Naomi Klein: Capitalism vs the Climate

Part 1: New World Notes #503, 27:51 (October 24)
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Part 2: New World Notes #504, 27:34 (October 31) 
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Writer and activist Naomi Klein discusses the subject of her recent book, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate.

Klein argues that any real solution to the climate crisis must necessarily overturn four factors that are making the crisis worse. And making our lives worse. They are privatization, deregulation, "austerity," and "free trade" deals.

These four factors--pillars of neoliberal economic theory and policy--well deserve overturning on their own (lack of) merits. Because of the climate crisis, transforming the global economy for the better seems much more possible now than it did a decade or two ago.

An interesting and upbeat talk with many good specific examples.

Klein spoke in Montreal on September 16, 2014. Original recording courtesy of CKUT-FM, Montreal. I have lightly edited the original for radio broadcast.  Chuck Rosina recorded David Rovics' "The Biggest Windmill" (in Part 2) live in Boston on January 27, 2013.

This program was originally broadcast, as NWN #344 and 345, in October 2014. Files downloaded from the links, above, are identified in their filenames as NWN #344 and 345.

Hugh Hefner

New World Notes #502, 28:12 (October 17)
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We explore both the good points and the bad of those 20th-century icons, the late Hugh M. Hefner and his Playboy magazine.

Includes excerpts from the Times's fine obituary. Plus personal reminiscences by KD exploring the role of Playboy in his adolescent development--and the magazine's role in American culture. With a relevant song by Tom Lehrer.

Note: Adult themes and language: listener discretion is advised. 

Hugh M. Hefner died September 27, 2017. 

Photo: Bunnies say a tearful final farewell to Playboy founder Hugh M. Hefner. That would be a great caption. Alas, the photo shows the inaugural flight of the corporate jet, 1970.

War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning

New World Notes #501, 27:39 (October 10)
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Prophet and war correspondent Chris Hedges reflects on the psychologically destructive--yet addicting--nature of war. He focuses not on rulers and generals but on the people on the ground--civilians and enlisted soldiers and war correspondents too.

This talk is based on his own experience and based on his book, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002).  Plus some additional reflections by Hedges on PTSD among soldiers who fought in World War Two.

Audio courtesy of Robin Upton's Unwelcome Guests radio program.

Previously broadcast, as NWN #295, in October 2013. MP3 files downloaded from the links, above, are identified as NWN #295.

Celebrities

New World Notes #500, 28:49 (October 3)
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An interesting look at our fascination with celebrities ... and corporate marketers' exploitation of this to sell products.

In fact our attraction to celebrities appears rooted in our evolution: the closer our ancestors got to the alpha male, the more likely they were to survive.

The show includes parts of the documentary film Starsuckers and Chris Hedges' critique of Michael Jackson's funeral.

Chris Hedges' speech was recorded on October 14, 2009, by Ethan Osland, of Black Mask Winnipeg (www.blackmask.ca). Thanks to Ethan and Black Mask for permission to rebroadcast.

Previously broadcast, as NWN #183, in September 2011.

Potpourri 5

New World Notes #499, 28:29 (September 26)
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Salvador Dali celebrates National Lobster Day

A hodgepodge of interesting stuff.

The show includes a Press Review of oddball stories you may have missed--National Lobster Day, the US claims to have "conquered" Jupiter, and more. David Rovics sings about a huge London riot the US press chose to ignore. Then Noam Chomsky explains some of the ways the US's ruling elite keeps "the 99%" powerless, obedient, and economically insecure.

Plus remarks, here and there, by KD.

Homer Simpson channels Gerard de Nerval

Chomsky audio courtesy of the Ralph Nader Radio Hour for May 20, 2017. Chomsky's recent publications include a film and book, Requiem for the American Dream (2017).

National Lobster Day is September 25, 2017--if Stop and Shop Supermarkets' weekly circular is to be believed.

Chris Hedges: The Corporate War On the People

Listen to or download Part One now (Broadcast qlty. 192 kbps--40 MB)
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Listen to or download Part Two now (Broadcast qlty. 192kbps--40 MB)

Listen to or download Part Two now (Good quality 64 kbps--13 MB)

This fortnight in New World Notes, radio programs #497-498, September 12 & 18:

Chris Hedges:
The Corporate War on the People

December 16, 2010: Hedges at an antiwar protest outside the White House. Hedges, Daniel Ellsberg, and others later chained themselves to the surrounding fence. 131 were arrested.

 

Journalist, columnist, and former war correspondent Chris Hedges discusses the corporate attack on the American people and on the "liberal" institutions that once helped empower the people.

Part 1: How we got here. In the first of two installments, Hedges discusses how things got to their unhappy current state. He explores the mass-propaganda machine created during World War I, the rise of the public relations industry to serve corporate power, the campaign against labor unions and other liberal institutions, militarism, the replacement of traditional American values (such as thrift) with corporate values, and the sell-out of the Democratic Party.

Part 2: How to fight back. In the second installment, Hedges discusses totalitarianism, American-style; the Christian Right; why the Tea Party (rightly) hates the Liberal Establishment; the perfidy of the Democratic Party; U.S. parallels with the former Yugoslavia; the necessity of resistance; and the importance that the resistance be nonviolent.

Top: Master propagandist of the Wilson administration, George Creel manufactured American public support for World War I. After the war, Creel's techniques would serve the interests of the large corporations.Bottom: Creel-sponsored propaganda film. Most graphics: Click to enlarge.

Notes, credits, & links

NWN #497 and 498 rebroadcast an interview conducted by Mike McCormick, of the radio program "Mind Over Matters," on December 2, 2010 (slightly condensed by me). http://www.talkingsticktv.org/ . Thanks to Mike for a fine interview and permission to rebroadcast it.

New World Notes originally broadcast these two installments, as NWN #150-151, in January 2011. Files downloaded from the links, above, are identified as #150 and #151.

http://www.truthdig.com/chris_hedges

Chris Hedges' recent book is Death of the Liberal Class (2010).

New World Notes is produced under the auspices (Latin for "table") of WWUH-FM, a community service of that beacon of light in darkest Connecticut, the University of Hartford.

Series overview: Political and social commentary in a variety of genres. Exploring the gap between what we want ... and what they're trying to make us settle for.

Top: abandoned U.S. factory 

Dubious Achievements

New World Notes #496, 28:28 (September 5)
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We remember magazines that have bit the dust--and defunct magazine features, too--notably Esquire magazine's wonderful Dubious Achievement Awards (died February 2008).  This funny annual satire on the year's vice and folly is much missed--and much needed today.

Surely a Dubious Achievement Award would have gone to the Keystone Pipeline. And to Saudi Arabia, for joining the Paris march celebrating freedom of the press.  And to the U.S. Senate, which just decreed that humans are not causing global warming.  And to ...

We still have Conn Hallinan's "Are You Serious?" Awards. We'll read some of the latest. Plus another take on the Keystone Pipeline by singer David Rovics.

 Conn Hallinan

This program was originally broadcast, as NWN #361, in January 2015. MP3 files downloaded from the links, above, are identified as #361.

Escaping the Matrix

Part 1: New World Notes #494, 29:10 (August 22)
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Part 2: New World Notes #495, 29:03 (August 29)
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Dialogue from the film. (Click to enlarge.)

First some brief personal reflections by KD and a bit of music. Then a reading (by Lyn Gerry) of the first half of Richard K. Moore's classic essay, "Escaping the Matrix."

Moore's essay, published in 2000, is a fine discussion of the gap between the Establishment's official propaganda and the real truth about how The System actually works. It's also a concise history of the changing interplay among the forces of imperialism, capitalism, economic policy, and the state.

Lyn Gerry's reding is from installment #87 of her Unwelcome Guests radio program (January 11, 2002). Thanks to Lyn, her successor Robin Upton, and the Unwelcome Guests Collective. www.unwelcomeguests.net

I snipped the song, "The Design of the Galaxy" (in Part 1), from one installment or another of Radio Ecoshock, several years back. "Thanks and a tip o' the hat" to producer Alex Smith.

Parody

Satire

What If You Knew

Part 1: New World Notes #492, 28:52 (August 8):

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Part 2: New World Notes #483, 28:42 (August 15):
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Virtual Renderings' fine audio collage on our environmental crisis, especially global climate change. Features many perspectives and a wide range of voices going back as far as 1958 ... and some relevant music . . . and a little post-apocalyptic science fiction.  I've chopped the piece into two parts.  Introductions and a few inserted notes by K.D.

I've condensed the 55-minute collage slightly to fit our radio timeslots.  The complete 55-minute version (50 MB MP3) may be downloaded  here.  (Right-click then Save)  A smaller, low-bandwidth file (13 MB) also is available.  A large archive of Virtual Renderings' audio collages is available for free listening or download.

The title song is (IMHO) one of David Rovics' best. It's played in its entirety near the end of Part 2.

Originally broadcast, as NWN #306-307, in January 2014. MP3 files downloaded from the links, above, are identified as #306-307.

John Pilger

New World Notes #491, 28:48 (August 1)
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Documentary filmmaker John Pilger discusses the real story behind the U.S.'s opposition to Russia, China, North Korea, and Syria. Pilger's shrewd analysis of actual U.S. foreign policy naturally leads to a discussion of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the corruption of both Clinton and the Democratic Party, the propaganda served up by the mainstream media, and (in Pilger's view) Clinton's well-deserved loss in the 2016 election.

Pilger responds to questions from Cindy Sheehan, from a broadcast of May 23, 2017. Audio courtesy of The People Speak, with Cindy Sheehan. The original program is available on radio4all.net. I have edited the audio slightly, mostly removing stumbles and hesitations.

Dispatches from the Class War

New World Notes #490, 27:51 (July 25)
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T.E. Lawrence ("of Arabia") astride Vincent SS100

Insightful comments on class conflict in America--some recorded, some read aloud--by Noam Chomsky; Nicholas Kristoff; Paul Burchheit; yours, truly; and (very briefly) George Carlin.  Plus a song on the same theme by Jonathan Blackshire.

Note: MP3s downloaded from the links, above, are identified as NWN #384.

The Costs of Empire

Part 1: New World Notes #488 (July 11):
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Part 2: New World Notes #489 (July 19):
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In brief 

A brilliant, witty speech by Progressive political scientist Michael Parenti, delivered in 1994.  One in a New World Notes series of classic talks by Parenti.

In Part 1, Parenti argues that the U.S. is an imperial power.  However, the goal of this empire is not national glory but rather increasing the profits of the Fortune 500.  He shows how "neoimperialism" has replaced "direct-rule" imperialism, how empires cannibalize the republics from which they sprang, and how imperialism is a matter of class politics more than national politics.

In Part 2, Parenti develops his point that empires are about class and wealth, not nationalism. Empires are ruinously expensive, but the expense is paid by [what we would now call] the 99% in order to make the 1% even richer. The costs include not only dollars but also environmental damage, the gutting of the civilian economy, loss of liberty, degradation of politics and public discourse, increasing poverty, many deaths and injuries of our soldiers, and many others.

The gloomy picture is enlivened by Parenti's trademark wit and humor. 

With many examples from recent U.S. history.  Introduction by K.D.

Note: In Part 1, Parenti and I each discuss the U.S.'s glorious military victory over the island nation of Grenada. This year marks our great triumph's 34th anniversary!

Michael Parenti

Note: MP3s downloaded from the links, above, are identified as NWN #286 and #286.

  

 

Jean Shepherd vs "Creeping Meatballism"

New World Notes #487, 28:08 (July 4)
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A look at radio great Jean Shepherd's humorous critiques--from the 1950s--of Americans' conformity, consumerism, and false sense of "progress."

KD reads (and briefly discusses) Shepherd's famous short essay, The Night People vs. 'Creeping Meatballism.' Then--on the same theme--we hear selections from one of Shep's late-night radio broadcasts (May 2, 1959).

Here Shep talks about credit cards ... Green Stamps ... a used atom-smasher for sale ... "progress" ... self-help advice from Senator Lyndon Johnson ... how many ice cream flavors Howard Johnson's restaurants actually have* ... and the brief but glorious crime spree of Ronald Medsker.

* (Claimed = 28. Highest number observed = 26, at the HoJo's at the New Bedford exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.)

Recording of Shepherd's 1959 broadcast courtesy of Flick Lives!  Many thanks.

Note: MP3s downloaded from the links, above, are identified as NWN #359.

More by Jean Shepherd.  We explored Shepherd's art from a different perspective--and heard a different sample of his work--in an earlier installment of New World Notes.  This was NWN #52 (February 2009), rebroadcast August 2012.  Click the links to take a look or listen.

Jean Shepherd, searching in vain for a size "small" tube of toothpaste. Illustration by Wally Wood to Shep's essay "The Night People ...," in Mad magazine, April 1957.

A Sad Heart At the Supermarket

New World Notes #486, 28:32 (June 27)
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Why is supermarket shopping so tiring and depressing? Maybe it's the constant vigilance required to prevent your getting fleeced.

KD contrasts the supermarket's celebration of deception, swindling, and bad faith (all legal) with the eccentric charm of the small shops of Pittsburgh in the 1970s.

Adding to the critique of corporate agro-marketing are two short talks by Jim Hightower and a song by David Rovics.

Russia, China, and the Crisis of the US Ruling Class

Part 1: New World Notes #484, 28:43 (June 13)
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Part 2: New World Notes #485, 29:22 (June 20)
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In a recent talk in Hartford, Glen Ford insightfully dissects US geostrategic policy. He explains how the current anti-Russia hysteria--and, more importantly, the US's disastrous and failing military interventions in the Middle East--are part of a larger effort to contain China. The US ruling class's "crisis" is genuine: the increasing threat that China poses to the US rulers' global hegemony.

To control China, the world's current rulers have to control the oil of the Middle East. But after the Iraq debacle, they lack the public support they would need to commit tens of thousands of American soldiers. So they hire local armies of radical Islamic jihadists as mercenaries. These desperate alliances cannot be publicly acknowledged. So the ruling class works hard to distract the US public.

Glen Ford (2013). Photo by Kenneth Dowst*

Ford spoke at the University of Hartford on May 15, 2017. David Schonfeld recorded the talk live and provided New World Notes with a copy. Many thanks.

* Photo: Creative Commons license granted (BY-NC).

The Backlash Against Women

New World Notes #483, 28:50 (June 6)
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Jennifer Roesch explores the apparent contradiction in our culture: rampant hypersexualiztion and commodification of women but also increasing repression of women's sexuality. In combatting the former, she argues, we should not promote the latter. Let's not recreate the 1950s--the late 1960s are a better model of progress and liberation.

For Roesch, the ultimate cause of both sleaze and repression is capitalism run amok. And we can't have sexual freedom without social and economic freedom.

Roesch spoke at the Socialism 2013 conference, June 27, 2013.  Audio (which I have condensed and edited for radio) courtesy of wearemany.org.

This installment was previously broadcast, as NWN #380, in June 2015. MP3 files downloaded from the links, above, may be identified by that program number.

Reasons for Alarm, Reasons for Hope

New World Notes #482, 28:51 (May 30)
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Eastern Phoebe

A brief talk by KD--on symbiosis, phoebes, and responding to backyard squirrel terrorism--introduces a longer (some would say "better") talk by Noam Chomsky.

Chomsky continues his discussion of the US today. This week he shares some shrewd insights on the radical pro-corporate, anti-social policies of the Republican Congress; the compromised news media; the Trump administration; the U.S.'s growing nuclear arsenal; and the government's persecution of Wikileaks' Julian Assange..

Yet Chomsky finds reasons for hope, too--in the recent large protest demonstrations by citizens; in the heroism of Assange, Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden; and in the popular success of Bernie Sanders.

Chomsky spoke in Cambridge, MA, on April 24, 2017, in response to questions posed by Amy Goodman. Chuck Rosina recorded the talk live. (Thanks again.) His complete recording is available on radio4all.net.

This is our fourth and final installment of Noam Chomsky's April 24 public talk. Previous installments are in NWN # 478, 479, and 480.

The Empire Turns on its Citizens

New World Notes #481, 27:46 (May 23)
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Chris Hedges

Two short talks by journalist/essayist Chris Hedges on the bad effects of empire at home.

As empires buckle under their own weight, the harsh measures of control they use to subjugate countries abroad are turned on their own citizens. We see the evidence all around us: government spying on everyone, economic plunder, militarized police, trumped-up charges against dissenters, and the world's largest prison system.

The goal of the repression is to crush dissent and opposition, says Hedges

Hedges selections are taken from an interview with Sonali Kolhatkar, February 9, 2015, courtesy of Uprising Radio; and from a speech in Newark, NJ, October 9, 2014, courtesy of Building Bridges Radio. Many thanks to producers Sonali Kolhatkar, Ken Nash, and Mimi Rosenberg.

This installment was previously broadcast, as NWN #379, in July 2015. MP3 audio files downloaded from the links, above, may be identified as #379.

Capitalism vs. Democracy, Prosperity, Ecology

New World Notes #480, 27:52 (May 16)
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Noam Chomsky

Nuclear weapons and climate change pose existential threats to life on earth. Democratic institutions would be able and inclined to deal with these threats. But since the 1970s, capitalism has succeeded in undermining democracy and democratic institutions, both in Europe and the U.S.  Thus we have a "perfect storm" of crises.

By undermining democracy, capitalists have also greatly increased their own wealth and reduced the prosperity of the 99%.

So argues Noam Chomsky, in this portion of his briliant and lucid recent talk in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The week's program features 13 minutes of Chomsky plus a related article, "We've Let Capitalism Kill the Planet," by Christian Sorensen. With brief introductions and commentary by KD and a song by Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Noam Chomsky spoke  on April 24 in response to questions posed by Amy Goodman. Chuck Rosina, recorded the entire talk live. (Thanks again.) His complete recording is available on radio4all.net.

"We've Let Capitalism Kill the Planet"--here lightly edited for radio by me--originally appeared on Counterpunch.org, March 28, 2017.

Noam Chomsky on North Korea and Syria

New World Notes #479, 27:25 (May 9)
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North Korea and Syria--what to do? Noam Chomsky reveals some not-well-known facts about the situations, and he makes some intelligent suggestions for wise and humane action by the U.S.

As usual, Chomsky's analysis is a refreshing alternative to the belligerent cliches recited by government spokespersons and the corporate-controlled media.

He spoke in Cambridge, Massacgusetts, on April 24, 2017--in response to questions posed by Amy Goodman.

Chuck Rosina, recorded the talk live. His complete recording is available on radio4all.net.