Noam Chomsky: Activism, Anarchism and Power

Noam Chomsky -- Activism, Anarchism, and Power
Conversations with History

On this edition of Conversations with History, UC Berkeley's Harry Kreisler is joined by linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky to discuss activism, anarchism and the role the United States plays in the world today.

To Watch the Conversation

Martin Luther King Jr.: We've Got to Begin to Ask Questions About the Whole Society

...And one day we must ask the question, “Why are there forty million poor people in America?” And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising questions about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question, you begin to question the capitalistic economy. And I'm simply saying that more and more, we've got to begin to ask questions about the whole society...

Martin Luther King on racism, poverty, capitalism, and other big questions

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference Presidential Address: August 16, 1967

Best of the Left: #440 Governments vs Journalism (Wikileaks); #442 They are legion, etc (Anonymous)

(Good summaries and retrospective look)

#440 Governments vs Journalism (Wikileaks)

Act 1: The campaign to ruin Julian Assange – The Progressive
Song 1: And So It Goes – The Essential Billy Joel

Act 2: Assange released from jail – The Bugle
Song 2: Jailhouse Rock – The Essential Elvis Presley (Remastered)

Act 3: Full Exclusive Assange interview – MSNBC
Song 3: Hurt – American IV: Man Comes Around

Act 4: Thomas Friedman’s approval of wikileaks – Counterspin
Song 4: Morning Sun – Shayna Zaid & the Catch

Act 5: US reaps what it sows – Majority Report
Song 5: What You Get – Bastards of the Beat

Act 6: Open letter signatory on wikileaks – On the Media
Song 6: What we’ve got – Anthony da Costa and Emilyn Brodsky

Act 7: Media should stand up for Assange – Young Turks
Song 7: Time to Ride – Sammy Davis, Jr.: Greatest Hits (Live)

Act 8: Nothing bad about wikileaks – David Feldman Podcast
Song 8: One Day – Light (Bonus Track Version)

Act 9: Losing liberties over wikileaks – The Progressive
Song 9: Flamencos En El Aire – Gipsy Kings

Act 10: Inhumane treatment of PFC. Manning – Young Turks
Song 9: Drift Away – Brothers In Blues & Sisters In Soul – 18 Classic Tracks (Re-Recorded Version)

Act 10: Michael Moore on wikileaks – Rachel Maddow

To Listen to the Episode

#442 They are legion, etc (Anonymous)

Act 1: News on Anonymous Operation: Payback – Countdown
Song 1: I Want You – Savage Garden

Act 2: Anonymous back up wikileaks – On the Media
Song 2: Little Lion Man – Sigh No More

Act 3: WW 3.0 Omar Wason on cyber war – Colbert Report
Song 3: Gone – On and On

Act 4: Are the Anonymous attacks civil disobedience? – On the Media
Song 4: Natural Blues – Play & Play: B Sides

Act 5: Intro to interview with Anonymous – Citizen Radio
Song 5: Legion – Empires

Act 6: Operation: Payback message – Anonymous
Song 6: Eclipse – Welcome to Earth

Act 7: Interview with Anonymous spokesman – Citizen Radio

To Listen to the Episode

Tyson Slocum of Public Citizen on the state of energy and climate politics in DC; Lucia Green-Weiskel on Cancún and Chinese energy and climate politi

Behind the News with Doug Henwood (KPFA: Berkeley, CA)

Tyson Slocum of Public Citizen on the state of energy and climate politics in DC • Lucia Green-Weiskel, author of "Climate Clash in Cancun", on Cancún and Chinese energy and climate politics

To Listen to the Episode and Access More Resources

Another World is Possible: Michelle Alexander -- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
Another World is Possible



Michelle Alexander argues that mass incarceration of people of color in the US constitutes the newest structure of racialized social control, replacing slavery and Jim Crow to create an African American undercaste. She argues that the vastly disproportionate imprisonment (and the resultant disenfranchisement and exclusion from numerous aspects of mainstream society such as education and employment) of African Americans constitutes the single most important impediment to equality and civil rights in the US.

To Listen to An Audio Podcast of the Book (Broken into parts--scan down the page)

Midnight on the Mavi Marmara: The Attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and How it Changed the Course of the Israel/Palestine Conflict

Midnight on the Mavi Marmara: The Attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and How it Changed the Course of the Israel/Palestine Conflict
Panel discussion with Moustafa Bayoumi, Max Blumenthal, Rashid Khalidi, Alia Malek, Arun Gupta, Phil Weiss and Adam Horowitz
We Are Many



To Listen to the Podcast

Joan Hechinger: U.S. Teens Lag as China Soars on International Test

"U.S. Teens Lag as China Soars on International Test"
by John Hechinger
Bloomberg

China’s success in Shanghai results from the government’s abandonment of a system of “key schools” for elites and the institution of “a more inclusive system in which all students are expected to perform at high levels,” the OECD said in the report. China also raised teacher pay and standards and reduced rote learning, while giving... students and local authorities more choice in curriculum.

To Read the Article

TomDispatch: Karen Greenberg -- Gitmo 2.0

Gitmo 2.0
TomDispatch

Karen Greenberg, of the NYU School of Law, discusses the future of Guantanamo detainees. (music: Wyclef Jean & Celia Cruz)

To Listen to the Interview

Conversations With History: Noam Chomsky

[Expanded discussion on concision and framing, and essential context for thinking about the current Wikileaks whistleblower releases and the American government's/media's repressive attacks]

Tom Engelhardt and Jonathan Schell on America's Nuclear Trajectory

Engelhardt and Schell on America's Nuclear Trajectory
Tom Dispatch Audio and Video

A conversation between Tom Engelhardt and Jonathan Schell. They discuss American involvement in Vietnam and Afghanistan, and US nuclear policy from the 1960s to the present.

To Listen to the Conversation

Reporters Without Borders: Wikileaks Hounded?

Wikileaks Hounded?
Reporters Without Borders

...

This is the first time we have seen an attempt at the international community level to censor a website dedicated to the principle of transparency. We are shocked to find countries such as France and the United States suddenly bringing their policies on freedom of expression into line with those of China. We point out that in France and the United States, it is up to the courts, not politicians, to decide whether or not a website should be closed.

Meanwhile, two Republican senators, John Ensign and Scott Brown, and an independent Lieberman, have introduced a bill that would make it illegal to publish the names of U.S. military and intelligence agency informants. This could facilitate future prosecutions against WikiLeaks and its founder. But a criminal investigation is already under way and many U.S. politicians are calling vociferously for Assange’s arrest.

Reporters Without Borders can only condemn this determination to hound Assange and reiterates its conviction that WikiLeaks has a right under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment to publish these documents and is even playing a useful role by making them available to journalists and the greater public.

We stress that any restriction on the freedom to disseminate this body of documents will affect the entire press, which has given detailed coverage to the information made available by WikiLeaks, with five leading international newspapers actively cooperating in preparing it for publication.

Reporters Without Borders would also like to stress that it has always defended online freedom and the principle of “Net neutrality,” according to which Internet Service Providers and hosting companies should play no role in choosing the content that is placed online.

To Read the Entire Statment

Meterologist Jeff Masters on Extreme Weather Trends Across the Globe

Meterologist: Record Heat Wave in Russia Could Kill Tens of Thousands
Democracy Now

Wildfires across Russia. Devastating floods in Pakistan. Deadly landslides and flash floods in India and China. Heat wave across the United States. Severe drought in Niger. Taken together, scientists warn the events match predictions for extreme climate events caused by global warming. This year is on track to be the warmest since reliable temperature records began over a century ago, mainly due to a buildup of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels. We speak to Jeff Masters, co-founder and director of meteorology for Weather Underground, a weather information website.

To Watch/Listen/Read

TED: Chimamanda Adichie -- The danger of a single story

(Courtesy of Laura W.)

Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

TED

Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.

To Listen to the Story