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(30 Jul) 120705 Angana Chatterji - Kashmir: Buried Evidence Among the many issues plaguing South Asia none is as violent and deeply contested as Kashmir. The major unresolved issue of the disastrous British partition of India in 1947, Kashmir has been the site of wars and the threat of wars, and probably the world's longest and most extensive military occupation. India brooks no international meditation to address the problem. What's the problem? A lot of Kashmiris don't want to be part of India. They didn't in 1947 and they don't, probably in even larger numbers, today. The U.S., champion of human rights elsewhere, is keen to access a major growing market, thus says nothing of what India is doing in Kashmir. Its silence is becoming harder to maintain as now the earth is revealing dark deep secrets of Indian rule in Kashmir. The thousands of dead and missing are making noise. Angana Chatterji is a convener of the International People's Tribunal on Kashmir. She has taught social and cultural anthropology for many years and has been working with social movements, local communities, and citizens groups in India and internationally. She is the author of Violent Gods and contributor to Kashmir The Case for Freedom. (23 Jul) 120704 Noam Chomsky - Uncoventional Wisdom (Pt. 2) Conventional wisdom is a term one often hears. It is the generally accepted belief, opinion, or judgment, about a particular matter. In the U.S., the ruling political class and the media are major propagators of conventional wisdom. For example, when it comes to international law the U.S. exempts itself while holding its enemies to account. Or bombing and invading another country. Washington reserves that right for itself and its allies. It's just a given. There is one set of rules for the master and his close friends and another for everybody else. All of these notions are presupposed and embedded. They are so deeply rooted that they don't even come up for discussion. Whoever breaks from the norm risks ostracism and ridicule. But often it is thinkers outside the box who rock the casbah and make a positive difference. Noam Chomsky, legendary MIT professor, has been a leading voice for peace and social justice for more than 40 years. Edward Said called him, "one of the most significant challengers of unjust power and delusions; he goes against every assumption about American altruism and humanitarianism." He is the author of scores of books, including Hopes & Prospects and How The World Works. (16 Jul) 120703 Noam Chomsky - Uncoventional Wisdom (Pt. 1) Conventional wisdom is a term one often hears. It is the generally accepted belief, opinion, or judgment, about a particular matter. In the U.S., the ruling political class and the media are major propagators of conventional wisdom. For example, when it comes to international law the U.S. exempts itself while holding its enemies to account. Or bombing and invading another country. Washington reserves that right for itself and its allies. It's just a given. There is one set of rules for the master and his close friends and another for everybody else. All of these notions are presupposed and embedded. They are so deeply rooted that they don't even come up for discussion. Whoever breaks from the norm risks ostracism and ridicule. But often it is thinkers outside the box who rock the casbah and make a positive difference. Noam Chomsky, legendary MIT professor, has been a leading voice for peace and social justice for more than 40 years. Edward Said called him, "one of the most significant challengers of unjust power and delusions; he goes against every assumption about American altruism and humanitarianism." He is the author of scores of books, including Hopes & Prospects and How The World Works. (09 Jul) 120702 Beena Sarwar - Pakistan: A Journalist's View For the casual observer of international news Pakistan must be enigmatic, bewildering and scary. It's a "hornet's nest," declares "The Economist." Almost from its inception in 1947 Pakistan has been dominated by the three As: Allah, Army and America. The country of some 200 million people has been ruled either by military dictators or corrupt civilians. Pick your poison. There are coups and rumors of coups. The prime minster may be ousted. The president may face criminal charges. The intelligence agencies wield supernatural powers. And in the shadows are jihadis. Relations between Islamabad and Washington are "badly strained," the "NY Times" reports. No surprises there given the many U.S. drone attacks and invasions culminating in the killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers. When you are master of the universe and you pay stipends to servants you expect what? Silence and loyalty. Beena Sarwar is an independent Pakistani journalist and documentary filmmaker. She is the Pakistan editor of Aman ki Asha, a joint initiative of The News in Pakistan and The Times of India. She was a producer for GEO TV, the largest 24/7 news channel in Pakistan. (02 Jul) 120701 John Bonifaz - Fighting Corporate Personhood Democracy, rule of the people, is in the ICU. The pulse, of the system of governance, begun in Athens, is fading. The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision declaring corporations are people and money is free speech may be the deathblow. But galvanized citizens are saying, Wait a second. The game is not over yet. Activists trying to reverse Citizens United were greatly encouraged by the December 30, 2011 Montana Supreme Court decision to uphold that state's century-old ban on corporate money in elections. The Montana ruling said, "With the infusion of unlimited corporate money in support of or opposition to a targeted candidate, the average citizen candidate would be unable to compete against the corporate-sponsored candidate, and Montana citizens, who for over 100 years have made their modest election contributions meaningfully count would be effectively shut out of the process." John Bonifaz, recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, is a lawyer and activist. He is co-founder and director of Free Speech For People Free Speech For People, a national nonpartisan campaign working to overturn the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling and the corporate rights doctrine. (25 Jun) 120604 Morris Berman - Dark Ages in the U.S. From the boarded up storefronts to foreclosed homes to the homeless and unemployed, the signs of decay in the U.S. are all too apparent. The political class pretending to care about the 99% have little to offer beyond boilerplate rhetoric. We hear about the virtues of hard work. If only there was work to be had. From the White House to the state house citizens are treated to a smorgasbord of slogans all capped with God Bless America. Abroad, the imperial war machine grinds on. State of the art warships rule the seven seas. An air force, second to none, commands the skies. Meanwhile back in the homeland there are signs the servants are getting increasingly restless. Occupy Wall Street might rock the structures of power sufficiently to generate the radical change so urgently needed. Morris Berman is a cultural historian and critic. He has taught at universities in North America and Europe. He is an award-winning author. Among his many books are Twlight of American Culture, Dark Ages America, and Why America Failed. (18 Jun) 120603 Susan Herman - The War on Liberties Voltaire said, "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong." In the decade of fear since 9/11 the government has constructed a vast apparatus of control and surveillance. Your most obvious experience is at the airport but it extends way beyond that. Big Brother is watching. Basic liberties are under attack all in the name of protecting those liberties. National security is ritually invoked to cover a range of violations of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The beacon of freedom descends into a twilight zone of criminality. The state has 16 intelligence agencies with untold billions at their disposal in black budgets, operating in secret, carrying out black operations and following what are called presidential findings. Defending liberties is not what they are about. And they sometimes confuse dissent with disloyalty. Susan Herman is President of the American Civil Liberties Union. She holds a chair as Centennial Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, where she teaches courses and seminars in Constitutional Law, Terrorism, and Civil Liberties. She is the author of The Sixth Amendment and Taking Liberties. (11 Jun May) 120602 Richard Wolff - Occupy Wall Street & the Economic Crisis By any standard, 2011 was a historic year of protest and revolution. In Tunisia and Egypt seemingly invulnerable regimes were toppled. In Wisconsin, citizens outraged over attacks on public workers, stayed at the state capitol building and camped and marched in the freezing cold. In August, more than 1,000 demonstrators were arrested protesting the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, in the largest act of civil disobedience in decades. As a result of popular pressure, the project has been put on hold. Then, on September 17, in the heart of economic power, the Occupy Wall Street movement was born. Since then, it has spread and taken different shapes and forms. OWS has changed our vocabulary. 1% and 99% have entered the conversation and the focus is on the deep political, economic and social inequality in the U.S. and around the world. Richard Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and currently a visiting professor at the New School in New York. He is the author of numerous books on economics including Capitalism Hits the Fan. (04 Jun) 120601 SMohamad Junaid - Inside Kashmir Kashmir, renowned for its incredible beauty, is the site of a decades long military occupation mostly hidden from worldview. Adjectives like "intractable" and "protracted" often precede Kashmir. What do the Kashmiri people want? The answer usually is "Azaadi. Freedom. Angana Chatterji, the noted scholar, in her essay "Kashmir: A Time for Freedom," writes, "Freedom" represents many things across India-ruled Kashmir. These divergent meanings are united in that freedom always signifies an end to India's authoritarian governance. In the administration of brutality, India, the postcolony, has proven itself coequal to its former colonial masters. Kashmir is not about "Kashmir." Governing Kashmir is about India's coming of age as a power, its ability to disburse violence, to manipulate and dominate. Kashmir is about nostalgia, about resources, and buffer zones. The possession of Kashmir by India renders an imaginary past real." Mohamad Junaid grew up in Kashmir in the 1990s and witnessed the rise of resistance against Indian rule. He has written on Kashmir in various newspapers and magazines and is a contributor to the book Until My Freedom Has Come. He is a graduate student in anthropology at the City University of New York and he teaches at Lehman College. (28 May) 120504 Stephen Bezruchka - Toward a Healthy Society It's no secret. The poor get the short end of the stick in multiple ways. They live shorter lives and suffer from almost every social problem from lack of decent housing to lousy food to no healthcare to being isolated and reviled. Poverty results in toxic levels of stress. Among the countries in the world, the U.S. ranks in the "top" five in measurable stress, according to an ongoing Gallup survey. Consumerism and the so-called good life are elevated to an almost idyllic plain. But selfish me tooism lead a lot of people to an emotional dead end. It's time to move beyond vacuous slogans such as Looking Out for Number One. Cooperation and collaboration are salubrious. Why does it make good medical as well as moral sense to have a healthy society? Stephen Bezruchka is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington. He worked for many years as an emergency physician in Seattle. His particular areas of research are population health and societal hierarchy. He has spent over 10 years in Nepal working in various health programs, and teaching in remote regions. He is author of numerous articles and essays. He is a contributor to Sickness and Wealth, a book on the effects of global corporatization on health. (21 May) 120503 Joel Salatin - Local Food The ominous subtitle of Eric Schlosser's bestselling "Fast Food Nation" is "The Dark Side of the American Meal." There is one food poisoning and contamination scare after another from beef to spinach to peanut butter to ground turkey. The latest is cantaloupes. You know the line, "It must have been something I ate." Indeed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that food safety problems now account for roughly 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths annually. The growth of local food, community gardens, closer to home food networks, community supported agriculture subscriptions, and farmers' markets are increasingly popular alternatives to industrialized agriculture. At the same time the economic crisis limits choices for manyfamilies. The healthiest foods can be costly. How can we create a sustainable and affordable food system? Joel Salatin is a pioneer of chemical-free farming and an advocate of local food. He runs the Polyface Farm in Virginia. He is featured in the bestseller Omnivore's Dilemma and the Oscar-nominated documentary, Food Inc., as well as Fresh: The Movie. (14 May) 120502 Paul Cienfuegos - We the People Corporate rights are at the core of almost every environmental and social justice problem that we face. Corporate power grew immensely toward the end of the 19th century with the dismantling of legal restraints and the redefinition of corporations as persons with free speech rights. Today, the level of corporate power over the political system and the economy is unprecedented. And it shows no signs of lessening. The Citizens United Supreme Court ruling made a bad situation worse. It allows for unlimited penetration of corporate money into politics. What does it mean for the workings of a self-styled democracy to have corporations calling the shots in Washington and the state houses? We the people are on the short end of the stick. How can citizens change this unfair and unequal situation? Paul Cienfuegos is a community organizer and activist. He co-founded Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County in Northern California, an organization which works to dismantle corporate rule. He lectures and leads workshops on this topic. (07 May) Harry Edwards - The Fire This Time "People are practical." Howard Zinn said. "They want change but feel powerless, alone. They do not want to be the blade of grass that sticks up above the others and is cut down. They wait for a sign from someone else who will make that first move. And at certain times in history there are certain intrepid people who take the risk that if they make that first move others will follow quickly enough to prevent their being cut down. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory." Harry Edwards is a leading authority on the sociology of sports and the intersection of race and class. He helped orchestrate one of the most iconic moments of the Civil Right Movement at the 1968 Olympics when gold medalist Tommie Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos raised their fists in a black power salute. For three decades he taught at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served as a consultant to the  San Francisco 49ers football team and to the Golden State Warriors basketball team. He is the author of Sociology of Sports, Black Students, and The Revolt of the Black Athlete.  (30 Apr) 120405 Himanshu Kumar - Gandhian Activism The legacy of Mahatma Gandhi continues in various ways in India. Gandhi had his flaws but as George Orwell wrote: "compared with the other leading political figures of our time, how clean a smell he has managed to leave behind." There are multiple struggles for justice and dignity going on all over India. A particularly important one is in Chhattisgarh. Chhattisgarh, which means 36 forts in Hindi, is a relatively new state. It was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000. It is rich in resources. Corporations have, with government collusion, been coming in, taking land, and displacing the mostly Adivasi, indigenous people. An armed resistance, alternately called Maoist and Naxalite, to rapacious state and corporate power has arisen. Is there a role for Gandhian activism? Himanshu Kumar is a staunch proponent and practitioner of Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy and techniques of non-violence and civil disobedience. He worked for almost two decades serving the poor in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh until he was driven out in 2009. He continues to publicize the situation in Chhattisgarh.  (23 Apr) 120404 Robert McChesney - The Future of Journalism & Democracy Remember that old song "Love and Marriage?" "Goes together like a horse and carriage. You can't have one without the other." It's kind of that way with journalism and democracy. It's long been axiomatic that a feisty and vibrant press is essential to the healthy functioning of democracy. Journalists are the public's eyes and ears as they monitor the activities of the powerful. Their inquiries, investigations and reporting are vital to what the Founders of the country called an informed citizenry. Jefferson and Madison never thought freedom of the press would be the private preserve of a handful of rich media barons such as Rupert Murdoch. The weakening of watchdog journalism is having negative effects on democracy. What can be done to revitalize the Fourth Estate? Robert McChesney is co-founder of the Free Press, a non-profit organization working to increase public participation in media policy debates. He is professor of communications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Author of numerous books including Rich Media, Poor Democracy and The Problem of the Media, his latest is The Political Economy of the Media. (16 Apr) 120402 - Tariq Ali - World in Crisis (Pt. ) On December 17, 2010 Muhammad Bouazizi, a street vendor in a small town in Tunisia, burned himself to death. He was protesting harassment and mistreatment by state authorities. His death fueled a revolt in Tunisia which toppled the Ben Ali dictatorship. The spark spread to Egypt and within weeks the decades old Mubarak regime was overthrown. The so-called Arab Spring rocked the entrenched old order. Those revolutionary currents have stirred the waters elsewhere. The economic collapse is shaking things up in the U.S. Witness the Occupy Wall Street movement. Americans, fed up and struggling to make ends meet, watch their military bomb and occupy countries from Pakistan to Yemen, are taking to the streets. Citizens are challenging and questioning the status quo. Are we on the edge of genuine change in the structure of power and privilege? Tariq Ali, an internationally renowned writer and activist, was born in Lahore, Pakistan. For many years he has been based in London where he is an editor of New Left Review. A charismatic speaker, he is in great demand all over the world. In his spare time he is a filmmaker, playwright and novelist. He is the author of many books including The Clash of Fundamentalisms, Pirates of the Caribbean, Speaking of Empire & Resistance with David Barsamian, The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power and The Obama Syndrome. (09 Apr) 120402 - Tariq Ali - World in Crisis (Pt. 1) On December 17, 2010 Muhammad Bouazizi, a street vendor in a small town in Tunisia, burned himself to death. He was protesting harassment and mistreatment by state authorities. His death fueled a revolt in Tunisia which toppled the Ben Ali dictatorship. The spark spread to Egypt and within weeks the decades old Mubarak regime was overthrown. The so-called Arab Spring rocked the entrenched old order. Those revolutionary currents have stirred the waters elsewhere. The economic collapse is shaking things up in the U.S. Witness the Occupy Wall Street movement. Americans, fed up and struggling to make ends meet, watch their military bomb and occupy countries from Pakistan to Yemen, are taking to the streets. Citizens are challenging and questioning the status quo. Are we on the edge of genuine change in the structure of power and privilege? Tariq Ali, an internationally renowned writer and activist, was born in Lahore, Pakistan. For many years he has been based in London where he is an editor of New Left Review. A charismatic speaker, he is in great demand all over the world. In his spare time he is a filmmaker, playwright and novelist. He is the author of many books including The Clash of Fundamentalisms, Pirates of the Caribbean, Speaking of Empire & Resistance with David Barsamian, The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power and The Obama Syndrome. (02 Apr) 120401 Chris Hedges - Inverted Totalitarianism The wedding of state and corporate power is at unprecedented levels. The implications for democracy are ominous. Elections are formalities, often more like auctions to be sold to the highest bidder. There is no proportional representation. In a winner take all system the Dems and Repubs got the game all sewed up. And their sponsors the banks are not only too big to fail they are too big to jail. Meanwhile, the ranks of the out of work and out of house and home continue to swell. Basic freedoms of free speech, right of assembly and the right to privacy are being eroded in the name of protecting them. People are saying enough to inverted totalitarianism. The Occupy movement is a popular citizen response to grievances and inequities not being addressed and a universal feeling the system is rigged to favor the rich. Chris Hedges is an award-winning journalist who has covered wars in the Balkans, the Middle East and Central America. He writes a weekly column for Truthdig.org and is a senior fellow at The Nation Institute. He is the author of American Fascists, Empire of Illusion, Death of the Liberal Class, and The World As It Is. (26 Mar) 120304 Richard Wolff - Capitalism Hits the Fan Like that well known substance, Capitalism has hit the fan. The statistics are numbing and do not convey the suffering and trauma citizens are enduring. Gone up in smoke are their savings, pensions, homes and jobs. Poverty is at record levels. For too many, dreams and hopes are shattered. And like the Howard Beale character in the movie "Network," people are yelling, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore." Occupy Wall Street has gone global. People are in the streets pushing back and saying, Enough. "We are the 99%." There is widespread recognition that the economic crash is not just the result of greed and arrogance and lax regulation. There are deeper structural problems with a system that always prioritizes profits over people. The question is what should replace it? Richard Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and currently a visiting professor at the New School in New York. He is the author of numerous books on economics including Capitalism Hits the Fan. (19 Mar) 120303 David Korten - Wall Street or the Common Good The Occupy Wall Street movement is growing. Mumia Abu-Jamal from his jail cell writes: "In Lower Manhattan's Zucotti Park, renamed 'Liberty Square' by the demonstrators, the cast of thousands swell in rebellion against the betrayals by the banks, Wall Street's relentless greed, the plague of joblessness and the craven servility of the political class, both Republicans and Democrats, to their moneyed masters. In short, the central focus of their protest is capitalism, greed writ large. Begun mostly by unemployed urban youth, it has drawn the presence and support of public workers, students, teachers and a considerable number of gray hairs. That's because social discontent is so widespread that it is spreading like wildfire. From Wall Street to Denver, Los Angeles, and beyond. Demonstrations are springing up like mushrooms after a storm, in protest to crony capitalism." David Korten was an insider in the development establishment for several decades. He worked for the Ford Foundation and USAID and taught at Harvard University's Graduate School of Business. Having severed his ties to the past, today he is a leading voice for economic and social justice. He is co-founder and board chair of YES! magazine. He is the author of When Corporations Rule the World and The Great Turning. His latest book is Agenda for a New Economy. (12 Mar) 120302 Arundhati Roy - With the Mayoists in India While China uses Chairman Mao as a figurehead it has embraced a kind of capitalism. But Maoists in India? Yes. Not only there but also in neighboring Nepal where they overthrew the age-old monarchy. But the Maoists main stage is in India. A cascade of grievances has produced various revolts across the country. One of the largest is in central India straddling several states but centered in Chhattisgarh. It is Maoist. That term is used as well as Naxalite. What do they want? They declare their aim is "to build a truly democratic society built on justice, equality, free from the chains of imperialism and semi-feudal bondage." And to achieve that through "guerilla war." Will capitalism in India or anywhere else for that matter, tolerate societies living outside its control? Arundhati Roy is the celebrated author of The God of Small Things and winner of the prestigious Booker Prize. The New York Times calls her, "India's most impassioned critic of globalization and American influence." She is the recipient of the Lannan Award for Cultural Freedom. She's the author of many books including The Checkbook & the Cruise Missile, Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers, and Walking with the Comrades. (05 Mar) 120301 120301 Jodie Evans - Disturbing Power the CODEPINK Way Rocking the boat is never an easy task but you can accomplish meaningful things and have some fun along the way. Playing ball with the rich and powerful of course has its rewards. You're in the golden rolodex. You get invited to all the right parties. People nod at you when you enter a room. Your name gives you entrée to inner circles. In politics the president or the secretary of state may even smile at you and call you by your given name. But all of that adds up to what exactly? Not much. That kind of fame is fleeting. Better to shake things up and fight for human rights and justice. Even if you don't succeed every time you can look in the mirror and feel good about yourself. Jodie Evans is a veteran activist with 30 years experience in organizing for social change. She co-founded Code Pink with the well-known human rights activist Medea Benjamin. They've also edited the recent book Stop The Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism. (26 Feb) 120204 Richard Wolff - Systemic Crisis of Capitalism Today's economic crisis is the most severe since the Great Depression. What are its root causes? The conventional explanations put the blame on greedy bankers who pawned off credit default swaps, sub-prime mortgages, and a smorgasbord of derivatives, on a hapless and helpless public. To make matters worse there was little or no regulation. So if we tinker with some reform measures, pass some legislation, a tax cut here, a little stimulus package there and everything will be hunky-dory. Will it? The seismic failures and problems plaguing Capitalism are systemic and deep. Many people are in dire straits. But not the upper crust. They are riding the gravy train to more riches. Fundamental change is necessary to avoid future collapses. It's long past time to examine Capitalism itself.  Richard Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and currently a visiting professor at the New School in New York. He is the author of numerous books on economics including Capitalism Hits the Fan.   (19 Feb) 120203 Noam Chomsky - unpeople: Where do they Come From? Since the creation of the Israeli state the original occupants of that land have become known as "un-people". Palestinians are only given limited recognition within the state of Israel and that is for the lucky ones. For the rest, particularly those in the apartheid enclaves of Gaza and the West Bank, the term "un-people" is most apt. Receiving no worthwhile support from the international community while its controllers in Israel enjoy billions of dollars in foreign aid, Gaza and West Bank residents remain the poorest and most pitiful in the Middle East. Palestinian status as "un-people" is reinforced in the Western media. Try and find out about the fate of the Muamar brothers and you will find no trace. They have indeed become "un-people". According to The New York Times, Noam Chomsky is "arguably the most important intellectual alive." He has authored over 150 books and is the eighth most cited source of all time, and is considered the "most cited living author". His most recent books include American Power and the New Mandarins, Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians and How the World Works with Alternative Radio's David Barsamian. He delivered the 7th Edward Said Memorial Lecture in Adelaide in November 2011 at an event hosted by the Australian Friends of Palestine Association. (12 Feb) 120202 Noam Chomksy - Changing Contours of Global Order Order implies some form of organisation. Some type of arrangement. The US has often been described as the enforcer of the global order. However, the role of the US in global affairs is declining. Old hands still want to steer the course for the good ship 'Manifest Destiny'. Unfortunately for them, the fog of a new world order has confused and confounded them. No longer the powerhouse it once was, US businesses and governments have outsourced, downsized and sold off just about everything. The unintended consequence of this decades old trend has been to see the balance of power and capital move to the East. India and China have extended and are extending their reach into regions the US once controlled. A new politic is rising in the Middle East. The new global order has moved beyond imperial ambitions and sees new ways of doing business and politics. Can the US adapt? If not, it will shrink to the sidelines, isolated and alone as it was not much more than 100 years ago. According to The New York Times, Noam Chomsky is "arguably the most important intellectual alive." He has authored over 150 books and is the eighth most cited source of all time, and is considered the "most cited living author". His most recent books include American Power and the New Mandarins, Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians and How the World Works with Alternative Radio's David Barsamian. (05 Feb) 120201 Noam Chomsky - Revolutionary Pacifism: Choices and Prospects Pacifist, activist and civil rights campaigner A.J. Muste, argued that "one must be a revolutionary before one can be a pacifist". He pointed out that we must cease to "acquiesce [so] easily in evil conditions," and must deal "honestly and adequately with this ninety percent of our problem … the violence on which the present system is based, and all the evil – material and spiritual – this entails for the masses of men throughout the world." Unless we do so, he argued, "there is something ludicrous, and perhaps hypocritical, about our concern over the ten per cent of the violence employed by the rebels against oppression". According to The New York Times, Noam Chomsky is "arguably the most important intellectual alive." He has authored over 150 books and is the eighth most cited source of all time, and is considered the "most cited living author". His most recent books include American Power and the New Mandarins, Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians and How the World Works with Alternative Radio's David Barsamian. In 2011 Professor Chomsky was awarded the City of Sydney Peace Prize. On November 4th 2011 he delivered the City of Sydney Peace Prize lecture at the Sydney Opera House. (30 Jan) 100304 Nomi Prins - Bailouts, Banks and Pyramids Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize-winning economist comments on the fiscal crisis: "The incentive structures in the financial sector encouraged excessive risk taking. So many of our banks became too big to fail. When you're too big to fail, life is a one-way bet. When you gamble and win, you walk off with the profits. When you gamble and lose, the taxpayer picks up the tab. That's what you've been experiencing. They lost, and we picked up the tab," Stiglitz says. Indeed. The banks were covered and the people were left exposed. And now there is talk about regulatory reform. Excuse the cynicism but it's likely to be a dog and pony show. Why? The foxes are designing the hen house. Wall Street wizards will quickly game the system. Maybe when elks learn to play piano real reform will be possible. Nomi Prins is a former investment banker turned journalist. She worked at Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns. Her articles appear in major newspapers and magazines. She is the author of It Takes a Pillage. (23 Jan) 110703 Helen Caldicott - Hiroshima to Fukushima The disaster at Fukushima has thrust the dangers of nuclear power back in people's consciousness. The idea of an industry renaaissance had been carefully orchestrated by corporations that stand to make tons of money. Politicians, ever mindful of who funds their campaigns, have gone along. It was hailed as a clean and safe solution to addressing climate change and energy issues. An irony of the still unfolding tragedy is that it occurred in Japan, the only country to be attacked by nuclear weapons. The fallout from the fallout has spread around the world. Germany is planning to phase out nuclear power. What would happen if a tornado or some other extreme weather phenomenon hits a reactor? The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it has found serious problems with some emergency equipment that would have made it unusable in an accident. Helen Caldicott, an Australian-born pediatrician, is a world-renowned environmental activist. She was the founding president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, an organization which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She is the author of Missile Envy, If You Love This Planet, and Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer. (16 Jan) 110603 Vandana Shiva - War on the Earth The predatory practices of corporations are increasingly turning our fragile garden into a junkyard. Citizens are told by their political masters and the corporados who pay them that there is no alternative. That's true if one's only concern is profits. That approach is fast turning our planet into a toxic waste dump. The landscape of environmental devastation extends from radiation leaks in Japan to drilling in the Alberta tar sands to hydofracking in Pennsylvania and New York to leveling mountains in West Virginia to more drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. However in India, the site of some of the worst corporate abuses, there is tremendous popular resistance. Some of the poorest people anywhere are saying, Stop the plunder. No to the war on earth. Vandana Shiva is an internationally-renowned voice for sustainable development and social justice. She's a physicist, scholar, social activist and feminist. She is Director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy in New Delhi. She's the recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, the alternative Nobel Prize and the 2010 City of Sydney Peace Prize. She is the author of many books, including Water Wars, Earth Democracy, and Soil Not Oil. (09 Jan) 110602 Kathy Christison - Settlements: Obstacles to Peace There are some 500,000 Israelis living in settlements on what is almost universally regarded as Palestinian land . The first houses went up in the late 1960s and have continued under both Labor and Likud governments. They are the "facts on the ground" Israeli leaders said they wanted to create. There are freezes, partial freezes, and temporary halts in construction. But the trend in more and more building continues. The stalled peace process goes off track. Road maps are redrawn. The Obama administration vetoes UN resolutions condemning Israeli policy. Benjamin Netanyahu once proclaimed, "Semantics don't matter." You can call a Palestinian state "fried chicken." Land for a Palestinian state has been cut into unconnected bits and pieces without much water. Many people say the settlements pose a serious obstacle to peace and a just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Kathy Christison worked for the CIA as a political analyst, dealing first with Vietnam and then with the Middle East. Since leaving the CIA, she writes and lectures. She is a regular contributor to CounterPunch. She is the author of The Wound of Dispossession, Perceptions of Palestine, and co-author of Palestine in Pieces. (26 Dec) 100103 Irene Khan - Poverty and Human Rights The problem of the world's poor is at its core a human rights issue. The worldwide economic downturn is working its way through every level of the global economy. Many people in the industrialized West are experiencing its negative effects with loss of jobs, savings, and homes. But the recession's impact on people in the poorer parts of the world, who were already living with the acute insecurity of employment, food and shelter, is even greater. Amnesty International's latest annual report on the state of the world's human rights documents the devastating consequences of the crisis on the indigent and finds that the economic problems they face are human rights problems too. Political leaders reduce the economic crisis to financial questions that require bailouts and technocratic solutions and in the process ignore the human rights dimension. Irene Khan of Bangladesh is Secretary General of Amnesty International. She worked for the United Nations for many years and is the recipient of the Sydney Peace Prize. She is the author of The Unheard Truth”