Latin America has played a crucial role for the United States as an empire. And historian Greg Grandin argues that Latin America’s importance stretches well beyond the regional interests of the United States in the Western Hemisphere. Instead, Grandin posits, the countries south of the border have been used as a crucible for the formation of American policy — such as applying the lessons from counterinsurgency against the left in El Salvador and Colombia to the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. (Full length interview.)

Resources:

Greg Grandin, Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Making of an Imperial Republic Picador, 2021

photo: Josh Johnson via Unsplash

The post U.S. Empire and Latin America appeared first on KPFA.

A special presentation featuring poetry readings and discussions by iconic poets, established ones, and up-and-comers. Archival recordings of Allen Ginsberg, June Jordan, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Jack Kerouac are part of the mix, as are suggestions for how to approach and enjoy poetry.

Minal Hajratwala

Mira Martin-Parker

Craig Santos Perez

Matthew Zapruder

Pacifica Radio Archives

The post Poetry Past and Present appeared first on KPFA.

The effects of climate change are here and serious. While it may seem like uncharted waters in the modern era, our ancestors in the 1600s faced a global climate crisis in a century wracked by wars, famines, and social unrest. Historian Geoffrey Parker discusses the lessons of the 17th century, where elites — with the exception of Tokugawa Japan — responded to the “Little Ice Age” with wars and scapegoating. (Encore presentation.)

Resources:

Geoffrey Parker, Global Crisis War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century Yale University Press, 2013

photo: Matt Palmer via Unsplash

The post 17th Century Climate Crisis appeared first on KPFA.

The Chinese philosophical text Laozi, also known as the Tao Te Ching, has inspired and intrigued readers for more than two millennia. What is the Dao, typically translated as the Way? What does the text say about how we should behave, what we should value, what traditional ways of thinking we should reconsider or reject? Paul Goldin explains and interprets the text.

Paul Goldin, The Art of Chinese Philosophy: Eight Classical Texts and How to Read Them Princeton University Press, 2020

The post Philosophy of the Way appeared first on KPFA.

We’re often told that the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians rises out of a unique historical situation. But the dispossession of the Palestinians, rather than being exceptional, has strong echoes in other historical dispossessions. Gary Fields discusses the enclosure of the lands of the English peasantry, Native Americans, and the inhabitants of historic Palestine. (Encore presentation.)

Resources:

Gary Fields, Enclosure: Palestinian Landscapes in a Historical Mirror UC Press, 2017

photo: Sohaib Al Kharsa via Unsplash

The post Dispossession and Enclosure appeared first on KPFA.