AlternativeRadio

By David Barsamian

News & Politics Government & Organizations Non-Profit

What's AlternativeRadio about?

Alternative Radio is an "unembedded" weekly one-hour public affairs program offered free to all public radio stations in the US, Canada, Europe, South Africa, Australia, and on short-wave on Radio for Peace International. AR provides information, analyses and views that are frequently ignored or distorted in other media.

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[Sanjay Kak] Azadi! Freedom!

11.24.2022

"Azadi!"—Urdu for "Freedom!"—is the slogan of the freedom struggle in Kashmir against Indian occupation. Abroad, New Delhi promotes itself as the world’s largest democracy. At home, the picture is quite different. India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the BJP, led by ...

AlternativeRadio episodes:

11.24.2022 [Sanjay Kak] Azadi! Freedom! "Azadi!"—Urdu for "Freedom!"—is the slogan of the freedom struggle in Kashmir against Indian occupation. Abroad, New Delhi promotes itself as the world’s largest democracy. At home, the picture is quite different. India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the BJP, led by ...
11.17.2022 [Dave Zirin] Sports & Resistance to Fascism Many believe that sports are apolitical and neutral. But it isn’t. Sports are intricately enmeshed within the larger societal context. Some athletes speak out. Muhammad Ali in 1967, with the United States at war in Vietnam, refused to be inducted ...
11.10.2022 [Rangina Hamidi] Afghanistan: Past & Present Afghanistan, land of the Afghans, more than two millennia ago, this may surprise you, was a major center of Buddhism. Situated on the fabled Silk Road this mountainous landlocked country has an old and rich history and culture with great ...
11.03.2022 [Noam Chomsky] Notes on Resistance Resistance. How does one move from a position of dissent to resistance, direct action? As a political tactic resistance requires careful thought and must be freely undertaken. Practitioners include most famously Gandhi and Dr. King. It can come with a ...
10.27.2022 [Barbara Ehrenreich] A Tribute to Barbara Ehrenreich Barbara Ehrenreich was a renowned social critic, journalist, feminist and author. She was born in Butte, Montana and studied chemistry at Reed College in Oregon and later received a Ph.D. in cellular immunology at Rockefeller University in New York. But ...
10.20.2022 [Arundhati Roy] The RSS: Fascism in India The realities of India are in sharp contrast with the image it projects internationally. For example, you probably haven’t heard of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the RSS. It is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary organization. The RSS, with its ...
10.13.2022 [David Korten] Our Planetary Existential Crisis 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 ...
10.06.2022 [Nancy Fraser] Capitalism, COVID & the Climate Crisis Capitalism, COVID & the climate crisis are interconnected. Capitalism careens from one disaster to another. Its inequalities are grotesque. The pandemic is likely to take on new forms in the future. The climate emergency is all too obvious. The latest ...
09.29.2022 [Henry Giroux] The Attack on Public Education 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 ...
09.22.2022 [Howard Zinn] Three Holy Wars 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 ...
09.15.2022 [Howard Zinn] American Exceptionalism 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 ...
09.08.2022 [Howard Zinn] Q&A in Albuquerque This recording, recently discovered in the piles at AR, features the great radical historian talking with students at UNM. He is asked about getting past the culture of denial of the powerful. Drawing on his vast knowledge of history he ...
09.01.2022 [Howard Zinn] Second Thoughts on the First Amendment “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 ...
08.25.2022 [Howard Zinn] A People’s History of the United States (part 2) 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 ...
08.11.2022 [Vandana Shiva] Interconnectedness The corporate takeover of food with its toxic chemical inputs poses serious health and environmental problems. Corporate agriculture, The New York Times states unequivocally "is causing irreparable harm to the planet." It is "ravaging the air, soil and water, destroying ...
08.04.2022 [Bill McKibben] Workable Solutions to the Climate Crisis 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 ...
07.28.2022 [John Mearsheimer] Causes and Consequences of the Ukraine War 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 ...
07.21.2022 [Michael Parenti] Imperialism 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 ...
07.14.2022 [Noam Chomsky] Chronicles of Dissent 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. ...
07.07.2022 [David Korten] Our Planetary Existential Crisis 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 ...
06.30.2022 [Frank Smyth] The NRA Unmasked 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 ...
06.23.2022 [Arundhati Roy] Fascism & Resistance in India 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 ...
06.09.2022 [Jennifer Hendricks] Roe v. Wade & the Supreme Court 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 ...
06.02.2022 [Sarita Gupta] The Future of Work 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 ...
05.26.2022 [Ray McGovern] Hidden History of U.S., Ukraine, Russia Relations 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 ...
05.19.2022 [Timothy Snyder] On the Holocaust 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. ...
05.12.2022 [Katrina vanden Heuvel] Russia, Ukraine, the War & the U.S. 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 ...
05.05.2022 [Gillian Tett, Yanis Varoufakis] Can Capitalism be Fixed? (Debate) 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 ...
04.28.2022 [Chris Hedges] Truth is the First Casualty of War 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 ...
04.21.2022 [Jennifer Hendricks] Roe v. Wade & the Supreme Court 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 ...
04.14.2022 [Craig Aaron] The Future of Media 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 ...
04.07.2022 [Roger Hallam] Extinction Rebellion, the Climate Crisis & Civil Resistance 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 ...
03.31.2022 [Roxanne Dunbar-Ortíz] Genocide & Settler Colonialism 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 ...
03.24.2022 [Ralph Nader] Mobilizing People Concentrated wealth and power undermine democracy and advance plutocracy. The 1% have inordinate influence over the rest of us. Wall Street dominates Main Street. How do ordinary people break through the oligarchic system to assert their interests over the interests ...
03.17.2022 [Julianne Malveaux] Economic Justice: Dr. King’s Legacy The conventional media image of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has him frozen in time at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963 giving his inspirational "I Have a Dream" speech. Little attention is paid to King's remarkable political and ...
03.10.2022 [Malcolm X] The Ballot or the Bullet Malcolm X is a singular figure in African-American history. He led an extraordinary life. He was born in an impoverished family in Omaha, NE on May 19, 1925. He recalled being “dizzy” with hunger. He said, “My whole life has ...
03.03.2022 [Vandana Shiva] Interconnectedness The corporate takeover of food with its toxic chemical inputs poses serious health and environmental problems. Corporate agriculture, The New York Times states unequivocally "is causing irreparable harm to the planet." It is "ravaging the air, soil and water, destroying ...
02.24.2022 [Angela Davis] What Will You Say in 2030? Imagine it is 2030. A youngster asks you, What was is like back then at the turn of the century? What will you say about capital punishment, the drug war, guns or why more money was spent on prisons than ...
02.17.2022 [Eqbal Ahmad] Intellectuals, Ideology & the State What role do intellectuals play in society? Are they apparatchiks, yes men and women or do they challenge the half-truths, mendacities and fabrications of the rich and powerful? Noam Chomsky explored these themes in his famous essay, “The Responsibility of ...
02.10.2022 [Michael Eric Dyson] Chaos or Community? 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 ...
02.03.2022 [Ralph Nader] What Are We Waiting For? Inertia. We all experience it. It can lead to despair and despair can lead to paralysis. And that’s just where the oligarchs and plutocrats want us to be. Keeps the focus away from their destructive policies. Many of us have ...
01.27.2022 [Chris Hedges] Q&A on American Sadism The great 20th-century Irish poet William Butler Yeats wrote, "We had fed the heart on fantasies, The heart’s grown brutal from the fare." The United States has long fed its heart with fairy tales about itself. Hardly a day goes ...
01.20.2022 [Chris Hedges] American Sadism The great 20th-century Irish poet William Butler Yeats wrote, "We had fed the heart on fantasies, The heart’s grown brutal from the fare." The United States has long fed its heart with fairy tales about itself. Hardly a day goes ...
01.13.2022 [Noam Chomsky] Optimism of the Will How to be positive in these perilous times? Humankind and the planet are facing enormous dangers. We can indulge in magical thinking and hope for miracles or we can ground ourselves in reality, understand the depth of the crises we ...
01.06.2022 [Jenny Brown] Women: Labor Pains Reproductive rights and abortion are under sustained political attack. Texas, Mississippi and other states have passed highly restrictive laws limiting and, in some cases, eliminating access to abortion. In all, nearly 600 anti-abortion laws have been introduced. The Supreme Court, ...
12.30.2021 [Vijay Prashad] Radical Views from the Global South The concept of Global North and Global South are not geographical terms but rather describe a grouping of countries along economic lines. The Global South, previously called the Third World, is a term used to identify lower-income countries on one ...
12.23.2021 [Harriet Fraad] Patriarchy & Capitalism Denise Comanne, a prominent French feminist/activist wrote, “The oppression of women is very ancient: it existed before capitalism, which is also a system of oppression, but one that is more global in nature. Patriarchy can be defined in simple terms ...
12.16.2021 [Roxanne Dunbar-Ortíz] The Other Side of Thanksgiving The historical lens through which national holidays are viewed is often blurred and distorted. Thanksgiving is a case in point. The much-revered Pilgrims fresh off the Mayflower sat down and shared native foods with the friendly Wampanoags. A heart-warming story. ...
12.09.2021 [Stephen Bezruchka] Social Murder & Covid-19 The concept of social murder was introduced in the mid-19th century. The German philosopher Friedrich Engels coined the phrase in describing the political and social power held by ruling elites over laborers in England. Engels wrote about poor workers dying ...
12.02.2021 [Chris Hedges] The Prison Plantation System The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865 officially abolished slavery. However, there is a crucial legal exception. Section 1 of the Amendment provides: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have ...

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