Regain our humanity through resistance

March 11

GUEST: Felicia Eaves, long time human rights advocate, co-chair of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, and Coordinator for American Muslims for Palestine, talks about her latest series of presentations focused on the longstanding solidarity between Black Lives Matter and Palestinian liberation.

Yalla Y'all | Episode 1 | w/ Prof. Alex Lubin

Once Americans can see the relationships between racist oppression in the US and in the rest of the world, change becomes possible. Felicia and I had a good discussion of Palestine, Apartheid South Africa, Standing Rock, and Black Lives Matter. These are exciting times because the links are now visible and tangible. So much so that so many of us can imagine joining one or more of these movements for justice.

The empire, however, is not built on justice, but on terror. Do we think that our country's 800 military bases around the world are there to protect liberty or human rights? Or are these bases really there to protect corporate profits at the expense of oppressed peoples in the Third World? How difficult it becomes to believe the former narrative now that we are coming to terms with the institution of Jim Crow America. 

The US Empire was one of the last countries protecting and supporting Apartheid South Africa. Israel was another. Both nation's suffer from a form of white nationalism that has subjugated and ethnically cleansed their indigenous populations. The US has a more varied history, that of enslaving another race, and then creating a caste system to keep that race subservient through unfair laws, racist police forces and politically motived segregation.  

By recognizing the Empire, we can begin its dismantling. Like global warming, the Empire threatens all life on earth. Built on greed and military violence, the Empire can't stop its ruthless march to global dominance. We as Americans can only regain our humanity through resistance. 

Our everlasting complacency

March 4

GUEST: James Jordan, National Co-Coordinator for the Alliance for Global Justice and organizer for its Colombia, labor, and ecological solidarity programs talks about the US interference in Colombia and Venezuela under the cover of international labor solidarity.

As Violence Rises, Can Colombia’s Peace Endure?

James Jordan reviewed the long history of US aggression in Latin America. Maybe we should start with what countries have escaped US backed assassinations or outright US coups over the last century. Looking at recent history obscures that fact that the US has been running most of these countries since the 1850s. 

So my challenge is pick a Latin American country and read some history. How many times has the US sent gunboats, mined their harbors, dropped bombs on them, or sent US troops to invade and occupy them? 

And the motivation behind this carnage? Why profits for the major US corporations, of course. In the words of Major General Smedley Butler, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history: 

I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

More specifically, General Butler identified conflicts in which he "served" the rich elite of his time:

I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.

What is missing from this picture is how we citizens of the US can go on believing the lies, generation after generation. James Jordan wants to tell us the specifics about this age. He wants to talk about the role of greedy corporations in destroying the lives of millions of people south of our boarder. But we read the "Alliance for Global Justice" newsletter at our own peril. That is if we dare to learn about Venezuela, Honduras, Nicaragua, Columbia and Haiti. Our tax dollars are a big part of this story. That and our everlasting complacency.    

 

 

Courtney's photographs point the way

February 25

GUEST: Andrew Courtney, fine arts photographer, social justice activist, and teacher, who has documented life in Viet Nam, Central America, South Africa, Northern Ireland, the Middle East and the streets of the United States, talks about his work in areas of the world struggling for survival, independence and self-determination.

Andrew Courtney Portraits and Social Networks

Our country doesn't know its history, its racist history within the US and its imperialist history in the Third World. We remain ignorant until an artist like Andrew Courtney shows us images that don't quite fit with our comfortable misconceptions. 

Courtney has traveled to many of the places that our country has destroyed in its quest for dominance and proHow the CIA Helped to Crush Turkey’s Post-War Leftfit. We see pictures of Cuba, Venezuela and Palestine that make us want to know more. Are we responsible for the poverty and suffering that many of the images portray? 

Try reading about what the empire did to one country. CounterPunch recently reviewed the US violence directed at Turkey since World War II. The democratic leaders overthrown, the covert bombings and killings that insured US dominance over the decades. Almost any Third World country has a similar story, one that is hidden from us by our corporate controlled media and comatose educational system. 

Courtney's photographs point the way. Read about the role of the CIA in Turkey, and start to free your mind: "How the CIA Helped to Crush Turkey’s Post-War Left."