The Power to Change

Part 1: New World Notes #546, 28:01 (August 21)
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Part 2: New World Notes #547, 28:06 (August 28)
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Part 3: New World Notes #548, (September 4)
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Howard Zinn

A very good talk by Progressive historian Howard Zinn (d. 2010)--delivered three days after the 2008 presidential election. It deals with key themes in Zinn's writing (and social activism): social justice, war, economic power, the anti-democratic behavior of governments (including ours), propaganda, and the power of the people to organize and compel justice.

Part 1 focuses on the inadequacy of politicians' programs (notably President-elect Obama's) to bring about social justice--especially when those programs are compared with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Two major impediments to social justice in the U.S. are entrenched economic interests and the government's staggering expenditures on war.

Part Two focuses on this country's extravagant military expenditures and "absurd" wars. Zinn explores the American "mindset" that supports wars and imperialism--for example, "American Exceptionalism"; denial of our imperialism; and false definitions of "national security," "terrorism," and "patriotism."

Zinn in earlier days

In Part Three, Zinn concludes his remarks on war by discussing how war corrupts everybody. He draws on both his study of history and his own combat eperiences in World War Two. (He was a bombardier in the Air Corps.) He then discusses the need to learn real history ... how "disobedience is essential to democracy" ... and how "the people" have the power to change their world by joining together in social movements. Selections from the Q&A finish out the program.

KD introduces Part Three with the story of the American bombing of the town of Royan, France, in the last days of World War Two--an important event in the development of Zinn's views on war. Zinn himself dropped some of the bombs that destroyed Royan.

Of note: In 2016, candidate Donald Trump said that having been imprisoned by enemy forces in war does not in itself make John McCain a "hero." Fot this, Trump was--and continues to be--loudly denounced from both left and right. (New World Notes happens to agree with Trump on this particular point.) In fact, Howard Zinn said the same thing of McCain in 2008 (in Part Two). For Zinn, the real heros of the Vietnam War are those who tried to stop it.

Zinn spoke on "The Power to Change" in Binghamton, NY, on November 8, 2008. Original 90-minute recording courtesy of Lyn Gerry and the Unwelcome Guests Collective (unwelcomeguests.net). I have shortened a few pauses and removed a few stumbles: Zinn's talk is otherwise uncut.

Norman Finkelstein on Palestine

New World Notes #545, 28:05 (August 14)
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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. Thanks to David Schonfeld, my colleague at WWUH-FM, in West Hartford, for technical assistance.

Previously broadcast, as NWN #454, in November 2016. Files downloaded from the links, above, are identifies as #454.
 

Tariq Ali on Palestine

New World Notes #544, 28:41 (August 7)
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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.

Previously broadcast, as NWN #446, in September 2016. Files downloaded from the links, above, are identifies as #446.

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.