On the Ground w Esther Iverem

Trump just fired half of the staff at the U.S. Department of Education, which serves more than 60 million people in the country. So for this month’s episode of the F-word, we speak to political scientist Wilmer Leon about fascism and education. And speaking education and information, Trump is placing economic sanctions on the UN special rapporteur for Palestine, after she exposed the truth a...

In an upside-down world, where an indicted war criminal is feted at the White House, those opposed to the Gaza holocaust are fighting back in the only way they know: by continuing to stay in the streets. On this show, we hear from speakers at a rally near the White House in opposition to the third visit this year of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, DC. Plus, Gerald Horne on...

On Friday,, July fourth , Trump is scheduled to sign into law his so-called big beautiful bill which eliminates health care and food assistance for millions of Americans, adds $150 billion more for the military, and triples the budget for Trump’s mass deportation machine, making ICE the largest police force in the country. All of this to give billionaires a massive tax cut and add more than three...

Poor news coverage of the Israeli-U.S. attack on Iran reinforces alternative media as the only place for truth about the empire. We speak to Jon Jeter for this month’s episode of On the Media. And the Trump administration may not have acknowledged the Juneteenth federal holiday but DC residents started a new tradition of honoring ancestors who walked to freedom. Plus headlines on Iran, Gaza,...

As the possibility of a new U.S. war looms in West Asia, we speak to political scientist Wilmer Lemon for this month’s episode of the F-Word on fascism. And a U.S. veteran was among those speaking out in front of the White House at a protest against Israel’s attack on Iran. Plus headlines on Gaza, Iran, Minnesota shooter, and the DC budget.   The show is made possible only by our volun...

Israel, the U.S. armed outpost in West Asia, bombs Iran, assassinating several military leaders and at least one nuclear scientist. We speak to historian Gerald Horne. And here at home, the Trump administration tests the limits of executive authority by illegally calling up both the National Guard  and the Marines against protesters.  And the administration is still firing federal workers illegall...

After the United States vetoes, for a fifth time, a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, the U.S. and Israel are more isolated than ever on the world stage. We hear from some countries, Algeria, Pakistan and Somalia, vowing to keep up the fight to end the holocaust. And what is the aftermath of Ukraine’s strikes on nuclear capable bombers in Russia? And were NATO countries involved...

Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric of being a peace president is fading fast, as Russia, West Asia and China remain in the crosshairs. We speak to historian Gerald Horne. And then we go to Dayton Ohio, where hundreds of people participated in actions to counter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization/ NATO military alliance meeting there. Plus headlines on five years since George Floyd’s...

Despite a myriad of human crises here in the U.S. and around the world, the story is still Gaza, where Israel’s genocidal attacks are intensifying. We speak to Jon Jeter for this month’s episode of “On the Media.” Then, 90 percent of workers at the federal agency tasked with keeping all American workers and workplaces safe have been fired! But they are fighting back, for th...

The Trump administration challenges birthright citizenship at the Supreme Court the same week it grants refugee status to white South Africans fleeing the post-apartheid state. And even as the horror of the Nakba is remembered, there is a victory as a federal judge orders that Georgetown University scholar, Badar Khan Suri, be released from an ICE detention facility in Texas. We go outside the Vir...

On May 9, 2025, 29 world leaders are in Moscow to celebrate the Soviet Unions victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. To explain the significance of that victory 80 years later, we speak to Professor Gerald Horne. And Georgetown Law Professor David Cole compares the attack by Congress on students and universities to the red scare McCarthyism of the 1950s. Plus headlines on DC substitute teacher...

Workers in DC stand up for their rights and take to the streets on May Day. And, for some, the issue is not Trump’s first 100 Days but, rather, the American empire, built on genocide, entering its decline. We speak to political analyst Tom Porter. Plus headlines on Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi released. Hundreds of thousands rallied around the world on Wednesday April 30th in support of B...

At an Emancipation Day speakout in DC, by a call for solidarity among American workers to fight back. And, as the Trump administration continues to trample on the first amendment, due process and other constitutional rights, we ask our media critic Jon Jeter to weigh in on Trump’s war on free speech.  The speakout was organized by six DC organizations, Free DC, Federal Unionists Network, Har...

As Trump and the President of El Salvador met at the White House, refusing to return a wrongly deported man to the U.S., faith leaders met outside and held a prayer vigil with the family of the man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The Trump administration’s continued defiance of the law is deepening a constitutional crisis and creating wide ripple effects. Plus headlines on federal workers and Emancip...

For most of this show, we hear from speakers and attendees we interviewed at the April 5th National March on Washington to Stop the Genocide in Gaza and Stop the Repression here at home. Then we speak to our geopolitical analyst Gerald Horne for part one of this month’s episode of the F-Word on Fascism. Horne takes the pulse of this moment of seemingly nonstop chaos of tariffs, brewing cold...

Organizers of the April 5th March on Washington say the time is now to save hundreds of thousands of people in Palestine, and to save basic constitutional rights here in the U.S. And another crisis is brewing as the Trump administration defies a judges order to reopen the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and as it appeals a court ruling to rehire thousands of illegally terminated federal work...

Some say that the Trump administration’s abduction and imprisonment of pro-Palestinian students at U.S. colleges and universities is a sure sign that the Zionist occupation of Palestine now threatens us on these shores. But the question remains: will Americans fight to preserve our right to freedom of speech and assembly? We speak to our media critic Jon Jeter. Plus headlines, a preview of t...

An annual gathering to celebrate the successful fight for voting rights turns into a movement update for all citizen rights in the United States. And as the Trump administration eyes Greenland for 21st century colonization, a human rights complaint was just filed with United Nations because of the toxic waste LEFT by the U.S. military on Sivuqaq, also known as St. Lawrence Island of Alaska. Plus h...

SUPPORT ESTHER’S BIRTHDAY FUNDRAISER FOR ON THE GROUND UNTIL MARCH 22, 2025: https://www.facebook.com/donate/1153324579630758/?fundraiser_source=external_url UN human rights experts say that the genocide against Palestinians, perpetrated by Israel and supported by the US and NATO countries, is also destroying international and human rights laws enacted after the carnage of World War II.As Is...

As the Trump-Musk administration fires hundreds of federal workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration, we hear from scientists, researchers and lawmakers speaking out at a protest in Silver Spring, MD, against this attack on the nation’s premier public science agency. The ongoing illegal firings, along with dismantling and attacks on vital public services, is deepening a...

Dramatic changes in the world require news organizations to be fearless truth tellers, but in this heady moment, corporate media are falling down on the job. We speak to journalist Jon Jeter. And here in DC, and across the country, Americans are speaking up for federal workers and against the dismantling of government for the people. Plus headlines on national and international affairs with Gerald...

As the Trump administration shatters traditional alliances abroad, at home it is firing thousands of federal workers, upending countless lives and the work done for the American people. We speak to a federal worker, Dante O’Hara. And 60 years ago, on February 21, 1965, the human rights leader Malcolm X, or El-Hajj Malik Shabazz, was murdered at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. We hear...

Is it possible that the U.S.-provoked war in Ukraine is ending? We speak to historian Gerald Horne… And, here in DC, workers and unions are fighting back against the Trump-Musk billionaire agenda. We hear from workers, union officials, legislators and activists attending a labor rally on Capitol Hill, one of many rallies where public sector workers are speaking truth to power. Plus headlines...

Inside the White House on February 5th, Donald Trump entertained wanted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu and announced a so-called U.S. takeover of Gaza. But outside the White House, we the people had our say. And after an unprecedented week of the billionaire Elon Musk accessing confidential files at federal agencies and threatening mass layoffs, will the DOGE train finally get stopped in its trac...

As the Trump Administration attacks the gains of the 1960s Black Freedom Movement, which addressed centuries of racist apartheid and greatly benefitted all of U.S. society, we interview Gerald Horne about his new book on that era of revolutionary change. We also discuss his other new book: African Americans and a New History of the USA . Plus headlines. The show is made possible only by our volunt...