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Founded in 2015, Upstream is a podcast that offers a quarterly Documentary series and a bi-monthly In Conversation series exploring a wide variety of themes pertaining to economics — from an anti-capitalist perspective. Through a mixture of heartfelt stories, expert interviews, and rich sound design, we invite you to unlearn everything you thought you knew about economics and imagine what a better world could look like
MEET THE TEAM
Della Z Duncan
Host | Producer
Della is a Renegade Economist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is an Atlantic Fellow of Social and Economic Equity at the International Inequalities Institute at LSE, a Right Livelihood Coach, former student and Faculty member of the MA Economics for Transition program at Schumacher College, and an Alternative Economics Teacher and Consultant
Robert Ramin Raymond
Host | Engineer | Producer
Robert is a musician, audio engineer, podcast producer (Upstream, The Response), and writer for outlets like Huffpost, Truthout, The Baffler, Shareable, etc. He is passionate about exploring the intersections of sound design, storytelling, and eco-socialist principles to help ease our way out of these tumultuous times
"Upstream is where you go to understand the root cause of a problem. This approach is exactly what Upstream—the radio documentary—takes in regards to our broken economy. It is from this source that one can discover systemic solutions to systemic problems. Upstream is unique, refreshing, and inspiring exactly for this reason."
Neal Gorenflo, Co-founder of Shareable
“The stories, ideas, and inequalities that Upstream has illuminated have awakened a fervor in me...a deeper desire for change. My roommates and I are starting a monthly dinner/discussion that centers around your podcast.”
Rachel, an Upstream listener
"What its champions romanticize as 'the sharing economy' is a disguised form of exploitation and self exploitation by the masters of our new order of "flexible" neoliberal capitalism. Upstream's richly detailed, informative, and entertaining podcast "The Sharing Economy?" helps to unmask the masquerade."
Steve Fraser, author of Every Man a Speculator: A History of Wall Street in American Life, and, most recently, The Age of Acquiescence
“The two excellent Upstream episodes on Universal Basic Income are the perfect introduction to the idea of unconditional monthly payments to individuals to support freedom and economic security. With input from a panel of distinguished and knowledgeable experts, these Upstream podcasts challenge listeners to rethink their perspectives on the future of labor, value, and the very nature of capitalism itself.”
Kristen Ghodsee, author of Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence
"After half a century of uncritical celebration of capitalism, profound criticisms and explorations of systemic alternatives are emerging. Barely beginning in academia, mainstream politics and mainstream media, it is exploding creatively in alternative media including podcasts like Upstream—with new, original and urgently needed thinking."
Richard D. Wolff, host of Economic Update and founder of Democracy at Work
"50 years ago, the uprisings of 1968 produced new media, such as Liberation in France, or Democracy Now! in the US, reflecting the new culture and forms of awareness that were bursting forth. Today, the emerging commons and other transition formats need to go beyond the social media, and find a breakthrough to broader masses, using high quality professional expression. Upstream is one of the best candidates for breaking through to the next level."
Michel Bauwens, peer-to-peer theorist, writer, researcher
"With gorgeous editing and music; a calm, comfortable tone; and brilliant, sharp analysis of economic systems, Upstream sets the blueprint for what economics podcasts should be."
Wil Williams, Wil Williams Podcast Reviews
"The amazing team at Upstream podcast have pulled together the most brilliant walk through 'Economics' as we live it, rather than how we theorise it. Facts and theories aren't lacking, but they're not used at a distance; in other words, I'm sharing this with you because I think it will resonate... 'I'm sharing it in case it can add rocket fuel to ways you are already living or working, or as an extra motivator to pursue the economy you want to see. I imagine some of you will have found your way to it already, but I didn't want to risk you missing it!"
-Lydia Catterall, artist, collaborator, listener, researcher + connector based in Leeds, UK
"The combination of storytelling and economic analysis is where Upstream excels. Their episodes are powerful because they are successful at breathing life into an otherwise cold and incomprehensible economic system. Their ability to blur the lines between the field of economics and the art of storytelling leaves you unsuspecting of the fact that you’re actually listening to a podcast categorized under 'economics.'"
- Laurie Walmsley, Podcast Reviews.org
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