by Maximillian Alvarez | Jun 23, 2026 | education, ICE, Israel, Palestine, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, video, Working People
We sit down with Dr. Steven Thrasher to talk about his new book, The Overseer Class; how our police state today evolved from yesterday’s slave plantations; and why Dr. Thrasher has been blacklisted from academia after defending his students at Northwestern University during the Palestine encampment movement in 2024.
Guests:
Steven W. Thrasher, PhD, is the author of The Overseer Class: A Manifesto and the award-winning book The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide, which was a New York Times’s Paperback Row Editors’ Pick, named one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2022 by Kirkus Reviews, was longlisted for both the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction and the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Literature, and won the 2023 POZ Award for Best in Literature. He is also the inaugural Daniel Renberg Chair for Social Justice in Reporting at the Medill School of Journalism and a faculty member of Northwestern University’s Institute of Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing. An internationally renowned scholar on race, gender, and infectious disease, Dr. Thrasher’s writing has been published by the Guardian, Atlantic, New York Times, Scientific American, Literary Hub, and in many academic journals.
Credits:
Studio Production / Post-Production: David Hebden
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible.
Dr. Steven Thrasher:
So I did stand between the students and the cops. I got beat up for it and I survived. It wasn’t that bad at the time and the students had an encampment for five days. But then a few weeks later, Congress called our president to the Hill and Congressman Jim Bank
by Jake Johnson | Jun 22, 2026 | Article, Colombia, elections, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Reprint
by Glenn Diesen and Jeffrey Sachs | Jun 17, 2026 | Article, Europe, Germany, Politics and Movements: International, Reprint, War
by Mansa Musa | Jun 17, 2026 | Fascism, history, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Rattling the Bars, Trump, video
In Part 2 of a conversation between Mansa Musa (former political prisoner and Black Panther) and Alberto Toscano (professor of critical theory and author of Late Fascism), the two discuss how consent and coercion operate within US civil society and abroad. They specifically unpack how Donald Trump’s domestic and foreign platforms animate white nationalism—relying on the explicit promise of state violence against targeted populations.
Guests:
Alberto Toscano is a renowned Italian cultural critic, social theorist, philosopher, translator, and adjunct professor at the Simon Fraser University School of Communication. Toscano is a columnist at In These Times and the (co-)author of numerous books, including: Late Fascism: Race, Capitalism and the Politics of Crisis; and Fanaticism: On the Uses of an Idea.
Credits:
Producer / Videographer / Editor: Cameron Granadino
Transcript
The following rushed transcript may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible.
Mansa Musa:
Gramsci wrote about consent and coercion. Talk about the difference when it comes to a targeted population of prisons and policing.
Alberto Toscano:
Yeah. So that relationship between consent and coercion or in Gramsci’s terms also hegemony and domination or consent and force is really crucial. Gramsci was enough of a realist about politics. After all, he was also a very brilliant reader of Machiavelli that he never thought that force or coercion could be eliminated from politics altogether, but he was very interested in looking both at the past and the present to think about the mix of force and coercion, hegemony and consent. That’s also why he was so interested in the question of policing and of how to conceive of the police. And on could argue that the expansion of repression and incarceration is always a
by Mitchell Plitnick | Jun 16, 2026 | Article, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Reprint, War
This story originally appeared in Mondoweiss on June 16, 2026. It is shared here with permission.
According to reports, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the United States and Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz and formally end the fighting between the two countries was signed on Monday.Â
It is important to clarify that, regardless of White House statements, this is not a peace deal. It is an agreement to end the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz and a commitment to stop fighting for 60 days while an agreement is reached, hopefully. The negotiation period can be extended if both parties agree. Still, it is a important agreement that indicates a end to this disastrous war could be in sight.
But as usual Israel stands to play the role of spoiler. The one thing that is most clear is that Tel Aviv won’t give up on its long-term goal of regime change in Iran. But if this MOU actually takes effect and opens the Strait of Hormuz, that will not be achieved through this war.Â
What is the agreement?
According to American officials, details of the MOU will be released in the next day or so. But we already have a pretty good idea of what it says and what it does not say.
While none of the terms have been announced, it seems certain that the mutual blockades of the Strait will be lifted and commercial traffic will flow through the whole Persian Gulf again. That might take a bit of time, as mines planted by Iran must be removed, a delicate process. But if all sides cooperate, it will be done in short
by Maximillian Alvarez | Jun 12, 2026 | Gaza, Israel, Media Criticism, Palestine, Podcast, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US
As a writer, podcaster, and columnist for TRNN, Adam Johnson has been one of the fiercest, sharpest, and most consistent critics of legacy and Western media’s roles in laundering, obscuring, justifying, and manufacturing consent for crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza genocide by Israel and with the full support of the United States. But critique is not enough anymore; to ensure that these horrific crimes don’t continue, we need accountability for the political actors and media organizations that made it happen, or helped. At a live event hosted by Red Emma’s Cooperative Bookstore and Coffeehouse in Baltimore, Maryland, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Johnson about his new book, How to Sell a Genocide: The Media’s Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza, and about how to hold media organizations accountable for their roles in manufacturing the conditions for genocide.
Guests:
Adam Johnson is a writer, media critic, co-host of the podcast Citations Needed, and a columnist for TRNN. He is the author of the book How to Sell a Genocide: The Media’s Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza.
Credits:
Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible.
Maximillian Alvarez:
Welcome back to The Real News Network. I’m Maximillian Alvarez. As a writer, podcaster and a columnist for us here at The Real News, Adam Johnson has been one of the fiercest, sharpest and most consistent critics of legacy in Western media’s roles in laundering, obscuring, justifying and manufacturing consent for crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza genocide by Israel with the full support of the United States. Crimes committed in our
