AlternativeRadio

These are difficult times for public education. It is under political attack by what noted educator and scholar Henry Giroux calls the "apostles of authoritarianism." He says, "Public schools, more than ever, are subject to the toxic forces of privatization and mindless standardized curricula while teachers are de-skilled and subject to intolerable labor conditions, not unlike Walmart workers. Unfortunately, public and higher education now mimic a business culture run by a managerial army of...

The conventional view of U.S. wars follows a formulaic line: We are innocent victims of unprovoked attacks. The sleeping giant wakes and reluctantly goes to fight. All military action is imbued with benevolent intentions: human rights, democracy, and liberty. There are parades and flag-waving. Solemn ceremonies and gun salutes at funerals honor the fallen. But who asks for what and for whom were they killed? Who benefits? Weapons manufacturers and mercenary contractors make out like bandits....

“Congress shall make no law…abridging freedom of speech.” There it is. Plain and simple. The First Amendment to the Constitution. But since 9/11 that amendment has been under sustained attack. Whistleblowers John Kiriakou, Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, and others are hounded, threatened and imprisoned by the U.S. government. A fascinating and compelling account of past and present efforts to secure and expand political and social rights for workers, women and...

2 CDs "You wanna read a real history book?" Matt Damon asks Robin Williams in the movie Good Will Hunting. "Read Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States. That book'll knock you on your ass." It'll do that and more. Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States has sold more than 2 million copies. And it keeps on selling. Zinn's close friend Noam Chomsky said the book "changed the consciousness of a generation." Zinn's history from below approach was to foreground as he...

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change uses stark and dire language in its latest report. It says, “The cumulative scientific evidence is unequivocal: Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health. Any further delay in concerted anticipatory global action on adaptation and mitigation will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.” It warns of “irreversible” trends that will render parts of Earth...

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most dangerous international conflict in decades with ominous implications. It has already resulted in much death, destruction and displacement in Ukraine. A disruption in food supplies may lead to famine in West Asia, Latin America and Africa. And there is a possibility of the war escalating into something unthinkable. Understanding the root causes of the crisis is essential if we are to prevent it from getting worse and to find a way to...

Imperialism is a term not applied by the mainstream media and traditional academics to anything the U.S. does. However, it is liberally applied to contemporary enemies or hoary empires of the past. Michael Parenti defines imperialism “as the process whereby the rulers of one country use economic and military power to expropriate the land, labor, markets and natural resources of another country in order to attain ever greater capital accumulation on behalf of wealthy interests at home and...

Our planet and humankind are in danger. The warnings coming from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres could not be more unambiguous. He says we are heading “towards an unlivable world. We are on a fast track to climate disaster. Major cities under water. Unprecedented heatwaves. Terrifying storms. Widespread water shortages. The extinction of a million species of plants and animals. This is not fiction or exaggeration,” he continues. “It is what science tells us will result from our current...

Fascism in India? It’s a secular republic, according to its constitution but the country under its prime minister Narender Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party, the BJP, has drifted sharply to the religious right. The BJP ideology is Hindutva, Hindu nationalism. Its mother ship and muscle is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the RSS. It’s a Hindu nationalist paramilitary organization, inspired by Mussolini and Hitler, and has millions of members. Not much is known about what’s actually going...

In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” Dr. King memorably said, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Our present precarious circumstances make Dr. King’s words abundantly clear. We face war, climate chaos, a pandemic, inequality, hunger and poverty. The perils confronting humankind are unprecedented. And always looming in the background are doomsday weapons that can destroy our...

The future of work is unclear. There will be jobs. But what kind? The pandemic drove many to work remotely at home. As the crisis ebbs some will discover that’s the future. Crucial long-term factors affecting workers will be more and more AI, artificial intelligence, and automation. Corporations will be looking to expand in those areas to maximize profits. This is all happening while worker militancy has enjoyed a resurgence. Workers are challenging some of the biggest corporations. There’s...

The February 24th Russian invasion of Ukraine has rattled the world and has unleashed misery, death and destruction. What prompted Moscow's attack? From their perspective, the expansion of NATO, a U.S.-led military alliance, up to Russia’s borders threatens their national security interests. It went against assurances given by Washington that that would not happen. Years ago, George Kennan, the much venerated State Department diplomat warned against NATO expansion. With great foresight he...

Where does one start when talking about the Holocaust? The word derives from the Greek, a burnt offering, a sacrifice by fire. It is one of the greatest crimes in human history. And we are cautioned to learn its lessons. Historian Timothy Snyder argues that "The history that we might understand is rather different than the history that we generally remember and that if we did it right the lessons that we draw from the present and the future would be different lessons than the ones we draw...

The Russian invasion of Ukraine with its horrific atrocities and massive refugee crisis has turned the world upside down. The war will have a huge impact on global food security as both countries are major exporters of wheat, barley and other grains. As usual, the media provide very little context and background. We are told ad nauseum that the Russian invasion was unprovoked. A careful look at history reveals a slightly more nuanced picture. To explain is not to excuse Moscow’s criminal...

Capitalism’s origins, several centuries ago, can be traced to the expropriation of the commons and its transformation into private property. Since those hoary beginnings, it has evolved into an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and its operation for profit. In the last forty years or so capitalism has evolved into its neoliberal phase characterized by deregulation, punishing bubbles, economic crises and jaw-dropping income and wealth inequality. The...

In the old communist countries, comrades who fell out of favor were crudely cut out of photographs. Today in the Digital Era it’s easy to electronically eliminate a person and/or their work. Take Chris Hedges. His show On Contact was aired on RT, a Russian state TV network. It was on YouTube when suddenly its six-year archive of programs disappeared. Hedges said this, “I vanished. In totalitarian systems you exist, then you don't. I have a hard time seeing how a detailed discussion of...

Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision which established a constitutional right to abortion is under attack. The Supreme Court with its super-conservative majority is poised to overturn Roe. According to an editorial in Against the Current: “Poll after poll reveals that the right to abortion care actually has more popular support today than when Roe v. Wade was decided. If that right can be mutilated now, precedent and public opinion be damned, then no rights are secure from...

The Digital Age has transformed the traditional media landscape. The so-called Fourth Estate is reeling. Thousands of journalists have lost their jobs. Newsrooms have shrunk. Beats have been eliminated. Bureaus have closed. Many important stories are given short shrift or not covered at all. Investigative journalism may soon be an endangered species. City hall and statehouse coverage has been particularly hard hit. Large parts of the country are served by one or no local newspapers. Internet...

Extinction Rebellion, also simply known as XR, is a global environmental movement. It was founded in the UK with the explicit aim of using nonviolent civil resistance to compel government action to avoid ecological collapse. The latest UN IPCC report paints a dire picture of what the future will bring. By 2050, a billion people will face coastal flooding from rising seas. Using radical tactics, Extinction Rebellion draws inspiration from grassroots movements such as the civil rights...

Genocide is the most heinous of crimes and it connects to settler colonialism. Historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz says, “Settler colonialism requires genocidal violence to attain its goal” of acquiring land. In North America and elsewhere this meant the Indigenous population was targeted for mass murder. North America’s huge landmass and resources drove the policy. In Germany, there was the Nazi desire for lebensraum, living space, in Eastern Europe. It’s interesting to see the parallels. The...