Episode 595 - First They Came for the Communists (w/ Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly)
Bad Faith
Bad Faith
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 23 July 2026
⏱️ 97 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
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Summary
Associate Professor of African American Studies at Wayne State University & author of Black Scare Red Scare: Theorizing Capitalist Racism in the United States, Charisse Burden-Stelly, returns to Bad Faith to discuss the new 100 page State Department report accusing American leftist groups of being part of a "sustained campaign of subversion" against the United States. This new Red-Scare blacklist names Code Pink, the DSA, Hasan Piker, Ben Cohen, Zohran Mamdani, and even Maxine Waters. What does this mean for left movements, & does the liberal response to these accusations, which is largely to distance "Communism" from Scandinavian-style social democracy, help or hurt the cause of the socialist left? We examine a series of Red-Scare articles, including a viral Atlantic Piece titled "The DSA Is a Parasite," along with clips from Jon Stewart, Abdul El-Sayed, & more.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm |
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| 0:04.0 | I'm |
| 0:05.0 | I'm |
| 0:06.0 | I'm |
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| 0:09.0 | I'm |
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| 0:11.0 | I'm so glad to be joined once again on Bad Faith podcast by Dr. |
| 0:42.5 | Cherise Burden-Sell. |
| 0:43.4 | You know her as an associate professor of African-American studies at Wayne State University. |
| 0:49.0 | Importantly, she is also a member of the Black Alliance for Peace, which was named in this new Red Scare Cuba document that is the subject of today's episode. |
| 0:59.0 | She is also the author of Red Scare, Black Scare, which is why I felt it was so perfect for her to be the guest of the moment today. |
| 1:08.0 | And additionally, she is a member of the anti-imperialist scholars collective. Welcome back to Bad Faith Podcast, Dr. CBS. Thank you for having me. And just a tiny corrective of my book is called Black Scare, Red Scare. Yes, what did I say? Red Scare, Black Scare. It's okay. Oh, sorry. I want people to be able to find it. It's all good. Thank you for having me again. |
| 1:28.3 | No, I appreciate the correction. Okay, let's start with this new Red Scare. What is going on with this |
| 1:34.7 | Cuba document, what do you people know about it? |
| 1:36.5 | And talk to us a little bit about who's included on this list and what you take away from |
| 1:40.0 | that, especially given that an organization that you're a member from, a member of rather, |
| 1:44.0 | is on this list. |
| 1:46.0 | It's such an interesting document. that, especially given that an organization that you're a member from, a member of rather, is on this list. |
| 1:46.0 | It's such an interesting document. |
| 1:48.0 | There's so much to say about it. |
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