The Political Transformation That Happens When Workers Speak for Themselves

On the importance of deep conversations—and listening.

Maximillian Alvarez

Longshore workers briefly walked off the job on in solidarity with the teamsters to picket and disrupt traffic, to one of POLA's seven terminals in San Pedro on Wednesday, April 14, 2021. Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images

Late last year, Max had the honor of getting to speak to a class at Tulane University called Introduction to Podcasting and Social Justice” taught by Dr. Billy Saas, cohost and producer of the podcast Money on the Left, as well as the cofounder and codirector of the Money on the Left Editorial Collective. The students in the class talked to Max about how and why he started Working People, how the show has grown over the years, and they also had a deep conversation about the political importance of podcasting as a medium. In the first half of this episode, you’ll hear Max’s conversation with the Introduction to Podcasting and Social Justice” class, which was recorded and edited by the students. Then, in the second half of the episode, you’ll hear Max’s follow-up conversation with Dr. Saas and two students from the class, Sophia Badame and Sophie Harris, about how the class evolved over the semester, the final projects they worked on, and how the next generation of podcasters are working to explore and expand the medium.

Additional links/​info below…

Permanent links below…

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemu​si​carchive​.org)

  • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song”

Maximillian Alvarez is editor-in-chief at the Real News Network and host of the podcast Working People, available at InThe​se​Times​.com. He is also the author of The Work of Living: Working People Talk About Their Lives and the Year the World Broke.

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