Irresistible Fiction

The Next System Project: Life in the United States After Capitalism

by MFlowers

We speak with Joe Guinan and Dana Brown of the Next System Project about their ambitious work to draw from new economic institutions that are being used in the United States and around the world to build real alternatives that solve the crises of economic, racial and environmental injustice. They just completed a series of teach-ins across the country. They share with us what they’ve learned so far and what exciting new initiatives are developing out of the teach-ins.

Relevant articles and websites:

Wealth Belongs to All of Us, Not just the Rich by Dariel Garner

The Next System Project Winter 2015 two-pager: NSP two pager Winter 2015 2016

The Next System Report #1: NSPReport1_Digital1

Democracy Collaborative

The Next System

The Next System Teach-ins

 

 

Guests:

Joe Guinan is a Senior Fellow at The Democracy Collaborative and Executive Director of the Next System Project. Having first worked with Gar Alperovitz and The Democracy Collaborative ten years earlier, he returned in 2012 to help design, launch and implement the Collaborative’s work on alternative political-economic systems. A former journalist, he was previously a program director at the Aspen Institute and a fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and has served as a consultant to the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation. With a decade of experience in international economics, trade policy, global agriculture, and food security, he has been a frequently cited expert on globalization and economic development in major news media, including the New York Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, BBC News, and Al-Jazeera. Born in England with dual Irish and British citizenship, he grew up in British labor movement circles and was educated at Balliol College, Oxford. He writes regularly for progressive outlets in the UK, including open Democracy and the journal Renewal, and is a member of the editorial collective of New Left Project.

 

Dana Brown joined the Democracy Collaborative in September 2015 for the launch of the Next System Teach-Ins program. She is an activist, popular educator and human rights advocate that has worked throughout the US, Latin America and the Middle East supporting communities organized in resistance to neoliberal economic reforms and military intervention. A board member of Peace Brigades International, she maintains a foot in international solidarity, assisting projects to protect human rights defenders from Colombia to Kenya, while thrilled to be based in the US working to change our political economy for the benefit of the 99%.

Dana holds a B.A. in Sociology from Cornell University and a Masters in International Relations and Peace Studies from the Universidad del Salvador (Argentina). She is a founding member of Witness Against Torture, a movement to shut down the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and end the use of torture and indefinite detention at all US-run facilities.

She is delighted to be the first Mississippian and third tango dancer to join the Democracy Collaborative staff.

Talk Nation Radio: Jean Trounstine and Karter Reed on Murder, Juvenile Injustice, and Redemption

 

Jean Trounstine is the author of Boy With a Knife: A Story of Murder, Remorse, and a Prisoner's Fight for Justice.

Karter Reed is the subject of and the author of the Epilogue to the book. He was convicted of murder as a child in an adult court, and was sent to adult prison.

Trounstine and Reed discuss Reed's story and U.S. policies on juvenile crime.

Total run time: 29:00

Host: David Swanson.Producer: David Swanson.Music by Duke Ellington.

Download from LetsTryDemocracy or Archive.Pacifica stations can also download from Audioport.

Syndicated by Pacifica Network.

Please encourage your local radio stations to carry this program every week!

This week on Love (and Revolution) Radio, Kit Miller from the Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence in Rochester, NY, discusses how to ground huge philosophies of nonviolence, permaculture, and systems change, into tangible, hands-on action in local neighborhoods for powerful, transformative change.

Sign up for our weekly email: http://www.riverasun.com/love-and-revolution-radio/

About Our Guest: Kit Miller is the Director of the Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence in Rochester, NY. She is a mother and step-mother, and works on applications of nonviolence to projects related to racism, restorative justice, and sustainability.

Related Links: Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence http://www.gandhiinstitute.org/

Please see our email for more links to today's show: http://www.riverasun.com/love-and-revolution-radio/

Music: "Love and Revolution" by Diane Patterson and Spirit Radiowww.dianepatterson.org

This week's featured music is "Walking Each Other Home" by Jenny Bird from her Sage Songs CD. You can find her wonderful music atwww.jennybird.com

This episode takes a look at that elusive idea of defining what art is. Where does that spark of creativity come from? What drives human beings to take an idea from our mind and create something in the physical world? As a starting point for this conversation we take a look back throughout history to see what people far smarter than all of us have to say about art and the role of art within human society.

At a very basic level, any art (both good and bad) is just the product of a human being expressing something that first occurred in the mind. In fact, the majority of art is never put on display in a gallery. The society in which we live defines the value of art for us and determines what is displayed in a gallery. However, maybe the 'value' of art should be a personal definition.

We then hear from a working artist on the dilemma between making a living from art, but also being able to artistically develop and explore with that fear in the back of your mind that 'no one will buy this'. How exactly does tying commerce (capitalism) to art affect the art? And, on the other end of that question, how does it affect the definition of art in the mind of the consumer of that art?

In previous generations, art was produced and boundaries were pushed due to a societal circumstance that we no longer experience - boredom. When we have the ability to entertain ourselves 24/7, we are never bored. Without the presence of boredom, we are never forced to entertain ourselves. To create something from nothing. There is current scientific data that shows human creativity is on the decline (specifically in the USA) due to our lack of being bored. The good news is that the solution is simple and fun. We all just have to play and explore a lot more. Rhyme intended.

Song Credits:

Land of 7 Billion Dances - The Coup

Come and Check Your Head - Blue King Brown

All's Fair in Love and Dubstep - Skrillix

Vitamin C - Can

All That You Paid For - Falling Sickness

Boredom - S.T.U.N.

Brand New Colony - The Postal Service

On the Corner - Miles Davis

$o$ - Die Antwoord

Only Getting Younger - Elliphant

All Power To The Positive! Vol#6, Episode #9

 by wakeupgoddammit

 

“Our mission is to do the work…Build power by building institutions, serve people, (re)educate the mind to cultivate a revolutionary consciousness, establish hope & peace by meeting people where they are at, develop allies who support Black liberation, transform predators into protectors, be collectively self-sufficient, develop a cadre of leaders/neighbor organizers that can work closely together or independent if need be, promote self-images of ourselves and establish concrete programs that is not only meeting the immediate needs of the people but is ultimately building a mass movement of people that is becoming organized to seize power!”

– Yusef Bunchy Shakur.

Beats:

“Start The Revolution” – Marcel Cartier

“I Took A Pill At Ibiza” – Mike Posner

“American Greed” –  AraabMUZIK

“My House” – Flo Rida

“I Mean It” – G Eazy

“Middle” – DJ Snake

“Groove Grease” – Jimmy McGriff

“Takeover” – Lion Riddims

“A Milli” – Lil Wayne

 

Cuts:

“Afrika Hot” – dead prez

“Never Give Up” – Jennifer Johns

“Whisper” – Ronnie Rain

“A Change Is Gonna Come” – Humphrey

 

Vocals:

Jay-Z (freestyle), 6 Facts About The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Dr. Jared Ball on Colonialism in The U.$., and MORE…!

Click on the image (above) to learn about the Non-Profit Industrial Complex.

Click here to learn why the U.$. is NOT ‘your’ land.  Click here to watch the history of May Day.Click here and here to learn how to help yourself to housing in [gentrified] Seattle.

Economic Update: Poverty and the US Economy

by Richard Wolff.

On this week's episode of Economic Update, Prof. Wolff provides updates on slow US economy, money drives Yale, Chobani workers get profits, more car corps scandal, and Christian/Marxist dialogue. Interview with anti-poverty activist Rob Robinson.

Visit Professor Wolff's social movement project, democracyatwork.info. Permission to reprint Professor Wolff's writing and videos is granted on an individual basis. Please contact [email protected] to request permission. We reserve the right to refuse or rescind permission at any time.

Building Power for Worker Rights

by MFlowers

On the day after May Day, we focus on the current situation for workers and how they are building power to lift up wages and worker rights. We speak with Professor Richard Wolff of Democracy at Work and Mike Somers, President of CWA Local 2100. Nearly 40,000 CWA members have been on strike against Verizon since April 13. They are calling for a national day of action on May 5.

Relevant articles and websites:

Economic Update: Poverty and the US Economy by Richard Wolff

Democracy at Work

Stand Up To Verizon – Join the National Day of Action on May 5 and sign the petition.

Verizon Greed

CWA Local 2100

 

Guests:

Richard D. Wolff is the co-founder of Democracy at Work. He is professor of economics emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he taught economics from 1973 to 2008. He is currently a visiting professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University, New York City. He also teaches classes regularly at the Brecht Forum in Manhattan. Earlier he taught economics at Yale University (1967-1969) and at the City College of the City University of New York (1969-1973). In 1994, he was a visiting professor of economics at the University of Paris (France), I (Sorbonne). His work is available atrdwolff.com and at democracyatwork.info.

A lifelong professor of economics, Prof. Wolff is a well-known critic of contemporary capitalism and the leading proponent of an alternative economic system based on WSDEs. He has been interviewed on several popular television programs that include: Real Time with Bill Maher, Bill Moyers’ Moyers & Company, The Charlie Rose Show, and Up with Chris Hayes, among others. Prof. Wolff’s publications include articles in Truthout.org, The Guardian, Common Dreams, as well as his recent books: Capitalism Hits the Fan and Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism.

 

 

Mike Somers is the president of Communications Workers of America Local 2100 in Chase, MD.

Talk Nation Radio: Peter Enns on How Public Punitiveness Led to Mass Incarceration

 

Peter Enns is Associate Professor in the Department of Government and Executive Director of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University. He is also team leader of the Institute for Social Science theme project on the Causes, Consequences, and Future of Mass Incarceration in the United States.

His research focuses on public opinion, representation, mass incarceration, and inequality. Peter also teaches courses on quantitative research methods. Peter’s new book, Incarceration Nation, (Cambridge University Press) explains why the public became more punitive in the 1960s, 70s, 80, and 90s, and how this increasing punitiveness led to the rise of mass incarceration in the United States.

Peter received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2007) and his undergraduate degree from Colorado College (1998). Prior to graduate school, he taught high school Spanish for three years in Baltimore, MD, through Teach For America. Additional information on his research and teaching is available on his personal website.

Total run time: 29:00

Host: David Swanson.Producer: David Swanson.Music by Duke Ellington.

Syndicated by Pacifica Network.

Please encourage your local radio stations to carry this program every week!

This week on Love (and Revolution) Radio, Ken Butigan shares the exciting news about the Nonviolence and Just Peace conference at the Vatican . . . and what throwing out 1700 years of just war theory might mean for the Catholic Church, and the world.

Sign up for our weekly email: http://www.riverasun.com/love-and-revolution-radio/

About Our Guest: Ken Butigan is the Executive Director of Pace e Bene and Campaign Nonviolence. He is a peace and conflict studies professor at DePaul University in Chicago. Ken was part of the planning committee for the "Nonviolence and Just Peace Conference: Contributing to the Catholic Understanding of, and Commitment to Nonviolence", and he also coordinated the writing committee for the final draft of the text that was sent to Pope Francis following the conference.

Related Links: About the "Nonviolence and Just Peace" Conference http://wagingnonviolence.org/2016/04/vatican-conference-calls-for-nonviolence-just-peace-pope-francis/

The Church's Turn Toward Nonviolence by Rev. John Dear http://www.paceebene.org/2016/04/21/the-churchs-turn-toward-nonviolence/

Laudato Si, Encyclical on Ecological Restorative Justice by Pope Francis http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

Cardinal Turkson's interview in April 24th Edition of Sunday Times, London http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/world_news/Europe/article1689497.ece?CMP=OTH-gnws-standard-2016_04_23

Pax Christi http://www.paxchristi.net/

Junipero Serra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jun%C3%ADpero_Serra

Why Civil Resistance Works by Maria J. Stephan and Erica Chenoweth http://cup.columbia.edu/book/why-civil-resistance-works/9780231156820

Nonviolent Peaceforce http://www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org/

The Two Hands of Nonviolence http://www.paceebene.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/The-Two-Hands-of-Nonviolence.pdf

Dorothy Day & Catholic Worker Movement http://www.catholicworker.org/

Franz Jägerstätter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_J%C3%A4gerst%C3%A4tter

Thomas Merton http://merton.org/

Oscar Romero in El Salvador https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Romero

Cardinal Sin in the Philippines, People-Power Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaime_Sin

Pace e Bene Nonviolence Trainings w/ Ken Butigan and Staff http://www.paceebene.org/programs/nonviolence-workshops/

Campaign Nonviolence http://www.paceebene.org/programs/campaign-nonviolence/

Nonviolent Cities Project http://www.paceebene.org/programs/campaign-nonviolence/the-nonviolent-cities-project/

Music by: "Love and Revolution" by Diane Patterson and Spirit Radiowww.dianepatterson.org

Our featured music this week is called Song of Time from Diane Patterson's new album, Teach, Inspire, Be Real. We are particularly excited about this new album, since it is the first time a recording of our theme song, Love and Revolution, has ever been available! In two weeks, we'll have Diane with us here on the show to discuss art, music, and making change. You can find her music at www.dianepatterson.org

About Your Co-hosts: Sherri Mitchell (Penobscot) is an Indigenous rights attorney, writer and activist who melds traditional life-way teachings into spirit-based movements. Follow her at Sherri Mitchell – Wena’gamu’gwasit:https://www.facebook.com/sacredinstructions/timeline

Rivera Sun is a novelist and nonviolent mischief-maker. She is the author of The Dandelion Insurrection, Billionaire Buddha, and Steam Drills, Treadmills, and Shooting Stars. She is also the social media coordinator and nonviolence trainer for Campaign Nonviolence and Pace e Bene. Her essays on social justice movements are syndicated on by PeaceVoice, and appear in Truthout and Popular Resistance.http://www.riverasun.com/

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown – The Cancer Stage of Capitalism

 Economies are life forces – interdependent systems built upon the facts of life and living. “Life capital” as Ellen’s noted guest Dr. John McMurtry says, is at the heart of true economic reckoning, and money is merely one derivative. McMurtry describes Capitalism as being in a cancerous stage in which it’s being devoured from within by metastasizing greed and self-interest, devouring all living materials in its path. Similarly, we look at the new What Wall Street Costs America project and get specific about how that cancer reality looks in Jefferson County, AL, which declared bankruptcy after buying into toxic interest rates swaps from Wall Street salesmen. One thing though – we also talk about the antidote for that cancer: public banks!