Practice runs in overthrowing the tyranny of Wall Street

GUEST: Jack, member of the Hudson Valley Antifascist Network, talks about the influence of Occupy and Black Lives Matter on ANTIFA, and of the organization's efforts in defending our communities through direct action, education and protest.

Jack didn't give his last name, and I understand why. ANTIFA has been criminalized by our media, ever eager to demonize organizations that have a real potential for social change.

ANTIFA isn't filled with Ivy League graduates. It resembles Occupy in that most of its younger participants are community college students or dropouts, a population that has felt America's economic decline more than the children of the rich elite. Occupy and ANTIFA are dangerous to our current kleptocracy simply because they represent the working class. 

Trump's biggest achievement has been to turn working class people into racists. How else to continue robbing them? If Trump can blame the thievery of the elite on Blacks, Muslims and immigrants, why then the ruling class can continue fleecing all the rest of us.

Occupy was made up of the sons and daughters of middle America. The alternative communities they tried to form were a working class revolution, virtually free from sexism, racism, homophobia and all the other contrived hatreds that the ruling class uses to keep us apart. Obama recognized the danger and worked secretly to have occupy torn apart.

Real change (not the hype of Obama's "change you can believe in" public relations campaign) will come when workers take power. Occupy and ANTIFA are practice runs in overthrowing the tyranny of Wall Street and the filthy rich. 

Off With Their Heads

Sadly and disturbingly the billionaires have won again, taking a trillion dollars over the next ten years for their obscene tax cuts.

We all know who will be hurt by their greed: children, students, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid recipients, those without healthcare, etc. In short, the richest are once again robbing the rest of us.

But why don't we call this by what it really is, murder. Those who can't afford medication and treatment will be killed because people like the Koch Brothers want more mansions and yachts. Billionaires are psychopaths; no amount is ever enough, and they are willing to murder any number of the poor to get more.

A sane society would lock people like this up. They are a mortal danger to millions of Americans. In fact, incarcerating them would protect them from the next parent who watches a child die for lack of adequate medical treatment, or from the next enraged spouse whose husband or wife couldn't afford insulin. Someday, people may go gunning for those who murder for limitless greed.

Whole societies have turned on their filthy rich when life became unbearable. The French Revolution beheaded a whole class of people who lived in vast palaces while millions starved. Perhaps it is only a matter of time before people in this country start shouting "off with their heads." Just three billionaires now own more than half of the entire population. When will a destitute and infuriated American populace finally march them to the guillotine?

Fred Nagel

He Will Make Us Great Again

"Drain the swamp" has been with us longer than Trump. Bill Clinton ran as an agent of change, the "Man From Hope" who would stand up to Washington insiders. Obama worked the reformist angle even better, convincing a new generation of voters that he would produce "Change We Can Believe In."

Clinton and Obama were clever charlatans, praying on the frustration of the majority at the outright corruption of the few. Once in office, they did the bidding of these same elites, enriching themselves in the process.

Trump's message was virtually the same, but with racist overtones. Once in office, he blamed the powerless for the corruption in Washington and the lack of economic progress for most of Americans. He attacked gays, immigrants, Blacks, and Muslims, and allied himself with white supremacists. The failure of both major parties to change the economic inequities in our society had created the opening for a demagogue.   

The most dangerous of demagogues have spoken to inner needs of the lower classes, and Trump is no exception. He creates a fable of white America and promises to restore its ethnic, racial and sexual purity. He will make us great again. 

By 1928, many industrialist in Germany had cast their lot with Adolf Hitler. So too have many billionaire corporate leaders given their support to Trump. He, like Hitler, personifies the end point of corporate corruption and its dominance of the political process. 

We the people must fight to save our democracy while there is still time. 

Fred Nagel

Late Stage Capitalism

America is the land of the incarcerated. With the highest percentage of its citizens in jail, our country is number one when it comes to being behind bars. 

The only group spared prison garb are the filthy rich, the politicians, the hedge fund managers, the CEOs and their fat bankers. That's because the wealthy elite make the laws and choose the judges. Supreme Court rulings like "Citizens United" have made it virtually impossible to lock up anyone in the upper reaches of our proud kleptocracy. 

There is no shortage of well heeled grifters. The corrupt leaders of both NY State parties have been convicted, only to be set free by the courts. Nationally, the stench is even more overwhelming. Our federal agencies are now run by the polluters, the banksters, and the criminally connected. We are all desperate to "drain the swamp," but where do we start in a rigged system?

The system, of course, is late stage capitalism. It has created the yawning gap between the rich and poor, with perpetual tax giveaways to the billionaires. It has led to the endless US wars in the rest of the world, with 5.6 trillion spent on invasions and occupations since 2000. Capitalism is even the driving force behind global warming, with fossil fuel profits put before our very survival.  

Surveys of 20 to 35 year olds show they have a higher opinion of socialism than capitalism. Perhaps it's time for the rest of us to consider a post capitalist society.

Fred Nagel

Not a burden but a delight

GUEST: Kamau Franklin, lawyer, grassroots community organizer, and Political Editor for the Atlanta Black Star, talks about Malcolm X, the Democratic Party taking Black voters for granted, and the role of white intellectuals in demanding racial justice.

The Real News

Black voters have always faced a daunting task when it came to picking a party to uphold racial justice. We talked about how this choice often became trying to determine which party is "less hostile" to minority rights.

US history has not been encouraging. By 1890, the Republican Party, the champion of African American rights after the Civil War, decided to join the Democratic Party in scapegoating Blacks for political gains. It was the beginning of Jim Crow persecution that was to last until the 1960's.

As a minority in the country well known for it personal and institutional racism, Blacks live in a precarious position. With the age of Trump, we could see a backsliding to white vigilantism and systemic discrimination. In effect, Blacks have to think outside the two party box, supporting Democrats who stand against racism, and abandoning Democrats who are just part of the corporatized duopoly.

We also talked about the huge economic hit that Black families suffered during the Obama presidency. Kamau thought that Obama was afraid to risk trying to improve the lives of African Americans. I am not so sure. He certainly sacrificed Black interests in his work as a "community organizer" in Chicago. His early political funding came from real estate moguls more interested in selling off public housing than in improving inner city lives.

-----

On another topic, Eli will be doing two programs a month starting in January. Sharon, who has helped me interview a number of guests, will also cohost two shows.

I am looking forward to the new year. At the height of the Gilded Age, the muckrakers of the early Twentieth Century were tearing into the miserable corruption and decadence of the rich elite. We have targets aplenty in this new Gilded Age of limitless wealth for the few and depravation for the millions. Exposing the lies of the elite is not a burden but a delight.

Learning how to think big

GUEST: Andrew Joyce, former political writer at Fusion and MSNBC, talks about his work at the NYC based political website, "Mic," a new media company like "Buzzfeed" and "Vice" that focuses on millennials.

Andrew and I had a good talk about new media. Mic is a source for politic analysis that targets a younger audience more interested in social justice. 

A good part of our discussion was based on this assumption that millennials are much more open to anticapitalist themes. Socialist in outlook, and are more willing to expose the damage caused to our democracy by the rich elite and their mammoth corporations. 

Andrew pointed to a general shift in leftist thought in the last twenty years. In 2000, third parties seemed to be the answer to a hopelessly corrupted two party system. Now that way seems more closed than ever. The Democrats successfully blamed Nader for Gore's loss, and nothing really changed. In the ensuing years, even the Green Party became coopted though its "safe state" strategy. 

Perhaps capitalism is the problem. Late stage capitalism is a frantic tearing apart of society in the pursuit of billions for the few. Trump himself is standing on the shoulders of sellouts like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, who promised social and economic justice but ended up as corporate shills. We have to read the new media, and learn how to think big. 

Bring down the corporations' mouthpiece

GUEST: Wendell Potter, former public relations executive for Humana, head of corporate communications for Cigna, and author of Deadly Spin andNation On The Take, talks about his crisis of conscience in working for corporate interests, and his creation of Tarbell, a new source of information about who really runs America.

Wendell Potter is a great guest to have on. His background in corporate communications means that he knows what he is talking about when it comes to lying. The corporate state is all about spinning and distorting reality into something that feeds their bottom line. Healthcare is a perfect example.

Most Americans don't know that all the other developed countries in the world offer their citizens universal healthcare. Why don't Americans know this, and demand what is considered a human right in the so many other societies?

US citizens are constantly given false information by the corporate controlled media. The pharmaceutical, medical, and insurance industries make too much money keeping people in the dark. To the mainstream media, universal healthcare is socialism, something to be avoided at all costs. Even the excellent healthcare system of our neighbor Canada is hidden and distorted. 

When we bring down the corporations, we will also have to bring down the mainstream media, the corporations' mouthpiece. 

Past the ballot box

GUEST: Josh Hoxie, director of the Project on Opportunity and Taxation at the Institute for Policy Studies and coeditor of Inequality.org, talks about his new report, Billionaire Bonanza 2017: The Forbes 400 and the Rest of Us. (Note: due to a studio problem, this program did not play from Vassar College Radio on November 30. It was re-recorded as a podcast and broadcast the following Sunday from 5 - 6 pm on www.PRN.fm.)

Josh Hoxie sounded like he was giving a speech at an occupy encampment, with those of us in the audience knowing full well that the outrageous things he was saying were all true. The billionaires are calling all the shots, and they are after the rest of the nation's wealth. 

Now, most Americans recognize that we are all bit players in a well established kleptocracy. The problem is that one way to break the system is to vote for a hate-monger like Trump. We all want to "drain the swamp" of elite rich men who work together in robbing the working class. Bernie had about the same message, without the explicit appeal to racist ideologies. Since Hillary was widely seen as part of the same swamp, the Republican Party seemed a more effective agent of change.

Now that Trump is cornered, he could easily start a Third World War to get himself out of impeachment. We are living in the most dangerous of times. Are these the "end of times" that his fanatical, Christian base so fervently believes in? 

So we can try to elect more Democrats in Congress, as Josh Hoxie urges us to. Or we can recognize that both parties produced the tyrant we now have in the White House. Middle of the road Democratic candidates will give us more Clinton/Obama betrayals, only to be followed by another lurch to the right. The system needs radical changes, starting with the breakup of both corporate controlled parties.

Vote for reformers, and follow up by taking to the streets. We are past the ballot box for really changing the system.

Thank you, Eli

Eli has been a cohost on Activist Radio for about three years. He is taking a leave leave of absence for November and may rejoin the program in December. The time will allow him to pursue the issues he has talked about on the air, animal rights, vegetarianism, and meditation.

I have had a number of cohosts over the ten years that Activist Radio has been on the air. Each has brought in new and interesting ideas. But more than that, each has established a camaraderie of the left that I think has benefited our listening public. Here were two people who were not afraid to talk about a political revolution to reestablish our democracy. We were not afraid to attack the racism, exploitation and oppression so endemic in out kleptocratic form of government. Finally, we agreed that the United States is a military empire, whose existence now threatens all life on the planet. As Pete Seeger sings at the end of each show, "We will love, or we will perish."

So thank you, Eli, for a great run. I have appreciated your support these last several years, and will miss your skill as a commentator and provocateur. As David Rovicks sings in "After the Revolution" ...

The debts were all forgiven
In all the neo-colonies
And the soldiers left their bases
Went back to their families
And a non-aggression treaty
Was signed with every sovereign state
And all the terrorist groups disbanded
With no empire left to hate
And they all started planting olive trees
After the revolution

Haiti is a mirror of US imperialism

GUEST: Leslie Mullin, social justice activist, member of the San Francisco-Bay Area based Haiti Action Committee and author of "How the U.S. Crippled Haiti’s Domestic Rice Industry," talks about the struggle against US imperialism in Central America and the implications of race and neoliberalism.

How the US Crippled Haiti’s Rice Industry

Haiti - The New Yorker

Haiti Action Committee

Remember Haiti? Not the earthquake, but the overthrow of Aristide, the first democratically elected president in a hundred years. Of course, the US was behind the coup. Aristide wanted to raise the minimum wage in his country and all the major US corporations that make a killing on Haiti's sweatshops demanded his head. Aristide was overthrown twice, and even removed by US special forces the second time. 

Look in any clothing store like Target to see the labels from Haiti. That is how our particularly vicious form of neoliberalism works; mostly black and brown people in Central America are being exploited for profit. I loved the fact that Bill and Hillary went to Haiti on their honeymoon, while it was under the bloodthirsty dictatorship of Papa Doc Duvalier. Their "special relationship" to Haiti is all about exploitation, two grifters set loose on the oppressed masses of Black people. 

Haiti is a mirror of US imperialism. The closer you look, the more you understand the suffering of oppressed people around the world. 

Thanks to Sharon for joining me on this interview.

Obama was only a populist during elections

GUEST: Chris Nineham, founder member of the Stop the War Coalition, a coordinator of the European Social Forum in Florence in 2002, and an organizer of the two million London demonstration against the Iraq war in 2003, talks about his latest book, How the Establishment Lost Control. (thanks to Sharon for help with the interview)

Chris Nineham

Counterfire - Help boost radical media and socialist organisation

Chris Nineham on the importance of politics at festivals

Chris Nineham has written a very encouraging book about social change in England. The resistance of hundreds of like minded groups has made it possible to overthrow Blair's corporatized Labour Party and replace it with something more to the liking of working people.

Like Bernie in the US, Jeremy Corbyn preaches a populism that restores the rights of the vast majority. Such a revolution has not happened in our own country, but the dynamics are similar. The billionaires and their bankers have achieved control over both major parties in the US, leaving little room for substantive change. Obama's "Change You Can Believe In" was a cruel publicity stunt, devoid of any actual passion. Like Bill Clinton before him, Obama understood his role as a populist during elections, who gave the corporations what they wanted once in office.

Creating a revolution in the Democratic Party is so much harder in an empire that is fighting wars of domination all over the planet. In fact, Bernie's inability to take on the endless wars and the immense military budget doesn't bode well for actual change. The new, leftist candidates winning elections, however, may force a confrontation with the sellout Democratic establishment.

Chris Nineham points out how all this was achieved in England. Thanks again to Sharon who helped on this interview.

Feed the filthy rich

GUEST: Major Danny Sjursen, a U.S. Army strategist and former history instructor at West Point, who served with reconnaissance units in Iraq and Afghanistan and wrote a critical analysis of the Iraq War, Ghostriders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge, talks about the hidden costs of empire and the militarizing of US police forces.

Ghost Riders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and Myth of the Surge

The Hazards of Military Worship

Counterinsurgency, Policing and the Militarization of America’s Cities

Many of us have come to realize that the economic system we live under is basically unfair. The billionaires buy the politicians, and rig the system for their own benefit. In the process, wealth is concentrated at the very top, leaving most Americans disillusioned and angry.

What the American people have not as yet realized is the importance of endless war in transferring money to the rich elite. At war for the last decade and a half, the US has spent over 4 trillion dollars on killing people, mostly in the Middle East. That money creates huge profits for the weapons makers of course, but does nothing for those who don't own their stocks and bonds. Four trillion could have provided for universal healthcare, free college tuition, free daycare, and free nursing homes. It could have created millions of jobs rebuilding America's infrastructure, converting the nation to renewable energy, and combating global warming. The tragedy of lost opportunity.

Once citizens come to realize the true costs of America's empire, there will be great pressure to change the "military-industrial-congressional complex" (as it was described in Eisenhower's original speech). That is why the corporate media devotes so much time to glorifying war and cheerleading for our next conflict. War is as much a part of the system as cheating the poor and middle class to feed the filthy rich. 

The American Empire

GUEST: Maria Höhn, Professor and Chair of History at Vassar College, author of GIs and Fräuleins, about American troops in Germany, coeditor of Over There: Living with The U.S. Military Empire from World War Two to the Present, and co-founder of The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany, talks about our nation's military troops in foreign lands.

Occupation isn't simple. It is a melding of two cultures, one victorious and the other subservient. But here is much more to it than that. 

Black GIs felt a type of freedom in Germany that they never experienced back home. They were given the same respect as white GIs by a majority of the German population. And since the town of Baumholder, the geographical area of Maria's study, was as devastated as the rest of Germany after the war, its citizens were eager to earn enough money from the American troops as possible. 

German women dated and married American GIs. There were few German men left, and the Americans treated them much better than the occupying French, English and Russians did. 

Seventy years later, US soldiers are still in Germany. In fact, American troops have never really left any county they occupied during World War II. You can hear American radio stations all through Europe, from Germany down through Greece. Studying the US occupation of Germany slowly reveals something else that few of us talk about. The American Empire, built on 800 military bases around the world. 

This interview was somewhat of a coming home for me as well. My father was from Baumholder, and I spent some very enjoyable hours with my Uncle Gerhardt, the town mayor, talking about war and peace in Europe. Shortly after, I was drafted into the US Army myself and spent a year at a US base in Korea. 

All together now, in the key of C

GUESTS: Greg Artzner and Terry Leonino, award winning recording artists, folk singers and activists who have made their group, Magpie, one of the seminal voices in labor and social justice music. Their new album is entitled, "When We Stand Together: Songs of Joe Hill, the IWW, and Fellow Workers."

When We Stand Together
Magpie homepage
Magpie - Facebook

It was a nice story. Greg and Terry were passing though Poughkeepsie one Thursday and happened to listen to Activist Radio. They liked what they heard and contacted us about being on the show. We were so lucky to have them.

The history of Magpie goes back to the Kent State massacre, one of the times that US militarism has ended up shooting down its own citizens. Greg and Terry have been signing together pretty much since Kent State, and their vast repertoire is an education in the history of the American left.

Magpie is part of the movement for social justice, for economic fairness, for labor rights, and an end to Jim Crow discrimination. We talked about the other musicians who have chosen to advocate social change, sometimes at the expense of musical fame. Luckily for Magpie, the group is both well known for their musical talent, as well as effective in spreading the word. We the people can form a better world; all together now, in the key of C.

Like fighting any malignant, tenacious disease

GUEST: Peter Heymann, member of The People's Institute for Survival and Beyond and the Anti-Racist Alliance, talks about his Undoing Racism Workshops and the anti-racist structural analysis of educational, corporate and community institutions.

There are surprises to be had when studying racism. The book, "Sundown Towns" reveals how towns all across North America forced their Black populations out, starting in 1890. Another book, "The Color of Law" presents research on how this policy was augmented by local, state and national regulations. Segregation didn't just happen; Blacks were ethnically cleansed. 

Recent studies of Islamophobia reveal the active hand of the Jewish Defense League in spreading hate. The JDL even produced movies equating Muslims with terrorists, and somehow one of these films was used to train police in New York City. 

So racism is complex, with unexpected players. Fighting racism becomes a process of learning the hidden history of our country. And that's before we actually confronts the racism that our culture has implanted in us. Racism from fathers and mothers. Racism from TV shows we have grown up with. Fighting racism is a long term project, like fighting any malignant, tenacious disease.

Palatable to a white majority

GUEST: James Kilgore, college professor, social justice activist, and author of three published novels while he was incarcerated, talks about his latest campaign, Challenging E-Carceration.

It was great having James Kilgore back again, talking about prison reform and e-carceration. 

James reminds us that prison reform won't come through technology, but through a rethinking of racism in America. Of course, we must be aware of the system before we have the moral courage to change it. Racism has long been used by our politicians. Trump is only the latest example. 

Racism, combined with a global crisis of capitalism, puts us in a dangerous time. For the very wealthy to increase their gains, there has to be more and more surveillance and repression. The prison system is built to criminalize poverty and dissent, and racism is the hatred that will make such a system palatable to a white majority. 

Determined to rule the rest of the world

GUEST: Laura Finley, associate professor of sociology and criminology and author of several books on social justice, talks about her current focus on the militarization of police forces in inner city communities.

The price we pay for empire. A society armed to the teeth with weapons and drenched in killing. Gun control is part of the problem. But a society that can somehow justify the killing of millions abroad for corporate profit, is already debased, its humanity already striped away. 

The characteristic that will bring down our species is most apparent in the American Empire and its murderous allies, Saudi Arabia and Israel. High tech combined with corporate greed and unrelenting violence brings about a unique form of fascism. Like the Third Reich, there are no norms, no boundaries for bloodshed. 

Americans are unequally unaware of the empire, even though we pay 700 billion a year to feed the cancer. We grieve our losses, but memories are short, and few see the overarching problem of a country determined to rule the rest of the world at any cost.

Opinions too close to the truth

GUEST: Joel Kovel, psychotherapist, college professor, political activist, and author of many books including Enemy of Nature and Overcoming Zionism, talks about his latest book The Lost Traveller's Dream.

Joel Kovel's most recent book is an adventure story, his own wanderings in an often corrupt and morally bankrupt world. 

Often paying the price for writing opinions too close to the truth, Kovel describes his time at Bard College after his Overcoming Zionism was published. It turns out that Bard, supposedly a bastion of liberal thought along the Hudson River, is a hotbed of Zionist machinations. Where else would one find out how many times the president, Leon Botstein, travelled to Israel in one year (10 times), and who pays the bills when Botstein travels abroad as emissary of American neoliberalism (George Soros). 

William Blake's rarely pleased anyone with his attacks on the Church of England, perhaps the moral tyranny of his day. Like his compatriot, Thomas Paine, his expressions were always too harsh, too damning. Blake, like Paine, wanted to throw off the chains of oppression and didn't care who was insulted by his blazing contradictions. 

Joel Kovel thinks that Zionism is but another tragedy for the Jewish People. He thinks that capitalism will inevitably bring about the end of life on Earth. Not popular opinions, of course. But by presenting the contradictions of American life, we can begin to envision a greater truth. 

Alliances to mute criticism of Israel's apartheid state

GUEST: Donna Nevel, psychologist, educator, writer and long time activist for justice in Palestine and Israel, talks about her Islamophobia training program and the role of the Israel Lobby in spreading racism directed towards Muslims.

Talking to Donna Nevel about American racism is a learning experience. She has thought and written about so many types of discrimination that she can compare and contrast different movements, and even explain their histories.

That is why I am so impressed by her Islamophobia training seminars. Donna is Jewish, but her religion presents no barrier to exposing and attacking racism where it exists. Part of the history of Islamophobia in the US can be traced to Zionist Jewish and Christian groups. Without a full understanding of why the Jewish Defense League pours money into convincing Americans to hate Muslims, we are all powerless to stop this most recent form of racism. 

PEP is the acronym for progressive except for Palestine. Leaving one group out isn't really about human rights at all. It is more about making alliances to mute criticism of Israel's apartheid state. Like  all true progressives, Donna values everyone's rights. Our country desperately needs teachers like Donna Nevel.

Paying my taxes to the empire

GUEST: Robert Piper, Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, with the rank of UN Assistant Secretary General, talks about his role in documenting Palestinian suffering under Israeli occupation.

Robert called in from Gaza, where he travels through at least once every week. He knows all the players, so his insights were new and interesting.

He had boundaries, of course. The interview taught me as much about the UN as about Gaza. There were positions that could not be taken, like the fact that Hamas is openly resisting the occupation while the PA, bought and paid for the Israel and the US, is content with being the occupation's boots on the ground.

Israel's vicious military slaughters in Gaza were "conflicts" rather than war crimes, with blame attributed to both sides. Were those Robert's observations, or the what the UN, itself under US financial and military control, is forced to say?

Words like apartheid and genocide were not part of our discussion. Can the UN be more that a reporting agency under these restraints? And can the reports it issues really get to the bottom of Israel's 60 years of occupation and repression? 

Like many of us who work on the left, the acceptance of evil makes us into facilitators rather than agents of change. I like to think that I am free to say what I want on this radio program, and I feel very good about that. I have also paid my taxes to the empire for the last sixty years of Israel's occupation. Perhaps we are all facilitators. 

Neoliberalism in an app

GUEST: Tom Slee, software industry critic and author of several books including No One Makes You Shop at Walmart and more recently, What’s Yours Is Mine, Against the Sharing Economy, talks about Uber, AirB&B, and the destruction of the commons.

Tom led us into an interesting discussion of the "commons," community structures that people create and maintain for the good of all. Sometimes these commons are monetized, leading to a few people getting rich by selling what many others have created.

The Internet seems to have accelerated this process, first promising an enhanced "commons," but in the end destroying how communities really work.

Tom adds a good deal of research to his book, showing how a current lack of regulation accelerates the ripping off of the public good. Hedge funds pour billions in, and CEO's become desperate to make a return on investments by squeezing employees and cutting down on safety requirements. 

In a sense, these Internet corporations have not resulted in more freedom at all. Just a more sophisticated externalizing of costs and maximizing of profits. Neoliberalism in an app. 

Three progams

GUEST: Leah Muskin-Pierret, Government Affairs Associate at the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, talks about supporting grassroots human rights organizations and pressuring members of Congress to speak out on Palestine.

The state of Israel has been hell on the Palestinians, 4.5 million people still living under a sixty year old apartheid occupation. Their treatment ranges from daily subjugation and deprivation in the West Bank to the deadly blockade of Gaza. Every few years, Israel unleashes a high tech slaughter in Gaza, killing 550 children in the last bloodbath.

Americans like to stand apart from all this slaughter. Yet we supply Israel's weaponry and veto UN attempts to condemn these war crimes. In addition the US gives Israel over 3 billion each year despite their dismal human rights record.

But Israel is more than an embarrassment to the American people. It has manipulated the US into endless wars in the Middle East, with Iran as the next target. Trillions of US dollars have been spent on these conflicts, and millions of civilians killed.

The biggest danger that Israel poses, however, is the destruction of our Constitution and its First Amendment freedom of speech. The Israel Anti-Boycott Act now in Congress would criminalize the boycott of Israel's illegal settlements, with the possibility of heavy fines and long prison terms.

Our two NY Senators are cosponsors of this bill. They are also among the highest paid by the Israel Lobby. Schumer even brags that he is the "Defender of Israel." Perhaps he will want to add another feather to his cap if this bill passes, "Betrayer of the US Constitution."

In our pay to play kleptocracy, the Israel Lobby has becomes a malignancy.

=====

GUEST: Josh Bivens, Director of Research at the Economic Policy Institute and author of "Failure by Design: The Story behind America’s Broken Economy" as well as "Everybody Wins Except for Most of Us: What Economics Really Teaches About Globalization," discusses how our economy is stacked to benefit the very rich.

The most important thing that Josh had to tell us was that trade policy now is very different than trade policy before the 1980's. Josh reminds us that by 1980, most tariffs had been removed. Imports were not taxed excessively and US exports were not hampered by protectionist laws abroad. Free trade agreements were a no brainer.

But free trade agreements now are written by the major corporation specifically to increase their profits and to reduce their labor costs. Agreements are about extending monopolies on medicines, reducing the dependence on American labor, and eliminating environmental protections. They are wish lists for the well heeled, and death certificates for labor and environmental rights.

Josh takes us through the corporate machinations, and the so called "liberal" presidents who have sold us down the river. Clinton turns out to be the biggest lier on free trade, but the rest are not far behind. Liberal Democrats in the White House, of course, paved the way for the fascist and white nationalist we have now. Like most demagogues, Trump saw his chance in the very undemocratic rule of the economic elite. Neoliberalism paves the way for fascism.

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GUESTS: Susan (travel photographer), and Paul Sprachman (academic and translator), will discuss her photography of woman in Iran as well as his translations of Iranian literature. Their presentation "Iranian Women Beyond the Chador" will take place August 4 in Woodstock, NY.

We had an interesting talk with Susan and Paul about Iran. It wasn't political at all, but did portray some of the beauty of the Iranian land and its people.

Now that the empire is convulsing and threatening war in many parts of the world, it is important that we citizens know the terrible price the world has paid for US imperialism in the past: 2 million killed in Korea, 2 million in Vietnam, 2 million so far in the Middle East. The empire is not finished yet, of course, but planning new adventures in conquering foreign lands for corporate profit. You and I watch from the inside hoping to resist in some way. Is that possible at all? Or must the empire run its terrible course to the end?

God gave Noah the rainbow sign,

Won't be water, but fire next time.

Get rid of it; it is your right

GUEST: Harvey J Kaye, Professor of Democracy and Justice Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and award-winning author of numerous books, including Thomas Paine and the Promise of America, and his newest book, The Fight for the Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great, talks about the need to rediscover our radical roots.

Rediscovering our roots doesn't sound that radical unless one begins to understand the revolutionary thought that produced the United States of America. 

In a way, our revolution was more a template than permanent way to govern. Try again if things aren't working out says our Declaration of Independence. Your rights come first; discard any rule or government that doesn't live up to your radical expectations. 

Harvey Kaye reminds us that positive changes in American history have always harkened back to these ideas. And it is only because most citizens don't quite understand how dangerous these ideas are that the corrupt leaders of today are able to manipulate both parties and most the media to favor the very richest. The Declaration of Independence has one answer to the kleptocracy that we find ourselves ruled by in this century. Get rid of it; it is your right.

Leaving us all vulnerable

GUEST: Alex Beauchamp, Northeast Region Director at Food & Water Watch who has worked on issues related to fracking, factory farms, genetic engineering, and water privatization, talks to us about the Cuomo Tax, the billion dollar giveaway to the nuclear energy industry.

Alex took us through the recent history of nuclear energy in New York State. This latest ripoff of the citizenry has a long history of the very rich determining the very worst and most expensive of energy policies for the rest of us. Nuclear power never really made any sense. Not even the immense problem of nuclear waste was addressed, leaving time bombs where nuclear plants are closed down.

Giving billions more to the nuclear industry so that aged plants can last another 20 years is ludicrous public policy. The giveaway will slow down the transition to renewable energy as well. Incentives for  wind and solar will suffer, bringing the specter of global warming ever nearer.

Our political leaders don't care. They just do what the billionaires tell them to. It is an insane system, of course. A failure of our species to adapt, leaving us all vulnerable if not doomed. Too clever by half.

Can the US be far behind?

GUEST: Andy Clarno, assistant professor of sociology and African American studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, talks about his new book, Neoliberal Apartheid, Palestine/Israel and South Africa After 1994 that explores racism, capitalism, colonialism, and empire in the early 21st century, with a focus on the relationship between marginalization and securitization.

Sharon, who is from South Africa, helped me with this interview. I hadn't put neoliberal with apartheid, and certainly didn't know the reasons that South Africa remained mired in extreme poverty even after Black Africans had "won their freedom."

The book is a page turner in that it pulls you into aspects of neoliberalism that you hadn't considered. Could it be that all three societies, South Africa, Israel, and the United States will end up with a tiny percentage on the very top, supported and maintained by a huge security force. It is a dystopian vision, but one that we now see emerging in all three countries. 

The role of the oppressed in joining and protecting this gross division between the halves and the have nots is another interesting consideration. South African Blacks without jobs join security firms to protect the very rich. Palestinian security forces make up a good deal of the repressive apparatus that keeps an occupied people subservient. Can the US be far behind?

The truly ugly part

GUEST: Dr. Reza Mansoor, cardiologist, past president of the Islamic Council of New England, and author of Stigmatized: From 9/11 to Trump and Beyond, talks about his work in combating racial hatreds.

Dr. Reza Mansoor is an articulate and compassionate person. Like all true leaders, he refuses to channel hatred, but instead talks of love and understanding.

I asked several questions about his reluctance to consider the role of the United States in the Middle East. Our country has devastated the region, killing millions and driving many more from their homes. It is, of course, the Project for the New American Century, a plan of global domination drafted during the Clinton presidency. 

The current focus on "reforming" Islam is nothing more than a sham. It's like blaming Blacks in America for being shot by racist, white cops. Did Dr. Mansoor feel that this was a good subject to bring up in his talks about racism?

He didn't deny the role of the United States in creating the bloodbath that is the Middle East. But he said that he preferred to reach out rather than blame the American people.

Muslims constitute about one percent of the US population. Maybe speaking truth to power would enflame the American public even more than the racist language coming from our current president and ruling class. Or maybe it is time to fight back and identify the racist elements in our foreign and domestic policy that have enraged a generation of the world's Muslims. 

I don't know the answer. The United States is not above the neoliberal apartheid inflicted on Blacks, Native Americans and other vulnerable minorities. I do know that it must be hard for people like Dr. Mansoor to keep his civility when attacked for his faith. From that I hear, his talk at the Woodstock Jewish Center was not particularly easy, with several in the audience expressing islamophobic sentiments. That brings us to the truly ugly part of this type of racism, the role of the Israel Lobby and many in the Jewish religious community in promoting race hatred in America. 

Explaining to grandchildren

GUEST: Alice Rothchild, obstetrician-gynecologist, Palestinian human rights activist and writer, talks about the making of her new movie: "Voices Across the Divide."

This interview was done by Sharon, our first Activist Radio field reporter. 

Eli and I sat in the WVKR studio spellbound by the interview. Both women were so articulate in conveying the grief and suffering of the Palestinian people during their 50 years of Israeli occupation. 

Oppression leaves lasting scars, even for those who manage to emigrate to a foreign country. But for the Palestinians still there, life is an unremitting series of humiliation and deprivation. The fact that the United States supports this racist atrocity, the longest running apartheid in the world, will be our country's lasting shame. Many of my ancestors were German, and I know what it is like questioning the morality and even the humanity of my own people. How did the Germans do what they did? How did a society become so debased as to commit genocide? 

The genocide of the Palestinian people is fostered and encouraged by the United States. Our tax dollars buy the guns, the cluster bombs, the white phosphorus, and the illegal settlements in the West Bank. Explain that to your grandchildren if you can.

Women and men fighting back

GUEST: Donna Goodman, long time peace and justice activist in New York’s Hudson Valley, talks about her new book: Women Fight Back: The centuries-long struggle for liberation.

Both Eli and I know Donna well and enjoyed reading her book. How much of women's history I didn't know. 

The history, of course, helps us understand the current fight for women's rights. Will reproductive rights take a back seat to expressing women's desire to express their own sexuality? Reading Donna's book helps us understand the current direction of the resistance. 

Expect to go beyond neoliberalism in considering alternatives that promote better social justice outcomes. But our listeners are ready for that. Donna's analysis isn't full of feel good proclamations, but enables the reader to fully understand how women and men must fight back. 

Gracious with her time

GUEST: Aliya, college student and a leader of Students for Justice in Palestine at Bard College, talks about the challenges of advocating for Palestinian human rights on campus.

I had done this interview at Bard College right after a Students for Justice in Palestine event. Aliya was gracious with her time (she was taking the two filmmakers out to dinner that night). She was also gracious with her college and her country.

Aliya holds a fervent belief that the human rights of the Palestinians will eventually be upheld. To advocate for the rights of millions being ethnically cleansed from their homeland is simply the right thing to do. Her college will see that, as will her country.

I am not as sure. The colonialism and racism of our current system of government has been with us for a long time. Israel is part of our occupation on the Middle East. Billions depend on it. The oil companies and weapons makers will never sacrifice their profits to do the right thing.

Maybe that is the difference in our ages. Aliya is in her first year of college. I thought the world was changing in the 1960's. Now I see that such changes may not come in my lifetime. But what we do share is a determination to continue the struggle for human rights, believing like MLK that the arc of all life on earth bends toward justice.