Sunday, April 13, 2014

Imperialism Old and New

Part 1: New World Notes #319, 29:29 (April 15)

Brodcast quality MP3 (41 MB)
Decent quality MP3 (14 MB)

Part 2: New World Notes #320, 28:59 (April 22)

Broadcast quality MP3 (40 MB)
Decent quality MP3 (13 MB)


A classic talk from 1999 by political scientist Michael Parenti.  It's just as illuminating today as it was then--and often funny, too. It is titled, Globalization: the New Imperialism.

In Part 1, Parenti shows how the Western colonial powers un-developed the "Third-World"--increasing poverty there in order to enrich private corporations at home. Indeed (Parenti argues), almost all U.S. foreign policy seems aimed at increasing the profits of the Fortune 500.

This is the real purpose of the hundreds of U.S. military interventions abroad--many of which overthrew democratically elected governments, replacing them with dictatorships friendly to U.S. corporate interests. Boosting corporate profits likewise is the reason befind our recent spate of "humanitarian" military interventions.


In Part 2, Parenti shows that imperialism's current form is "multilateral free-trade agreements" such as NAFTA and GATT. These draconian, anti-democratic treaties give corporations the power to veto any national laws that might interfere with their profits.

Parenti's brilliant, passionate, and funny talk is as relevant today as it was in 1999.

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Brief introductions by KD.

The recording of Parenti's talk courtesy of Sally Soriano and People's Video-Audio. I have slightly condensed Part 2 to fit our radio timeslot.



3 comments:

Donald said...

I have been impressed with your radio shows. You have probably been around for a while but I have only discovered you.

Thanks for your great work.

Kenneth Dowst said...

Thanks for your kind words, Donald. Much appreciated. Suggestions and comments, even negative ones (if reasonably polite), are always welcome.

Ken

Kenneth Dowst said...

PS: Donald -- I've "been around for awhile," all right! Oh, you mean the radio show? That's been for about 6 years. :-)