Staff Favorites

The Meaning of Freedom
Angela Davis
The idea of freedom is inspiring. But what does it mean? If you are free in a political sense but have no food, what’s that? The freedom to starve? Or if the candidates on the ballot are yoked to unjust power structures, what’s that? The freedom to vote? The colonies in Asia and Africa gained […]
The Ballot or the Bullet
Malcolm X
Malcolm X is a singular figure in African-American history. He led an extraordinary life. He was born in an impoverished family in Omaha, NE on May 19, 1925. He recalled being “dizzy” with hunger. He said, “My whole life has been a chronology of changes.” Indeed it was. He went through a remarkable series of […]
Iran & U.S.: Deadly Embrace
David Barsamian
The U.S. assassination of Iran’s General Qassem Soleimani on January 2 has poured gasoline on a region already in flames. The Trump regime and its hardline supporters have been itching for a fight with Iran ever since the U.S. unilaterally pulled out of the nuclear deal in May 2018. It has imposed the harshest sanctions in history on […]
The Legacy of Reconstruction
Eric Foner
The Declaration of Independence declared equality as an American ideal, but it took a century to even partially realize that goal. One of the key periods of U.S. history is Reconstruction. They were the years following the Civil War. The era began with promises of egalitarianism. The 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution […]
Propaganda, Facts & Fake News
John Pilger, Jonathan Heawood, Julian Assange
We live in an era of fake news. Fabricated reports go viral on social media. Totally false stories are concocted then tweeted and retweeted. Fantastical theories and wild claims are circulated in cyberspace. It’s as Orwell says in 1984, “The lie became truth.” There is a lot of fire and fury inflaming the news cycle. The […]
The Working Class
Michael Yates
Warren Buffett, the much-admired genius investor and one of the world’s richest men said, “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” And who are the losers? The working class, people who work for an hourly wage or are salaried. The ruling class has driven […]
Propaganda & Control of the Public Mind
Noam Chomsky
2 CDs Most people associate the term “propaganda” with totalitarian dictatorships like Iraq or North Korea. Yet propaganda, in different shapes and forms, is an important element in democratic societies. The control and use of images and information can alter perceptions, frame debate and influence opinion. This special two-part program features Noam Chomsky in a […]
The Radical Leap
Naomi Klein
Political organizers are aware of “wedge issues” that divide us and “web issues” that bring us together. What could be more unifying than saving the planet? The Earth is heating up. Polar ice caps are melting. Sea levels are rising. April was the 12th consecutive hottest month on record. The December 2015 Paris Climate Change […]
Kicking People When They’re Down
Barbara Ehrenreich
The rise in New York’s poverty rate as a result of the ongoing recession has pushed nearly half of the city’s population into the ranks of the poor or near-poor. Ironically, the nation’s largest city is run by a multi-billionaire. Almost on the same day, another report came out saying “Hedge Fund Titans Get Lavish […]
A New Story
David Korten
Since the beginning of time people have been telling stories from Gilgamesh in Iraq to The Odyssey in Greece. These tales convey lessons and societal values and warnings about arrogance. The U.S. spins its own yarns. Take say, the one about brave pioneers who fought off savage Indians to settle the country and establish dominion […]
The Case for Socialism
Alan Maass
The Bernie Sanders presidential campaign has injected the term socialism into the political discourse. While calling himself a democratic socialist, Sanders is much closer to a traditional New Deal liberal. Socialism is a political philosophy with a singular approach to structuring the economy. However, in the U.S. in particular, little is actually known about it. […]
Beyond Vietnam
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King Jr.’s charismatic “I Have a Dream” speech is emblazoned in our historical memories. But another address to a much smaller audience on April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church in New York is no less significant. There King demonstrated his deep understanding of how the system works. He moved beyond a simple race […]

x

Top