The fate of life on earth

Guests: Maureen Kelly (Etaoqua Mahicanu) and Evan Pritchard, Native American activists, talk about the Two Row Wampum Campaign in the Hudson Valley and the Idle No More movement in Canada.

We had a wide ranging discussion about radical politics, nonviolent resistance, and the awakening of the First World nations.

I didn't know that Henry David Thoreau's tactics were from conversations he had with indigenous people he met during his canoe trip in Main. I would love to get confirmation of that. I will try to find my copy of The Maine Woods. Could it be in there? I read it so long ago. There is some confirmation on the Internet that he hired a local Penobscot as his guide.

Sort of fits with another discussion we had. Are European settlers too bogged down in the minutia of reshaping our world to realize that we are destroying it? Can one get there with logic, or must it be understood from the heart, like the rows of wampum beads in the Two Row Wampum belt?

If we followed the philosophy of First World Nations, would we have a better chance of avoiding the climate catastrophe awaiting us? There is an inexpressible sadness in our failure to comprehend; it will dictate the fate of our children and grandchildren, as well as that of all life on earth.    

Permission to oppose war

Guest: Mary Hladky, writer and activist with Military Families Speak Out, talks about the crisis in our Armed Services that nobody wants to notice.

Mary talked about giving Americans permission to oppose the horror and waste of our continuing wars abroad. She has a son in the military, and if she can do it, so can you and I. 

Driving home tonight, I listened to "Fresh Air." Terry was interviewing a NY Times reporter on Mali, and the drift of the conversation was how horrible the Islamists are, and how this country must eventually do something about it. I wondered if Terry would ever do a program exposing one of our allies, like Honduras. We supported the military overthrow of Honduras' elected government, and now send military aid to the army as it murders union leaders and journalists. Somehow, bleeding heart Terry is not going to be interested in exposing murderous governments the US supports. Only in stories about African nations the US is itching to invade. Another Pentagon whore. 

Loving beyond ourselves

Guest: We go live to the Candlelight Vigil for Peace and Social Justice in downtown Poughkeepsie. 

We weren't sure how this live connection would work, but it did. We got some great interview on what people on the vigil thought about social justice in our society.

Among others I would like to thank are Rabbi Paul Golomb of Vassar Temple, long-time community activist Mae Parker-Harris of Smith Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church, Larry Freedman, and Joel Tyner (who set the interviews up.

I love the Capitalist Pyramid on the left. It shows the piggishness at the top and the suffering of the people at the bottom. The role of religion doesn't fare to well either, being classified at the "We Fool You."

But the interviews on this show portray a different ethos, one of justice and fairness as part of our common religious experience. Of course, it is always easy to preach this stuff, and I am sure it's done in every church, mosque and temple during this season. But there is also this compelling narrative just waiting for selfless people to stand up for what is right in our society. And people have done so, generation after generation, sometimes at great costs. Maybe the God in us is our ability to love beyond ourselves. 

Will they want to forget the whole thing?

Guest: Tarak Kauff, member of Veterans for Peace Board of Directors, talks about his arrest in NYC for reading the names of war dead at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

It was great to have Tarak back in the studio, talking about vets resisting the war machine. The action was compelling, veterans reading the names of he dead at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in NYC. Their arrest proves once again that veterans are used in empire's dirty wars abroad, only to be cast aside and disrespected once they come back home. 

Who else can tell the story about the true costs of US wars abroad? As Chris Hedges said that evening, vets carry the wounds of war around for the rest of their lives.

The monument is made of of translucent blocks, inscribed with GI letters sent back home. Someone received and read each one of these letters. Some of the writers returned home and some did not. The letters spoke to me about the relationships that are strained and sometimes broken by war, all part of the real cost of American's wars for empire.

"One thing that worries me... Will people believe me? 

Will they want to hear about it, or will they want

to forget the whole thing ever happened?" 

Lt. J.G. Richard W. Strandberg 

River Patrol Section 522 

U.S. Navy Mekong Delta

Inferior and dangerous?

Guest: Dr. Alice Green, former Executive Director of The Center for Law and Justice and past candidate for Lieutenant Governor on the Green Party line, talks about why our country's mass incarceration is racism. (prerecorded)

Dr. Green's talk is from the End the New Jim Crow workshop that was given in Poughkeepsie. While incarceration rates in America are astounding compared to other countries, there is even more going on.

Mass incarceration is a moneymaker for private corporations, and we have seen how effective the weapons makers have been in pushing for endless wars. America is a corporate ruled state, so that policies about energy, foreign relations, healthcare, and media communications are all written by corporate lobbyists. Why would our prison system be any different? A chart of US wars in the last decade would look very much like the one above. So would the cost of healthcare and the percentage of our population denied health coverage.

There was a point in Dr. Green's presentation, however, that went beyond the terrible costs of America's corporatism. She told the audience that African Americans are considered two things by the white majority: mentally inferior and dangerous. So will the mass incarceration of black men end when the corporate state is democratized? Or is there an underlying racism in our society that must be addressed before all races and ethnic groups are given their equal rights?

The rest of the world gets it

Guest: Mohammed Musabeh, a Palestinian working as an electrical engineer in the Hudson Valley, talks about life for his family still living in east Gaza boarding Israel.

I think Gary and I were successful in personalizing the intense suffering being endured by the Palestinians in Gaza. Our guest was remarkable, and his intimate accounts of his family took the siege of Gaza beyond the usual statistics. What if our families didn't have clean water or enough to eat every day? What if some of our relatives were so traumatized by Israeli military actions that they were incapable of functioning?

The American people have stood by for so many years while this genocidal process created so much suffering. Is it a national failure of empathy, or a sinister manipulation of our news media to hide the realities from our citizens? 

Why does the rest of the world "get it" and the United States doesn't?

The same kind of thinking

Guests: Kira Woodworth (End the New Jim Crow Action Committee) and Paul Bermanzohn (Two Row Wampum Campaign) talk about how their local organizations challenge the mainstream media's support of US foreign and domestic policy. 

Both guests represent groups involved with minority rights in America. The End the New Jim Crow Action Committee fights the institutional racism of our criminal justice system, while the Two Row Wampum Campaign attempts to protect the rights of indigenous peoples.

There is more going on here than meets the eye, however. Exposing the criminal justice system helps us understand the gross race and class inequities in our society. Supporting the treaties made with First Nations helps us come up with better solutions to our rapidly warming planet.

Paul reminded me of Albert Einstein's quote on solutions. "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

Having created this capitalistic and imperialistic society, can we use this same type of thinking to preserve our existence on earth?