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Daniel Ellsberg, an extraordinary hero, passed away on Friday, June 16, 2023. Dan fearlessly risked everything in his unwavering quest for social justice and opposition to war. He was not only a cherished friend but also a guiding light for me and countless others. I feel honored to have had the opportunity to engage in extensive interviews with Dan while working on our film, “How to Stop a Nuclear War.” I will miss his wisdom and radiant smile, but his warning to the world will be delivered. Please click to watch our interview on the occasion of Dan’s 90th birthday and a collection of our interviews. – Paul Jay 

To view more interviews with Daniel Ellsberg, click here.

This interview was originally published on April 7, 2021.

Jafrikayiti is an artist, author, activist, and radio show host, and works for Solidarité Québec-Haiti. Part 1 of his analysis of foreign intervention in Haiti presents a scathing critique of French, U.S., and Canadian powers who have dismantled Haitian democracy, as well as looted the country for countless decades. He argues that political leaders who are appointed by western powers, such as the current interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry, are illegitimate figures who continue to do a disservice to Haiti’s political institutions. Furthermore, Jafrikayiti explains how the exploitation of Haiti cannot be understood without examining the racial underpinnings of imperialism and capitalism.

Part 2: Haiti’s Predatory Ruling Families and Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier

Famara Diédhiou is the West Africa Program Officer at the Alliance for Food Security in Africa (AFSA). He is also one of the producers of a documentary feature film called The Last Seed, which was produced by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in cooperation with AFSA, Biowatch South Africa, and PELUM Tanzania. In this interview, Famara discusses why food security is not enough in a country such as Senegal, whose farming practices and dietary consumption have been negatively affected by agrochemical companies. He makes the case for food sovereignty, as well as the establishment of an agroecological approach to farming and rural planning which not only benefits local populations but also facilitates climate adaption strategies. What sort of socio-economic system would create the conditions necessary for this agroecological approach?

You can watch the trailer for The Last Seed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dForPtgxFXY

You can learn more about the documentary film The Last Seed here: https://www.thelastseed.org/

• Transcript

Hi, I’m Talia Baroncelli, and you’re watching theAnalysis.news. Today I’ll be joined by Famara Diédhiou to speak about food sovereignty in Senegal, as well as different agroecological methods in farming. If you enjoy this content, please do go to our website, theAnalysis.news, and hit the donate button at the top right corner of the screen. You can also get on our mailing list so that you’re informed every time a new episode is released. Also, go to our YouTube channel, theAnalysis-news. Like all the videos you want to watch, hit the subscribe button, and hit the bell; that way, you’re notified every time a new episode is published. See you in a bit with Famara.

Joining me now is Famara Diédhiou, he is the Program Officer for West Africa at the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa. He is the producer of a recent documentary feature film called The Last Seed, which was also produced by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, together with the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa. So thank you so much for joining me, Famara.

Thank you, Talia. How are you?

You’ve had so much experience working in rural planning and in small-scale farming in Senegal. I know you’ve had over 12 years of experience working on these projects. I was wondering what your own personal view is on how important food sovereignty is in African countries, particularly given the context of European colonialism, which has plundered Africa’s resources for so many centuries on end.

Yeah, strong, great question, and a very large question as well. On the issue of food, one side of it is what is said in the media, by policymakers, and so on. On the other side of it, which is, for me, more relevant, what communities, people, and citizens are living day to day. I will take it from not only my childhood, but where I’m coming from, for instance, my village, and the same could apply to many other communities in Africa, not only Senegal.

There was a time where I would say at least 75% of what you eat, you were able to produce it by your own. If you were not able to produce it by your own, it was very nearby that you could have access to it. Those types of products, there was a way to cook it. There was a way, if I can even say, to eat them, depending on your, if I can call it, diet. Not everything you are going to eat can you eat at any time. There are things you will eat at a certain part of the day. There are things you will eat at a certain part of the year, and so on, and so on. But more and more, we are about to have a standardized way of eating, which is completely disconnecting us from our, if I can call it, our reference of how food, how agriculture, and how a community should be.

Now, this issue, of course, it’s happening in most of the places I know. Here is a small example. Look at the early years of the 2000s; there are places, if you go there, you wouldn’t see packages. If I say packages, the packaging of food, meaning bags, big bags, or boxes that were coming to package the food people were eating. People were just eating what they produced around them. Now, if you go to those places, all the trash, where they throw wrong material, what is not good, is full of plastic, is full of empty packaging. This is real proof and evidence of what people are eating, which is no longer coming from their own community.

The issue of food sovereignty is crucial. It’s real. It’s threatening ou...

The South Australien Government has made an ad about its new anti-protest legislation, and it’s surprisingly honest and informative. This video was originally published by The Juice Media on May 28, 2023.

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Paul Jay interviews Tom Ferguson about the debt ceiling crisis in the United States. Ferguson explains that the debate over the debt ceiling is largely theater, with both Democrats and Republicans working together to cut spending while maintaining the appearance of opposition. He criticizes the Democrats for not raising the debt ceiling earlier when they had the opportunity and suggests that their reluctance is due to their desire to secure more campaign funding for future elections. Ferguson argues that the spending cuts rolled back are not significant enough to impact inflation and proposes alternative measures, such as taxing the wealthy and reducing defense spending, to address the issue. He also discusses the influence of money in politics and the Democratic Party’s efforts to weaken the progressive wing.

Anas El Gomati is the founder and director of the Libyan think tank, the Sadeq Institute. He discusses how so much of Libya’s history has been shaped by European colonial powers and other foreign states meddling in its affairs. On the flip side, E.U. developments and the rise of right-wing populism and racist anti-migrant sentiment cannot be disentangled from what transpires in Libya. In light of the ongoing fighting between rival government structures, how can the control of oil resources and state assets shift from elite strongmen to civilian bodies?

Historian, Assal Rad, explores identity formation in modern Iran, both under the Pahlavi dynasty as well as after the 1979 Revolution under the Islamic Republic. Her book “State of Resistance: Politics, Culture, and Identity in Modern Iran” examines top-down and bottom-up manifestations of national identity as narrated by state structures and popular culture, respectively. Her fascinating analysis is based on a historical assessment of how modern state-building in Iran inculcated a sense of national belonging in the population, as well as on interviews with people in Tehran and examples taken from popular music and film. Can national identity play a positive role in liberation struggles?

• Transcript

This is an unedited version of the transcript. An edited version will be arriving shortly.

Hi, I’m Talia Baroncelli, and you’re watching theAnalysis.news. Assal Rad, a historian as well as the author of a recent book State of Resistance, will be joining me today to speak about national identity formations in Iran.

But then, in a lot of cases, as I said, I didn’t say I was doing an interview. I would just go to a store, I wanted to buy a CD. If there was a dance party an...