Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen

Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen

By Burt CohenSociety & CultureNewsPolitics
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Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen episodes

  • In Military Gear, Patriots Invade the Capital: 50 Years Ago
    Self-professed “patriots” stormed the US Capitol Building January 6th, but it was Vietnam Veterans Against the War in late April 1971 who were the real patriots. They came for what they considered another tour of duty, after serving in the war in Vietnam. On this show, Author Elise Lemire paints the picture of the veterans who emotionally threw their hard earned medals over the fence at the Capitol 50 years ago. And with long hair and military uniforms they not only effectively used symbols in a new way, they kicked off a new version of masculinity. These were Thomas Paine’s Winter Soldiers, not his “Sunshine Patriots who shrink from service.”
    1 hr
  • Troubles in Northern Ireland: Unforeseen Brexit Blues
    You may have read recently about a flare up of rioting in Belfast. It’s all a result of Boris Johnson’s Brexit. Scholar Kenneth Surin, a British citizen teaching in the US, explains what’s going on in Northern Ireland. Though it’s easy to blame the EU, Surin says Thatcherite neoliberalism is really to blame. Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland are really colonies of London, and while Brexit grabs the headlines, the energy is growing to address simmering economic unfairness. There is a expanding impetus for unification of Ireland North and South as the effects of Brexit worsen.
    1 hr
  • How the Wealth Defense Industry Poisons Democracy
    As our guest Chuck Collins explains, it’s like one person orders expensive wine for a dinner crowd and sneaks out without paying. His new book is titled The Wealth Hoarders; How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions. What he calls the Wealth Defense Industry has produced a large set of tools for the ultra-rich to get the rest of us pay what should be their share of taxes. But attitudes about taxing the hyper rich have changed in recent years. Cities and states, as well as European countries, are requiring transparency as to these tax dodge entities. And Biden seems to be on board as well. Reasons for optimism!
    1 hr
  • Sedition and Democracy
    Thanks to January 6th, the word sedition is in our consciousness again.  Trump is more likely guilty of treason than of mere sedition according to the former director of the CIA and our guest, history teacher and essayist William Pruden III. In the 1800 election, merely criticizing the president was called sedition. In the 1920s Wilson jailed hundreds for alleged sedition. But it was that same period when awareness of the Bill of Rights picked up.  What is sedition, how does it compare to treason? And how might prosecuting sedition affect our treasured freedom of speech? The very term “sedition” causes us to look at the meaning of democracy.
    1 hr
  • Border Crisis? How About A Right to Stay Home
    Americans talk about the surge at the border, but the real point is everyone has a right to stay home. Today’s guest Avi Chomsky says that under Biden, Trump’s cement wall is instead outsourced to a militarized high-tech barrier. Do Central Americans really have a choice? They’ve long been subjugated to the “security and prosperity” of the few. And the severe effects of climate change in Central America have destroyed the ability to keep living there. The exploitation and extraction economy replaced their natural farming with cattle, cotton, and sugar destroying their land. Chomsky argues Biden’s new border policies are actually ancient history.
    1 hr
  • Can Biden Complete JFK’s Start at Peace?
    He came in as a macho Cold War president but after the reality of near nuclear war, John Kennedy became a changed man. He gave an important speech about peace in June 1963. Now the Cold War is back and Biden could learn much from this humbled Kennedy. Historian Martin Halpern talks about the power then and now of the military intelligence community over foreign policy. He says Biden’s great start in strengthening domestic programs can yield a better, more effective foreign policy as he builds real national security.
    1 hr
  • Stronger than Ever : The One World Idea is Back
    Fierce nationalism and the insistence that the US is indispensable to organize the world has played itself out. With awareness of climate change, worldwide opposition to racism, and the avoidable persistence of great poverty, could this be the time once again for One World? Wendell Willkie’s vision was 80 years ahead of his time, as explained by Sandy Zipp, author of the new book The Idealist: Wendell Willkie’s Wartime Quest to Build One World. Our guest says “Americans embrace the benefits of globalization—cheap goods and easy travel—but have shown far more ambivalence towards its oft-neglected responsibilities.” But recognizing our interdependence works better than go-it-alone cultural supremacist nationalism. At this unique time opportunities for working together offer great promise.
    1 hr
  • The Rise of Fascism: It’s India’s Turn
    Fossil fueled fascism is not limited to the west. The roots of India’s ruling party go back to Mussolini and Nazis. Repressing minorities as they increase wealth and power of the autocratic rulers. The US is tight with Prime Minister Modi against China, but what are the results? Political, economic, religious freedom is steadily criminalized by right wing resource-extractive nationalism. On this show, Institute for Policy Studies’ Basav Sen fills in the large blanks in American awareness of the world’s second most populous country. Why is the suicide rate so high for farmers? Their revolts and the journalists that cover them face repression, as they demand more climate sustaining policies. It’s tough but outside of the political system, the people of India are fighting back.
    1 hr
  • The Cold War Again?
    It’s so easy for the national security state to just paint the same old picture for Americans: Russia and China are military threats. But in truth they are not. They are rising economically in large part because we have wasted trillions on wars and bases all over the world, which have only served to weaken America from the inside. On this show international journalist Dave Lindorff  explains that Red Scares are indeed ludicrous but play quite well for the Pentagon. Not only do most Americans want peace, the Chinese are not happy with their own fascistic government and the people of Russia also want peace and international cooperation. The last Cold War ended thirty years ago. We need to ask Biden: why do it again?
    1 hr
  • Unknown Activist: Challenges, Successes, and Rewards
    Even if it never makes it on TV, progressive action does make a difference. There’s a place for all activists, forcing hidden problems and opportunities to the fore. Our guest Dinah Yessne has a new book called Politically Defined. There’s something everyone can do; being silent has not been an option, working both inside and outside the system. It takes patience and persistence but participating in our democracy yields results.
    1 hr

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