Podcasts

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In Memory of Robert Fisk — His Warning, in 2002, of the Pending War on Iraq

By MariaMarch 3, 2026All Time Favorites, Catalog, Newest Podcasts

Robert Fisk, the award winning war correspondent and dean of Middle East journalists died in Dublin on October 30. He was only 74.
Robert Fisk won more British journalism awards than any of his peers, including British Foreign Reporter of the Year seven times and the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism in 2002. The New York Times described him as “probably the most famous foreign correspondent in Britain.” And that in spite of his principle of speaking truth to power.
Fisk reported for the London Independent on Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and Syria, without sparing responsibility of the United States and his native Britain for so much of the carnage.
He became one of very few Western [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 39.8MB)

Michael Parenti Theocracy VS. Democracy – The Political Uses of Religion

By MariaFebruary 24, 2026Michael Parenti Audio CDs, Newest Catalog Items, Newest Podcasts, Politics

Michael Parenti (1933-2026) said that democracy couldn’t survive under religious rule – whatever that religion may be. Parenti’s warning in this archival recording is as timely and urgently expressed as it was when this speech was first given during the second term of the Reagan administration. This talk is also very funny. Parenti explains how God may be considered as a “founding father” and why Woody Allen calls him an underachiever. It is easy to extend this timeless analysis to the present circumstances.
With roots in a working class Italian district of New York and a Ph.D. in political science from Yale Michael Parenti became an internationally known writer and lecturer. He is the author of twenty books.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)

Michael Parenti: How I Became an Activist – PARENTI SPECIAL

By MariaFebruary 17, 2026Newest Catalog Items, Newest Podcasts

Rebroadcast to remember and honor Michael Parenti (1933-2026)
Parenti rarely talked about his life. How does a NYC street kid get accepted to Yale? How does he lose the privilege of his PhD. in an arrest at a demonstration against the war on Vietnam, and become an internationally acclaimed author and lecturer?
Michael Parenti grew up in a poor, working class Italian community in New York City. When he received his PhD in political science from Yale in 1962 he was the success and pride of his family. He risked and ended his academic career when he openly opposed the war on Vietnam. Ultimately the choice he made then was a good one. He was an independent political writer and thinker and [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

Michael Parenti: Superpatriotism and the Importance of Being Number One – 2018 Tribute to Parenti

By MariaFebruary 10, 2026Newest Catalog Items, Newest Podcasts

What does it mean to love one’s country? Why is it so important to be number one?
In this sharp and funny speech MP dissects the uses of patriotism.
That was the introduction to a Michael Parenti talk given in 1988, at the end of the Reagan administration. That talk became a TUC Radio program and 2004 book published by City Lights. Superpatriotism: How hype, fear, and mindless flag-waving are supplanting informed debate and commitment to democracy.
Now, in 2018, so many years later, slogans such as: America First, America the Greatest Country on Earth are having a powerful come back. Resistance to Superpatriotism – even if it is simply remaining seated or taking a knee during the national anthem at a [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:58 — 19.9MB)

Michael Parenti, The Supremely Political Court

By MariaFebruary 3, 2026Newest Catalog Items, Newest Podcasts

In his extraordinary 26 minute history of the Supreme Court Dr. Michael Parenti warned us in 1995 that this partisan, aristocratic institution might one day empower an autocratic president. It seems that time has come and two Trump appointees, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, can push the scales of justice in favor of their politics. Unless there is a groundswell to question and change the legal rules of that institution. Why is so much power being given to 9 unelected, non term limited judges.
Michael Parenti was born into a working class Italian family in East Harlem, New York City. He went on to receive his Ph.D. in political science at Yale in 1962. His academic career was cut short by [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 19.9MB)

The Execution of Martin Luther King, William Pepper (TWO of TWO)

By MariaJanuary 27, 2026Newest Catalog Items, Newest Podcasts

updated archival program
In Part ONE: Bill Pepper became James Earl Ray’s lawyer when he found out that Ray was not the murderer. His friendship with King and his family goes back to 1967. Pepper had gone to Vietnam and taken photos of children burned by napalm. King asked to meet with him and they worked closely together during the anti-Vietnam war phase of King’s life.
After the failure of all his efforts to get James Earl Ray a new trial, William Pepper recommended one more option to the King family. In this Part TWO Pepper explains why he recommended a wrongful death suit against Loyd Jowers and other known and unknown conspirators. For the first time under oath in any assignation [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:59 — 19.9MB)

The Execution of Martin Luther King – William Pepper (ONE of TWO)

By MariaJanuary 20, 2026Newest Catalog Items, Newest Podcasts

Bill Pepper became James Earl Ray’s lawyer when he found out that Ray was not the murderer. His friendship with King and his family goes back to 1967. Pepper had gone to Vietnam and taken photos of children burned by napalm. King asked to meet with him and they worked closely together during the anti-Vietnam war phase of King’s life. In this recording Pepper explains why he became convinced of Ray’s innocence and, during 25 years of investigative work, pieced together the plot to kill King. The extraordinary story has implications for history, civil rights, justice and democracy. (Feb. 2003)
William Pepper was an acclaimed lawyer who practiced international law in London. His book by Verso is: AN ACT OF STATE, [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)

Feminist Theology and Women in the Muslim World (TWO of TWO) Archive

By MariaJanuary 13, 2026Newest Catalog Items, Newest Podcasts

This is the conclusion of Dr. Riffat Hassan’s extraordinary feminist lecture on the story of Adam and Eve, a story that forms the basis for the oppression of women in Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Plus my interview with her about her radical re-interpretation of the significance of Eve’s acceptance of the apple.
Dr. Riffat Hassan is a Muslim theologian from Pakistan who opposes the Islamic view of the inferiority of women. She says that since anti women legislation and custom are enacted in the name of theology, it is necessary to study the Koran and critique the source.
In the original text, says Hassan, women are neither inferior nor sinful. Adam is not a man’s name – it is the word for [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:59 — 39.8MB)

Feminist Theology and Women in the Muslim World (ONE of TWO) Archive

By MariaJanuary 6, 2026Newest Catalog Items, Newest Podcasts

Special for International Women’s Month 2023  Dr. Riffat Hassan is a Muslim theologian from Pakistan who opposes the Islamic view of the inferiority of women. She says that since anti women legislation and custom are enacted in the name of theology, it is necessary to study the Koran and investigate the source. This required courage since challenging traditional interpretation of the Koran can be a capital offense. On the other hand we are all familiar with the claim that Islam has given women more rights than any other religious tradition. And Riffat Hassan decided to deal with that contradiction.
Riffat Hassan began her quest in 1984 when her feminist friends in Pakistan asked her to help define the theological argument [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:58 — 39.8MB)

Daniel Ellsberg’s Pentagon Papers – TUC Radio Archives – TWO of TWO

By MariaDecember 30, 2025Newest Catalog Items, Newest Podcasts

His encouragement to others to disclose government lies – and his response to the accusation of treason
This is the second part of a talk by Daniel Ellsberg that he gave on December 18, 2007 in downtown San Francisco to a small group of members of the Republican Roundtable.
Those were the George W Bush years and it was well known that Ellsberg campaigned against the threats of war on Iran. I had permission to film the event and was concerned about a possible confrontation. Half-way through this 29 minute segment Ellsberg responds to a statement that he was advocating treason – to which he gives a legally and historically brilliant response that still applies today, to Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

Daniel Ellsberg’s Pentagon Papers – TUC Radio Archives – ONE of TWO

By MariaDecember 23, 2025Newest Catalog Items, Newest Podcasts, Uncategorized

And his first hand experience of The Gulf of Tonkin Deception
It was the evening of December 18, 2007, and I was setting up my recording equipment in an unfamiliar downtown San Francisco conference room.
The events coordinator of the Republican Roundtable had offered me an invitation to record Daniel Ellsberg – and of course I said yes – in spite of the unfamiliar venue.
One of the guests walked past me and said matter-of-factly: Ellsberg is a traitor and proceeded to his chair. And by the time that Daniel Ellsberg arrived I was certain that there were only two people in the room who were not Republican.
In spite of some skepticism Ellsberg moved the audience with one of the most personal and [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

WWI – The Christmas Truce of 1914 – TUC Archive for 2025

By MariaDecember 16, 2025Newest Catalog Items, Newest Podcasts

Silent Night in trenches of the Western Front The Christmas Truce was an unofficial cease-fire on parts of the Western Front. Guns fell silent for one to several days. Soldiers emerged from the trenches and talked, exchanged gifts and kicked around a soccer ball. Trenches were close in some places, separated by 50 yards or less.
The Story of the Christmas Truce WWI is a documentary film about this spontaneous cease-fire. Thanks to historians Peter Hart, Taff Gillingham and Robin Schaefer, and their choice of rare documentary photos, footage and archived letters from soldiers of both sides.
This archival TUC Radio program first went into distribution on December 13, 2022. By coincidence on the same day that nearly 1,000 faith leaders called [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

Chalmers Johnson – Nemesis – The Last Days of the American Republic, Archive TWO of TWO

By MariaDecember 9, 2025All Time Favorites, Amazing Speakers & Events, Newest Catalog Items, Newest Podcasts

Johnson’s name is being quoted in the 2023 work of analysts and historians
Today’s analysts and historians say that one statement is more timely now than when Johnson first made it in 2006 that “nothing is more dangerous to democracy, than military expansion and war” and argued that the U.S. is in danger of internal collapse, due in large part to the vast expenditures required to maintain its ever-expanding empire.
Chalmers Johnson is the acclaimed author of Blowback, The Sorrows of Empire and Nemesis. He is a former analyst for the CIA and professor emeritus of the University of California San Diego.
Chalmers Johnson was interviewed by the California based author of “Imperial San Francisco”, Gray Brechin, in March 2007.
DATES: March, 2007
Location: [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

Chalmers Johnson – Nemesis – The Last Days of the American Republic, Archive ONE of TWO

By MariaDecember 2, 2025All Time Favorites, Amazing Speakers & Events, Newest Podcasts

Johnson’s name is being quoted in the 2023 work of analysts and historians
Chalmers Johnson wrote that “nothing is more dangerous to democracy, than military expansion and war” and argued that the U.S. is in danger of internal collapse, due in large part to the vast expenditures required to maintain its ever-expanding empire.
Chalmers Johnson is the acclaimed author of Blowback, The Sorrows of Empire and Nemesis. He is a former analyst for the CIA and professor emeritus of the University of California San Diego.
He was interviewed by the California based author of “Imperial San Francisco”, Gray Brechin, in March 2007.
DATES: March, 2007
Location: MLK Junior High in Berkeley

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)

Seniors for Peace – A celebration of 20 years of Peace Work (TUC Archives)

By MariaNovember 25, 2025All Time Favorites, Catalog, Creative Communities, Newest Catalog Items, Newest Podcasts

Redwoods Retirement Center in Mill Valley, CA
When I joined Seniors for Peace at their second ever rally for peace in Iraq on February 7, 2003, I did not dream that 20 years later they would still be coming out every Friday from 4 to 5 pm to the busy intersection near their home. Undaunted – even by hostility – they have called for peace in all the subsequent wars since then.
Among those who I met in 2003 was a survivor of the firebombing of Dresden and a Red Cross worker in London who saw the young men dead on both sides and still mourned their loss of life.
I’m honoring them now – 20 years later – for the work [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 39.8MB)