Episodes
Saturday Jul 26, 2014
Alternative Visions – The U.S. Empire-Growing Stronger or Weaker – 07/26/14
Saturday Jul 26, 2014
Saturday Jul 26, 2014
‘Dr. Jack Rasmus welcomes guests, Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, to discuss whether the US Empire today is growing weaker or stronger (or both). Jack provides background on the dimensions of US Empire today—economically, politically, and military—explaining how the US rules globally differently today than classical empires of the past. The US Empire’s network of multinational corporations, global economic institutions (IMF, World Bank, $ as world currency, G7, central bankers, shadow banks, etc.), political institutions (UN Security council, , and military alliances (NATO, US-Japan, US-Israel, etc.) and the US’s 1000+ military bases and outposts around the world are described, as well as more recent US development of new methods of surveillance, security apparatuses, and technologies for protest and crowd control. Guests Zeese & Flowers argue the US Empire’s increasing aggressiveness and violence in recent decades are indications of its growing weakness, not strength, as challenges to it mount worldwide. Events today in the Ukraine, Middle East, and Asia are discussed as points of resistance to empire outside the US. Recent events by China and the BRICS to establish a new ‘global development bank’ and bypass the US dollar in trade, as well as events in Latin America, are also noted as examples of growing resistance to Empire. The impact of Empire on the deterioration of USA democracy and 1st amendment rights at home are also addressed by Zeese & Flowers, who identify points of resistance to Empire growing within the US.
For more information concerning US based resistance to Empire, listeners are referred to the websites: popularresistance.org, rolllingrebellion.org, and to Zeeze & Flowers’ latest article on the Alternet.org blog, ‘Why Resistance is Growing to the US Empire’.
Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers are hosts of ‘Clearing the Fog’ radio (ClearingtheFogRadio.org) , members of the Green Shadow Cabinet (greenshadowcabinet.org), long time Washington DC area activists in the Occupy movement, and organizers of the blogs, Resistance.Org and ItsOurEconomy.US, that report on grass roots movements of resistance and opposition to attacks on democracy and inequality trends in the USA today.
Saturday Jul 19, 2014
Alternative Visions – Militarization of Police in the USA – 07/19/14
Saturday Jul 19, 2014
Saturday Jul 19, 2014
Dr. Jack Rasmus welcomes guest, Ali Issa, of the War Resisters League, to discuss the growing militarization of police forces in the USA today. What exactly is meant by ‘militarization’ of police vs. traditional policing activity is discussed—in terms of police use of military tactics, military weapons, and the growing ‘warrior mindset’ and psychology of police forces. The role of the US federal government in centralizing, coordinating, providing free military equipment, and increasingly funding local police forces, as well as the role of private corporations participating in the trend, in promoting police militarization are additionally discussed. Ali Issa explains the now expanding ‘Urban Shield’ government program now growing throughout the USA. Rasmus discusses the recently released ACLU report on police militarization in the USA, and asks if there is today also a trend toward ‘privatization’ of police forces as well, as in the US Military, as police agencies refuse to provide information about their militarization trend by claiming their new cross-city coordinating bodies formed under Urban Shield are not government agencies (as the Boston area NEMLEC is doing) and therefore don’t need to provide information to the public. The consequences and outcomes of militarization of police in terms of violation of civil liberties, property destruction, rising personal injuries, and its disproportionate impact on communities of people of color, are described by Issa, as is the growing International trend of police militarization, as police globally share experiences how to militarily control crowds and public protests. Ali Issa is National Field organizer for the War Resisters League and Co-Coordinator for the ‘Facing Teargas Campaign’.
For more information on the topic of militarization of police in the USA, Urban Shield, NEMLEC, go to warresisters.org, facingteargas.org, and ACLU.org.
Saturday Jul 12, 2014
Saturday Jul 12, 2014
Jack Rasmus invites guest, Chris Silvera, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 808 in New York City, to discuss the current struggle of New York City’s Long Island railroad (LIRR) workers for decent wages and benefits and their possible strike on July 20 that could shut down New York City, stranding 700,000 commuters into the city from the Long Island and the ‘Metro North’ rail-lines. Jack comments how the LIRR negotiations today are a microcosm of management’s successful anti-labor core bargaining strategy of the past 20 years: i.e. a strategy in which previously hired workers are given token wage increases just sufficient to pay for rising health care premiums, deductibles and copays—while new hires and younger workers’ wages are reduced and their healthcare cost contributions are raised. Chris explains management’s latest proposal to LIRR workers—who haven’t had a wage increase in 5 years—is a 2% annual wage increase for current hires, to pay for their rising out of pocket healthcare costs, while new hires will have wages cut 4% and their benefit contributions increased another 4%. LIRR unions and workers vow to break the 20 year pattern of making new, younger workers pay for existing members token wage gains and benefits maintenance, in what promises to be an important effort to break from the past. Meanwhile, railroad workers appeals to Democratic Party politicians in the city, to New York governor, Cuomo, and to Democrats in Congress to intervene are being ignored, as politicians run the other way revealing the ‘dead end’ of labor’s political strategy of recent decades.
Saturday Jul 05, 2014
Saturday Jul 05, 2014
Jack Rasmus welcomes long time immigrant justice journalists, David Bacon and Alexandra Early, to discuss the latest issue in immigrant rights: the surge of 50,000 plus children across the US southern border. Having deported 2 million immigrants already in the past five years, the Obama administration is now requesting another $2 billion for more deportations, as an initial response to the ‘children immigration’ issue. What will happen to tens of thousands of children immigrants now—more detention camps in the US; more dumping of kids back across the US-Mexican border to fend for themselves? In the first half hour of the show Alexandra Early, who has lived in central America for years and has been active politically both in the US and central America, discusses the real conditions behind the exodus of children to the US, desperate to leave poverty, crime and political oppression, as a follow up to her widely read recent article on the topic. Alexandra explains how US economic and political policies are much of the root cause of rising children immigration to the US. David Bacon, in the show’s second half hour, then provides his excellent political analysis of what’s behind the latest politicization of the ‘children immigration’ issue US. Bacon explains the origins of the children immigration issue that has recently gained attention in the US press, in recent right wing and US Teaparty political maneuvers in the last few weeks, designed to scuttle even the weak immigration reforms that have been proposed by the Obama administration. David and Jack then discuss the likely further response of Obama to the renewed right wing pressure and maneuvering on immigration—i.e. a more intense deportations and incarceration of children in the short run in coming weeks, followed by promises of ‘more humane’ immigration policy changes ‘later’—post November midterm elections.