Judging ourselves as worthy

May 11

 

GUESTS: Two organizers of the Bard College Students for Justice in Palestine, discuss the difficulties and successes they have had in promoting Palestinian rights on campus.

Bard students exonerated

I don't remember being politically active in college at all. There was the dark specter of Vietnam hanging over all our heads. I didn't think the impending war was immoral, but I certainly recognized the dangerous place that the draft put me in. Is self interest ever admirable enough to qualify as political activism?

But at this age, I can recognize activism when I see it. And the Bard Students For Justice have it.; they are ambitious, bright and committed to human rights. They are also excellent organizers, and attending their meetings is like listening to a corporate board. Only these students are not pushing some product to an acquisitive public. They are campaigning for dignity and justice in Palestine.

By the early late 1960s, many colleges were filled with students like these. They wanted to end the war, to overcome racism, and to create a new society that would respect everyone's rights. No doubt, some of these goals were achieved, and some of these students reaped the rewards of knowing that they were on the right side. 

Perhaps political activism is ultimately for oneself. Standing up for what's right fulfills a basic need we all have to judge ourselves as worthy. I think groups like Students for Justice in Palestine certainly have that right.    

 

How our supposed democracy lost its way

May 4

 

GUEST: Joshua Frank, Managing Editor of CounterPunch and the author of Atomic Days: The Untold Story of the Most Toxic Place in America, talks about the catastrophic dangers of the largest plutonium site in the US.

The Cold War’s Lingering Nuclear Threat

Joshua has this story covered in about every angle. And the pieces fit together very nicely. We learn about the beginning of the nuclear age, when making a bomb crowded out just about any other goal. Certainly, the health of workers almost consistently came out last. 

There were always a lot of secrets to be kept from foreign nations. But we suspect there were other reasons as well, like environmental damage and the failure to even think about how to clean up the monstrous pile of nuclear waste. 

Cleaning up had its own problems. There were secret government contracts that had no penalty for cost overruns. In fact, every goal that was not met resulted in more money to the private defense contractors. Bechtel is part of this story with its million dollar kickback schemes and revolving doors for governmental inspectors.

Maybe Atomic Days can be looked at another way, as a symbol of what the military industrial complex has done to this country. Its costs have been staggering and its pollution unmatched by any other industry. As our country is being forced to choose between defaulting on its debts or cutting urgently needed social programs, we see little media attention to the $842 billion "defense" budget that is bankrupting us all. Joshua Frank's new book helps explain how our supposed democracy lost its way.