The Chris Hedges Report

Any technology created by the US military industrial complex and adopted by the general public was always bound to come with a caveat. To most, the internet, GPS, touch screen and other ubiquitous technologies are ordinary tools of the modern world. Yet in reality, these technologies serve “dual-uses”; while they convenience typical people, they also enable the mass coercion, surveillance and control of those very same people at the hands of the corporate and military state. Nolan Higdon and Allison Butler, authors of “Surveillance Education: Navigating the Conspicuous Absence of Privacy in Schools,” join host Chris Hedges on this episode of The Chris Hedges Report. They explore the software and technology systems employed in K-12 schools and higher education institutions that surveil students, erode minors’ privacy rights and, in the process, discriminate against students of color. The use of this technology, Higdon explains, is predicated on treating humans as products through surveillance capitalism. “You extract data and information about humans from all these smart technologies, and then you're able to make determinations about their behavior, how they might react to something. And there's a lot of industries that are interested in this,” Higdon tells Hedges. Butler explains that students, often with no choice in the matter, are subjected to the use of this technology that inherently exploits their data. Because there is an implied consent for it to be used, “The very limited amount of protections that there are to keep minors’ data secure is gone once you have a technology that is put into their classroom,” Butler says. “There's a passive acceptance of this technology.” Higdon points to changes made by the Obama administration in 2012 to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) as a key factor. These changes allowed for student data to be shared with private companies that serve as educational partners. “Effectively, all of that data that the students rights movement worked to make sure was private was allowed to be distributed to these companies,” Higdon says. The authors stress the deep impact these technologies have on the fundamental processes of learning in the classroom. “It curtails curiosity, which is essential to the education process,” Higdon says. “The mental trauma and difficulty of closing one of the few spaces where they're able to explore, I think it just speaks to the problem with surveillance and the education process.”

Reporting from Israel in the aftermath of October 7th demands guts and courage. Censorship, rouge military personnel and an entire state hellbent on their goals of national security and ethnic cleansing spells a nightmare for journalists seeking to expose the truth. This nightmare became a reality for Grayzone reporter Jeremy Loffredo, who was detained in Israel in solitary confinement for three days after reporting on the Iranian missile attacks on October 1. Loffredo joins host Chris Hedges on this episode of The Chris Hedges Report to review his reporting covering Israel in the U.S., the Occupied Territories and Israel itself—as well as his frightening detainment by the occupying forces.  From covering Israeli counter protests in New York City to witnessing Israeli settlers obstructing humanitarian aid to Gaza, Loffredo was consistently shocked by the attitude and drive of Israelis. The widespread nature of extreme rhetoric isn’t just isolated to a handful of individuals, Loffredo learned. “It was the first time I heard anyone be so candidly racist and genocidal, and truly, I didn't know the face of fanatical Zionism,” he tells Hedges. During his time in Israel, Loffredo documented not only more of the genocidal rhetoric and actions from Israelis but also the suffering and bravery of Palestinians. One particular instance involved a woman who, out of a list of 50 previously detained people, was the only one willing to speak to him on record. The others were too frightened of the consequences that telling the truth might bring them.  Beyond revealing the utterly authoritarian and censorious climate of Israel, Loffredo’s detention and treatment by the IDF and Israeli police also expose the U.S. government’s corrupt devotion to the Jewish State, and how it abandons its purported democratic values when they interfere with the goals of their most “reliable partner” in the Middle East. When an Israeli social worker was sent by the American embassy to do a “wellness check” on Loffredo while he was in solitary confinement, the journalist hoped she would get him food and water, which he had been deprived of for days. Instead, she berated Loffredo because he “hurt Israel” and told him that he’d likely remain in prison for a long time. “That is the only help that the American Embassy afforded me… was giving me this Zionist social worker to berate me because of my reporting and give me no help at all,” Loffredo recounts.

A truly representative and honest voice for the working class—one that takes part in the struggle, resists cozying up to the centers of power, makes tangible, material commitments rather than settling for empty rhetoric—is hard to find in the United States. Kshama Sawant, the socialist and former Seattle City Council member who won the battle for a $15 minimum wage, introduced the Amazon tax and championed unprecedented renter’s rights joins host Chris Hedges on this episode of The Chris Hedges Report to discuss the 2024 election. Sawant frames the election as an opportunity to build a worker-led movement, explaining her support for Jill Stein’s campaign and introducing Workers Strike Back, a nationwide organization she co-founded to advance the cause for working people. “If genocide is not a red line, then there is no red line,” Sawant declares. She emphasizes that while a victory for Stein is not in the cards, Sawant argues that being honest is crucial, especially when the Stein campaign is capable of outlasting this election cycle and become a catalyst for an anti-war, pro-worker movement capable of taking on the big business-backing, warmongering parties. Sawant says that even if Stein captures only 1% of the vote, it is still a powerful statement: over a million people  reject the two party system. In her experience running for Seattle City Council, she explains how numbers like this can energize and mobilize working people—only if the candidates are honest and upfront about the gains they stand to make. After telling her constituents that she expected to win 1% in her primary but ending up with 9%, “nobody walked home after primary election night feeling demoralized. People walked home thinking, I'm gonna get up tomorrow and fight like hell in the general election,” Sawant tells Hedges. Sawant insists that the struggle is about changing the lives of working people. Evoking her political history, she describes what it means to be a Marxist: “it means you lead a fight back. It means you show actual examples of class struggle, meaning going up against the forces of capitalism and winning despite all their might and having the strategy of bending the balance of forces towards the working class.”  “That is what it's all about,” Sawant asserts. Sawant will continue these thoughts on an election night (November 5) stream on YouTube, analyzing the results and discussing what can happen next for working people.

Donald Trump will become the 47th president of the United States and given the host of global debacles the US has its hands in—ranging from the genocide in Gaza, to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Iran to the Ukraine war—nobody is quite certain what direction the country will take with the former president at the helm again. Joining host Chris Hedges on this episode of The Chris Hedges Report is Lawrence Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel and former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. With his extensive insights and expertise into the Middle East and American foreign policy, Wilkerson provides a valuable understanding into what a Trump presidency may look like outside of the borders of America. Wilkerson predicts Trump will stay true to “his disdain for war,” emphasizing “it's genuine. I don't think he likes war. I don't think he likes starting wars.” Regarding Ukraine, Wilkerson thinks Trump will shut down the war effort. But when it comes to the Middle East, that commitment clashes with one of Trump’s long standing loyalties: unwavering support for Israel. War with Iran seems increasingly likely by the day despite, according to Wilkerson, resistance from the Pentagon and prior administrations. In the case of Trump, however, “you wonder how long that resistance can hold up if the president of the United States is intent on—and this is the one place where Trump really worries me—doing everything in his power for Israel,” Wilkerson notes. He adds, “Trump has made it quite clear that that's his policy, that's his belief, and I think he's being honest about it.” Citing war-game simulations, reports, personal sources as well as his own expertise, Wilkerson lays down the reality of potential war with Iran: sheer disaster. With sources saying that the IDF is already taking heavy casualties in Lebanon, any sort of escalation with Iran would compound the suffering of the US and Israel. “Iran will top $10 trillion, take 10 years to pacify, if it's even moderately pacified, and cost a fortune in blood and treasure,” Wilkerson warns.