Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen

Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen

By Burt CohenSociety & CultureNewsPolitics
Download on the App Store

Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen episodes

  • ’67 March on the Pentagon Plus 50
    Few moments in history can be seen as pivotal. The anti-war movement took such a turn on October 21, 1967 when at least 100,00 Americans took their protests directly to the war making hub: the Pentagon. What did it mean, what was achieved, how was the anti-war movement changed? Our guest was there. UNH English professor Michael Ferber was then in his early 20s and back then he was involved with people like Dr. Benjamin Spock and Noam Chomsky. Though Abbie Hoffman’s scheme to levitate the Pentagon 300 feet and spin until all its evil spirits were released did not actually happen, nothing was the same after the march. It was a measurable moment where public opinion shifted.
    1 hr
  • November 2, 1917: The Beginning of the End for Palestine
    Since when do the people who actually live in a region get to participate in deciding its future? The British always knew best. People in India and all their colonies were not ready yet to govern themselves. And besides England was in the midst of the first world war, geopolitics had to rule. So begat the Balfour Declaration. As if they owned the land, 100 years ago November 2nd, Lord Balfour declared there would be a “homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine.” It also played nicely into Europe’s desire to deal with any “Jewish Problem,” give them somewhere else to go, not here. On this centennial, author and scholar Dan Freeman-Maloy explains the details of what happened and why it happened.
    1 hr
  • Breaking Wall St’s Grip on Democratic Party
    When big easy money is involved, it’s hard to push back. But that’s exactly what Democrats must do to win future elections. Robert Borosage talks about his current article “Wall Street Has Some Advice for the Democratic party…And Democrats Need to Ignore it.” Sure, a ton of money is needed to finance campaigns but, as we saw in 2016, it doesn’t always result in winning voters to your team. The DNC’s recent purge of traditional Democrats in favor of big money interests is doomed to fail. What works is connecting with the real center of America, and medicare for all and other progressive populist items actually connects with that middle which is necessary to win. Change is coming from the bottom up and Democrat are getting it together despite the pressure from Wall Street.
    1 hr
  • A Step Not Taken: FDR’s Four Freedoms and Real National Security
    What works to shore up America’s strength in the world: pure military domination or using a Roosevelt idea: The Four Freedoms, including freedom from want? In this 2012 discussion with Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow David Woolner, then-candidates Obama and Romney are mentioned but with Trump now in the driver’s seat, the ideas are more applicable today than ever. What has our primarily military approach really gotten us? What about the rule of law as an approach? Is there a better way to defeat terrorism and ensure our security? How can we re-establish America’s pre-eminence in the world? Woolner reveals what actually works. Hint: FDR’s approach is more applicable than ever in 2017. “The American Century” did not work, it’s time for Roosevelt’s “Century of the Common Man.”
     
    58 min
  • Business and Public Education = Segrenomics
    Both parties in recent decades have bought into the idea that letting private business needs dictate the direction of public schools will help education. According to Noliwe Rooks, director of American Studies at Cornell University, de facto segregation in public schools is today worse than it was for much of the 20th century. The 1954 Supreme Court Brown vs Board of Education decision ended legal segregation but American creativity has found many ways to get around that ruling and the need for integration. Her new book is “Cutting School: Privatization, Segregation, and the End of Public Education.”
    1 hr
  • Big Pharma And The Mahdis Who Kill Americans
    A group of families of  Americans killed in Iraq have filed a lawsuit against many big pharmaceutical companies who allegedly paid bribes to Mahdi forces who killed family members. USA Today correspondent Aamer Madhani investigated and reports  that the Iraqi Health Ministry may have acted as “a piggy bank for terrorists in Iraq” relying on bribes paid by Big Pharma. These families allege complicity in the deaths of their loved ones. And on part two,  Do you like paying interest to use your own money? According to Mike Krauss of the Public Banking Institute, it doesn’t have to be that way. We can replace the privately held Federal Reserve system and use the treasury to directly finance public projects.
    58 min
  • Colonel Wilkerson: “We Are Supporting the Most Dangerous Group in the World”
    It’s true. Former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson explains that our tax dollars are giving a big boost to our enemies Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula. While the news media focuses on the sensational: NFL kneeling, Harvey Weinstein, etc, the US is the only reason for mass starvation and a cholera epidemic worse than any the world has witnessed in the past 50 years, with victims over a half million. Our bombs and guidance are being used by the royal Saudi government against one of the poorest countries in the world: Yemen. And the entire region recognizes the US is behind it. According to Colonel Wilkerson, we are quickly weakening our national security. But we are not powerless, there’s a bill on Congress, HCR 81.
    1 hr
  • Antifa: Fascist “AntiFascist” Gangs
    Italian writer Ennio Flaianon says “Fascists are divided into two categories: the fascists and the anti-fascists.” Both are gangs focused on violence. The American “antifa” actually beat up those they identify as fascists. And according to our guest Diana Johnstone, they are doing real harm to the genuine left. The powers behind Trump and the moneyed interests feed off the false image of antifa as being of the left. But, as our guest points out the young, male “masked militants seem to be more inspired by Batman than by Marx.” One could argue that antifa are the best things the white supremacists and Wall Street interests have going for them.
    57 min
  • Spanish King Undermines Himself// Getting Serious about Kids and Addiction
    One part one, we look at what is being done to address young people’s addiction in new ways. The old law enforcement focus has failed. And on the second half, we delve into the tense situation in Spain. Sebastiaan Faber, professor of Hispanic Studies at Oberlin College, unearths the roots of discontent in Spain and explains that the movement for Catalan Independence is really a sign of a growing demand for real democracy in Spain. The future looks bright, if rather messy for now.
    1 hr
  • The Tradition of Government Spying On Us
    It’s those others. Not good Americans who dissent. At least that’s what Presidents Johnson, Nixon, and Ford thought when their administrations unleashed many agencies to spy at will on us. On this show, Dr. William Burr, Senior Analyst with the National Security Archives talks about what he found: Questionable practices from the 60s and 70s. Who knows, you may be on that list of 73,000 Americans of whom they kept track. Many prominent citizens were. Women’s Libbers were on that list too; a real threat to America, one guesses.  And back then they had only rudimentary tools for spying on us.
    1 hr

About Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen

From the publisher's feed

Keeping democracy alive

More shows like Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen

Ralph Nader Radio Hour by Ralph Nader

Ralph Nader Radio Hour

1,199 Listeners

The MeidasTouch Podcast by MeidasTouch Network

The MeidasTouch Podcast

50,409 Listeners