Newest Podcasts

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The Union of Democratic Communications presents Sut Jhally

By MariaMay 29, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

Sut Jhally is the 2018 recipient of the Dallas Smythe Award At a time of Facebook data sales to advertisers and political campaigns – when manipulated media and advertising play an overwhelming role in the selection for political office, there is a renewed focus on organizations that analyze propaganda and deception in the mass media.
At their 2018 Conference in Chicago the Union of Democratic Communications honored Sut Jhally for his three decades of media activism. Sut Jhally, is professor in the Communication Department at UMass, Amherst. His interests include advertising and consumer culture, and the intersection of ideology, consciousness, and politics.
Jhally is the founder of the Media Education Foundation. MEF produces films that inspire critical reflection on the social, political [ . . . ]

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

Abby Martin – Global Conflict and Independent Media

By MariaMay 22, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

At the beginning of May 2018 the Union for Democratic Communications held a conference in Chicago on Media, Resistance, and Justice. It was attended by journalists, media producers, policy analysts, academics and activists. They want to stem the tide of misinformation and omission.
The Internet and alternative independent broadcasters have made some extraordinary contributions, but compared to the millions reached by for profit broadcasters they have only small audiences.
Abby Martin bridges both worlds – however the networks she was and is affiliated with, Russia Today – RT and teleSUR, are shunned and denigrated by the current US government and the corporate media.
Born In Oakland in 1984 Abby Martin had already started her own anti-war citizen journalism project in 2009 with the [ . . . ]

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

The Life and Times of Utah Phillips (TWO of TWO) Archive – updated

By MariaMay 15, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

Honoring Utah Phillips on the tenth anniversary of his passing From the archives of TUC Radio – this is a celebration of his life and an account, in his own words, of how he became an activist.
In this Part TWO Utah talked about founding the Poor People’s Party, working with the Mormon Church, the Black Panthers and Judi Bari, and how he became involved with the Singer Songwriters movement. He closed with moving, enduring advice on how to work and organize together.
In the early-1960s, Phillips was involved with Fair Play for Cuba and the struggle for open housing laws in Utah. In 1968, he was nominated and campaigned for the U.S. Senate on the Peace and Freedom ticket. The experience [ . . . ]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:57 — 19.9MB)

The Life and Times of Utah Phillips (ONE of TWO) Archive – updated

By MariaMay 8, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

Honoring Utah Phillips on the tenth anniversary of his passing. May is the month for the folk singer, labor organizer, storyteller, activist and poet Utah Phillips. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 15, 1935, he died in Nevada City, CA, on May 23, 2008.
From the archives of TUC Radio – this is a celebration of his life and an account, in his own words, of how he became an activist. “The golden voice of the great American Southwest”, Bruce “U. Utah” Phillips came to the Unitarian Fellowship Hall in Berkeley on May 18, 2004, to talk about his life.
Phillips parents were union organizers in the 1930s. When he left home to join a road crew in Yellowstone Park the older [ . . . ]

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

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: Is the U.S. Ramping up its Military Presence in Syria and Preparing to Attack Iran for Israel

By MariaMay 1, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

Lawrence Wilkerson is a retired U.S. Colonel and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell. Since the end of his military career, Wilkerson has publicly criticized many aspects of the Iraq War, including his own preparation of Powell’s presentation to the United Nations. Wilkerson said that his contribution to Colin Powell’s address, that claimed that Iraq had chemical weapons, was “probably the biggest mistake of my life”. In particular Wilkerson has denounced the decision-making process of the Bush Administration and Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s parts in it.
Before working at the State Department, Wilkerson served 31 years in the U.S. Armed Services. He retired from active duty in 1997 as [ . . . ]

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

The Israel Lobby and the U.N. – Ian Williams

By MariaApril 24, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

Ian Williams has been Washington Report on Middle East Affairs’ U.N. correspondent since 1991. The Washington Report magazine, published eight times per year, focuses on “news and analysis from and about the Middle East and U.S. policy in that region”. Williams has been a columnist for The Nation and the Guardian-American online, and an editor for the World Policy Journal. He is the author of The U.N. for Beginners and the recently published UNtold: The Real Story of the United Nations in Peace and War.
He was one of the speakers at the annual conference organized by the Institute for Research Middle Eastern Policy and the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. He spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on March 2, 2018.
As this program goes [ . . . ]

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

How Support for Israel’s Violations of International Law Puts the U.S. on the Wrong Side of History – Noura Erakat

By MariaApril 17, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

Noura Erakat, is a noted Palestinian legal scholar, human rights attorney, and activist. She is an assistant professor at George Mason University, and was one of the speakers at the annual conference organized by the Institute for Research Middle Eastern Policy and the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. She spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on March 2, 2018.
The theme of the conference was: The Israel Lobby And American Policy 2018. Speakers explored the different ways in which a powerful Lobby for Israel, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee,AIPAC, influences US law, our Middle East policy and our elections, steering the flow of donations to Israel-friendly members of Congress who ensure the flow of foreign aid [ . . . ]

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

Does the U.S. Support an Apartheid State in Israel? Dr. Virginia Tilley

By MariaApril 10, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

As this program goes out to broadcast in early April 2018, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have embarked on what they call the “Great March of Return”. In their thousands they walk toward the electric fence that has kept 2 million Gaza residents penned in for more than a decade. They plan to sit in a tent-city, until Nakba day, on May 15. That day marks the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, or “catastrophe” – when the marchers, their parents or their grandparents, were forced to flee their homes upon the creation of the state of Israel.
Israeli soldiers killed 17 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,500 others in the first few days. Analysts on US media such as Democracy Now, [ . . . ]

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

The West Virginia Wildcat Strike of 2018 – Olivia Morris

By MariaApril 3, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

West Virginia teacher and grassroots strike leader, Olivia Morris, talks about the historic 9 day wildcat strike that lasted from February 22 to March 7, 2018. She is in conversation with Stacy Davis Gates, political director for the Chicago Teachers Union.
This is a personal, very candid conversation about a strike in an anti union right to work state, about alliances between teachers and public workers, a broken down health care system, how low or no taxes for coal and gas extraction diminish the money needed for education and more.
The Chicago Teachers Union described the event this way: “The wildcat strike by West Virginia teachers, among the lowest paid teachers in the nation, has ignited public support across the state and [ . . . ]

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

Michael Parenti: Capitalism’s Apocalypse (ONE of ONE)

By MariaMarch 27, 20182018, Newest Podcasts

Why the rich can’t save anybody – not even themselves
Parenti predicted the financial crisis and said that giant corporate capitalism – by it’s very nature – is an apocalyptic system. When unregulated the built in elements of ever increased growth may well bring the whole system down. And he described the growing national debt not as a tragic mistake but as a means to shift ever more money from the tax payers to the financial institutions in the form of interest payments. This speech is an analysis of the many structural flaws of a capitalist system that puts it on a permanent collision course with democracy.
Recorded on August 23, 2008 at the closing reception for Maria Gilardin’s art show. [ . . . ]

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

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

By MariaMarch 20, 20182018, Newest PodcastsParenti

2018 Tribute – Updated Archive This talk caused a controversy in the media when it was first aired on the 30th anniversary of the JFK assassination. Parenti sees not just the violent death of an individual but says: “If the truth were known it would call into question the entire state system and the social order it represents”. And that troubling implication is probably the reason why the mainstream press has suppressed the work of those who researched the circumstances of Kennedy’s death. In his investigation Parenti had focused on the troubling contradictions In Lee Harvey Oswald’s life to add to the proof that Oswald was at best a “patsy”.
Michael Parenti is one of the nations leading progressive political analysts. [ . . . ]

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

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)