2018

Michael Parenti: The JFK Assassination and the Gangster Nature of the State (ONE of TWO)

By MariaMarch 13, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

2018 Tribute – Updated Archive
Parenti criticizes the lone assassin theory and addresses the bitter question that haunts so many, whether government agencies of a democratic country would do such a thing as assassinate an elected President. He examines what he calls “the gangster nature of the state” and goes over details of the murder. This is one of Parenti’s most highly acclaimed talks, ending with a standing ovation. He spoke on the 30th anniversary of the assassination.
When Oliver Stone’s movie JFK opened in December 1991 a huge PR campaign was mobilized against the film. Even progressives spoke out. Noam Chomsky wrote in support of the Warren Commission’s findings – in contrast Michael Parenti supported Stone and began by examining what [ . . . ]

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

Michael Parenti: The Assassination of Julius Caesar (TWO of TWO)

By MariaMarch 5, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

A People’s History of Ancient Rome – 2018 Tribute – Updated Archive
Who was Julius Caesar, a dictator or a populist? And who really was Brutus, who murdered him on the Ides of March? A young hero or a participant in a deep seated conspiracy? This intriguing lecture by the noted author, speaker, activist and scholar Michael Parenti provides surprising new insights and parallels to today that are both shocking and amusing.
This rebroadcast is part of the very popular series on what Parenti calls Real History, an intriguing reading of a surprisingly large number of all too familiar stories.
Parenti spoke about his Pulitzer Price nominated book: The Assassination of Julius Caesar, a people’s history of ancient Rome. He was recorded by [ . . . ]

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

Michael Parenti: Superpatriotism and the Importance of Being Number One

By MariaFebruary 27, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

2018 Tribute to Parenti – Updated Archive 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 [ . . . ]

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

Michael Parenti: The Face of Imperialism

By MariaFebruary 20, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

2018 Tribute to Parenti – updated archive “The Face of Imperialism will be hated by those who run the Empire, and it will be loved by people around the world – many of them indigenous peoples – who are defending themselves against the Empire.” That’s what the author Andre Vltchek wrote for the jacket of Dr. Michael Parenti’s 2011 book.
Parenti has written about empire, history, the media, theology, and socialism in his decades as an activist and teacher. He is one of the nation’s leading progressive political analysts. After receiving his Ph.D. in political science from Yale Parenti has taught at colleges and universities, in the United States and abroad.
Parenti says that “Imperialism has been the most powerful force in [ . . . ]

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

Michael Parenti: How I Became an Activist

By MariaFebruary 13, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

Parenti rarely talks 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 now is an independent political writer and thinker and author of over 20 books. His [ . . . ]

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

Daniel Ellsberg – The Doomsday Machine (TWO of TWO)

By MariaFebruary 6, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner In 1969 Daniel Ellsberg secretly copied the plans for the United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967, later to be published as the Pentagon Papers. What was not known widely until late 2017 is that Ellsberg also copied the top secret plans for nuclear war that he consulted on for the Department of Defense and drafted for Secretary Robert McNamara.
Some of these papers, along with his first person report of the history of nuclear war planning, have now finally been published to high acclaim. The publication comes at an extraordinarily auspicious and dangerous time as nuclear tensions are mounting and the US president is challenging North Korea.
This program begins with two excerpts from the Nobel [ . . . ]

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

Daniel Ellsberg – The Doomsday Machine (ONE of TWO)

By MariaJanuary 30, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner at Seattle Town Hall
Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame has another revelation to make. In 1961 he consulted for the Department of Defense and the White House and drafted Secretary Robert McNamara’s plans for nuclear war.
In 1969 Ellsberg copied the top secret documents along with those pertaining to the war on Vietnam. Ellsberg’s attempts to publish the nuclear war papers were stymied by the loss of his copies and the refusal by 17 publishers who told him that nobody was interested in a book about nuclear war. The Doomsday Machine was finally published in December 2017.
Now, in the context of Trump’s threats to North Korea, the question of what it means for the rest [ . . . ]

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

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

By MariaJanuary 23, 20182018, 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 16, 20182018, 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 is an acclaimed lawyer who practices international law in London. His book by Verso is: AN ACT OF STATE, [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:02 — )

Where Are the People in the Nuclear Age, Norma Field

By MariaJanuary 9, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

In the annals of nuclear accidents Fukushima has a special place. In Chernobyl the government opted to remove the 116,000 people living around the power plant. In Fukushima there is an ongoing effort to remove the contamination and to bring the 154,000 evacuees back. The Japanese government claims the effort is successful – independent researchers have serious doubts.
Admittedly the cleanup so far reached only 5 percent of Fukushima province and the only published data on the status of radioactive substances come from independent researchers. They find that contamination returned to cleaned up areas via wind, rain and traffic.
Norma Field is an author and professor emeritus of East Asian studies at the University of Chicago. She has taught Premodern Japanese Poetry [ . . . ]

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

Where Are the People in the Nuclear Age, Arnie Gundersen

By MariaJanuary 2, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

On December 2, 2017 the University of Chicago celebrated the 75th anniversary of the first nuclear chain reaction that led to the building of the atomic bomb and the nuclear power industry. The physicist Leo Szilard said at the time that by his and Enrico Fermi’s invention universal death had come into the world. Today critics of the 2017 anniversary say that the lectures and events were biased in favor of nuclear weapons and nuclear power and even insulting to radiation victims as they culminated in fireworks in the shape of a mushroom cloud. The Nuclear Energy Information Service, NEIS, called attention to the plight of people who suffer the consequences of radiation. Dave Kraft of NEIS introduces the first [ . . . ]

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