Naomi Klein on CIA Project MK-ULTRA

New World Notes #678, 29:19 (March 2)
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Psychiatrist and CIA collaborator Dr. Ewen Cameron (left) performed mind-control experiments on numerous patients.

For two decades, the CIA conducted secret experiments in torture and mind-control as Project MK-ULTRA. Among their experimental subjects were American and Canadian citizens--none of whom were aware of what was being done to them.

Naomi Klein tells the story of Gail Kastner, who discovered decades later that the CIA (via her psychiatrist) had permanently damaged her mind and body with drugs, sensory deprivation, and electroshock--all without her knowledge or consent.

Klein reads from her book, The Shock Doctrine. The recording--here slightly condensed by me--had previously been broadcast on "Unwelcome Guests." Thanks to Lyn Gerry and the Unwelcome Guests Collective.

This installment was previously broadcast, as NWN #279, in 2013.

Music added: The song "Short Memory" by Midnight Oil.

I chose "Short Memory" because of its theme--Americans' (and the American government's) habit of making the same mistakes over and over again. Later it dawned to me that my choice of song might be seen as mocking the memory loss that Kastner and other victims of MK-ULTRA had experienced. No such mockery is intended. --K.D.

John Pilger

New World Notes #677, 28:48 (February 23)
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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.

Previously broadcast by NWN in 2017.

Where Does The Left Go After Trump?

Part 1: New World Notes #675, 28:05 (February 9)
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Part 2: New World Notes #676, 28:42 February 16)
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Noam Chomsky's new look

In a new interview, the eminent Progressive scholar and activist Noam Chomsky explores current political and economic conditions. And he explores what the American people should do next--with Trump out and Biden in--to begin restoring democracy and improving the lot of "the 99%."

Here Chomsky blends an encyclopedic knowledge of politics and economics, . . . an inclination to take "the long view" of current affairs, . . . and a surprisingly optimistic view of the future.

Part 2 ends with a memorial to labor activist / singer / songwriter Anne Feeney, who died February 3. We play her song from the early 1990s, "War on the Workers." The song nicely anticipates and complements the main points Chomsky makes in Part 2.

Chomsky spoke on January 12, 2021, I have edited the talk for radio. The unedited presentation, a remote interview, is available on the Jacobin channel on YouTube.

Work, Debt, and Crisis

Part 1: New World Notes #673, 29:11 (January 26)
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Part 2: New World Notes #674, 28:19 (February 2)
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A fine audio collage--originally titled Capital Games--by Chazk, a.k.a. Virtual Renderings. An intriguing and sometimes rocking blend of satire, music, and also analysis by several voices (among them Richard Wolff's).

The piece explores the economic problems of our time--fallling wages, consumer debt, overwork, unemployment, decline of manufacturing, corrupt politicians, crooked banks and bankers, soaring corporate profits, and stratospheric executive salaries ... among others.

More by Chazk. An extensive, free archive of Chazk's / Virtual Rendering's collages is available.  You'll find a link in this Web site's "Worth a Look" section, on the gray sidebar on your screen's right.

Advertising at the Edge of the Apocalypse

Part 1: New World Notes #670, 28:00 (January 5)
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Part 2: New World Notes #671, 28:18 (January 12)
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Part 3: New World Notes #672, 28:40 (January 19)
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An engaging and insightful documentary on corporate-sponsored advertising in the 21st century. It explores advertising's ubiquity; its insidiousness; its devastating social, psychological, and environmental effects--and its role in perpetuating the most harmful aspects of corporate capitalism.

Communications scholar and activist Sut Jhally narrates. The film is adapted to radio, and with introductions, by KD.

Part 1 focuses on the commercial takeover of our culture, the problem of industrial overproduction, and the development of the advertising industry to increase demand for products.

(Click to enlarge)

Part 2 explores the failure of "the Marketplace"--and of capitalism--to provide what people consider to be the real sources of happiness: good social relationships, love and romance, meaningful work, and the like. Capitalism--especially through advertising--quite falsely promises that buying consumer goods will lead to those sources of happiness.

Then Part 2 examines the devastating ecological and environmental effects of our culture's binge of consumption.

Part 3 further explores the ecological devastation wrought by the trio of neoliberal capitalism, rampant consumerism, and product advertising. It also explores the breakdown of social ties--and the celebration of rampant and live-for-today individualism--that this trio promotes.

But the film's conclusion is optimistic: many people are seeing through the trio's false promises and are rebelling.

Following the film are two complementary sketches: comedian Bill Hicks on advertising and marketing, and Janis Joplin's song, "Mercedes Benz."

Sut Jhally, at UMass, Amherst

Advertising at the Edge of the Apocalypse was produced, in 2017, by the Media Education Foundation.

Clutter

New World Notes #669, 27:31 (December 29)
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It's stressful; it's expensive; ir's bad for the environment; it's bad for the soul; and it's very hard to get rid of. No, not the Trump Administration (or bedbugs): I'm referring to clutter.

We explore the problem with true confessions by me, an article by Erica Layne, remarks by environmentalist Lloyd Alter, and music by Chumbawamba.

Alex Wise's interview with Lloyd Alter courtesy of Sea Change Radio (December 11, 2018). Erica Layne's "9 Hard Truths About Clutter You Need to Hear" courtesy of ericalayne.co.

Previously broadcast, in January 2019. Files downloaded from the links, above, may be identified as NWN #566.

Scooter's War on Christmas Kickstarter

New World Notes #668, 28:33 (December 22)
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The Church fights back

A fine audio collage on Christmas and America produced by Scooter. A blend of social satire, inspired nonsense, improbable music, serious debate, standup comedy, right-wing craziness, & great fun.

This collage weaves together a debate on religion by the late Christopher Hitchens (atheist) and Catholic spokesman Bill Donahue, a parody musical-comedy Christmas movie, a parody war movie (climaxing in the death of all three Chipmunks), ravings by Bill O'Reilly and a few televangelists, heavy-metal Christmas carols, standup comedy by Lewis Black and Sam Kinison, and more.

Once again we present Scooter's tour-de-force almost uncut ... almost uncensored ... and almost unabridged!

This installment was previously broadcst--most recently in December 2018. The "broadcast quality" version has an extra bleep, making it all the more suitable for airplay.

Scooter, in a reflective moment

Scooter produced "The innerSide" radio program at KPFT-FM, Houston.

Robert Fisk and Chris Hedges

New World Notes #667, 28:14 (December 15)

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Robert Fisk, who died on October 20, was one of the finest foreign correspondents writing in English. For decades his beat was the Middle East. To mark his passing, we reprise one of his few appearances on New World Notes, in this installment from February 2019. Also featured is former foreign correspondent Chris Hedges.

Different in style, the two reporters are alike in their hatred of lies and propaganda, their command of recent history--and their disdain for Trump's presidency.

Fisk discusses the war in Syria, Iran, Putin, Trump, and the flood of propaganda in the media. Hedges discusses how social justice requires economic justice and also effective means of nonviolently overturning established power.

With an updated introduction by KD. Plus a song by Yikes McGee.

Chris Hedges

Chris Hedges' recent book is America: The Farewell Tour (2018).

Many thanks to Jeff Blankfort, host of "Takes on the World," for these selections from his interview with Robert Fisk (June 13, 2018). Hedges' remarks are from the Q&A following his talk, "America: The Farewell Tour" (New York City, December 8, 2018), broadcast in NWN #571-572.

Thanks again to Wilton Vought--then of "Other Voices, Other Choices," currently of "Essential Dissent"--for re-engineering and making available the audio of Fisk's talk. "Essential Dissent" can be found at several places on the Web including YouTube, Facebook, iTunes, and radio4all.net .

Pandemic Journal 3: Another Toilet Paper Shortage

New World Notes #666, 28:10 (December 8)
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Wry reflections by KD on American toilet-paper shortages current and past--including the original one of 1973. Plus capitalism's high-dollar solution to the current one: give bidets as Christmas presents to everyone on your list. Yes, they actually said this. And David Rovics' $1.98 alternative.

Plus a short, unusually upbeat talk by Chris Hedges and--to celebrate installment #666--a few words on the number of the beast.

"Automate your lifestyle" ?? Capitalism saves the day with a high-priced alternative to toilet paper. Don't forget to add the cost of that new electrical outlet behind your $5000 toilet-bidet combination.

Working-class alternative.

The Politics of Cultural Despair

Part 1: New World Notes #664, 28:41 (November 24)
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Part 2: New World Notes #665, 27:40 (December 1).
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Chris Hedges

A rousing, no-holds-barred new speech by the activist, essayist, and Pulitzer-winning journalist Chris Hedges, delivered in October 2020.

Hedges sees the engineering of public despair as a deliberate strategy of our country's real rulers, the corporate oligarchs. Alas, history shows that citizens in despair often turn to fascism, thereby only compounding their misery and the oligarchs' power.

In Part 1, Hedges surveys the misery in which tens of millions of Americans now find themselves--jobless, without savings, without health insurance, facing eviction, coping with a pandemic, and more. He denounces both major political parties--with special focus on the Democratic Party (including Joe Biden), which has faithfully served the oligarchy and worked to disempower the citizens for many decades,

In Part 2, Hedges focuses on the rise pf "Christian Fascism" (a.k.a. "the religious Right). This movement is drawn primarily from the White working class--people that have indeed been brutalized by the System. But these people's just anger has been cynically misdirected by the Elite--away from their real oppressors and towards the country's liberal and democratic institutions.

Hedges sees reform of our corrupt system as impossible. That leaves only two possible outcomes: popular rebellion leading to some form of humane, democratic socialism ... or else tyranny. The Elite--and the institutions they control, such as the police--much prefer the latter.

Following Hedges' speech, we lighten the mood a bit with a new song by David Rovics, "Vaccine."

Hedges' speech, which he delivered remotely, was sponsored by GCAS College in Dublin. I have shortened a few pauses and snipped out the occasional stumble.

COVID-19 and the End of Capitalism

New World Notes #663, 28:40 (November 17)
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Richard D. Wolff

Capitalism is a fatally flawed economic system that cannot be made to work well, argues economist Richard D. Wolff. One fatal flaw is its instability: for the past 300 years, capitalist economies have crashed every 4-7 years. 

We are now in the third crash of the 21st century, the worst since the 1920s. The COVID pandemic--and the right-on-schedule crash it triggered--make the system's failures undeniable, Wolff argues.

Wolff is in fine form in these selections from an interview (of September 15, 2020) with the Progressive Canadian video blogger, Mexie.

First, though: brief eulogies for Connecticut radio program producer and political activist Mike DeRosa and for veteran Middle-East correspondent Robert Fisk. And a funny song on President Trump by satirist Roy Zimmerman and friends.

Mexie's video programs are available on YouTube. I have borrowed the title of her interview with Wolff (as well as a fair amount of the audio). Many thanks.

Richard D. Wolff--Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst--has written or co-authored 16 books on economics and economic theory.

Life and Times of Howard Zinn

Part 1: New World Notes #660, 28:38 (October 27)
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Part 2: New World Notes #661, 27:56 (November 3)
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Part 3: New World Notes #662, 27:29 (November 10)
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The celebrated Progressive historian, political activist, and professor Howard Zinn is profiled in this radio adaptation of the documentary film, You Can't Be Neutral On a Moving Train.

Speakers including Alice Walker, Daniel Ellsberg, Marian Wright Edelman, Staughton Lynd, Noam Chomsky, Fr. Daniel Berrigan, Tom Hayden, and Zinn himself offer interesting perspectives on Zinn's times and his work. Narrator Matt Damon reads passages from Zinn's writings.

The film, directed by Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller, was released in 2004.

Howard Zinn (1922-2010) published more than 20 books including the influential A People's History of the United States (1980).

Selma, Alabama, 1963: Zinn (center) and James Baldwin (right)

Part 1 covers Zinn's impoverished early life in NYC; his early disillusionment with the police; and his experiences as a shipyard worker, Air Force bombardier in WWII, graduate student, and left-leaning white professor in a conservative Black college in the South as the Civil Rights movement took hold.

All these events profoundly shaped Zinn's views on politics, democracy, freedom, history, and historiography.

Part 2 covers Zinn's firing by Spelman College, move to Boston University, Vietnam-era antiwar activities, trip to Hanoi to return American POWs, his views on civil disobedience, and his targeting by the police and FBI. 

Of particular interest in Part 2: extensive reflections by antiwar activist Fr. Daniel Berrigan (d. 2016).

Boston Progressive activists Howard Zinn (BU) and Noam Chomsky (MIT), ca. 1970

Part 3 includes the favorable public reaction to Zinn's People's History, especially by school students and teachers; scenes from Zinn's play, Marx in Soho; and Zinn's public opposition, post-9/11, to going to war against Iraq.

First, though, we'll hear President Trump's public denunciation of Zinn for destroying the patriotism of schoolchildren (September 17, 2020)--and then part of a 2009 interview of Zinn, by Amy Goodman, in which Zinn explains what he would like young people to learn about American History. (Thanks to democracynow.org for the audio in this segment.)

Firesign Theatre Election Special

New World Notes #659, 28:49 (October 19)
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For Election Day 2020: 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.)

True to Earth

Part 1: New World Notes #657, 28:32 (October 6)
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Part 2: New World Notes #658, 27:54 (October 13) 
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A classic audio collage by Chazk / Virtual Renderings, condensed a bit by KD. It explores the root of today's social, economic, and environmental crises: Western civilization's out-of-touch-ness with the natural world. American Indians provide better examples of how to thrive in the world. 

Included: the greatest Navajo insult, why hunter-gatherers lived longer and better than people in agricultural societies, and other interesting ideas.

The piece blends commentary by indigenous people and Euro-Americans, plus a good deal of music.

Unedited versions of Virtual Renderings' 114 audio collages are archived at radio4all.net. (Another link is under "Worth a Look," at the top of this blog's gray right-hand sidebar.)

Life in a Declining Empire

New World Notes #656, 28:21 (September 29)
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Senator Bernie Sanders. Both Mark Crispin Miller (in this
installment) and Chris Hedges (elsewhere) have
criticized him as a fake progressive--though

perhaps less fake and less evil than Joe Biden.

Living in a collapsing empire is no fun at all. The elites plunder the metropolis, public institutions fail, and politics become nearly meaningless. Both journalist Chris Hedges and propaganda expert Mark Crispin Miller share some good insights on the subject.

Just as you suspect, they are not talking about ancient Rome or the USSR but about the United States in the Fall of 2020.

Speaking of "nearly meaningless" politics ... neither Hedges nor Miller has anything good to say about the alternative to Trump that the Democratic Party now is offering. In their view, this November 3rd Americans get to choose between two different styles of evil. Choose your poison! as the saying goes.

My own fearless prediction: The winner of the 2020 election will be Goldman Sachs.

Chris Hedges

Many thanks to Richard D. Wolff's Economic Update program for his interview with Chris Hedges, broadcast August 31, 2020. Likewise, many thanks to the Politics and Science program on WMRW, Warren, VT (May 25, 2020) for my selections from John Barkhausen's long interview with Mark Crispin Miller. The complete original programs are available on YouTube (Hedges) and radio4all.net (Miller). I have shortened pauses and deleted stumbles in both interviews.

Mark Crispin Miller

Celebrities

New World Notes #655, 28:49 (September 22)
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An interesting look at our fascination with celebrities ... and corporate marketers' exploitation of this fascination 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 also 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, in 2011 and 2017. Files downloaded from the links, above, may be identified as NWN #500.

Popular Resistance and Rebellion

New World Notes #654, 29:00 (September 15)
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Tahrir Square, Cairo, December 19, 2011

(Click to enlarge.)

KD explores some popular nonviolent rebellions that nobody saw coming--such  as the "Arab Spring" and Occupy (both 2011)--and draws parallels to today's popular rebellion against the racist violence of police.

Then the young Howard Zinn, in a debate from 1971, argues that nonviolent mass protests have always been necessary in the U.S. to compel the System to change.

Zinn was defending in advance a massive protest against the Vietnam War, which was then being planned for Washington, DC, in May 1971. Zinn's eloquent defense of large-scale popular protests including civil disobedience illuminates the widespread "Black Lives Matter" demonstrations of our own time.

Plus one and a half relevant songs by David Rovics.

Surviving the Collapse

New World Notes #653, 28:26 (Sept. 8)
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Ex-cop, investigative journalist, activist, and prophet Michael Ruppert (1951-2014)  was quirky, controversial ... and very often right. In this interesting monologue, he explains why Western industrial civilization is unsustainable and beginning to collapse--and what Americans can do to weather the transition. Surprisingly, he ends on a note of optimism.

From Chris Smith's 2009 film, Collapse. Previously broadcast, in December 2012. 

Labor Day Musical Special

New World Notes #652, 29:13 (September 1)
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Bindery workers assembling the Sears, Roebuck catalog (1942)
(Click to enlarge.)

American Labor celebrated in some really good contemporary songs--by Anne Feeney, The Foremen, Mad Agnes, John McCutcheon, Utah Phillips, and David Rovics. Featuring (in order of appearance)

David Rovics, The Day the Minimum Wage Workers Went on Strike. An upbeat celebration of the working class and of strength in solidarity ... with some very nice banjo picking

Mad Agnes, Katie. A witty and sharp critique of bourgeois life from the perspective of the long-suffering--and admirable--cleaning lady

The Foremen, Workin' on an MBA. Comic satire of the cushy life & boundless self-pity of the men in the gray flannel suits--set to a tune that recalls a chain gang work-song. Yep, one of those voices is Roy Zimmerman's

Utah Phillips, Moose Turd Pie. Spoken, with a little guitar. Utah recalls (with only the slightest hint of exaggeration) the worst job he ever held

Anne Feeney, Business News / Hallelujah, I'm a Bum! A beautiful rendition of an 1890's song about unemployment. A fine homage to Simon & Garfunkel's 1965 classic "Silent Night / 6 o'Clock News" and a good song in its own right

John McCutcheon, Doing Our Job. McCutcheon applies Cal Ripken Jr.'s modest remarks upon breaking a major-league record to working people generally. A long-overdue celebration of the best of American working-class values.

This installment was previously broadcast. Files downloaded from the links, above, are identified as NWN #391.

Charles C.Ebbetts, Lunch: Rockefeller Center (1932)

The Two Sides of George Carlin

New World Notes #651, 28:19 (August 25)
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Comedian / satirist / critic George Carlin is in peak form in these satiric sketches from the 1990s--not previously broadcast on New World Notes. With sharp and strong satire he skewers much of American culture and politics. 

A gentler satiric style is included as well, in Carlin's comic discussion of the silly idioms (such as "down the tubes") we use in American speech.

All (now) suitable for airplay. (Grumble!) With a little commentary, here and there, by KD.

George Carlin, 1937-2008.  R.I.P. and thanks.

I am indebted to Free D. People, who was host of the show Talk on Colorado Free Radio. Talk's 2-hour uncensored tribute to George Carlin, issued following the performer's death in 2008, was the basis for New World Notes's highly edited selection.