How I Became An Activist
In the Spanish of the American Southwest a palito is a piece of kindling wood that ignites the larger logs. What is that palito that sparks a passive citizen to become an activist? We are all products of many influences. One big factor for me (AR’s David Barsamian) was my uncle Sarkis Hagopian. He wasn’t really my uncle but since he was from my mother’s village we called him that. He was barely educated. Most of his family was wiped out in the Armenian Genocide. He was a tailor in East Orange, NJ. He used to come over to our East 87th St railroad walkup apartment in New York on Sundays. I was just a kid but I was very impressed with his outspoken political views. He hated McCarthy, Nixon and other right-wingers of the ’50s. So in a way he was my palito.
Speaker
Michael Parenti
Michael Parenti was a leading independent political analyst, scholar, and author. Cornel West called him “a towering prophetic voice.” He taught at major colleges and universities in the U.S. and abroad. He is the author of numerous books, including Democracy for the Few, Power and the Powerless, and Against Empire. He passed away on January 24, 2026, at the age of 92.
Questioning the Unquestionable
“It is not demanded of readers that they embrace my views, but that they reflect upon their own. How seldom we bother to explore in some critical fashion the fundamental preconceptions that shape our understanding of social and political life. How frequently, as if by reflex rather than reflection, we respond to certain cues and incantations, resisting any incongruous notion. Our opinions shelter and support us; it is an excruciating effort to submit them to reappraisal. Yet if we are to maintain some pretense at being rational creatures, we must risk the discomfiture that comes with questioning the unquestionable, and try to transcend our tendencies toward mental confinement.” – Michael Parenti
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