#255 | Raising The Temperature: Far-Right Terror & The Stochastic-Terrorist-In-Chief w/ Arun Gupta

Intro: 11:04

In this episode, I speak with journalist and activist Arun Gupta. We discuss several of his recent articles published at The Raw Story, addressing the rise of far-right violence by counter-protesters and agitators at dozens of Black Lives Matter protests over the past several weeks. In particular, we discuss what he addresses in his piece ‘Trump supporters are attacking and killing Black Lives Matter protesters — and getting away with it’:

Since the police killing of George Floyd sparked unprecedented protests against systematic racism, at least four Trump supporters, including some involved in his 2016 campaign, have attacked Black Lives Matter protesters with weapons, leading to at least one death.

Disturbingly, perpetrators have been released or given light charges despite severely wounding and killing protesters. The real number of attacks by Trump supporters may be substantially higher as there have been hundreds of attacks, terrorist plots, and threats of violence by far-right forces against anti-racist protesters. Trump has encouraged the violence as well, fitting with his role as the stochastic-terrorist-in-chief for the last four years. These attacks are unlikely to be the last by Trump supporters against those protesting for racial justice. (https://bit.ly/316ySql)

After describing the severity of these acts of terror and the conditions that have given rise to them, Arun discusses the labor conditions of migrant farmworkers in the U.S. Along with living under constant threat of detainment and deportation by agents of the Department of Homeland Security, farmworkers and meatpacking plant workers are extremely vulnerable to infection from Covid-19. Arun discusses these exploitive conditions in detail, and how the explosion of infections is impacting food production and distribution across the nation.

Arun Gupta is a graduate of the French Culinary Institute in New York and has written for dozens of publications including the Washington Post, the Nation, The Intercept, Jacobin, The Progressive, Telesur English, and the Guardian. He is the author of the upcoming ‘Bacon as a Weapon of Mass Destruction: A Junk-Food-Loving Chef’s Inquiry into Taste’ (The New Press).

Episode Notes:

- Read Arun’s articles referenced in this interview, published at The Raw Story: https://bit.ly/316ySql / https://bit.ly/2VeVzF3 / https://bit.ly/2Z8fRB8

- Also, read Arun and Michelle Fawcett’s articles about migrant farmworkers published at In These Times: https://bit.ly/2Z6V1lz / https://bit.ly/31elwbq

- Follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/arunindy

- The song featured in this episode is “All Nite (Instrumental)” by Clams Casino from the album 32 Levels: https://youtu.be/NsuF3oZgGB8