Monday's @ 6:30pm    
July 2009
Alternative Radio   

 Each Monday we bring you timely and informative 
 discussions by leading experts, activists, and scholars who address
 some of the toughest issues facing our nation. These programs come
 from two source. The first is Alternative Radio, produced by David
 Barsamian, and featuring internationally recognized leaders and
 scholars who address current public policies and the effects of these
 policies on the individual who live under them. 

 Contact Info: Ph # 1-800-444-1977     www.alternativeradio.org

                       AR,  P.O. Box 551, Boulder, Colorado  80306

 

The second is our own monthly Florida Free Speech Forum. Each month the Free Speech Forum presents local scholars, political and business leaders, and activists who address issues of local concern. Occasional special are also featured on Monday's at 12:15pm.

For more information on Alternative media sources and for book, magazines, and an audio library of many Alternative Radio and other Alternative programs click here to contact the Civic Media Center. Other Alternative Media sites include Institute for Global Communications, the Direct Action Media Network, or the Physicians for a National Health Program,  29 E. Madison, Suite 602,  Chicago IL, 60602. ( web site www.pnhp.org   email is pnhp@aol.com), The News Press, The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, www.publicintegrity.org, www.empirenotes.org, www.tompaine.com, www.truthout.com, and www.commondreams.org, Sister Helen Prejean.

Do you have a source for Alternative information. Let us know. Send E-Mail responses to bbeckett@wuft.org

Monday July 6, 2009 @ 6:30pm

Alternative Radio - Michael Parenti - The Hypocrisies of Capitalism
     The "Newsweek" cover declares, "We are All Socialists Now." Some people have a different take on it. Paul Krugman, commenting on the bailout of banks and the giant insurance company AIG, says it's a classic example of what he calls "lemon socialism," that is, taxpayers bear the cost if things go wrong, but stockholders and executives get the benefits if things go right. Krugman, a Nobel Prize winner, is describing our economic system as it really is, not the fantasy tale spun for mass consumption by Alan Greenspan and his disciples. One salient aspect of the economic collapse is the focus on rotten apples like Bernard Madoff and Robert Allen Stanford. They are easy pickings. We can all be virtuous in denouncing them as cheats and swindlers. But what escapes scrutiny and discussion is the barrel itself. And that is the capitalist system.
     Michael Parenti is one of this country's foremost independent political analysts. He has taught at major colleges and universities in the U.S. and abroad. He is the author of numerous books including the classic "Democracy for the Few" and the highly acclaimed "The Assassination of Julius Caesar." His latest book is "Contrary Notions."

Monday July 13, 2009 @ 6:30pm

Alternative Radio -  Tenzin Tsundue - Free Tibet
     Tibet is the inspiration behind the idea of Shangri la, paradise on earth. Scholars can debate the veracity of that. But today Tibet, in the words of the Dalai Lama, its spiritual leader, is "hell on earth" and "these 50 years have brought untold suffering and destruction to the land and people of Tibet. Today, the religion, culture, language and identity, which successive generations of Tibetans have considered more precious than their lives, are nearing extinction." The Nobel Peace Prize winner spoke on March 10, 2009 in Dharamsala, India, the Himalayan hill town that is the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. Tibetans outside of China and their supporters held rallies around the world to mark the 50th anniversary of the failed revolt against Chinese rule. The Chinese military crushed the rebellion, forcing the Dalai Lama to flee to India.
     Tenzin Tsundue is a poet, writer, author and a noted activist for Tibetan freedom. He is widely regarded as a leading voice of the Tibetan exile community. His book "Kora" is in its fifth edition and has been translated into several languages. His poems and essays appear in the Indian media as well as various publications around the world.

Monday July 20, 2009 @ 6:30pm

Alternative Radio - Arundhati Roy - Terrorism - No Easy Answers
     There are myriad types of terrorism. But the focus is highly selective. 200,000 Indian farmers killing themselves because of debt or 4,000 children dying everyday around the world because of no access to clean water are not considered. Nor are massacres of Muslims in the Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra or of Sikhs in New Delhi. Nor are the tens of thousands of Kashmiris killed by the Indian military. The attention and emphasis is overwhelmingly on car bombings, 9/11 and Mumbai type of attacks. Massive state terrorism is not up for discussion unless the state is a designated enemy of Washington's such as Iran and Syria. America and its allies such as Israel and India get a free pass. Can you imagine Charlie Rose or Wolf Blitzer asking Kissinger or Rice or other apparatchiks of the empire about state terrorism? Maybe when pigs fly.
     Arundhati Roy is the celebrated author of "The God of Small Things" and winner of the prestigious Booker Prize. "The New York Times" calls her, "India's most impassioned critic of globalization and American influence." Howard Zinn praises her "powerful commitment to social justice." She is the recipient of the Lannan Award for Cultural Freedom. Her latest books are "The Checkbook & the Cruise Missile," a collection of interviews with David Barsamian, and "An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire."

Monday July 27, 2009 @ 6:30pm

Alternative Radio - Richard Wolff: Casino Capitalism
       F. Scott Fitzgerald in "The Great Gatsby," his signature novel about the Roaring Twenties, wrote, "They were careless people. They smashed up things and creatures. Then they retreated back into their money, or their great carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together. They retreated and let other people clean up the messes they had made." Does that resonate with what's happening today as another Gilded Age crashes and burns? Taxpayers are being called upon to clean up the messes of Wall Street. It's curious when banks and corporations are making money hand over fist, they get to keep everything. However when their exotic financial instruments such as credit default swaps and collateralized debt obligations drown in red ink, then the public bails them out. Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz says the rescue plan "amounts to robbery of the American people."
      Richard Wolff is a well-known economist. After receiving his Ph.D. from Yale, he taught at the City College of New York from 1969 to 1973, and then began teaching at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he has been full professor since 1981. He is the author of numerous articles and books on economics.

Be sure to join us in August 2009 for more from Alternative Radio.