Staff Favorites

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 […]
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 […]
Real Politics, Real Poetry
Amiri Baraka
The role of creative people in society has long been debated. Should they focus on their art and stay away from politics? Poets, writers, painters, filmmakers, musicians, artists in general occupy a unique position. Their impact and influence extend far and wide. They illuminate realities in imaginative ways that expand awareness and understanding. Think of […]
Unmasking the NSA
Glenn Greenwald
Imagine a gigantic vacuum cleaner scooping up all electronic communications. That’s what the National Security Agency does. Think you are safe from NSA snooping? That you can hide behind clever passwords? Think again. The Agency has the capability to generate one billion password guesses per second. On top of that it can remotely activate your […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]

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