AlternativeRadio

While we are regaled with images of Mars, back here on Earth our planet and its people are in distress. The eco-crisis continues unabated. There are wars and the threats of wars. And, of course, the coronavirus. The pandemic has not only taken millions of lives it has revealed in graphic terms the acute inequalities between the haves and the have nots. Rapacious capitalism preys on insecurity. It creates a class of vulnerable people who are easily exploited. To secure a brighter, more...

China is one of the oldest cultures in the world with a rich history. The ancient Middle Kingdom is today's People's Republic of China. For several centuries prior to the creation of the PRC, China endured invasions, occupations, civil wars and famine. Today it is an economic powerhouse. Its influence is expanding across the globe. However, relations between Washington and Beijing have become increasingly confrontational. Secretary of State Blinken warned China not to upset what he called...

The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States have been at loggerheads ever since America's ally, the shah, was overthrown in 1979. Iran was an important part of U.S. hegemony in the Middle East. In the decades since, Washington has waged cyber warfare, drone strikes, assassinations, sabotage and sanctions against Tehran. Washington and its media echo chamber portray Iran as dangerous and threatening even though it's surrounded by American bases and spends just a pittance on weaponry...

A great practitioner, publisher and defender of poetry was Lawrence Ferlinghetti. He passed away just shy of his 102nd birthday earlier this year. Born in Yonkers, New York in 1919, his education was paused for World War II and Atlantic and Pacific tours in the U.S. Navy. He witnessed firsthand the ruins of Nagasaki after the atomic bombing in 1945. He became a committed voice for peace and social justice. Ferlinghetti co-founded the country’s first all-paperback bookstore, City Lights Books...

The Lost Cause is rooted in the South’s search for justification and the need to find a substitute for victory in the Civil War. In attempting to deal with defeat, the South created an image of the war as a noble epic fought by brave men. The war, the mythology goes, wasn’t about preserving slavery it was about Southern values. Monuments to Confederate soldiers and the naming of military bases not only glorifies militarism but are everyday reminders of white supremacy and the subordination...

Is Noam Chomsky an anti-Semite? How about Amy Goodman and Naomi Klein? The question may sound absurd. Yet, according to the definition of anti-Semitism that more than 30 countries including the United States under the Biden administration have adopted, Chomsky, Goodman and Klein could very well be labeled as such. Why? They are critical of Israeli policies. Zionism is the late 19th century Jewish national movement. The origin of the term is the Hebrew word “Zion” often used as a synonym for...

There’s a new Jim Crow in the U.S. This 2.0 version is legislation passed by politicians who mouth pieties about protecting our sacred right to vote and the integrity of elections. After one of the most secure and verified elections in U.S. history there is a wave of voter suppression laws being proposed across the country. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, Republican legislators in 43 states have introduced more than 250 bills that would make it harder to vote. These measures...

The consequences of capitalism during the pandemic have revealed glaring failures and monstrous brutalities. It’s a highly unstable economic system, careening from crisis to crisis. For a handful, it produces unparalleled levels of wealth. But for the many, if they even have a job, it’s a paycheck to paycheck existence. What are the priorities? The U.S. spends close to a trillion on the military. That’s more than the next ten countries combined. Compare that with the less than $50 billion...

Gun violence exacts an enormous toll on U.S. society-claiming tens of thousands of lives every year. Many more thousands are wounded and scarred physically and psychologically. From malls to schools from places of worship to concerts there is no safe space. Weapons of war are easily obtainable. We have the spectacle of armed militias in combat gear roaming statehouses, threatening the lives of government officials and invading the national Capitol itself on January 6. The main lobby for guns...

Milton Friedman is the godfather of modern conservative economics. A Nobel-prize winner, his ideas informed what is called the Chicago School. He laid the groundwork for Reagan-era neoliberalism with his landmark essay, “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits.” That’s pretty straightforward. Make as much money as you can. Society? It can take care of itself. In the decades since Friedman’s influential essay, concentrated monopoly corporate power has evolved into...

Fascism of the classic variety is associated with Germany, Italy and Japan. It ends at the conclusion of World War II. But in the recent years there has been the development of a different variety which is neofascism. Neo is a Greek prefix meaning new. From Modi’s India to Erdogan’s Turkey neofascist autocratic regimes have taken hold. There is a direct connection from the failed economic policies of what is called neoliberalism to neofascism. Neoliberalism was given a huge boost in the...

James Baldwin was one of the most significant figures of the 20th century. In this moment of racial reckoning, his life and work are being discovered and rediscovered. He was born in 1924 and died in 1987. He graduated from high school in New York but was otherwise self-taught. He said, “I love America more than any other country in the world.” That's why I reserve “the right to perpetually criticize her.” And criticize he did. In his classic essays such as The Fire Next Time and Notes of a...

In his 1967 book Where Do We Go From Here? Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr wrote these prophetic words: “A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. This may well be mankind’s last chance to choose between chaos or community.” More than five decades later the chaos...

With few exceptions the corporate mainstream media operate within very narrow parameters. In one corner you have MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and in the other you have Fox’s Sean Hannity. And they do present contrasting views but the boundaries of discussion are limited. Certain topics are taboo, such as U.S. imperialism or really existing capitalism, not the wonders of the free market propaganda we're bombarded with. Deep institutional structures are never the focus of attention. Here and there...

The term democracy is frequently invoked perhaps never more so than after the January 6th assault on the Capitol which was almost unanimously described as an attack on democracy. The Ancient Greeks coined the term, demos is people and kratia is power or rule. So ideally, rule of the people. The U.S. is the champion of democracy. But who benefits from a system created by a handful of privileged property and slave-owning white men more than two centuries ago? Concentrated power and wealth...

American exceptionalism has been a fundamental tenet of U.S. foreign policy. International law applies to designated enemies, not for Washington and its vassals. Obey the master or face the consequences. Assassinations, sanctions, bombings, invasions and occupations are all tools of the empire to enforce its diktats. As George H. W. Bush once said, echoing Tony Soprano, "What we say goes." The arrogance is bi-partisan. But since January 6, the question begs: Is this the end of American...

The success and failure rates of civil resistance movements might seem like something studied at the U.S. Army War College. But social scientists and political activists always want to know why some tactics work, and some don’t. Boycotts, street protests, armed conflict, nonviolent and non-cooperation tactics, we’re seeing myriad forms of resistance as governments place greater restraints on freedom everywhere. But to what effect? Today we can measure our clicks, our quirks, and consumer...

The global health and economic crises are points of opportunity. Arundhati Roy, the great Indian intellectual and writer says, “Whatever it is, coronavirus has made the mighty kneel and brought the world to a halt like nothing else could. And in the midst of this terrible despair, it offers us a chance to rethink the doomsday machine we have built for ourselves. Nothing could be worse than a return to normality. Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine...

The pandemic has revealed a huge systemic failure in the ability of the U.S. to effectively attend to the well-being of millions of its citizens. World-class inequality has exacerbated the situation. You don’t need a degree from MIT to figure out the score. The rich get the gold and most of the rest of us get the shaft. Once the dust settles post-pandemic there will be a lot less competition out there. Amazon, Walmart and a few other giants will be left with ear to ear grins and swollen bank...

The decades-long one-sided Washington policy in favor of Israel reached new heights during the Trump regime. The peace process is a joke. The ever-expanding Jewish-only colonies, known euphemistically as settlements, have grown ever larger. The possibility of a sovereign, viable Palestinian state has dramatically receded. Yet, despite the occupation, the Palestinians practice, what is called in Arabic, al-sumud, steadfastness. They stay on the land and resist. What’s next?