Sam and Emma host Nahid Siamdoust, Assistant Professor of Middle East and Media Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss the recent political protests in Iran. Then, they are joined by Eli Friedman, professor at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations and author of author of The China Question: Toward Left Perspectives, edited with Kevin Lin and Ashley Smith, to discuss the recent protests in China. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on yesterday’s Georgia Primary, Trump Inc.’s fraud charges, today’s Supreme Court case, and more! Then Professor Nahid Siamdoust joins as she dives right into the current strike in Iran, exploring where we are in its broader course, before jumping back to the leadup to the Iranian revolution to explore the role of students – and the trust the Iranian populace has in them – in the country’s culture of revolution. Expanding on this, Prof. Siamdoust walks through the widespread nature of the current protests in Iran, extending well beyond the university to women throughout the nation, and across the massive ethnic patchwork from Kurdistan to Turks and beyond. Next, they jump to the murder of Mahsa Amini by the Iranian morality police, exploring the rising tension between the theocratic regime and its diverse array of citizens, before jumping back to trace the inception of the Morality Police from the wake of the Iranian revolution. Wrapping up, they discuss the remaining social group that has yet to be fully won over by the protestors (the military and police) and what that fight currently looks like. Eli Friedman then joins as he gets right into contextualizing the last couple of weeks in China, and the protest that has risen from their “Zero Covid” policy, tackling the development of the Chinese public opinion for these policies, and the country’s relationship to covid writ large. Next, they tackle China’s history with mass protest movements, outlining the vast differences between these protests and the pro-democracy movement in 1989, and walking through the various current tensions in China’s relationship with Democracy and the West.

And in the Fun Half: Sam and Emma discuss their criticism of CNN’s one-sided rail labor coverage, parse through Warnock’s victory in Georgia and the right’s internal civil war coming to the fore as Herschel’s relationships to Cruz, Graham, and Trump fail to take him to the Senate. Tucker Carlson reminds people that trans folks aren’t their only threat – brown immigrants exist too! Madeline King talks anti-communism, Ben Shapiro discusses the First Amendment right of being a Theocrat that cracks down on First Amendment rights, and Vince from Virginia dives into the lingering issues around the midterms and Supreme Court, plus, your calls and IMs!

Check out Nahid’s appearance on NPR here: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/05/1140676676/what-iran-has-planned-for-its-morality-police

Check out Eli’s book here: https://www.versobooks.com/books/4257-the-china-question

Check out Vaush’s YouTube stream here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRdr7D2-8s4&ab_channel=Vaush

Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join

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