Monday's @ 6:30pm    
September, 2008
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 September 1, 2008 @ 6:30pm 

Alternative Radio - Arundhati Roy - Brave New India: Uprisings
      India is hot. Its meteoric rise as an economic power with a growing number of millionaires and billionaires is a great success story. Not quite. Politically, India has gone from its Nehru-inspired non-alignment to aligning itself with Washington. Its priorities mirror its mentor's. 19% of the country's budget goes to the military while education gets about 5% and public health a scant 1%.
     Journalist Praful Bidwai writes, "We are a poor country and we are spending like crazy on guns while 77% of Indians live on less than 20 rupees, 50 cents, per day." They have little access to clean water and electricity. The contrasts and contradictions are sharp and widening between the rich who live well-lit lives of opulence and the indigent who are literally in darkness. From Assam to Jharkand and from West Bengal to Andhra Pradesh, the dispossessed are rebelling and resisting
     Arundhati Roy is an author, lecturer and activist. Her book, "The God of Small Things" won the prestigious Booker Prize. The New York Times calls her, "India's most impassioned critic of globalization and American influence." She is the winner of the Lannan Award for Cultural Freedom. Her latest books are "An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire" and "The Checkbook & the Cruise Missile," with David Barsamian. AR' s David Barsaman interviewed her in New Delhi in late December 2007.

Monday September 8,  2008 @ 6:30pm

Alternative Radio - Noam Chomsky - Iraq: The Forever War
     Imperial powers have historically cooked up great reasons to sell their wars to their people. The standard litany for aggression is self-defense, freedom, liberty and democracy. The attack on Iraq was not a mistake. It was a crime. And criminals should be brought to justice. But we don't have anyone in the political system that can utter those words. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said, "Impeachment is off the table." And the media? Surely the watchdog of democracy won't shy away from the truth. They'll tell the American people the hard facts. Sorry. The press corps is more like a press corpse. The crime of the war on Iraq and its now estimated, by Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, three trillion dollar cost will hasten the demise of the United States as a world power. Will anyone be held accountable?

     Noam Chomsky, internationally renowned MIT professor, practically invented modern linguistics. In addition to his pioneering work in that field he has been a leading voice for peace and social justice. He is in huge demand as a public speaker all over the world. The New York Times calls him, "a global phenomenon, perhaps the most widely read voice on foreign policy on the planet." Author of scores of books, his latest are "The Essential Chomsky" and "What We Say Goes."

Monday September 15,  2008 @ 6:30pm

Alternative Radio - Benjamin Barber - Runaway Capitalism
     Our great leaders tell us what we already know, The economy is "sour." But no worries. At the end of the day all will be well. Just keep on shoppin.' Capitalism is the only game in town. Growth for growth's sake, without any attention paid to its consequences, is producing what one Canadian writer calls "The Cancer Stage of Capitalism." And like a cancer it will keep metastasizing until it kills its host. The economic system is predicated on constant expansion and growth. The gospel of consumerism is an unsustainable paradigm. What is required is a radical rethinking of basic assumptions. Yet virtually no politician is willing to speak the hard truth to citizens. They are tinkerers at best, suggesting cosmetic changes such as buying a hybrid car and recycling paper and glass. Other than that it's business as usual.
     Benjamin Barber is a well-known scholar and political theorist. He is the author of many books including the bestseller Jihad vs. McWorld. His latest book is Consumed: The Fate of Citizens under Capitalism Triumphant.

Monday September 22, 2008 @ 6:30pm

Alternative Radio - Steven Salaita - Anti-Arab Racism
     Edward Said, the great Palestinian-American scholar commented that racism against Arabs is the last acceptable form of racism in the U.S. Arabs are constructed as the Other, dark and evil. There have been numerous Newsweek and Time magazine covers depicting angry, bearded Arabs, wearing a checkered kaffiyeh, and brandishing a weapon. Radio & TV talk show hosts compare Islam to fascism. Hollywood movies contribute greatly to negative images of Arabs. They are the enemy du jour. The conventional stereotype of Arabs usually consists of the following elements: They are all wealthy, barbaric, cunning, untrustworthy, mendacious, misogynist, cruel and sadistic. Perhaps the most bizarre comment about Arabs is that they are anti-Semites. Bizarre why? Arabs are Semites. Arabic is a Semitic language. In these formulaic constructions, repeated ad nauseum, an entire people and culture have been reduced to caricatures.
     Steven Salaita is a professor at Virginia Tech. He's the author of Arab American Literary Fictions, Cultures and Politics. His latest book is Anti-Arab Racism in the USA.

Monday September 29, 2008 @ 6:30pm

Alternative Radio - Youdon Aukatsang - Tibet: The Struggle for Freedom

     Tibet, the roof of the world, struggles for freedom against China. Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama fled his homeland in 1959 and lives in exile in India. The Nobel Laureate is noted for his espousal of non-violence. Nevertheless he is accused by the Chinese of being "a wolf in monk's robes" plotting against Beijing and fomenting rebellion. Demonstrations against China have followed the Olympic torch around the world. The issue of Tibet is in the international spotlight. That's not where China wants it. Over the decades of Chinese rule there has been a government-sponsored "Go West" campaign to resettle Tibet with ethnic Chinese. The Dalai Lama has called what China is doing in Tibet a form of "cultural genocide"  and "demographic aggression." Chinese policies and tactics are sharpening the Tibetan yearning for liberation.
     Youdon Aukatsang is a member of the Tibetan Parliament in exile. She is a graduate of Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Fletcher School at Tufts University. She is Executive Director of Empowering the Vision in New Delhi.

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