The step from dysfunctional democracy

September 22

GUEST: Sleydo (Molly Wickham), spokesperson an Indigenous reoccupation site in British Columbia, talks about her people's resistance to the Coastal Gasoline pipeline. This interview is a replay from this spring.

The Unspoken Spread of Fascism

I replayed Molly Wickham's interview because her tribe's battle are still going on. It is part of the indigenous resistance to Canada's participation in the destruction of our common planet. 

I included an article I wrote to the LA Progressive a couple of years ago. It traces the spread of fascism that often follows a dysfunctional democracy, one that is almost completely dependent on corporate cash. In this case, the Canadian government is doing what their big oil companies want done, despite a incursion into First Nation lands, and a reckless indifference to our dying planet. 

Or as Chris Hedges wrote recently:

The step from dysfunctional democracy to full-blown fascism was, and will again be, a small one. 

 

You know what you must do

 

September 15

GUEST: Shahd, young Palestinian activist and political writer living with her family in Gaza, talks about her dangerous life and limited future caused by the Israeli blockade and constant military assaults.

Stories about Palestine
The blockade of Gaza
For Gaza Residents, Trauma and Pain Persist
Podcast: Childhood Under Occupation

It was a privilege to have Shahd on Activist Radio. We did have trouble establishing a good connection because Gaza is often without electricity, much less an internet connection. But we persisted, and only lost the first few minutes of the interview.

I was well aware of the need to understand Shahd's life under the brutal occupation of Israel. That meant reliving some of her life with its trauma of murdered relatives and destroyed communities. At one point, I  apologized for bringing up these topics, even though her outreach to the United States is about just that, helping those of us living in the empire to realize the consequences of our vast military machine. 

For Shahd's life is not some far off story. The bombs and planes making her life a hell on earth are all made in the USA. They are even paid for by the 3.8 billion in military aid we send each year to Israel. When Israel runs out of phosphorus or cluster bombs, the US is always there to insure that there is no interruption to the carnage.  

So take a look at what your government does to the five million living under Israeli apartheid. Is it the millions of dollars the Israel Lobby slips into our hopelessly corrupt political system? Is it Israel's role in US ambitions to control the Middle East and its oil production? Whatever the reasons, the only people who can stop this gradual genocide of the Palestinian people are those reading this blog. You know what you must do. Work for a free Palestine!

Calling on you to support WVKR, independent radio

PS: WVKR's pledge drive goes from Sept. 6th through 12th. Call in during Activist Radio this Thursday from 5 - 6 pm to support WVKR and Activist Radio. There will be a student on the line to take your pledge at: 

845 437-7178. 

WVKR 91.3 is a bright spot on the FM dial. The station carries Democracy Now, Activist Radio, Planet Blue, and La Voz, along with other original programming. So give us a call if you can, and support independent radio in the Hudson Valley! 

A closer look at US imperialism

September 8

GUEST: Hillary Walsh, award winning immigrant defense lawyer and adjunct law professor, talks about her career defending human rights in the Supreme Court of Nevada and the US Supreme Court.

New Frontier law firm

Hillary Walsh has some very good arguments for expanding immigration. This country needs young workers, especially if they are willing to do the jobs that most US citizens don't really want. There are so many areas of the US that are severally underpopulated. An immigrant community in these areas would be a win for everyone. In addition, many immigrants have skills that are in need, and would add to the strength of our economy. To Hillary, letting immigrants into the country makes all the sense in the world.

Other arguments for a more open immigrant policy get less attention. The fact that the US is probably responsible for much of the immigration from Central America wasn't part of our discussion. Global warming is probably the biggest reason that small farmers can't grow enough food to feed themselves or their families. In parts of Guatemala and Honduras it doesn't rain anymore. And the empire to the north has been built in part on the burning of fossil fuels. 

The US "War on Terror" has turned large parts of Central America into killing zones. The US has trained some of the worst assassins in the School of the Americas, now the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. The US has also overthrown many elected leaders in the area, turning functioning democracies into military dictatorships. Look at the destabilization efforts aimed at Nicaragua over the last several years. 

Then there is the conversion of these countries into mono-crop farming, all aimed at export markets. Also, foreign based mining operations have poisoned water resources. Economic colonialism has made life very hard south of our boarder. Don't we have some responsibility to these starving people making their way north?

But maybe that is not the best argument to make. US citizens have grown up with the prevailing narrative that depicts the US as a moral country, alway promoting democracy in the rest of the world. Are they ready for a closer look at US imperialism, and the terrible costs of empire? Perhaps it's safer pointing out the advantages of bringing more immigrants into our country. But beneath all that, we must work to expose the military empire that has brought so much suffering to our brothers and sisters in Latin America. 

Why should we worry about nuclear energy?

 

September 1

GUEST: Brian P.J. Cronin, award winning environmental reporter for the Highlands Current in Beacon, NY, and adjunct professor of journalism at Marist College, talks about the troubling decommission of the area's nuclear power plant.

We do not dump to the river

Nuclear reactors have a long shelf-life. In fact, they are permanent. The spent fuel rods will remain in the earth for millions of years after the plants are officially decommissioned. That's because there never was any way to get rid of the rods. That was the logical mistake made time and time again by our media and our politicians. 

Nuclear power plants are like burying "dirty" bombs all over the earth and pretending that they will never go off. But experience an earthquake, a tsunami, a military conflict or a terrorist attack, and you are done for. Not everyone, of course. But in the case of Indian Point, it would be 44,000 people, according to Energy Facts, a research project on the consequences of an accident at the nuclear facility.

An accident at one of Indian Point’s reactors on the scale of the recent catastrophe in Japan could cause a swath of land down to the George Washington Bridge to be uninhabitable for generations due to radiation contamination. A release of radiation on the scale of Chernobyl’s would make Manhattan too radioactively contaminated to live in if the city fell within the plume. 

Just why are politicians and our media is still so enthusiastic about building new nuclear plants? Or keeping them running well past their scheduled end dates? Well, it comes down the the "Benjamins." Wall Street speculators think the risks are worth it, as well as the costs of paying off all those members of
Congress and the media. 

So now the insanity is that nuclear power will help stop global warming. Forget that nuclear energy it is now way more expensive than wind or solar, and that most of New York City would be uninhabitable after a major spill. But Wall Street hedge funds can handle all that risk. So why should we worry?