Podcasts

The Secret Side of Free Trade – Vandana Shiva

From GATT to the World Trade Organization – TUC Radio ARCHIVES
When the rules of the GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, were re-written, and the World Trade Organization formally established in 1995, the world was promised peace, prosperity and an end to hunger. However the WTO, with now 164 members and representing over 98% of global trade, did not follow through on its commitments. Today, in 2022, there is no peace, the gap between rich and poor is larger than ever, and the environment is devastated by mining, logging, fishing and industrial agriculture. What role has global trade played in all this?
For example at the June, 2022, WTO conference in Geneva WTO members were mandated, under Sustainable [ . . . ]

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From GATT to the WTO – The Secret Side of Free Trade

…and the founding of the The International Forum on Globalization
How the rules of the GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, were re-written and how, in 1995, the GATT became the WTO. The World Trade Organization enforces the rules of globalized trade and is the most powerful organization that hardly anybody heard of – to this day. The WTO can override a member country’s governments, laws and regulations if they are deemed a barrier to trade.
Against the background of the war in Ukraine, the collapse of the climate and todays extraordinary power of corporations, some business consultants are now warning that we are heading into an era of “de-globalization” with guaranteed disorder and scarcity. They say that global [ . . . ]

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The End of the World is Just the Beginning – Mapping the Collapse of Globalization

The author Peter Zeihan in conversation with Ian Bremmer and Sam Harris
Today some of the consultants who are advising business, finance and the military, are warning that we are heading into an era of “de-globalization” with guaranteed disorder and scarcity. Thanks to Sam Harris for hosting a debate on some of the causes of de-globalization on his podcast: Making Sense. Harris is a neuroscientist, philosopher, and New York Times best-selling author.
Peter Zeihan founded the consulting firm “Zeihan on Geopolitics”. His clients include energy corporations, business associations and the US military. Ian Bremmer is president and founder of the Eurasia Group, a research firm advising investors and business decision-makers with offices in Washington, DC, London, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Brasilia and Singapore.
CREDIT: [ . . . ]

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The Chris Hedges Report: Splinterlands Climate Dystopia

Looking ahead on planet earth in the year 2050 and the collapse of empires in the not-so-distant future With minimal edits here is an extraordinary conversation between Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and former foreign correspondent for The New York Times – and the novelist and playwright John Feffer, who is also co-director at the Institute for Policy Studies. A lively and inspiring discussion between two well-read people. And thanks and credit to the Real News Network where this conversation was broadcast on July 8, 2022.
In his dystopian novel, Splinterlands, Feffer looks at climate, refugees, collapsed states, militias and gangs battling over diminishing resources. Feffer begins with the fissures that are already around us.
Splinterlands is the first book [ . . . ]

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Women for Peace in Canada – Demands for Ukraine: Stop the Weapons, Stop the War, and Stop NATO

Tamara Lorincz in a July 1, 2022, conversation with Bruce Gagnon from space4peace There is a marked difference between the peace movements in Canada and the US. Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Canada, are campaigning for an end to the War in Ukraine, and for an end to weapons shipments. They also demand that Canada withdraw from NATO. Coinciding with the NATO summit in Madrid, at the end of June 2022, there were more than a dozen protests against NATO held from coast-to-coast in Canada.
Bruce Gagnon is the coordinator and co-founder of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. He invited Tamara Lorincz for [ . . . ]

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Vandana Shiva – Terra Viva – To Rescue and Heal the Living Earth

In a Zoom call on the summer solstice of 2022 in India and the winter solstice in Australia, the founders of Spiniflex Press celebrated the publication of Vandana Shiva’s most recent book: Terra Viva.
Among her many prior books such as: Soil not Oil; Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature & Knowledge; or Oneness Vs. The 1%, this is the first that might be called a memoir.
Her 50 years of activism and writing began with her volunteer work for the Chipko movement. Women in India embracing trees to save them from the running chainsaws of loggers, to taking on the World Bank, corporations such as Monsanto, and Bill Gates promotion of geoengineering and false climate solutions.
Find the one hour video of this [ . . . ]

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British home secretary Priti Patel signs an order to extradite Julian Assange to the US

Comments by George Galloway, Ambassador Craig Murray, Glenn Greenwald, and Assange’s attorney and wife, Stella Moris Julian Assange is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who cofounded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks came to international attention in 2010 when it published material provided by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. The material includes the Baghdad airstrike Collateral Murder video from April 2010, the Afghanistan and Iraq war logs and more. All containing evidence of war crimes.
Julian Assange is currently held in the high security Belmarsh prison in the UK pending extradition to the US.
George Galloway is a British politician and broadcaster. He was a member of parliament between 1987 and 2010, and then between 2012 and 2015. [ . . . ]

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Peace is the Result of Diplomacy, Never of War – Professor Jeffrey Sachs

An Urgent Appeal for Peace in Ukraine Rob Johnson is President of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, iNEP. They publish interviews on line and on June 6, 2022, Johnson spoke with Professor of Economics, Jeffrey Sachs, about Ukraine; the danger of nuclear war inherent in the current US/Russian confrontation (with reference to the 60th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis); and on US Exceptionalism.
Jeffrey Sachs is an American economist, academic, public policy analyst and former director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, where he holds the title of University Professor. Sachs is known as an expert on sustainable development, economic development, and the fight against poverty.
During the dissolution of the Soviet Union he was [ . . . ]

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Tribute to Hazel Henderson and Edward Goldsmith – Visionaries of a New Economy

Historic Opposition to the Global Trade Agreements On May 7, 2022, I heard Hazel Henderson in a spirited one hour interview on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour. She was introduced as Nader’s personal friend and advocate for economic models that are based on principles of cooperation and sharing in our abundance. She sadly died, age 89, only two weeks after the interview.
Here is my tribute in memory of Hazel Henderson. I met her in 1993 and recorded her whenever she visited San Francisco. This is my archival recording of Hazel Henderson from the Healthy Cities and Communities Conference in SF in December 1993. She was applauded as a “world-renowned futurist, evolutionary economist, a syndicated columnist, consultant on sustainable [ . . . ]

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The Chris Hedges Report: How to defeat the billionaire class

Interview with Kshama Sawant, Socialist City Council Member, Seattle, WA Imagine a woman running and winning in 2013 as socialist for City Council in a town that is dominated by some of the world’s largest corporations. Seattle Washington is home to Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, and seven more Fortune 500s.
Kshama Sawant helped lead the fight, in 2014, that made Seattle the first major American city to mandate a $15 an hour minimum wage. She and her allies took on Jeff Bezos and pushed through a business tax that increased city revenues by an estimated $230 million a year. In December 2021 Amazon had spent over $3 million to recall her but failed.
Here are excerpts of an inspiring conversation [ . . . ]

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Noam Chomsky: War in Ukraine is an “insane experiment”

On May 13, 2022, the Ukrainian exile, Wlad Jachtchenko, interviewed the linguist, philosopher, historian, social critic, and analyst of US foreign policy, Prof. Noam Chomsky.
Wlad Jachtchenko studied law, modern history and literature and holds degrees from Munich and Columbia University, New York City. After working for the United Nations and as lawyer in Munich, Wlad is now teaching public speaking and how to develop critical thinking.
Here are excerpts from their conversation. You can find the full 48 minute interview on YouTube under the title: Noam Chomsky: War in Ukraine is “an insane experiment” by the US.
DATE 2022/05/13

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The Dynamics of Possible Nuclear Extinction – Noam Chomsky

From the TUC Radio Archives, Feb. March 2015 – The New York Academy of Medicine In his 2013 book: Nuclear War and Environmental Catastrophe, Noam Chomsky warned that we are facing “two problems for our species survival — nuclear war and environmental catastrophe.” Up to this point in history problems caused by humans were regional. However just in the last few decades climate change and nuclear war have become a threat to all life.
Chomsky was born in Philadelphia in 1928. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania where he received his PhD in linguistics in 1955. In 1967 he gained public attention for his vocal op2015position to U.S. involvement in the war on Vietnam and was arrested several times. [ . . . ]

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Ukraine: It’s Not What They’re Telling You – Ray McGovern

On April 19, 2022, the former CIA analyst Ray McGovern spoke in a talk sponsored by the Social Justice Forum, Raleigh. Excerpts on this program focus on nuclear weapons, the Maidan Coup, and the Minsk Agreement.
McGovern’s CIA career began under President John F. Kennedy, and lasted through the presidency of George H.W. Bush. McGovern advised Henry Kissinger during the Richard Nixon administration. Under Ronald Reagan he chaired the National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President’s Daily Brief.He received the Intelligence Commendation Medal at his retirement, returning it in 2006 to protest the CIA’s involvement in torture.
McGovern had been invited by the Social Justice Forum, Raleigh, to fill in what was not talked about in the media regarding Ukraine. [ . . . ]

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Yanis Varoufakis: Looming Threats in the Global Economy and the War in Ukraine

Yanis Varoufakis taught economics in Britain, Australia, and his home town of Athens, Greece. In 2015 he became part of the Greek government. After his resignation he remained deeply involved in European politics. This is an interview by Steve Paikin on Canadian public TV, on April 21, 2022. Paikin is host of TVO’s Public Affairs program, The Agenda, and a well known documentary producer.
Paikin also brought up the four hour documentary about Varoufakis just released in May 2022 under the title: In the Eye of the Storm: The Political Odyssey of Yanis Varoufakis. The filmmaker Raoul Martinez says: “In this documentary Varoufakis raises urgent questions about where our civilization is headed and how power works at the highest levels. [ . . . ]

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