Ryan Dawson Presents Professor Ira Chernus
Professor Ira Chernus from the University of Colorado at Boulder joins us today to discuss John Kerry’s shocking admission that Foreign Policy is Economic policy. What is the motivational relationship between war and select economic interests and how do political mythologies play a role dressing up corporatism-with-a-gun in deceptive altruistic sounding public pretexts?
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“Congo & the Politics of Genocide” with Keith Harmon Snow
This week Eric examines the continued conflict and genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He explores the various factions on the ground as well as the forces behind the violence and the imperialist powers that support. Eric provides insight into the how the mainstream narrative of the conflict is entirely constructed in order to conceal the fact that the key figures in this conflict are all connected while the Congolese victims remain powerless and voiceless.
Eric is joined by Keith Harmon Snow, genocide investigator and filmmaker, who is the foremost expert on the true nature of the conflict in the Congo. Eric and Keith examine the politics of genocide, grounding their discussion in the issue of how dominant discourse frames the historical narrative of genocides. They discuss the complex history of Rwanda and the region in order to provide further insight into this conflict. Eric and Keith also discuss the role of the United States and the Western imperial powers in shaping and promoting this conflict and their strategic and economic motivations. Additionally, they also critique the corporations, NGOs and other powerful institutions which all play a role in misinforming the public about the truth of the Congo.
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Solomon Burke
This week’s BFP Jamiol music pick has 2 things going for it. First off, it’s a request from Sibel and secondly it’s a song performed by Solomon Burke aka “King Solomon.” Burke also earned the title “the Muhammad Ali of soul” for his ability to transcend Gospel, R&B and Soul.
Tonight we listen to Solomon Burke singing his masterpiece None of us are Free from his Don’t Give Up on Me album to which Sibel adds “When one of us is jailed/gagged/classified/tortured/stripped of constitution/liberties, think Manning, think Drake, think …, none of us are free….” Indeed. PJ
P.S. At the start of the clip, you’ll need to “x” out of the annoying Google banner ad at the bottom of clip Read more
Black Power: From Harlem to Haiti and Hanoi
What is Black Power? When, where, how, and why did it emerge? Taking a look at the Civil Rights movement in the broader context of a Black Liberation Movement, we must examine the concept of Black Power, and look to the revolutionary philosophers of action who both articulated the concept, and actively sought to mobilize and manifest it in the form of empowering communities and creating alternatives. With the ideas and actions of Stokely Carmichael, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Fred Hampton and Angela Davis – among many many others! – we see a profoundly complex, indigenous, grassroots and globally-connected revolutionary movement emerge in the United States in the 1960s, led by young, black leaders, male and female, speaking out against the racism, imperialism, exploitation and domination of the American empire at home and abroad, historically and presently, from Harlem to Haiti to Hanoi.
The Black Panther Party was a particularly active component of the black power movement, organizing free breakfasts, medical care, and education for ghetto residents and children. So threatening to the power structure was the Black Power movement, that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover once declared the free breakfast program to be the “greatest internal threat to the United States.” A look at the Black Power movement helps us understand why it was so threatening back then, and why it’s important to remember today.
Listen to the podcast show here:
This site depends exclusively on readers’ support. Please help us continue by SUBSCRIBING, and by ordering our EXCLUSIVE BFP DVD .
