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Boot Biters

Boot Biters

By: Dakota Saunders
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About this listen

Boot Biters is a labor history podcast that strongly believes that history isn't boring and work shouldn't suck! We are witnessing an insane surge in labor organizing around the world and, of course, massive backlash to go along with it (and this is why we can't have nice things). Learning about the history of labor organizing is a first step toward understanding how we got here, how we got the protections we do have and how we hold on to them moving forward, and envisioning a world that treats workers with respect and dignity. From the first recorded labor strike in human history in Ancient Egypt to the West Virginia Mine Wars, we're going to cover it all!

Boot Biters is hosted by me, Dakota, a nerdy little goof who hyper-fixated on labor history and realized how much I didn't know and how important it was that I start learning. So come learn with me, I promise we're going to have a blast!

Dakota Saunders 2025 World
Episodes
  • 16. Labor in Apartheid South Africa - Pt 2

    16. Labor in Apartheid South Africa - Pt 2
    Aug 26 2025

    In this episode we cover the hostile landscape for worker organizing in apartheid South Africa, the immediate lead up to the 1973 Durban Strikes, and deep-dive into the strike wave that spread from factories in Durban and Pinetown to municipal workers in the city and turned into a powerful general strike. These strikes had a direct impact on future legislation and positioned trade unions and worker organizing as an important tool for wider anti-apartheid activism.

    Find Boot Biters - A Labor History Podcast online:

    • Website and Transcripts: https://rss.com/podcasts/boot-biters/
    • You can also listen to the pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcasts or anywhere you get your podcasts!
    • Instagram and TikTok: @bootbiterspod
    • BlueSky: @bootbiterspod.bsky.social

    Support the podcast, get access to the Water Cooler monthly bonus episodes, and check out resources used in episodes for further reading: patreon.com/BootBiters

    Credits: Creator, Host, Social Media, Art, Music, General Chaos Sower: Dakota Saunders
    Show More Show Less
    37 mins
  • 15. Labor in Apartheid South Africa - Pt 1

    15. Labor in Apartheid South Africa - Pt 1
    Aug 12 2025

    In this first part of a two-part episode series talking about the 1973 Durban Strikes, we set some contextual background and learn how labor issues played a major role in fueling apartheid. In this episode we learn about the colonial interests in the region, the various laws passed well before Apartheid that set the precedent, the rise of Afrikaner nationalism, and the strategy of the National Party. This was a party that capitalized on a failed, repressed strike led by white miners and harnessed the growing anger of a poor white voting base to put forward a platform of formalized segregation that tried to keep Black African working power repressed. And that inadvertently made working organizing such a powerful tool to ending apartheid, leading to major actions like the Durban Strikes.

    Find Boot Biters - A Labor History Podcast online:

    • Website and Transcripts: https://rss.com/podcasts/boot-biters/
    • You can also listen to the pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcasts or anywhere you get your podcasts!
    • Instagram and TikTok: @bootbiterspod
    • BlueSky: @bootbiterspod.bsky.social

    Support the podcast, get access to the Water Cooler monthly bonus episodes, and check out resources used in episodes for further reading: patreon.com/BootBiters

    Credits: Creator, Host, Social Media, Art, Music, General Chaos Sower: Dakota Saunders
    Show More Show Less
    41 mins
  • Pop Labor 02. Newsies

    Pop Labor 02. Newsies
    Jul 22 2025

    Ey, it's the bulls! Cheese it!

    After discussing the real-life historical events of the 1899 Newsboys Strike, it's time to talk about the 1992 movie Newsies! What a movie for Disney to put out! We talk about the historical inaccuracies, the things the movie did right and well, and how they almost pushed the envelope even farther in the original screenplay (with a special guest star: the Specter of Communism).

    Find Boot Biters - A Labor History Podcast online:

    • Website and Transcripts: https://rss.com/podcasts/boot-biters/
    • You can also listen to the pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcasts or anywhere you get your podcasts!
    • Instagram and TikTok: @bootbiterspod
    • BlueSky: @bootbiterspod.bsky.social

    Support the podcast, get access to the Water Cooler monthly bonus episodes, and check out resources used in episodes for further reading: patreon.com/BootBiters

    Credits: Creator, Host, Social Media, Art, Music, General Chaos Sower: Dakota Saunders
    Show More Show Less
    59 mins
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