AlternativeRadio

"An informed democracy will behave in a responsible fashion," said Jefferson. And what happens to democracy when one of the major pillars of information, journalism is under attack from the highest office in the land? We live in an era where the president openly singles out journalists by name and denounces them. And when he’s at a rally he incites his followers to hiss and boo the press. “Fake news,” he tweets. The media are “a stain on America.” Apparently, any journalist that does not express admiration and adoration for the president is not doing his or her job. Only Fox can be trusted. Journalism, at least in theory, has one essential job: to dig out and communicate the facts about what powerful individuals and institutions are doing. And to hold them accountable. No one is above criticism.

Occupation has a corrosive and corrupting effect not just on the occupied but on the occupiers as well. The British learned this in Kenya as the French did in Algeria and maybe the U.S. did in Iraq. People don’t like to be occupied. Thus, severe measures are employed to keep them controlled. Israel is a case in point. Palestinians have endured more than five decades of occupation. They have been subjected to land seizures, destruction of homes and fruit trees, torture, checkpoints, curfews, barriers, collective punishment and extrajudicial killings. In terms of the tactics of repression Israel is no different from other occupiers. But there is one crucial difference: U.S. support. Washington has given over the years more than $130. billion in aid to Israel. That’s more than any other country gets by far. The U.S. by its largesse enables the occupation. Recorded at Seattle Pacific University.

Mahmoud Darwish, the national poet of Palestine in a famous couplet asks, Where should we go after the last frontiers, where should the birds fly after the last sky? For many displaced Palestinians Darwish speaks to their dilemma. Where should they go? The role of the U.S. in the conflict is enormous. It is heavily biased in favor of Israel. No matter who is in the White House support for Tel Aviv is unwavering. Witness Washington’s defying international law by moving its embassy to Jerusalem. The Palestinian narrative is rarely heard and when it is it is muted and represented by non-Palestinians. Yet, despite more and more settlements, collective punishment, housing demolitions, walls and barriers Palestinians still resist being occupied. One State? Two State? No State? Can Palestinians and Israelis find a viable path to genuine peace based on justice?

In 1970, at the height of the U.S. wars in Indochina Edwin Starr came out with his classic song: “War.” In it he asks, “War, what is good for?” And he answers: “Absolutely nothing.” Well, for the giant weapons manufacturing corporations, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics and all the rest, war pays off big time. They make money hand over fist especially with their cost-plus contracts. And then there are the delays in delivery and technical problems. Whether they are F-35 fighter jets, stealth destroyers, Trident submarines or aircraft carriers, the Pentagon gets what it wants. And taxpayers foot the bill. Policy makers in Washington always come up with rationales to engage in war. Since 2001 the U.S. has been continually at war and it has greatly expanded the number of countries it is attacking. Is war ever justifiable?  This program features a debate between David Swanson and Pete Kilner. Swanson answers no to the question, is war ever justifiable. Kilner argues yes.

Black Panther is a blockbuster superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character. But back in the 1960s the Black Panther Party represented an African-American political and social welfare organization. Why the name? As Huey Newton, one of its leaders said, because the black panther doesn't strike first, “but if the aggressor strikes first, then he'll attack.” It was formed to challenge police brutality against African Americans. Dressed in black berets and black leather jackets, the Black Panthers organized armed citizen patrols in Oakland and elsewhere. At its peak in 1968, the Party had roughly several thousand members and branches all over the U.S. The organization later declined as a result of internal tensions and police and FBI counterintelligence activities including infiltration and assassinations. By the late 70s it was basically defunct. However, its memory continues to inspire today.

All imperial systems attempt to reinvent the past, engineer history to suit their needs. The United States is no different. Vietnam is a perfect example. A war of aggression was transformed into a "conflict." It was "tragic" and a "mistake." At the other end of the spectrum, the so-called liberal Washington Post called the war a "just cause." That's the range of opinion in describing one of the major atrocities of the 20th century. The sheer savagery of the U.S. attack is forgotten. The war on Vietnam, later extended to Laos and Cambodia, included mass murder from the air and ferocious assaults on the ground. Millions were killed. About the agony and suffering of the victims? Virtually nothing. Reparations? Apologies? No way. And the architects of destruction, the war criminals? Held accountable? Trials? Jail time? Then as now, nothing. This classic from the AR archives marks the 50th anniversary of the My Lai massacre. Historian Jonathan Schell wrote that My Lai, “had come to be the rule, and not the exception, in our conduct of the war.”

Land-locked Armenia has had a long history but as a nation state it is rather new. Armenia declared its independence from the USSR in 1991. Left with a legacy of 70 years of Soviet rule, corruption is rampant. The adoption of neoliberalism by elites, as in other countries, has produced massive inequality. Oligarchs dominate the state and the economy. Unregulated mining is causing environmental damage. Water supplies are privatized. The state-run world-famous cognac factory was sold for peanuts to a French conglomerate. Quality health care, extremely expensive, is available for the rich. Education? More of the same. The major media are stenographers to power. Patriarchy and misogyny persist. Gender bias runs deep. Women are seen as child producers for the defense of the nation. Some Armenians, fed up with injustice, leave the country. Others, like Anna Shahnazaryan stay and resist.

The history of the U.S. is one of settler colonialism. The state was established on the basis of white male supremacy, slavery, land theft and genocide. “From sea to shining sea” the Native nations were decimated and dispossessed. The survivors herded into concentration camps. It was God’s will. The genocidal policy reached its peak under President Andrew Jackson. Its ruthlessness was best articulated by Army general Thomas Jesup, who, in 1836, wrote: “The country can be rid of them only by exterminating them.” Native people are still here. Today, there is growing support for their movements such as the campaign to abolish Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The Dakota Access Pipeline resistance led by the Standing Rock Sioux was joined by many non-Native allies. The action, though unsuccessful, captured the imagination of people everywhere. The struggle for indigenous rights continues.

Critics of the U.S. criminal justice system such as Michelle Alexander and Bryan Stevenson have assailed the rise of mass incarceration with its disproportionate impact on people of color. The war on crime that began in the 1970s was supported by many African American leaders in the nation’s urban centers. The first substantial cohort of black mayors, judges, and police chiefs took office amid a surge in crime and drug addiction. Many prominent black officials, including federal prosecutor Eric Holder, feared that the gains of the civil rights movement were being undermined by lawlessness. They thus embraced tough-on-crime measures, including mandatory sentencing and aggressive police tactics and what Angela Davis called, the prison-industrial complex. In the face of skyrocketing murder rates and the proliferation of open-air drug markets, African-American officials and community leaders believed they had no choice. But the policies they adopted would have devastating consequences for residents of poor black neighborhoods.

An ultra-rich New York real estate tycoon and celebrity TV star is the 45th president of the United States. He puts America First by ignoring the world and pulling out of the Paris climate accord, undermining the Iran deal and recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. He drains the swamp by appointing people with dubious credentials. His economic policies are lining the pockets of the rich. His daughter and son-in-law occupy high White House positions. Can anyone say nepotism? Then there is the lying. Do politicians tell lies? Of course, they do. But the current occupant of the White House is setting new records. The Washington Post has documented more than 2,000 lies in his first year in office. The self-described “genius” has a penchant for mendacity. His core group of supporters comment, “That’s just Donald being Donald.” What can you say?