Protests & Resistance
Protests & Resistance

Kent State Plus 50: Time to Face The Truth
On May 4, 1970, Laurel Krause was just 15 years old. That night in a hospital with her parents she identified her 19-year-old sister Allison’s lifeless body. The bullets that killed Kent State University students Allison, Jeff, Sandy and Bill,

The System is Sick, More than the Coronavirus
The novel coronavirus is forcing us to see that the very economic structure of America itself is in ill health. We know more poor Americans are dying, they can’t work from home and stay safe. All of us depend on

Thirties Historian: This is Not Depression 2.0
Both the Great Depression and today’s recession started off in a time of great economic inequality. Both economic calamities brought to the surface systemic inadequacies. Perhaps the most recognized authority on the history of the Great Depression, Stanford history professor

Hardly A Science, Can We Actually Learn From History?
Often called the father of scientific or objective history, the ancient Greek philosopher Thucydides did not see himself that way. According to our guest, history can never be a blueprint. We just can’t make sense of it. There are no

Plundered Iraq Rising Up
It didn’t start with W’s 2003 war on Iraq. The British have plundered what is now Iraq since the 19th century. After the incredible economic and physical devastation and perhaps a million deaths, though little noticed in the news, the

The DNA of Democracy: It’s A Recessive Gene
We take democracy for granted, but as author Richard C.Lyons tells it, democracy is a recessive gene. Tyranny is much more able to dominate. Tyranny? What does that ancient word even mean? In his new book: The DNA of Democracy,

DNA of Democracy: It’s a Recessive Gene
We take democracy for granted, but as author Richard C.Lyons tells it, democracy is a recessive gene. Tyranny is much more able to dominate. Tyranny? What does that ancient word even mean? In his new book: The DNA of Democracy,

The Criminalization of Humanitarianism
Leaving jugs of water in the desert for desperate migrants can be a crime. The Border Patrol regularly hunts for them to stab and drain. Thousands of people have already died in the vast desert trying to escape violence in

WBCN And The American Revolution
Like a pebble tossed in a pond, the cultural and political ripples from the pioneering WBCN continue. Launched in March 1968 with Cream’s “I Feel Free,” it became a national phenomenon. With the release of the long anticipated documentary “WBCN

Beyond the 2020 Electoral Circus: Action
Two minutes every four years, just going into the voting booth to choose a president, is hardly a sufficient tool to leverage the changes which we both need and are possible. As author Paul Street points out, idling capital is

Nonviolent Refusal To Cooperate: The Irish Set The Standard
Gandhi and Nehru took their inspiration from the Irish, people like Arthur Griffith. Who? Though violence gets all the headlines, rendering the powerful suddenly powerless though noncooperation is by far the most effective tactic. Our guest Professor David C. Cochran

France’s Yellow Vest Movement Explained
Neither the traditional French Socialist Party nor the right wing National Front, the yellow vest movement sweeping across France is something new, leaving the political powers including President Macron befuddled. With about 70% public support, the people on the streets

Populism Ain’t What It Used To Be
At its birth, American populism was about economic fairness: The average citizen demanding power over his or her own life against the un-American economic royalist political influence of the rich and powerful. But that was then. Populism today is cultural:

Beating Stress and Anxiety in the Time of Trump
You are hardly alone. Millions of Americans have been going though PESD since November 2016: Post Election Stress Disorder. It’s been a banner business time for psychotherapists. Some wake up with what they call a morning fright. Others have found

Chicago Plus 50: Positive Lessons for 2018
Blood in the streets. Chaos at the convention. The establishment Democrats won and then they lost. From the vantage point of 50 years later, it may surprise some how less has changed and been learned than we might have thought.

Left and Right Against Dumb Wars//Indian Kids Taken for Decades
Donald Trump won a lot of support from conservative Americans who agreed our endless wars are nothing but a big waste. Of course he flipped positions since then but renowned professor Andrew Bacevich observes that there is still anger at

Free Speech Not OK in War? The Lessons of Debs and LaFollette June 1918
Is it treasonous to urge resistance to a war once America is in it? Most Americans opposed our entry into the First World War but once Wilson sent our men, some argued it was no longer OK to urge resistance.

May Day: As American as Apple Pie
It’s celebrated all over the world, except here in America where it all started. It is clear that for unjust power, history has to be erased–otherwise we might assert our democracy. On this special program, the real history of May

States Crack Down On Dissent
Much of the national agenda is enacted at the state level. The popular protests of The Dakota Access Pipeline scared the crap out of oil companies and they are using something called ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) to draft cookie-cutter

Welcome to the Pro-Democracy Movement
Resistance is great but it’s not enough. Since 1971, there has been a very effective anti-democracy movement aimed at replacing it with plutocracy. Trump is but a symptom of this problem so solutions have to be much more than merely

Disobedience: Democracy Depends on It
“Just following orders” is no defense. In a democracy we assume that individuals in society will take personal responsibility and disobey immoral commands. But as many experiments have shown, people rarely question orders from authorities. Our guest on this show

Antifa: Fascist “AntiFascist” Gangs
Italian writer Ennio Flaianon says “Fascists are divided into two categories: the fascists and the anti-fascists.” Both are gangs focused on violence. The American “antifa” actually beat up those they identify as fascists. And according to our guest Diana Johnstone,

The Tradition of Government Spying On Us
It’s those others. Not good Americans who dissent. At least that’s what Presidents Johnson, Nixon, and Ford thought when their administrations unleashed many agencies to spy at will on us. On this show, Dr. William Burr, Senior Analyst with the

Crushing Democracy In Spain
The Madrid government is pulling out the stops to crush a referendum on independence for Catalonia, now a region of Spain. The national police have ripped down posters, detained over 700 mayors, shut down printing presses, attacked the website of

2018 Chances for Democrats//Carpe Diem Politics
“Based on everything, it appears Democrats will most likely make gains in congress in 2018.” Do you think most likely is good enough? Being risk-averse weakens our chances. Author of The Great Divide: Story of the 2016 US Presidential Race

What America’s Left/Populists Have Won
While the left has had very few actual electoral victories, author Michael Kazin argues it has very effectively changed the nation. The author of “A Godly Hero: William Jennings Bryan,” talks about his book “American Dreamers.” What’s gone right and

BDS at 12: The Fight Against it Shows It’s Working
It took a long time but Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions worked to end South African Apartheid. Now powerful forces are working in the US congress to penalize businesses and individuals who express support for BDS against the State of Israel.

US Pilots As Bait in War With Syria
In the 21st century, it seems every new war is a “humanitarian intervention.” Our guest on this show, Jim Kavanagh of Counterpunch defines that as just more “missionary imperialism.” As the US quickly ramps up its war against the government

The Right Took Over the Republican Party; Liberals Can Learn from Them//A War The West Can’t Win
Millennials would make a big mistake to give up on the Democratic Party. There is proof that liberals are successfully taking it back from the corrupt corporate wing. On the first half, In These Times staff writer Theo Anderson specifies

Kill It To Save It
The forces currently in power may actually believe that by killing democracy they are saving America. Or they may just be driven by simple greed. In his new book: Kill It to Save It; An Autopsy of Capitalism’s Triumph Over