Alternative Radio

The Other September 11: Chile, 1973 September 11 is now engraved on the consciousness of Americans. Yet for the South American country of Chile, the date has a different and much more tragic significance. It was on that day in 1973 that the democratically-elected government of Salvador Allende was overthrown in a CIA-backed military coup. Augusto Pinochet seized power. In the ensuing years, tens o...

Africa: From Neocolonialism to Independence Almost every country in Africa was colonized by Europe. Today, while nominally sovereign many of these countries are in the clutches of the big international banks. The old colonial masters Britain and France still have a foothold in Africa but the U.S. has been pushing them aside, moving in to capture resources and markets. Washington has established an...

You Can Save the Planet The crises facing humankind are, to use a much overused but accurate word – unprecedented. Plutocratic power in the hands of the few is a disaster for democracy and our ecosphere. The ruling class is driven by its voracious lust for domination and money. It’s an old American story. Over a century ago Theodore Roosevelt warned against “a small class of enormously wealthy and...

Interconnectedness The corporate takeover of food with its toxic chemical inputs poses serious health and environmental problems. Corporate agriculture, The New York Times states unequivocally “is causing irreparable harm to the planet.” It is “ravaging the air, soil and water, destroying wildlife habitats and spurring climate chaos. The system, a vast web of industries and processes that stretche...

Arms Race = Suicide Race The “Oppenheimer” movie and the Ukraine war have brought much-needed attention to the possibility of terminal war. The arms race will end the human race. To call nukes weapons of mass destruction comes nowhere near describing the level of devastation that their use would result in. To be clear, these are weapons of annihilation that would make Hiroshima and Nagasaki look t...

Environmental Law & the Defense of Nature As ecosystems collapse and the climate emergency intensifies, the government often uses its authority to allow the very harm that it is supposed to prevent. Sound crazy? It is. The granting of permits is a battleground where corporations, with their oodles of money to buy influence, have the upper hand over nature. In the face of corporate greed and the en...

Censorship, Free Speech & the Media States want to dominate the narrative with their version of events. There are two basic models. One follows Aldous Huxley, the other George Orwell. The latter is best known for 1984. Big Brother is brutal. He wields a big stick while Huxley uses a much softer carrot. Censorship is self-imposed because the journalist knows the boundaries of permissible thought. E...

Naming Names: The Hollywood Blacklist The anti-Communist hysteria rampant in the U.S. in the 1940s and 1950s is often called the McCarthy period. But the red-baiting and persecution started even before McCarthy was elected to the Senate in 1946. The notorious House Un-American Activities Committee led the crusade to ferret out alleged Communists in the U.S. They struck gold when they took on Holly...

War Crimes & War Criminals At the end of World War Two, the victorious Allies decided to try top Nazi officials as war criminals. A tribunal was convened in Nuremberg. Some of them were hanged. Others were given jail sentences. Today, Nuremberg is largely forgotten. The clear evidence of that was the March 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, an unambiguous war crime committed by war criminals, not just Ge...

Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain & American Empire Why has the United States intervened so often in foreign lands? What are its origins? Having expanded its borders largely through its destruction of Indigenous peoples the U.S. went on to project its power globally. Today, its empire of bases rings the Earth. According to Monthly Review the U.S. “has at least eight hundred military bases located in...

Origins of the Vietnam War In this program, Daniel Ellsberg discusses early U.S. support for France’s effort to retain control of its Indochina colony. In a little-known and scary fact of history, he describes Eisenhower’s offer of nuclear weapons to the French to stave off defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Within a few years, the U.S. supplanted the French and expanded the war to all of Indochina....

Wounded Knee to Standing Rock: Indigenous Resistance In South Dakota, in 1973, hundreds of Native American activists led by members of the American Indian Movement occupied the Pine Ridge Reservation village of Wounded Knee— which was also the site of a notorious massacre in 1890 in which federal troops killed 300 Lakota men, women and children. The months-long action in 1973 helped galvanize the...

Israel/Palestine: A Threshold Crossed Thirty years ago, the Oslo Accords between Israelis and Palestinians were signed. There was widespread fanfare and jubilation. There was Clinton standing between Rabin and Arafat bringing them together at the White House. It was a new dawn. Finally, peace in the Holy Land. The pundits and the polls told us it was a miracle. Where is that miracle today? The cha...

War Crimes & War Criminals At the end of World War Two, the victorious Allies decided to try top Nazi officials as war criminals. A tribunal was convened in Nuremberg. Some of them were hanged. Others were given jail sentences. Today, Nuremberg is largely forgotten. The clear evidence of that was the March 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, an unambiguous war crime committed by war criminals, not just Ge...

Kissingerism Turning 100, the accolades for Henry Kissinger are pouring in. He is a legend. Over decades, he has assiduously cultivated and constructed the image of the sagacious elder statesman. Corporate journalists hang on his every word. Politicians seek his advice. But what is his record to deserve such respect and reverence? He is one of the most notorious characters of this or any other per...

Kashmir: Telling the Story I interviewed Khurram Parvez in Srinagar, Kashmir in February 2011. When I returned to India that September to follow up on reporting on the mass graves in Kashmir, I was denied entry by the Indian government. I’ve been banned from India ever since. Sadly, this interview is still relevant. Since August 2019 the Hindu nationalist regime ruling India has imposed even harsh...

Fascism in America The term fascism is loosely bandied about. When most people think of it the images that come to mind are of stormtroopers and Hitler ranting and raving. It is often automatically assumed that fascism developed in Europe in the 1920s. But it had its origins earlier in the United States. The United States was built on genocidal attacks on Indigenous people, white supremacy and ens...

India: On the Road to Theocracy Hindutva is theocratic Hindu nationalism. It is a powerful force in what is now the world’s most populous country. Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, is a lifelong member of the RSS, an openly Hindu supremacist organization. Le Monde Diplomatique reports: Hindutva “followers regard India as a Hindu country. Non-Hindus are at best guests, at worst invaders, and m...

You Can Save the Planet The crises facing humankind are, to use a much overused but accurate word – unprecedented. Plutocratic power in the hands of the few is a disaster for democracy and our ecosphere. The ruling class is driven by its voracious lust for domination and money. It’s an old American story. Over a century ago Theodore Roosevelt warned against “a small class of enormously wealthy and...

Inequality Kills Us All In the 1950s the United States had among the lowest mortality rates and highest life expectancy in the world. Today, other rich nations and quite a number of poor ones have better health outcomes than Americans. Why? How can the U.S., probably the wealthiest country in history do so poorly? Starting with Reagan in the 1980s and the fervent embrace of neoliberal economics by...

System Change The multiple problems facing the U.S. can no longer be swept under the rug. Modest so-called reforms are not sufficient given the magnitude of the crises we face from imperialism and militarism to war and the climate emergency. Our dollar-driven politics is corrupt. We need system change not cosmetic change. Individually, we can do small things but connecting with kindred spirits in...

Environmental Law & the Defense of Nature As ecosystems collapse and the climate emergency intensifies, the government often uses its authority to allow the very harm that it is supposed to prevent. Sound crazy? It is. The granting of permits is a battleground where corporations, with their oodles of money to buy influence, have the upper hand over nature. In the face of corporate greed and the en...

When Lunatics Run the Asylum The future of humankind and the planet are in danger from the twin existential threats of terminal nuclear war and climate catastrophe. The response? The Biden administration is following through on Pentagon plans to “modernize” its nuclear arsenal. Instead of eliminating these weapons of mass destruction, we are upgrading them. And the clock is ticking louder and loud...

Wars of Hegemonic Competition Hegemony is from the Greek meaning authority, rule, and political supremacy. Since 1945 the United States has been the global hegemon. That is changing now. The U.S. recently issued its Annual Threat Assessment. It makes for interesting reading. It lists the various threats Washington faces. It repeats the embedded line that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was “unprovoke...

Break Up the Media Monopolies Concentration of any industry is dangerous but media concentration is particularly dangerous because of the vast influence media exert in shaping public opinion. Years ago, legendary journalist and media critic Ben Bagdikian warned of the dangers posed by media monopolies. Those warnings have been borne out. A handful of mega corporations from Comcast to Disney domina...