Regime change started long ago. The new version is just a change of clothes. Dwight Eisenhower was president when the U.S. overthrew the popular democratic government of Mohammad Mossadegh in Iran in 1953. What was Mossadegh’s transgression? He wanted Iran’s oil to benefit the Iranian people. The coup brought the Shah back from exile and installed him in power. What ensued was 25 years of tyranny and repression culminating in Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution. The Iran coup was a pivotal event of the 20th century. Virtually all Iranians know about it. Yet most Americans haven’t even heard of it. The U.S. professes that it supports democracy in the Middle East, yet when there was a democratic government in Iran, Washington destroyed it. Recorded at the Pacific Asia Museum.
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[Heather Cox Richardson] Cowboy Authoritarianism in America
We are at an inflection point. A chill is sweeping the country. We ignore it at our peril. The warning signs are everywhere. Alaska GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski says, “We are all afraid.” Massachusetts Democratic Governor Maura Healey says, “The fear is real.” New York Times columnist Masha Gessen writes, “America’s Police State Has Arrived.” A Columbia University dean told students, “Nobody can protect you. These are dangerous times.” Conservative PBS commentator David Brooks calls for “a civic uprising to fight back and adds: “We have nothing to lose but our chains.” Dissent is being criminalized. People are being deported without any kind of due process. Court rulings are being ignored. Democracy, civil liberties and free speech are all under attack. What can be done to reverse cowboy authoritarianism in America? Recorded at the University of British Columbia.
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[Chris Hedges, Gabor Maté] Palestine: The Moral Issue of Our Time
The number of dead and wounded in Palestine is staggering. Many look away. Why bother, you may ask? Because, unlike other conflicts, we can do something about it. It is the U.S., Canada and most of Europe that enable the genocide by supplying Israel with weapons. In Israel, there is mounting opposition. Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said, “What we are doing in Gaza is a war of extermination: indiscriminate, unrestrained, brutal, and criminal killing of civilians. We are committing war crimes.” Then he added, “Netanyahu and his government have done great damage to the moral integrity of Israel and the Israeli people.” Palestine is the moral issue of our time. Recorded at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.
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[Vijay Prashad] Is the Nakba Permanent?
Nakba is Arabic for the 1948 catastrophe. where 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled and driven from their ancestral homes and lands. Today, 77 years later, the Nakba continues. This time, aided and abetted by the U.S., Israel declares it has "the most moral army in the world, which does everything to avoid harming non-combatants.” Watch Al Jazeera or read the reports from Amnesty International, B’Tselem or Gush Shalom and other human rights organizations to verify the Israeli claim. Netanyahu has declared that there will be no Palestinian state and that Israel will control Gaza. Will there ever be a viable Palestinian state? The keyword is viable, not just a collection of Bantustans crisscrossed by Israeli-only roads, walls, barriers and checkpoints. What will be the fate of millions of Palestinians? Is the Nakba permanent?
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[Claudia de la Cruz] Imagining a New World
Authoritarianism can't happen here, you say. Look around. Open your eyes. No one is safe. Dissent is being criminalized. People are being arrested without due process. When Trump was asked if it was his job to uphold the Constitution, he said, "I don't know." Claudia de la Cruz says, “Trump and his cabinet full of billionaires are waging an all-out war on our communities. From slashing thousands of jobs to massively defunding critical programs that many working-class people rely on to survive. At this critical moment, we can’t simply lie down and allow his administration to roll back all the rights that our people’s movements have won. Now is the time to organize our communities and stand up to fight back!” In these dark times, we cannot be bystanders. We must resist and imagine and create a new world where peace, equality, dignity and justice are the norm. Recorded at KGNU.
Alternative Radio is an "unembedded" weekly one-hour public affairs program offered free to all public radio stations in the US, Canada, Europe, South Africa, Australia, and on short-wave on Radio for Peace International. AR provides information, analyses and views that are frequently ignored or distorted in other media. Visit alternativeradio.org for the complete catalog.
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