2017

John Trudell: WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A HUMAN BEING (TWO of TWO)

By MariaSeptember 12, 20172017, Newest Podcasts

From the TUC Radio Archives
The many remembrances that were written about John Trudell after his passing on December 8, 2015, showed the extraordinary width and depth of his engagement. Most know of his music and poetry, or of the films that he participated in. Not everybody knew that up to 1979 writing and performing was not even a thought or plan or dream of his.
In this part TWO John Trudell opened with a surprising analysis of the practice of voting for the lesser of two evils and continued with thoughts about democracy, technology, and dominance. Trudell described Columbus as one who did not know what a human being is, and tried to activate ancient memories of those who arrived with [ . . . ]

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John Trudell: WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A HUMAN BEING (ONE of TWO)

By MariaSeptember 5, 20172017, Newest Podcasts

Rebroadcast with new introduction for the U’wa of Columbia
This is a moving, thought provoking spoken word and poetry address by the Native American leader and musician John Trudell. He spoke at a benefit for the U’wa in San Francisco. Memories of that benefit in March 2001 came rushing back in the summer of 2017 when Amazon Watch announced the good news: U’wa are returning to their ancestral land from which they had been expelled.
In July 2017, ten U’wa families packed up their belongings and returned to the hamlet known as RÃo Negro. The region had been a salt mining site. If all goes according to plan, in the next six months another 50 or so families will resettle in the [ . . . ]

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Forgotten History of the War on Korea (ONE of ONE)

By MariaAugust 29, 20172017, Newest Podcasts

With Utah Phillips, Christine Ahn, and Jeff Blankfort
The extraordinary threat issued by Donald Trump to bring fire and fury on North Korea has been pushed into the background by the events of Charlottesville and the flooding of Houston. But the firing of Steve Bannon brought Korea back into focus. Blankfort and Ahn say that Bannon was not fired for his right- wing nationalism but because he objected to any use of force to resolve Washington’s conflict with North Korea and supported the withdrawal of US troops from South Korea as part of a deal to defuse the current crisis.
The great late folk singer and story teller Utah Phillips said that being drafted and stationed in Korea changed his life. He [ . . . ]

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Radioactivity from Madame Curie to Fukushima (ONE of ONE)

By MariaAugust 22, 20172017, Newest Podcasts

Includes Dick Gregory after Three Mile Island
This is a small tribute to Dick Gregory, who also needs to be remembered for his antinuclear work, embedded in a program about the phenomenon of radiation and ways to monitor it.
Opening with a clip from the song Radioactivity by Kraftwerk, leading into a sketch of the life and death of Madame Curie. She discovered radiation but was unable to understand its danger and died from radiation poisoning.
Next the comedian Dick Gregory who states that radiation is worse than hunger and war: “Because I can feel hunger. I can see war. .. I cannot see radiation… I look around one day and I am dead.”
On to the synopsis of 36 years in the [ . . . ]

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Ira Helfand and Alan Robock: Nuclear Blast and Nuclear Winter (ONE of ONE)

By MariaAugust 15, 20172017, Newest Podcasts

Nuclear war will kill the attacker as well as the attacked
Dr. Ira Helfand explains what happens when a nuclear weapon hits the center of an American City. Professor Alan Robock is the leading expert on Nuclear Winter. He says that the firestorm of the burning city raises a cloud of dust into the Stratosphere where it circles and eventually covers the globe for up to a decade. Even a limited nuclear war using less than 1% of the existing weapons will bring darkness and famine to the Northern Hemisphere.
A US president threatening casually “fire, fury and .. power the likes of which this world has never seen before” displays ignorance of nuclear physics as well as Republican politics.
When Ronald [ . . . ]

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The Beginning of the Nuclear Age (TWO of TWO)

By MariaAugust 8, 20172017, Newest Podcasts

The First Nuclear Chain Reaction – Enrico Fermi and Henry Moore – ARCHIVE
The Italian physicist Enrico Fermi set off the first nuclear chain reaction in an underground tennis-court at the University of Chicago in 1942. His experiment led directly to the building of the plutonium bomb that destroyed the city of Nagasaki.
Exactly 25 years after that experiment, with Fermi already dead of radiation induced leukemia, a statue by Henry Moore was unveiled on December 2, 1967, at that location, to commemorate the first self sustained nuclear chain reaction.
Boal describes the fascinating clash of ideas, from the early anti nuclear resistance by SDS students in the US and the British CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament), to the visual impression of Moore’s [ . . . ]

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The Beginning of the Nuclear Age (ONE of TWO)

By MariaAugust 1, 20172017, Newest Podcasts

The First Nuclear Chain Reaction – Enrico Fermi and Henry Moore – ARCHIVE
The Italian physicist Enrico Fermi set off the first nuclear chain reaction in an underground tennis-court at the University of Chicago in December 1942. His experiment led directly to the building of the plutonium bomb that destroyed the city of Nagasaki.
There are competing claims as to the beginning of the nuclear age. Was it the day of Trinity, was it Hiroshima, or was it Fermi with his willingness to risk a nuclear explosion in the middle of a crowded city.
But more important than the date is the need to comprehend the fundamental change that the beginning of the nuclear age has brought about. Albert Einstein said that the [ . . . ]

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

In Memory of Bertolt Brecht (ONE of ONE)

By MariaJuly 25, 20172017, Newest Podcasts

Rebroadcast of the 2013 program
Even though the German playwright, poet, director and theoretician of the stage was persecuted by the Nazi’s, and then forced to leave his exile home in the US when he was accused of being a communist, he did become a major influence on visual and performance artists such as Jean Luc Godard, Robert Wilson, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Augusto Boal, Pina Bausch, Dario Fo and many others.
His most famous plays, the Threepenny Opera and the Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny were just two of over sixty plays. During the war years, Brecht became a prominent writer of the “Literature in Exile”. He expressed his opposition to the National Socialist and Fascist movements in his [ . . . ]

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Naomi Oreskes: The Scientist as Sentinel (TWO of TWO)

By MariaJuly 18, 20172017, Newest Podcasts

When scientists speak up on climate change
This is the conclusion of Prof. Naomi Oreskes talk about the relationship between science and politics in the age of climate change denial. Most scientists today express a great deal of reluctance to take on any role beyond simply presenting factual information. And those who do, often speak up only after having been attacked.
Naomi Oreskes is Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor, Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. As historian Oreskes showed that in the past scientists did not lose their standing after going public – and she used nuclear scientists who spoke out in favor of disarmament as example. And she said there is a need to speak up [ . . . ]

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Naomi Oreskes: The Scientist as Sentinel (ONE of TWO)

By MariaJuly 11, 20172017, Newest Podcasts

When scientists speak up on climate change
Prof. Naomi Oreskes says that scientists are often reluctant to speak in public on contested issues, for fear that this will “politicize” their science and have a negative impact on their credibility. Herself an outspoken scientist on climate change she explored historical examples of scientists who have spoken up on issues of broad importance, including nuclear weaponry, ozone depletion and climate change. In this talk she addresses issues of professional risk versus a population’s need and right to know. Is there such a thing as an obligation to speak on issues that might not be understood or even recognized; and what may be the limits of what a scientist can accomplish.
Naomi Oreskes is Professor [ . . . ]

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

Dr. Aaron Thierry: The Brutal Logic of Climate Change (TWO of TWO)

By MariaJuly 4, 20172017, Newest Podcasts

In this part TWO of his talk Thierry presents a long list of actions that can be taken to keep the planet livable. He focuses on the so-called carbon budget. Since there is a clear understanding that rise in temperature and in emissions are directly related we can now define how much CO2 we may emit before we hit the danger point. If we do not stop fossil fuel burning we will warm the planet to up to 7 1/2 degrees by 2100 – which will be the end of life.
According to the brutal logic of climate change humans on this planet may only extract, process and use a small amount of the remaining coal oil and gas deposits in [ . . . ]

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Dr. Aaron Thierry: The Brutal Logic of Climate Change (ONE of TWO)

By MariaJune 27, 20172017, Newest Podcasts

Dr. Aaron Thierry says that “recent events in the US illustrate just how widespread and influential climate denial has become; … with potentially catastrophic implications for all of us.” Aaron Thierry asks what we can do to better promote scientific understanding of this crucial issue. And this talk is his contribution.
The title card of Thierry’s presentation is a quote by Martin Luther King Jr.: “There is such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action”.
Aaron Thierry received his PhD in Ecology from the University of Sheffield and researched the impacts of global warming on the carbon cycle in Arctic ecosystems. He teaches at Sheffield’s Department [ . . . ]

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Jeremy Corbyn – Resurgence of Democratic Socialism

By MariaJune 20, 20172017, Newest Podcasts

This program explores the extraordinary gains in votes for the British Labour Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn, and the equally extraordinary and unexpected losses of the pro Brexit conservative party under Theresa May on June 8, 2017.
With brief clips from the BBC, Counterspin, and Naomi Klein on Democracy Now and a re-broadcast of a labor breakfast speech by Corbyn from a 2003 TUC Radio program, the following issues are raised:
What are the parallels between Bernie Sanders and Corbyn and the future of democratic socialism. How can a grassroots movement with youth involvement bring huge crowds and even electoral votes to candidates who were thought to be unelectable, often maligned or silenced in the media. What are the principles that ignite [ . . . ]

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Naomi Klein: No Is Not Enough (TWO of TWO)

By MariaJune 6, 20172017, Newest Podcasts

Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need
This is the conclusion of a one hour speech by Naomi Klein about her June 2017 book, No Is Not Enough. It was specifically written as response to what she describes as Donald Trump’s corporate political takeover.
In spite of her scathing criticism Naomi Klein writes with an empowering optimism: She says that “Trump is making the need for systemic change seem much more obvious and appealing. “The No to Trump, she says, may be what brings people into the streets, but the Yes keeps us together into the future.
Her new book, No Is Not Enough, shows how to define that YES and what she calls the resurgence of the utopian imagination. [ . . . ]

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Naomi Klein: No Is Not Enough (ONE of TWO)

By MariaMay 30, 20172017, Newest Podcasts

Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need
Naomi Klein says that a corporate political takeover got Donald Trump elected and now “An unprecedented number of people are becoming engaged in movements and politics.” She writes that the current rise in activism can resist his policies. However saying No is not enough. In this talk she explains that we have the opportunity to “build a different economy and a different relationship between humans and the natural world and between each other in community.” And she explains how we can arrive at relationships of reciprocity, regeneration and renewal.
Naomi Klein is internationally famous for having written several major analytical books, among them: This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs The Climate (in 2014), [ . . . ]

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