Daraka & Dick Talk About the State of California DemocratsDaraka has been a long time leader for progressive movement in the California Democratic Party. He was chair of the Santa Barbara County Democratic Party for many years, and elected vice chair of the state party a few years ago. In this episode we examine the messy governor' primary, and the absence of statewide progressive and labor leadership. The proposed billionaire wealth tax iitiative and Gavin Newsom's character are scrutinized--and we identify hopeful paths for the political future. Read Daraka's incisive piece on left political strategy in the current issue of the Nation: https://www.thenation.com/authors/daraka-larimore-hall/Music: Bette Midler, 'All you fascists bound to lose!" Mixed & Edited by Next Day Podcast info@nextdaypodcast.com
