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October 9 - Something's Happening in the Streets; America's Decade in the Graveyard of Empires; An Update From the D.C. Demonstrations
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We begin with Todd Gitlin, a former president of Students for a Democratic Society who helped organize the first national demonstration against the Vietnam war. Now a Professor of Journalism at Columbia University, he has a recent article in the New York Times “The Left Declares its Independence” and we discuss the emerging “Occupy Wall Street” movement in terms of populist movements of the past and try to determine its political direction as we head towards a crucial election year. |
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Then, on the tenth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, we speak with Thomas Barfield, an anthropologist who has been visiting and studying Afghanistan for fifty years. As we continue to spend eight billion a month in a war-torn land of mud brick villages, he provides a perspective on the American decade, in a country often described as the graveyard of empires. |
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Then finally we go to the on-going demonstrations in Washington DC against the war in Afghanistan and speak with one of the protest organizers Kevin Zeese of October2011.org, an organization which seeks to end corporatism and militarism. He served as Ralph Nader’s press secretary and spokesman in 2004 and has been a political activist since graduating from George Washington Law School in 1980. |
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October 6 - Live from Occupy LA
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First, we talk with one of the people who helped inspired the movement, Micah White, the Senior Editor of Adbusters, who in their 97th issue of the Adbusters magazine, called for the occupation of Wall Street. |
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Then we speak with some of the protesters here beside city hall to get a sense of who they are, what they want, and how long they intend to stay here. And also try and find out what they hope and expect this spontaneous grassroots movement will achieve in restoring American democracy, economic opportunity and social justice for the 99% who feel abandoned by their government that is increasingly owned and controlled by the 1%. |
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October 5 - Occupy K Street and Main Street Too; Unions and Progressive Organizations Catching Up; Taking Up Arms Against The Assad Regime
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We first go to the “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrations in New York’s Zuccotti Park and speak with the author of a new book “Republic Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress – And a Plan to Stop it”. Lawrence Lessig the director of the Edmond J Safra Foundation Center for Ethics at Harvard University, where he also is a professor of law at Harvard Law School, joins us from the demonstrations to discuss whether, as he hopes, the movement spreads to Occupy K Street, the lair of the lobbyists in our nation’s capitol, and Main Street. |
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Then we look into how unions and other progressive organizations are joining in with the spontaneous and grassroots, “Occupy Wall Street” protest movement. Les Leopold, a strategic consultant to the Blue/Green Alliance, that brings together trade unions and environmental organizations, joins us to discuss whether an authentic non-hierarchical populist movement is forming to counter the Tea Party an Astroturf repackaging of America's right wing. |
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Then finally we talk with a Syrian Human Rights activist about the Russian and Chinese veto in the UN Security Council of tougher sanctions against the murderous Assad regime. Radwan Ziadeh, the founder and director of the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies, joins us to discuss the increasing likelihood that the Syrian opposition will take up arms and fight back against the regime from sanctuaries in Iraq and Turkey. |
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October 4 - Crude Cronyism in Pipeline Approval; India and Afghanistan's Strategic Agreement; Chavez Faces Mortality and Elections
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We begin with incriminating emails between the State Department and a Canadian oil company which plans to build an oil pipeline from the tar sands of Alberta across the U.S. to Texas. Kim Huynh, the Director of the Dirty Fuels Program at Friends of the Earth, who obtained these emails through a Freedom of Information request, joins us to discuss a cozy relationship where the State Department instead of exercising oversight, is facilitating the oil pipeline. |
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Then on the first day of a two day meeting between Afghan President Karzai and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, we examine the strategic agreement just announced between India and Afghanistan that is bound to antagonize Pakistan. Ashley Tellis who served on the National Security Council staff as a Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director of Strategic Planning and Southwest Asia joins us to discuss the contents of the agreement and its implications as India tries to fill a strategic vacuum with the impending withdrawal of NATO and the US from Afghanistan in 2014. |
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Then finally we try to assess the health of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and the likely power struggle that will follow his incapacitation if it comes to that. Javier Corrales, the co-author of “Dragon in the Tropics: Hugo Chavez and the Political Economy of Revolution in Venezuela” joins us to discuss possible succession and the internal politics of this volatile and polarized country. |
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October 4 -
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Full Program |
LISTEN TO FULL PROGRAM | |
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Part 1 |
We begin with incriminating emails between the State Department and a Canadian oil company which plans to build an oil pipeline from the tar sands of Alberta across the U.S. to Texas. Kim Huynh, the Director of the Dirty Fuels Program at Friends of the Earth, who obtained these emails through a Freedom of Information request, joins us to discuss a cozy relationship where the State Department instead of exercising oversight, is facilitating the oil pipeline. |
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Then on the first day of a two day meeting between Afghan President Karzai and Prime Minister Monmohan Singh of India, we examine the strategic agreement just announced between India and Afghanistan that is bound to antagonize Pakistan. Ashley Tellis who served on the National Security Council staff as a Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director of Strategic Planning and Southwest Asia joins us to discuss the contents of the agreement and its implications as India tries to fill a strategic vacuum with the impending withdrawal of NATO and the US from Afghanistan in 2014. |
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Then finally we try to assess the deteriorating health of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and the likely power struggle that will follow his incapacitation if it comes to that. Javier Corrales, the co-author of “Dragon in the Tropics: Hugo Chavez and the Political Economy of Revolution in Venezuela” joins us to discuss succession and internal politics in this volatile and polarized country. |
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