Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The United States is moving towards authoritarianism, but there is still a window of opportunity to reverse course. What could improve the chances of re-balancing power in the nation, and advancing towards that multiracial democracy that many still dream of? The answer is worker organizing, say Alex Han and Tarso Luís Ramos. "When we look at the history of U-turns from democratic backsliding to democratic revival, the success rate is about 50 percent," says Ramos. "Where there's active, vibrant union participation, the odds go up to about 80 percent." So what's holding Labor back? In early May of 2025, Laura sat down with Han and Ramos at a conference on “Labor in the Age of Authoritarian Politics”, held at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies (SLU) in New York. Ramos is a leading expert on the U.S. Right Wing and former Executive Director of Political Research Associates. He now serves as Senior Advisor to Future Currents, a strategic planning group of social and economic justice leaders. Han has spent most of his adult life in the labor movement, as an organizer and elected president of a large Chicago local. In 2023, he became Executive Director of In These Times, the long-running Chicago-based progressive magazine. In the wake of mass layoffs and the abduction of Kilmar Abrego García, a union member wrongly exported to El Salvador and now in federal custody in Tennessee, can enough workers and their allies band together to make a difference?
“I think of all of these times where I've shown up at a protest and I know every single person there. When that happens, I know we're not winning today.” - Alex Han
“I think the coup that we did not prepare for was the force accelerator that most people experience as DOGE. It's the Musk and Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen set of actors . . . They're interested in ringing the profits out of the public sector, and they're interested in accelerating the demise of civilian governance altogether.” - Tarso Luís Ramos
GUESTS:
Alex Han: Executive Director, In These Times
Tarso Luís Ramos: Senior Adviser, Political Research Associates; Senior Fellow, Future Currents
Stay informed and engaged! Don't miss out on our captivating weekly episodes that dive deep into the heart of our economy, culture, and politics. SUBSCRIBE HERE youtube.com/channel/UCFLRxVeYcB1H7DbuYZQG-lg?sub_confirmation=1
🎧 PODCAST: Listen to this week's episode on major podcast platforms: lauraflanders.simplecast.com/episodes/countering-an-authoritarian-takeover-with-the-labor-movement-alex-han-tarso-ramos-episode-cut Subscribe today and receive the full, uncut conversation from this week's show: lauraflanders.simplecast.com/episodes/a-winning-movement-for-democracy-needs-worker-organizers-alex-han-tarso-ramos-bonus-interview
✏️SHOW NOTES: Visit our Patreon for Show Notes and learn more about this week's episode: patreon.com/posts/132485137
📚 Check out our Book of the Week on BOOKSHOP: “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century” by Timothy Snyder: bookshop.org/a/22992/9780804190114
(*Bookshop is an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores. LF&F is an affiliate of bookshop.org and will receive a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.)
Laura Flanders & Friends is non-commercial independent media that relies on the contributions of viewers and listeners.
Follow the show and Laura Flanders on Bluesky!
https://bsky.app/profile/lauraflanders.org
https://bsky.app/profile/gritlaura.bsky.social
DONATE TODAY at lauraflanders.org/donate or consider becoming a PATREON partner at patreon.com/lauraflandersandfriends
🔔Subscribe to get weekly episodes that prompt you to think critically about the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to hit the 'Like' button and share it with your network.
📩Newsletter: For more in-depth analysis, including uncut interviews and commentaries, subscribe to our free newsletter at lauraflanders.org.
CREDITS:
Executive Producer: Laura Flanders
Supervising Producer: Sabrina Artel
Senior Producer: Jeremiah Cothren
Senior Consulting Producer: Rory O’Connor
Senior Video Editor: David Neumann
Video Editor: Veronica Delgado
Audio Director: Jeannie Hopper
Development Director: Sarah Miller
Communications Director: Janet Hernandez
Special thanks:
Gina Kim and Stephanie Luce
Additional crew:
Camera: Michael Di Bartolo, Adam LaPalio, Santiago Pineda-Leyton, Petar Talijancic
Rose Imperato, CUNY SLU Producer
Joseph Montalbano, CUNY TV Producer
Editor: Jonathan Klett
0:00 - The Critical Role of Labor Organizing
4:35 - Stages of Authoritarianism
9:05 - Building Coalitions
15:15 - Leverage, Strikes, and Institutional Power
20:15 - A Worker-Centered Democracy
The United States is moving towards authoritarianism, but there is still a window of opportunity to reverse course. What could improve the chances of re-balancing power in the nation, and advancing towards that multiracial democracy that many still dream of? The answer is worker organizing, say Alex Han and Tarso Luís Ramos. "When we look at the history of U-turns from democratic backsliding to democratic revival, the success rate is about 50 percent," says Ramos. "Where there's active, vibrant union participation, the odds go up to about 80 percent." So what's holding Labor back? In early May of 2025, Laura sat down with Han and Ramos at a conference on “Labor in the Age of Authoritarian Politics”, held at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies (SLU) in New York. Ramos is a leading expert on the U.S. Right Wing and former Executive Director of Political Research Associates. He now serves as Senior Advisor to Future Currents, a strategic planning group of social and economic justice leaders. Han has spent most of his adult life in the labor movement, as an organizer and elected president of a large Chicago local. In 2023, he became Executive Director of In These Times, the long-running Chicago-based progressive magazine. In the wake of mass layoffs and the abduction of Kilmar Abrego García, a union member wrongly exported to El Salvador and now in federal custody in Tennessee, can enough workers and their allies band together to make a difference?
“I think of all of these times where I've shown up at a protest and I know every single person there. When that happens, I know we're not winning today.” - Alex Han
“I think the coup that we did not prepare for was the force accelerator that most people experience as DOGE. It's the Musk and Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen set of actors . . . They're interested in ringing the profits out of the public sector, and they're interested in accelerating the demise of civilian governance altogether.” - Tarso Luís Ramos
GUESTS:
Alex Han: Executive Director, In These Times
Tarso Luís Ramos: Senior Adviser, Political Research Associates; Senior Fellow, Future Currents
Stay informed and engaged! Don't miss out on our captivating weekly episodes that dive deep into the heart of our economy, culture, and politics. SUBSCRIBE HERE youtube.com/channel/UCFLRxVeYcB1H7DbuYZQG-lg?sub_confirmation=1
🎧 PODCAST: Listen to this week's episode on major podcast platforms: lauraflanders.simplecast.com/episodes/countering-an-authoritarian-takeover-with-the-labor-movement-alex-han-tarso-ramos-episode-cut Subscribe today and receive the full, uncut conversation from this week's show: lauraflanders.simplecast.com/episodes/a-winning-movement-for-democracy-needs-worker-organizers-alex-han-tarso-ramos-bonus-interview
✏️SHOW NOTES: Visit our Patreon for Show Notes and learn more about this week's episode: patreon.com/posts/132485137
📚 Check out our Book of the Week on BOOKSHOP: “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century” by Timothy Snyder: bookshop.org/a/22992/9780804190114
(*Bookshop is an online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores. LF&F is an affiliate of bookshop.org and will receive a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.)
Laura Flanders & Friends is non-commercial independent media that relies on the contributions of viewers and listeners.
Follow the show and Laura Flanders on Bluesky!
https://bsky.app/profile/lauraflanders.org
https://bsky.app/profile/gritlaura.bsky.social
DONATE TODAY at lauraflanders.org/donate or consider becoming a PATREON partner at patreon.com/lauraflandersandfriends
🔔Subscribe to get weekly episodes that prompt you to think critically about the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to hit the 'Like' button and share it with your network.
📩Newsletter: For more in-depth analysis, including uncut interviews and commentaries, subscribe to our free newsletter at lauraflanders.org.
CREDITS:
Executive Producer: Laura Flanders
Supervising Producer: Sabrina Artel
Senior Producer: Jeremiah Cothren
Senior Consulting Producer: Rory O’Connor
Senior Video Editor: David Neumann
Video Editor: Veronica Delgado
Audio Director: Jeannie Hopper
Development Director: Sarah Miller
Communications Director: Janet Hernandez
Special thanks:
Gina Kim and Stephanie Luce
Additional crew:
Camera: Michael Di Bartolo, Adam LaPalio, Santiago Pineda-Leyton, Petar Talijancic
Rose Imperato, CUNY SLU Producer
Joseph Montalbano, CUNY TV Producer
Editor: Jonathan Klett
0:00 - The Critical Role of Labor Organizing
4:35 - Stages of Authoritarianism
9:05 - Building Coalitions
15:15 - Leverage, Strikes, and Institutional Power
20:15 - A Worker-Centered Democracy
![Mamdani is changing the world. And thats why the mainstream media is going after him. [EXCERPT]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/l5_KeQwLE-Q/mqdefault.jpg "Mamdani is changing the world. And thats why the mainstream media is going after him. [EXCERPT]
This conversation with guests from Epicenter NYC, In These Times and The Arab American News is an excerpt from our episode Mamdani v. The Establishment: What His Campaign Means for America. Watch the full report here: https://youtu.be/xl5K-Qkf7Vk. This episode first aired October 2025.
Wherever you are in the county, you’ve probably heard the name “Zohran Mamdani”. New York City’s mayoral race is a national story, and it’s hard to overstate the significance of the leading candidate in this moment. If elected, Mamdani would become the first Muslim-American and only the second Democratic Socialist Mayor of the largest city in the U.S. His victory, on a promise to make New York affordable for working people, would have implications for politics everywhere. The race is already garnering both excitement and anxiety. President Trump is threatening to withhold federal funding for New York City if Mamdani wins. From Chicago to Dearborn, Michigan, journalists are watching. In this installment of “Meet the BIPOC Press”, Laura Flanders speaks with Felipe De La Hoz, investigative immigration and policy reporter whose work has been featured in The Intercept, The Washington Post, New York Mag and The Nation; Osama Siblani, publisher and founder of The Arab American News, the largest Arab American newspaper in the U.S., and Asha Ransby-Sporn, organizer and writer for In These Times and co-founder of Black Youth Project 100, where she led the groups national organizing program. Join us as we explore what a Mamdani victory would signal for the nation.
“. . . Theres this sense that [Left-leaning candidates] have to essentially be apologizing for their policy prescriptions and their stances. Mamdani has not done that . . . For the most part, he very much embraces who he is and what his policy prescriptions are.” - Felipe De La Hoz
“More so than I am concerned with Black people being pulled to the Right or being pulled in by Trump . . . I think what we see are people who are disengaged and feel like our political system isnt going to deliver for them at all. Who feel let down by the establishment Democratic party that has sold all of us out for decades, and Black people have borne an enormous amount of the brunt of that impact.” - Asha Ransby-Sporn
“I hate giving labels. I dont look at Mandani as a progressive. I look at him as representing the anger and anguish of people who have been left behind with the political apparatus.” - Osama Siblani
GUESTS:
Felipe De La Hoz: Immigration & Policy Reporter, Epicenter NYC
Asha Ransby-Sporn: Writer & Political Strategist; Columnist, In These Times
Osama Siblani: Publisher, The Arab American News
Stay informed and engaged! Dont miss out on our captivating weekly episodes that dive deep into the heart of our economy, culture, and politics. SUBSCRIBE HERE https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFLRxVeYcB1H7DbuYZQG-lg?sub_confirmation=1
🎧 PODCAST: Listen to this weeks episode on major podcast platforms: https://lauraflanders.simplecast.com/episodes/mamdani-v-the-establishment-what-his-campaign-means-for-america-meet-the-bipoc-press-series-episode-cut Podcast subscribers also receive the full, uncut conversation from this weeks show: https://lauraflanders.simplecast.com/episodes/mamdani-v-the-establishment-what-his-campaign-means-for-america-uncut-conversation-meet-the-bipoc-press-series
✏️SHOW NOTES: Visit our Patreon for Show Notes and learn more about this weeks episode: https://www.patreon.com/posts/141982652
Laura Flanders & Friends is non-commercial independent media that relies on the contributions of viewers and listeners.
Follow the show and Laura Flanders on Bluesky!
https://bsky.app/profile/lauraflanders.org
https://bsky.app/profile/gritlaura.bsky.social
DONATE TODAY at https://lauraflanders.org/donate or consider becoming a PATREON partner at https://www.patreon.com/lauraflandersandfriends
🔔Subscribe to get weekly episodes that prompt you to think critically about the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, dont forget to hit the Like button and share it with your network.
📩Newsletter: For more in-depth analysis, including uncut interviews and commentaries, subscribe to our free newsletter at lauraflanders.org.
CREDITS:
Executive Producer: Laura Flanders
Supervising Producer: Sabrina Artel
Senior Producer: Jeremiah Cothren
Senior Consulting Producer: Rory O’Connor
Senior Video Editor: David Neumann
Video Editor: Veronica Delgado
Audio Director: Jeannie Hopper
Development Director: Sarah Miller
Communications Director: Janet Hernandez
Thumbnail photo by Zohran for NYC.")
