Current Affairs

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Astra Taylor is a writer, activist, and co-author of End Times Fascism, and Aaron Regunberg is a climate lawyer and contributing editor at The New Republic. They join Current Affairs to discuss how the right has begun co-opting animal welfare politics, why the left has neglected animal rights, and how abandoning climate politics risks leaving an opening for a much darker ecofascist response to ecological crisis.

🐄 Read the article: https://newrepublic.com/article/213747/maga-stole-animal-rights-left

🐄 Get Astra's book: https://naomiklein.org/end-times-fascism/

0:00-8:25 How MAGA is co-opting animal rights

8:25-14:18 P’Nut the Squirrel and the right’s animal politics

14:18-18:29 MAHA and the political vacuum on animal welfare

18:29-33:05 Why animal rights belong in left politics

33:05-37:59 Why the left stopped talking about climate

37:59-42:44 Ecofascism and the politics of climate collapse

42:44-49:14 Making climate politics impossible to ignore

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Mohammed el-Kurd is a Palestinian writer from Jerusalem, The Nation’s Palestine correspondent, and editor-at-large at Mondoweiss.

He joins Current Affairs to discuss his book, Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal, which examines how even sympathetic discourse about Palestine can reproduce racist assumptions, sanitize Palestinian resistance, and demand that Palestinians prove their innocence before being granted solidarity.

🇵🇸 Get the Book: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2499-perfect-victims

🇵🇸 Article in The Nation: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/mohammed-el-kurd-book-excerpt/

0:00-3:04 deconstructing liberal solidarity with Palestine 3:04-6:30 the assumptions behind “women and children”

6:30-10:56 why Palestinian anger and resistance are legitimate

10:56-13:29 how the language of occupation shapes the debate

13:29-17:23 Ro Khanna and the double standard on resistance

17:23-19:49 the politics of the “perfect victim”

19:49-22:18 Refaat Alareer and the refusal to sanitize Palestinians

22:18-24:27 what Palestine’s allies still get wrong

24:27-27:22 Israel’s political prison system

27:22-31:46 Hamas members are entitled to human rights

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Track AIPAC is an advocacy and watchdog project that tracks AIPAC and other pro-Israel political spending in U.S. elections. Co-founders Cory Archibald and Casey Kennedy join Current Affairs to discuss how the Israel lobby intervenes in Democratic primaries, how its money is routed through a growing network of PACs and outside groups, and why more candidates are beginning to reject its support.

🔎 Track AIPAC: https://www.trackaipac.com/

0:00-5:53 Why Track AIPAC was founded

5:53-8:51 How AIPAC hides its money

8:51-13:04 How AIPAC intervenes in elections

13:04-17:33 How AIPAC corrupts the democratic process

17:33-21:45 Democrats are turning against AIPAC

21:45-24:58 Forcing Israel into the political conversation

24:58-31:40 Track AIPAC’s litmus test for candidates

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Dan Osborn is an independent candidate for U.S. Senate in Nebraska and a former union leader who first gained national attention during the 2021 Kellogg’s strike. He joins Current Affairs associate editor Alex Skopic to discuss why he rejects the two-party system, the crisis facing rural hospitals, healthcare reform and Medicare for All.

🛠️ Dan's Website: https://www.osbornforsenate.com/

0:00-2:03 Why run as an independent?

2:03-5:25 Rural hospital closures

5:25-9:11 Medicare for All and healthcare monopolies

9:11-10:56 Rejecting lobbyist influence

10:56-16:19 How can we strengthen the labor movement?

16:19-19:13 The PRO Act, card check, and right-to-work laws

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Eli Clifton is an investigative journalist and co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and Ian Lustick is a political scientist specializing in U.S. foreign policy and Israel-Palestine.

They join Current Affairs editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss their new book, Israel’s Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power, which examines the history, methods, and influence of the Israel lobby on American politics and U.S. foreign policy.

🏛️ Get the book: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Israels-Lobby/Eli-Clifton/9781668210840

0:00-4:00 The Origins of Israel’s Influence on U.S. Policy

4:00-9:22 How the Israel Lobby Changes U.S. Policy

9:22-12:06 When Presidents Defy the Israel Lobby

12:06-15:43 How the Lobby Punishes Politicians

15:43-18:32 How the United Democracy Project Influences Elections

18:32-22:14 How Accusations of Antisemitism Are Weaponized

22:14-26:46 American Jews vs. the Israel Lobby

26:46-28:33 Does the Republican Party Need the Israel Lobby?

28:33-31:12 Citizens United, AIPAC, and Abdul El-Sayed

31:12-36:24 The Israel Lobby Under Biden and Trump

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