James G. Anderson on Climate Change

Part 1: New World Notes #462, 29:05 (January 10)
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Part 2: New World Notes #463, 27:59 (January 17)
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Harvard climate scientist James G. Anderson interviewed by Dale Lehman.

In Part 1, Anderson lucidly explains why "global warming" is a bad term to use (it understates the problem's breadth and severity). He makes short work of the claim that climate change is natural, not man-made. And he has interesting things to say about the ozone layer ... the Kyoto Protocol ... and why electricity is overwhelmingly the best fuel, not only for transportation but for heating too. Plus a song by David Rovics.

In Part 2, Anderson discusses--among other matters--how vulnerable the U.S. is to climate chnge, what steps need to be taken, and how to persuade the American people to act. Plus a short talk on climate and the environment by political scientist Michael Parenti (2006) and another song by David Rovics.

Thanls to Dale Lehman (WZRD, Chicago) for the interview and for the original recording, which I have gently edited and condensed.

Haiti: The Shape of Things to Come?

New World Notes #461, 28:44 (January 3)
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Third World people are intentionally kept poor so that our rich "investors" may become still richer. British journalist Johann Hari argues this case, using Haiti as example. Political scientist Michael Parenti (early 1990s) concurs, with examples from Haiti and elsewhere. I suggest that the U.S. is now being pushed down the same road as Haiti. And comedians Bob and Ray offer a comic look at a domestic company that has adopted a Third-World business model: The Great Lakes Paper Clip Company.

Previously broadcast, as NWN #139, in November 2010.

www.michaelparenti.org

Johann Hari's "Suffocating the Poor: A Modern Parable" from Common Dreams, September 19, 2010.

Crime and Punishment

New World Notes #460, 28:32 (December 27)
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The electric chair at Sing Sing (date unknown)

KD ties together several recent crime stories--from a vehicular homicide trial in his town ... to the police shootings in Ferguson and New York ... to the rash of alleged gun-suicides committed by frisked and handcuffed black men in the back seat of police cars ... to the surprising indictment of former mining company CEO Donald Blankenship.

Among the perps, we see who gets the book thrown at him, who gets his wrist slapped, and who walks away without even a trial. Is there any pattern here?

Includes commentary by Glen Ford and a song by Anne Feeney.

With an update of December 2016. Much of this program was previously broadcast, as NWN #353, in December 2014.

Scooter's War on Christmas Kickstarter

An "encore performance" from 2015.  For a summary and download links, please click here.

The Three Global Crises: How Should We Respond?

Part 1: New World Notes #457, 28:31 (December 6)
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Part 2: New World Notes #458, 28:49 (December 13)
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Vincent Emanuele

An eye-opening and well-researched talk by activist Vincent Emanuele. He explores the three crises that are making the world--at best--highly unstable. Then he suggests some steps that the people can take to make our uncertain future as livable as possible.

Since neither government nor business is likely to do anything positive about these crises, useful responses will have to come from the grassroots.

All three crises are deeply rooted in the United States. Two of them are now global. The crises are

• social collapse in the U.S.
• militarization
• ecological disaster

 In Part 1, Emanuele shows the dimensions of social collapse and militarization and begins his discussion of the ecology crisis.

In Part 2, Emanuel explores the ecology crisis in depth and then proposes some general actions that the organized grassroots can take to maintain (insofar as possible) a good,decent, and cooperative life for the people.

Emanuele spoke at the Open University of the Left, in Chicago, on September 24, 2016. Thanks to Dale Lehman/WZRD, for the original audio recording, which I have condensed and slightly edited.

Apokaluptein Tales

New World Notes #456, 29:24 (November 29)
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Occupy Wall Street, 2011

An intriguing audiocollage (from 2010) by Virtual Renderings--condensed for radio by KD. It weaves together political commentary, music, clips from The Matrix, and more. It combines critical views ranging from the Left (Noam Chomsky) to the far Right (stefbot)--and music ranging from the Stones to Harry Shearer to J.S. Bach & more.

It's an engaging, intelligent critique of a U.S. corporate state that pretends to be capitalism and pretends to be democracy. Wrong on both counts!

This program was previously broadcast, as NWN #298, in November 2013. Audio files downloaded from the links, above, are identified as #298.

The unedited, hour-long version of "Apokaluptein Tales" is available in both high-fidelity (56 MB) and low-fidelity (14 MB) versions. 110 additional audiocollages by Virtual Renderings  (at last count) are available on radio4all.net.  For a listing, click on the link in the gray sidebar on the right-hand side of this page (under the heading, "Worth a Look").

The Hollow Men

New World Notes #455, 28:51 (November 22)
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First, K.D. contrasts Halloween (good) with Black Friday (bad)--setting the stage for historian Morris Berman's brilliant and witty talk (ca. 2013).

For Berman, the essential hollowness of America's leaders reflects the hollowness at the core of many of us--and the hollowness of The American Dream (which seems to be just a wish for more stuff). "The System" seems to be collapsing--leaving Morris with very mixed emotions.

Then singer-satirist Roy Zimmerman offers a more upbeat view of the oddness of American life. And last, a few lines from the poem Berman is alluding to, T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men."

Thanks to Robin Upton, of Unwelcome Guests, for Berman's talk. http://unwelcomeguests.net.

This installment was previously broadcast, as NWN #297, in November 2013. MP3s downloaded from the links at the top of this page will be identified as #297.

Norman Finkelstein on Palestine

New World Notes #454, 28:05 (November 15)
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Norman Finkelstein

Mideast expert Norman Finkelstein reviews the horrors of Israel's attacks on Gaza and then explores Palestine's three options for regaining its freedom. Two of them--diplomacy and armed struggle--have failed to work, Finkelstein argues.

That leaves nonviolent mass resistance--with an immediate focus on ending Israel's blockade of Gaza. The tactic has worked before, including in Gandhi's India, in apartheid South Africa, and in fact in Palestine's FIrst Intifada. It can work again--if Palestine can overcome the handicaps of a demoralized population and corrupt political leaders.

Introduction by KD. I have condensed and edited Finkelstein's talk.

Finkelstein and Tariq Ali discussed the Israel/Palestine situation at the 2016 Left Forum. Ali's talk was broadcast in NWN #446, in September.

Firesign Theatre Election Special

New World Notes #453, 28:59 (October 18)
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For Election Day 2016: selections from The Firesign Theatre's 1970 classic, Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers.

Masters of irony, parody, travesty, and sound effects, Firesign created radio dramas satirizing a nation unable to tell reality from the nonsense on TV--nonsense concocted by prostitute politicians and corporate greedheads. The perfect program for this Election Day!

The Firesign Theatre

The plot (such as it is): Flipping TV channels late at night, retired actor George Leroy Tirebiter finds dreck galore plus two old movies starring him, playing simultaneously on two different channels. These are Parallel Hell (a war movie) and High School Madness (featuring all-American teenagers Porgy and Mudhead). In one--or is it both?--of the movies, Tirebiter is running for office: either Dogkiller or People's Commissioner. (You decide!)

With an updated introduction by K.D. The Firesign Theatre material was originally broadcast, in NWN #244, on November 6, 2012.

God Save the Republic! (What's left of it, anyway.)

Ending the Many Wars in Syria

Part 1: New World Notes #451, 28:21 (October 25)
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Part 2: New World Notes #452, 28:40 (November 1)
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A fine new speech by Progressive writer and activist Phyllis Bennis.
 
She argues that Syria is suffering not from a war but from a half-dozen different wars now being fought there. Many of these are "proxy wars" between other countries (e.g., Saudi Arabia and Iran) being "fought to the last Syrian." There is no military solution to the Syrian disaster--and furthermore, every military adventure the U.S.has taken in this century has been a dismal failure. But our record at diplomacy has been good. So let's try diplomacy instead of war in Syria.

Bennis offers fresh and interesting insights, not only about Syria but about America's role in Iraq and Afghanistan as well.

The talk was given at Emanuel College, Boston, October 13, 2016. Many thanks to Dave Goodman, of I.B.I.S. Radio (ibisradio.org), for the original recording.  I have snipped out a few stumbles and pauses; the talk is otherwise uncut.

Eugene Jarecki: The Drug War

New World Notes #450, 28:27 (October 18)
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Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki's documentary on the drug war, The House I Live In, won a top award at Sundance in 2012. Now Jarecki talks about some things he learned while making the film.

Among them: 90% of crack arrestees--but only 13% of crack users--are Black. Drug laws, always a means of race control, are now also a means of class control, with poor whites increasingly targeted. And the original "War on Drugs"--launched by Nixon in 1971--devoted two-thirds of its budget to treatment programs (vs. almost nothing today).

Introductory & concluding remarks by K.D.

Jarecki's remarks are taken from an interview by Michael Slate, broadcast on The Michael Slate Show on KPFK, Los Angeles. Many thanks for permission to rebroadcast.

* New World Notes originally broadcast this program (as NWN #220) in May 2012. Audio files downloaded from the links, above, may be identified as NWN #220.

Morris Berman

New World Notes #449, 29:06 (October 10)
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With great wit and humor--and clever specific examples--cultural historian Morris Berman argues a gloomy main point: American civilization as we know it is doomed. Few prophets of doom are as enjoyable to listen to as Berman, though.

Here he discusses 13 ways America is going to hell in a handbasket. (#2 includes this item: the new American History school curriculum in Texas has a unit on Estee Lauder but not George Washington. Berman asks: why not Kim Kardashian?)

With a preface by K.D. on Berman's ideas.

Morris Berman

This program is excerpted from an hour-long talk by Berman in Seattle, November 4, 2011. Video of the entire talk is available from Pirate TV Seattle (www.edmaysproductions.net). The complete audio track is available from Unwelcome Guests (www.unwelcomeguests.net/580).

Berman's most recent book is Why America Failed: The Roots of Imperial Decline (Wiley, 2011).

* New World Notes originally broadcast this program (as NWN #200) in December 2011. Audio files downloaded from the links, above, may be identified as NWN #200.

Chris Hedges Ad Lib.

New World Notes #448, 28:47 (October 4)
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Unscripted, incisive discussion of a range of issues by Progressive journalist, essayist, and activist Chris Hedges.

Topics include the corruption of the judiciary ... the mass media as the propaganda organ of the Corporate State ... how the Democratic Party has betrayed its constituents ... the false promises of Barack Obama ... the growing public opposition to Israel's Palestine policies ... and (not unrelatedly) the increasing attacks on free speech.

Hedges' remarks are taken from a question-and-answer session following his lecture, "The Algebra of Revolution" (Seattle, April 2016). The lecture was broadcast by New World Notes in August 2016. Thanks to Pirate TV Seattle for the original video recording. I have condensed and edited the audio.

Dave Zirin on American Football

New World Notes #447, 28:17 (September 27)
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University of Pennsylvania football team, 1901

Progressive sports commentator Dave Zirin explains the upper-class origins of American football. And he shows football's connections with "muscular Christanity" and with 19th century US imperialism.
 
The game has always been violent and has caused countless player injuries and deaths--but Zirin argues against those who would ban the sport. Zirin's solution: for all jobs--including NFL football--is this: support the workers in their struggle to control workplace rules and working conditions.

I have never been a sports fan. I think the last football game I watched was in 1968. We--that is to say, Bucknell--won. Or maybe we lost. Who cares? Instead of warming the bleachers, I should have burning my draft card.

But even I find Zirin's talk to be to be witty, interesting, and well worth a listen.

Dave Zirin

I have condensed Zirin's talk, which he delivered at the Socialism 2012 conference, in the Chcago area, in September 2012.

This program was previously broadcast, as NWN #240, in October 2012. Audio files downloaded fro the links, above, are identified as #240.

Tariq Ali on Palestine

New World Notes #446, 28:41 (September 20)
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A fine talk on the past, present, and possible future of Palestine and its people, now enduring a brutal blockade and half-century-long military occupation by Israel. Much of Ali's criticism, though, is directed not against Israel but against the corruption of Palestine's "leaders"--the PLO and the so-called Palestinian Authority. These "leaders," conniving with Israel, have enriched themselves while the mass of Palestinians suffer, and they have made a "two-state solution" now impossible

Ali also criticizes the Arab countries, the United States, and most of Europe for their indifference to the Palestinians. And he praises the B.D.S. movement (boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel)--while noting its limitations.

Also of note: Ali's comparison and contrast of Palestine today and apartheid South Africa of years past ... and his discussion of why the Bernie Sanders movement is so encouraging.

Ali's remarks--which I have edited and condensed for radio broadcast--are from a panel discussion at the Left Forum, in New York, in May 2016.

Thanks to David Schonfeld, my colleague at WWUH-FM, in West Hartford, for technical assistance.

London-based Tariq Ali is an activist and a scholar of international affairs. He is the author of more than a dozen books and the editor of the New Left Review.

Joe Bagent

New World Notes #445, 28:28 (September 13)
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Joe Bageant

A celebration of writer Joe Bageant (1946-2011). He wrote brilliantly, profanely, and with humor on the corporate plundering of America ... on the connivance of our politicians ... and on a despised minority group: poor whites ("rednecks"). He was born and raised one himself. He's best known for his best-selling book, Deer Hunting With Jesus (2008).

This installment features readings from 2 of Bageant's essays, a nice obituary in a style much like Joe's, and selections from recorded interviews.

This program was previously broadcast, as NWN #167, in May 2011.

Jobs

New World Notes #444, 28:36 (September 2)
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Which is worse: a job where your bosses are idiots, you don't have a prayer of success, it's 110 degrees, sex is a distant memory, once in awhile people shoot at you, and the nearest bottle of beer is 100 miles away? ... Or unemployment?

That's a close call. Listen and decide for yourself.

This week we look at jobs, unemployment, and federal policies that affect the economy. We start with a good short movie by Progressive economists ECON 4. They say that the country's budget deficit is not an important economic problem. The main economic problem is widespread unemployment, and increased government spending should be part of the cure. Politicians of both parties are lying.

Then we hear about a really bad job--in both senses of the term. KD reviews a scathing and very funny book, full of first-hand details of how the State Department botched Iraq reconstruction--written by a foreign service officer on the scene who helped botch it. (We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People, by Peter Van Buren, Metropolitan Books, 2011)

Chris Hedges: The Algebra of Revolution

Part 1: New World Notes #442, 28:41 (August 23)
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Part 2: New World Notes #443, 28:38 (August 30)
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Chris Hedges

A new, hard-hitting speech by journalist/essayist Chris Hedges. It's about the corruption of "the System" ... the increasing power of "the one percent" ... the betrayal of the people by the Democratic and Republican parties ... the century-long crackdown on dissent ...

And it's about our increasingly meaningless national politics, in which our real and pressing problems (climate change, oligarchy, a plundered economy) are seldom even mentioned--let alone debated, let alone put to a vote.

Hedges devotes some particular attention to the three national candidates: Clinton, Sanders, and Trump. None of them advocates the sort of radical change that (to Hedges) is our only hope.

Introduction by K.D.

Hedges spoke in Seattle on April 25, 2016. Video recording courtesy of Pirate Radio Seattle. I have edited the soundtrack for radio broadcast.

Photo (above) by Justin Norman, Creative Commons licanse (by-cc). Thanks.

Dog Day Afternoon at the Movies

New World Notes #441, 29:04 (August 16)
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The neighborhood movie theater of my youth: Manor Theater,
Prospect Park, Pa. (destroyed by fire in 1970)

Three short, Progressive documentary films on our environmental crises--specifically, on fossil fuels, air and water pollution, consumer-electronics trash, and Wall Street schemes.

The films are

• 300 Years of Fossil Fuels in 300 Seconds by the Post Carbon Institute (Richard Heinberg)
• The Story of Cap & Trade by Annie Leonard
• The Story of Electronics by Annie Leonard

Annie Leonard is now (since 2014) Executive Director of Greenpeace USA.

This program was previously broadcast, as NWN #283, in August 2013. MP3s downloaded from the links, above, are labelled with the older program number.

GMOs Are Bad. The System Is Worse.

New World Notes #440, 29:20 (August 9)
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Mickey Z.

Writer and activist Mickey Z. concisely explains everything that's wrong and bad about genetically modified crops (GMOs), particularly Monsanto's GMOs. He shows what's wrong economically, environmentally, nutritionally, politically, you name it.

But GMOs are a part of a larger evil--monopolistic corporate agribusiness. And that is a part of an even larger evil: "the whole System." 

But people have power to bring about change, and Mickey Z offers some suggestions and examples.

With an introduction by K.D.

Mickey Z (Mike Zezima) spoke in New Yok City on May 25, 2013.  From a video by Wilton Vought, available at www.othervoicesotherchoices.blogspot.com.  Edited by KD. Many thanks to Wilton.

This program was previously broadcast, as NWN #317, in April 2014. MP3s downloaded from the links, above, are labelled with the older program number.