Episode Details

Naomi Karavani introduces viewers to a retro development in corporate totalitarian power. "Company Towns" were made famous by coal towns where the miners and their families would live in houses, shop at grocery stores, spend independent "scrip" currencies, and send their kids to schools owned by their employers. Modern corporations are trying to bring back this practice in towns across the US. Amanda Yee look into the propaganda surrounding Chinese athletes at the Olympics, the development of--and Western backlash to--China's Belt and Road Initiative, the reality about what's happening in Xinjiang and why the US is building a campaign around it, Edward Said's concept of Orientalism, and more.