Friday, December 30, 2011

Morris Berman


To download an audio file (save it on your hard disk): Click on this link for instructions.

New World Notes News
Vol. 4, No. 53 -- December 30, 2011

This week in New World Notes, radio program #200, January 3, 2012

Morris Berman


In brief

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 KD on Berman's ideas.

Above: Morris Berman

Notes, credits, & links

From an hour-long talk by Berman in Seattle, November 4, 2011. Video of the entire talk available from Pirate TV Seattle, complete audio track from Unwelcome Guests.

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

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

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

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.


Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • January 10 & 17 -- Michael Parenti on Empire
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Propaganda Then and Now


To download an audio file (save it on your hard disk): Click on this link for instructions.


New World Notes News
Vol. 4, No. 52 -- Christmas, 2011

This week in New World Notes, radio program #199, December 27, 2011

Propaganda Then and Now

Remember the Maine! (Click to enlarge.)

In brief

Never mind Fox News and the like. Even the most prestigious "mainstream" media--such as the New York Times--bathe the reader in a sea of propaganda. The propaganda furthers the interests of the elite, promotes perpetual war, and denies voice to the opposition. Journalist/filmmaker John Pilger and commentator Margaret Kimberley explain how it works.

Then a 1972 propaganda film attempts to show student antiwar protesters the error of their ways. Unintentionally hilarious!

John Pilger (above), Margaret Kimberley (below)

Notes, credits, & links

John Pilger was interviewed by Kayte Fairfax at the Rebellious Media Conference, London, UK, October 8, 2011. Audio recording courtesy of "Radio Chomsky," New Zealand.

Margaret Kimberley's essay, "Propagandized America," was published November 22, 2011, in Black Agenda Report.

The film Tragedy or Hope is available at The Film Archive.

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

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

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.

Below: Graphic by David Dees.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • January 3 -- Morris Berman
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net

Saturday, December 17, 2011

This Is Where We Take Our Stand


New World Notes News
Vol. 4, No. 51 -- December 17, 2011

To download an audio file (save it on your hard disk): Click on this link for instructions.

This fortnight in New World Notes, radio program #198, December 20, 2011

'This Is Where We Take Our Stand'

Click to enlarge.
In brief

A handful of U.S. veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars--now opposed to such wars--meet, talk, and organize. Then, at the Winter Soldier 2 hearings in 2008, they testify publicly to what they saw and did, including the atrocities and war crimes they witnessed. They reveal, touchingly, the psychological burdens veterans now carry.

This week, New World Notes plays selections from the gripping and ultimately hopeful video documentary--scheduled for broadcast in January on PBS stations that choose to air it.

Two photos by Marmot06 (Flickr)

Notes, credits, & links

Our program is adapted from the Web series, This Is Where We Take Our Stand (6 videos), produced by David Zeiger, Bestor Cram, and Mike Majoros. 

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

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

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.

Above: From the film. Below: Drawing by Carlos Latuff.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • December 27 -- Propaganda Then and Now
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):

A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Kathy Kelly on the Sorrows of War


New World Notes News
Vol. 4, No. 49 -- December 3, 2011

To download an audio file (save it on your hard disk): Click on this link for instructions.

This fortnight in New World Notes, radio programs #196-197, December 6 & 13, 2011

Kathy Kelly on
the Sorrows of War


In brief

Noted peace activist Kathy Kelly discusses the reality of the U.S.'s recent wars. Kelly and some colleagues had "embedded" themselves--not among soldiers but among the common people living in war zones. She gives first-hand accounts of what she saw and heard in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Gaza. She details the massive suffering of innocent people caused by the U.S.'s military adventures.

Here is a side of war that you won't find revealed in the mainstream media.

Kelly also speaks eloquently of the high cost of these unnecessary wars to the American people.

She delivered this talk in Binghamton, New York, in November 2009.

Above: Kelly and friends, Basra, Iraq, 2000. Prior to the US's 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq, the Iraqi people suffered a decade of US-imposed crippling economic "sanctions." About a million civilian deaths resulted. Below: Predator drone.

Notes, credits, & links

Kathy Kelly is co-founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence (http://www.vcnv.org/).

Recorded by (and thanks to) Wilton Vought for Essential Dissent -- http://www.essentialdissent.blogspot.com/ . Video of the entire talk may be found there.

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

You can listen to any installment of New World Notes online or else download it (as an mp3 audio file) for later listening. The show is archived at both radio4all.net and (from #90 onwards) The Internet Archive. Either link should get you a reverse-chrono listing of available installments. Or browse the show's Web site: Each installment has a page, and each page has links to the recorded audio. See the gray sidebar on the right ("CONTENTS [Links]") for a table of contents.

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.


Above: Source: National Priorities Project (click to enlarge).
Below: Drawing by Carlos Latuff.

Coming soon (Tuesday air debut date shown)
  • December 20 -- Propaganda Then and Now
Catch New World Notes (all times Eastern):


A-Infos Radio Project http://www.radio4all.net